Cor*rupt` (k?r-r?pt"), a. [L.
corruptus, p. p. of corrumpere to corrupt; cor-
+ rumpere to break. See Rupture.]
1. Changed from a sound to a putrid state;
spoiled; tainted; vitiated; unsound.
Who with such corrupt and pestilent bread
would feed them.
Knolles.
2. Changed from a state of uprightness,
correctness, truth, etc., to a worse state; vitiated; depraved;
debased; perverted; as, corrupt language; corrupt
judges.
At what ease
Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt
To swear against you.
Shak.
3. Abounding in errors; not genuine or
correct; as, the text of the manuscript is
corrupt.
Cor*rupt", v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Corrupted; p. pr. & vb. n.
Corrupting.] 1. To change from a
sound to a putrid or putrescent state; to make putrid; to
putrefy.
2. To change from good to bad; to
vitiate; to deprave; to pervert; to debase; to defile.
Evil communications corrupt good
manners.
1. Cor. xv. 33.
3. To draw aside from the path of
rectitude and duty; as, to corrupt a judge by a
bribe.
Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge
That no king can corrupt.
Shak.
4. To debase or render impure by
alterations or innovations; to falsify; as, to corrupt
language; to corrupt the sacred text.
He that makes an ill use of it [language], though
he does not corrupt the fountains of knowledge, . . . yet
he stops the pines.
Locke.
5. To waste, spoil, or consume; to make
worthless.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt.
Matt. vi. 19.
Cor*rupt" (k?r-r?pt"), v. i.
1. To become putrid or tainted; to putrefy;
to rot. Bacon.
2. To become vitiated; to lose purity or
goodness.
