vulgar

a. [ L. vulgaris, from vulgus the multitude, the common people; of uncertain origin: cf. F. vulgaire. Cf. Divulge. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Of or pertaining to the mass, or multitude, of people; common; general; ordinary; public; hence, in general use; vernacular. “As common as any the most vulgar thing to sense. ” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Things vulgar, and well-weighed, scarce worth the praise. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

It might be more useful to the English reader . . . to write in our vulgar language. Bp. Fell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mechanical process of multiplying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Belonging or relating to the common people, as distinguished from the cultivated or educated; pertaining to common life; plebeian; not select or distinguished; hence, sometimes, of little or no value. “Like the vulgar sort of market men.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men who have passed all their time in low and vulgar life. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

In reading an account of a battle, we follow the hero with our whole attention, but seldom reflect on the
vulgar heaps of slaughter. Rambler. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, lacking cultivation or refinement; rustic; boorish; also, offensive to good taste or refined feelings; low; coarse; mean; base; as, vulgar men, minds, language, or manners. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vulgar fraction. (Arith.) See under Fraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A vulgar person; one who has vulgar ideas. Used also adjectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. vulgarisme. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Grossness; rudeness; vulgarity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A vulgar phrase or expression. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fastidious taste will find offense in the occasional vulgarisms, or what we now call “slang, ” which not a few of our writers seem to have affected. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. vulgarité, L. vulgaritas the multitude. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The quality or state of being vulgar; mean condition of life; the state of the lower classes of society. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Grossness or clownishness of manners of language; absence of refinement; coarseness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The reprobate vulgarity of the frequenters of Bartholomew Fair. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of making vulgar, or common. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Vulgarized p. pr. & vb. n. Vulgarizing ] [ Cf. F. vulgariser, LL. vulgarizare. ] To make vulgar, or common. [ 1913 Webster ]

Exhortation vulgarized by low wit. V. Knox. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a vulgar manner. [ 1913 Webster ]