Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Evil \E*vil\a. [OE. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, AS. yfel; akin to
OFries, evel, D. euvel, OS. & OHG. ubil, G. ["u]bel, Goth.
ubils, and perh. to E. over.]
1. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a
nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous;
not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil
beast; and evil plant; an evil crop.
A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit. --Matt.
vii. 18.
2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt;
wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart,
words, and the like.
Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death's
approach is seen so terrible. --Shak.
3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or
calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil
arrows; evil days.
Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a
virgin of Israel. --Deut. xxii.
19.
The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign.
--Shak.
Evil news rides post, while good news baits.
--Milton.
{Evil eye}, an eye which inflicts injury by some magical or
fascinating influence. It is still believed by the
ignorant and superstitious that some persons have the
supernatural power of injuring by a look.
It almost led him to believe in the evil eye. --J.
H. Newman.
{Evil speaking}, speaking ill of others; calumny;
censoriousness.
{The evil one}, the Devil; Satan.
Note: Evil is sometimes written as the first part of a
compound (with or without a hyphen). In many cases the
compounding need not be insisted on. Examples: Evil
doer or evildoer, evil speaking or evil-speaking, evil
worker, evil wishing, evil-hearted, evil-minded.
Syn: Mischieveous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful;
destructive; wicked; sinful; bad; corrupt; perverse;
wrong; vicious; calamitous.
Evil eye \E"vil eye`\
See {Evil eye} under {Evil}, a.
Source : WordNet®
evil eye
n : a look that is believed to have the power of inflicting harm