Crossword Dictionary
Ill treat
ill treat - to treat cruelly or improperly
synonyms
abuse, brutalize, bully, ill-use, kick around, maltreat, manhandle, mess over [slang], mishandle, mistreat, misuse
in a sentence
anyone who ill-treats their pets should not be allowed to have any
etymology
[ill]
c. 1200, "morally evil; offensive, objectionable" (other 13c. senses were "malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult"), from Old Norse illr"evil, bad; hard, difficult; mean, stingy," a word of unknown origin. Not considered to be related to evil. From mid-14c. as "marked by evil intentions; harmful, pernicious." Sense of "sick, unhealthy, diseased, unwell" is first recorded mid-15c., probably from a use similar to that in the Old Norse idiom "it is bad to me." Slang inverted sense of "very good, cool" is 1980s.
[treat]
c. 1300, "negotiate, bargain, deal with," from Old French traitier "deal with, act toward; set forth (in speech or writing)" (12c.), from Latin tractare "manage, handle, deal with, conduct oneself toward," originally "drag about, tug, haul, pull violently," frequentative of trahere(past participle tractus) "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)).