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. [ Cf. F. vulgaire. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One of the common people; a vulgar person. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

These vile vulgars are extremely proud. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The vernacular, or common language. [ Obs. ] [ 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 ]

n. The quality of being vulgar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. vulgata, from L. vulgatus usual, common, p. p. of vulgare to make general, or common, fr. vulgus the multitude: cf. F. vulgate. See Vulgar, a. ] An ancient Latin version of the Scripture, and the only version which the Roman Church admits to be authentic; -- so called from its common use in the Latin Church. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The Vulgate was made by Jerome at the close of the 4th century. The Old Testament he translated mostly from the Hebrew and Chaldaic, and the New Testament he revised from an older Latin version. The Douay version, so called, is an English translation from the Vulgate. See Douay Bible. [ 1913 Webster ]