self-abuse

English

Etymology

self- +‎ abuse. Compare self-abusing (adj.).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɛlfəˈbjuːs/

Noun

self-abuse (countable and uncountable, plural self-abuses)

1. (obsolete) Self-deception.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 142, column 2:

     Come, wee’l to ſleepe: My ſtrange & ſelf-abuſe
     Is the initiate feare, that wants hard vse:
     We are yet but yong indeed.

2. Physical or verbal maltreatment of oneself.
   • 1653, Edward Waterhouse, Two Brief Meditations‎^[1], London: Thomas Maxey, retrieved 28 February 2022, page 58:

     No man hath any warrant for self-abuse: We are not nostri, sed alieni juris; and God will see we shall not destroy his work besides his will.

   1. Injury inflicted deliberately upon oneself, especially resulting from a mental disorder.

      Synonym: self-harm

      • 1970, David W. Meyers, The Human Body and Law: A Medico-legal Study‎^[2], Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 48:

        If such conversion surgery is not readily available, which is normally the case, owing to the many legal dangers attendant to the operation(s), the transsexual may well attempt self-castration, other mutilations and even suicide, or fall into a reactive psychosis. Such self-abuse is apparently not at all rare.

      • 2005, Mark Civitarese, Scott Hadayia, Edward Underwood (lyrics and music), “Scream Out”, in State of Discontent (CD), performed by The Unseen, →OCLC, ISWC T0722550857:

        Well I lost control and hurt myself
        I knew deep down that I needed some help
        This self-abuse, it would not stop,
        No matter how hard I tried

3. (dated, euphemistic, now frequently ironic or humorous) Masturbation, especially male masturbation, regarded as sinful or harmful.

   Synonyms: self-pollution; see also Thesaurus:masturbation

   • 1718, A Rational Account of the Cause, Nature, and Cure of Gleets‎^[3], London, retrieved 28 February 2022, page 32:

     For which reaſon it is that a Gleet is always more or leſs difficult to Cure, as it is of greater or leſs Continuance, or is occaſioned by more or leſs Frequent ſelf Abuſes, or a more or leſs virulent Humor which gave the preceeding Infect∣ion; by every one of which cauſes the Glands are always more or leſs ſtretched, weakned and debilitated

   • 1887, Henry G. Hanchett, Sexual Health: A Companion to “Modern Domestic Medicine”‎^[4], New York: Charles T. Hurlburt, retrieved 28 February 2022, page 17:

     Self-abuse is undoubtedly an evil in itself, because it is incomplete and unnatural, and sad is his state who has bound himself with the chains this vice can so deftly forge; but its chief danger is that it so quickly and easily becomes a habit, and then it is indulged beyond the power of the body to recuperate.

Related terms

• self-abuser
• self-abusing

Translations

self-deception

• Polish: autoagresja f

self-harm

• Polish: autoagresja f

Verb

self-abuse (third-person singular simple present self-abuses, present participle self-abusing, simple past and past participle self-abused)

1. To harm oneself.
2. (dated, euphemistic, now frequently ironic or humorous) To masturbate.

See also

• self-care

References

• “self-abuse, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2018.