Both Uses of
degenerate
in
David Copperfield
- I resolved to do what I could, in a quiet way, to improve our proceedings myself, but I foresaw that my utmost would be very little, or I must degenerate into the spider again, and be for ever lying in wait.†
Chpt 46-48 *
- She laid her hand on my arm, and hurried me on to one of the sombre streets, of which there are several in that part, where the houses were once fair dwellings in the occupation of single families, but have, and had, long degenerated into poor lodgings let off in rooms.†
Chpt 49-51
Definition:
-
(degenerate) to grow worse; or describing a person or situation that is worse in the sense of deviating from what is socially acceptable