filth used as a term of reproach and contempt:
“Filth as thou art,”
THE TEMPEST, i. 2. 346
;
“Filth, thou liest!”
OTHELLO, v. 2. 234
;
“To general filths Convert o' the instant, green virginity!”
TIMON OF ATHENS, iv. 1. 6
;
“Filths savour but themselves,”
KING LEAR, iv. 2. 39.
In the third of these passages Steevens explains general filths by “common sewers;” but surely the meaning is
“common whores;” and so in the second passage “Filth” seems from Iago's preceding speech to be equivalent to
“whore.” (Compare Greene's Notable Discouery of Coosnage, etc., 1592:
“To him will some common filth [that neuer knew loue] faine an ardent and honest affection,”
Sig. c 4.
)