| 释义 |
▪ I. decrepit, a. (n.)|dɪˈkrɛpɪt|
Also 6 decrepute, decreaped, 6–7 decrepite, -et, 7 -ate, 7–9 decrepid, 8 decripid, -ed, decripped.
[a. F. décrépit (16th c.), in 15th c. descrepy, ad. L. dēcrepitus very old, decrepit, f. dē- down + crepit-, ppl. stem of crepāre to crack, creak, rattle. The final -it has had many forms assimilated to pa. pples., adjs. in -id, etc.]
1. Of living beings (and their attributes): Wasted or worn out with old age, decayed and enfeebled with infirmities; old and feeble.
c1450Henryson Praise of Age 2 Ane auld man, and decrepit, hard I sing. 1511–2Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 3 §1 Every man..not lame decrepute or maymed. 1550Crowley Inform. & Petit. 463 To sustayne theyr parents decrepet age. 1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. lxxxix. 361 A fourth farre older decrepate with age. 1689–90Temple Ess. Health & Long Life Wks. 1731 I. 273 With common Diseases Strength grows decrepit. 1752Fielding Amelia (1775) X. 4 Poor old decrepit people, who are incapable of getting a livelihood by work. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xx. 283 Some poor old pensioner, decrepit and feeble-eyed.
(β) decrepid, etc.
a1616Beaum. & Fl. Lit. Fr. Lawyer i. i, Thou shalt not find I am decrepid. 1696Dryden Let. Mrs. Stewart 1 Oct. Wks. 1800 I. ii. 66 How can you be so good to an old decrepid man? 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) IV. 317 Decripped old Sinners. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 216 A poor decrepid old woman. 1845G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 204 An old, decrepid..animal.
2. fig. of things.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 23 The decrepite Churches in contention beyond sea. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xxi. 264 Decrepite superstitions. 1780Burke Sp. Econ. Reform Wks. III. 261 The poor wasted decrepid revenue of the principality. 1863D. G. Mitchell My Farm of Edgewood 124 The decrepid apple trees are rooted up. 1878Lecky Eng. in 18th C. I. i. 116 The military administrations of surrounding nations were singularly decrepit and corrupt.
B. n. One who is decrepit. Obs. or local.
1578Banister Hist. Man i. 25 In men full of dayes, and such decrepittes as old age hath long arrested. 1887S. Cheshire Gloss., Decrippit, a cripple, lame person.
▪ II. † deˈcrepit, v. Obs.—1
[f. prec.]
To make decrepit (see quot.).
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 310/2 The Tying Neck and Heels, is a Punishment of decrepiting, that is benumming the Body, by drawing it all together, as it were into a round Ball. |