| 释义 |
stingy, a.|ˈstɪndʒɪ|
Also 7 stingie.
[Perh. f. sting n.2 or v.1 + -y.
On the assumption that the n. represents OE. styng:—*stungi-, the pronunciation |ˈstɪndʒɪ| is explicable. It is possible that some of the examples under sense 1 represent a distinct word, pronounced |ˈstɪŋɪ|, which is still occasionally heard in colloquial use. For the current sense 4, cf. the dial. skingy of the same meaning (Eng. Dial. Dict.).]
1. a. Having a sting; stinging, sharp, virulent. Chiefly fig. of controversy, or the like. Obs.
c1615D'Ewes Jrnl. (1783) 13 This discontent gave many satirical wits occasion to vent themselves into stingie libels, in which they spared neither [etc.]. 1654Tuckney Death disarmed 41 But in particular would we not have our death too stingy, and its sting deadly. 1657R. B[addily] Life Bp. Morton (1669) 23 Those virulent and stingie Pamphlets. 1681Hickeringill News fr. Doctor's Comm. 1 It is..vulgarly known, that the Waspish Swarms in Doctors Commons, have been as stinging as stingy against Mr. Hickeringil. 1682― Hist. Whiggism i. 17, I know your meaning, Whigg, and your stingy Reflection and Innuendo. 1705― Priest-cr. i. 17 The Sting of a Scorpion is not more fatal, more incurable, and more venemous than a stingy and enraged Priest, especially..when you meddle with the Craft by which he gets his Wealth.
Mod. colloq. Those are very stingy (ˈstɪŋɪ) nettles.
b. Of weather, etc.: Sharp, biting, cold. dial.
1823E. Moor Suffolk Words s.v., Sharp, unsettled weather, inclining to rain, would also be called stingy. 1893in Cozens-Hardy Broad Norf. 14 ‘It dew fare wonerful stingy’, says the rustic, when the wind is in the east.
2. Bad-tempered, irritable, peevish, cross. dial.
1781J. Woodforde Diary 22 Feb. (1924) I. 302, I was very stingy this morning alias in a bad humour and made Nancy uneasy by my talking. 1787[J. Beattie] Scoticisms 81 Stingy, in many parts of Scotland, conveys the notion of peevish, or captious. 1796Grose Olio 113 So, then stingy means peevish or touchy! a1800Pegge Suppl. Grose, Stingy, cross, untoward. Norf. c1800Earl of Boyn xvii. in Child Ballads IV. 316 She turned her about wie a very stingy look. 1808Spec. Yorksh. Dial. 30 My mam grows se stingy, she scauds, an' she fleeghts. 1823E. Moor Suffolk Words, Stingy, snappish—waspish—unruly—ill-tempered—quarrelsome. 1828Carr Craven Gloss. Stingy, crabbed, ill-humoured.
†3. ? Narrow-minded, illiberal. Obs.
1694Penn Acc. Rise & Progr. Quakers ii. 53 These things..rendered this People Stingy and Conceited in such Persons Opinions. 1701Howe Some Consid. Pref. Enquiry 32 'Tis not to be let pass, that you, or your Author, industriously represent the Primitive English Puritans..as if they were generally of your stingy, narrow Spirit.
4. a. Of persons, actions, etc.: Niggardly, penurious, mean, close-fisted.
1659T. Pecke Parnassi Puerp. 21 Courtiers I ask ye nothing: for ye are Stingy in giving. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 162 He lavishes into Excesses not approved of by that stingy Tribe. 1707Hearne Collect. 27 Jan. (O.H.S.) I. 323 He was a stingy, niggardly Fellow. a1770Jortin Serm. (1771) VII. xi. 213 Liberal in promises, and stingy in performances. 1838Lytton Alice iv. vi, Without being stingy, the admiral had a good deal of economy in his disposition. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt Introd. I. 12 He perhaps remembered the fathers of actual baronets, and knew stories of their extravagant or stingy housekeeping.
b. const. of.
1723Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 76 So very stingy and saving of their ground are these yeomen of Kent. 1771N. Nicholls Correspond. w. Gray (1843) 121 If you knew the pleasure your letters give me, I think you would not be quite so stingy of them. 1885Mabel Collins Prettiest Woman v, Who is she, to be so stingy of her smiles. 1893J. A. Symonds Michelangelo I. ii. §8. 83 He was never stingy of cash.
c. Betokening meanness; doled out sparingly or grudgingly.
1849D. G. Mitchell Battle Summer (1852) 250 Workmen too proud to buy such stingy dinner, snuff the fumes wishfully. 1865Trollope Belton Est. xvii. 193 With stingy breakfasts and bad dinners for herself. 1878T. L. Cuyler Pointed Papers 103 Christ is put off with a stingy hour or two on the Sunday.
d. Meagre, spare, circumscribed.
1927E. M. Forster Aspects of Novel viii. 205 [James's] characters..are constructed on very stingy lines. They are incapable of fun, of rapid motion, of carnality.
5. Scanty, poor in quantity or amount.
1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Stingy, thin, weak; applied to the hair of an animal. 1863Longfellow Wayside Inn, Birds of Killingworth, When your teams Drag home the stingy harvest.
6. Of the brim of a hat: narrow. Also as n., a narrow-brimmed hat. U.S. (Black English).
1965Liberator Aug. 23/2 He was neat from toe to stingy. 1969N. Cohn AWopBopaLooBop (1970) ix. 86 He wore Stingy Brim straw hats, tight pants, lurid shirts. |