| 释义 |
▪ I. struggle, n.|ˈstrʌg(ə)l|
Also 8 strugle.
[f. struggle v.]
1. a. An act of struggling; a resolute contest, whether physical or otherwise; a continued effort to resist force or free oneself from constraint; a strong effort under difficulties.
1692Locke Consid. Lower. Interest 115 The usual struggle and contest, as I said before,..is between the Landed Man and the Merchant. [Cf. supra 114 This pulling and contest is usually between the Landed Man and the Merchant.] a1716South Serm. (1727) VI. 180 Every Verse..speaking nothing but the Horrors of an hopeless Soul, and the Struggles and Agonies of one sinking under the dismal Apprehensions of the divine Wrath. 1772Junius Lett. lxviii. 341 There was a constant struggle between the legislature and the officers of justice. 1798T. Morton Speed the Plough v. i. (1800) 64 'Tis hard for the heart to forego, without one struggle, its only hope of happiness. 1827Scott Highl. Widow v, Her demand was never refused, though granted in many cases with a kind of struggle between compassion and aversion. 1833Q. Rev. XLIX. 407 These feather-weights..sometimes ride a winning race; though if it comes to a struggle, as the term is, they are almost certain to be defeated by the experienced jockey. 1840Hood Up Rhine 217 The man..seized hold of the child's clothes in a very rough manner. A struggle immediately took place between the officer and the woman. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 159 The struggle which patriotism had for a time maintained against bigotry in the royal mind was at an end. 1867Ruskin Time & Tide i. §1 The immediate struggle between the system of co-operation and the system of mastership. 1918Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Mar. 149/2 Zarathustra..anticipated that the final eschatologic struggle was at hand, when the sovereignty..of Ahura would be established.
b. A strong effort to continue to breathe, as in the death-agony or under conditions tending to produce suffocation.
1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho vii, St. Aubert expired without a struggle or a sigh. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 138 This event [death] sometimes takes place..in a placid manner, without any struggle, and not unfrequently with a smile on the countenance. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xi, Suddenly whipping the fish over the side into the boat, he began flapping it about as if it were plunging in the death struggle. 1845J. Coulter Adv. Pacific vii. 87 [The whale] turned over in a few minutes without a struggle. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. i. (1901) I. 11 He died at the good old age of eighty without a groan or struggle. 1915J. S. Haldane in Times 29 Apr. 9/6 These men were lying struggling for breath... There was nothing to account for the..struggle for air, but the one fact that they were suffering from acute bronchitis.
†c. A conflict between material agents; spec. effervescence. (Cf. struggling vbl. n. 2.) Obs.
1741P. Shaw tr. Boerhaave's Chem. (ed. 2) I. 539 These salts rest after complete saturation, and then produce no struggle, upon the addition either of an alkali or an acid salt to the saturated mixture. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 12 With magnesia it [sc. argill] can have no struggle. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 253 The earth, when dry, is a bad conductor, and will not receive the electricity from the clouds without a struggle.
d. struggle for existence, struggle for life: in Biol. used metaphorically to describe the relation between coexisting organic species when the causes tending to the survival of one tend to the extinction of another. Also gen., an effort under difficulties to obtain the means of livelihood; a continued resistance to influences threatening destruction or extinction.
a1827in J. B. Norton Topics (1858) 214 Madras..rose amidst poverty and many struggles for existence. 1832Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 56 In the universal struggle for existence, the right of the strongest eventually prevails; and the strength and durability of a race depends mainly on its prolificness, in which hybrids are acknowledged to be deficient. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1873) 118 In the struggle for life to which every animal is exposed, each would have a better chance of supporting itself, by less nutriment being wasted. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 406 The struggle for existence is not confined to the animals, but appears in the kingdom of thought.
2. In generalized sense: Contention, determined effort or resistance.
1706Sir D. Hume Diary Parl. Scot. (Bannatyne Club) 189 The Parliament..proceeded, and with very little struggle, approved Articles 9.–13. 1714J. Fortescue-Aland Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. Pref. 28 King John, after much struggle with his Barons, swears to restore the good Laws of his Ancestors. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1768) VIII. 138 A conscience, that is upon the struggle with thee, and like a cunning wrestler watches its opportunity to give thee another fall. 1833H. Martineau Briery Creek iv. 89 Not only of week-day labour, but of struggle for subsistence. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. i, Jacobinism is in uttermost crisis and struggle. 1879J. J. Young Ceramic Art 276 After fifteen or sixteen years of unheard-of struggle and misery, this indomitable genius [Palissy] produced the long-sought enamel. 1881P. Brooks Candle of the Lord 353 Not till you make men..intelligent, and fond of struggle,..not till then have you relieved poverty. 1901Watts-Dunton Aylwin Introd., Speculations..upon the gravest of all subjects—the subject of love at struggle with death.
3. Comb., as struggle-buggy U.S. slang, a motor vehicle; spec. an old and battered one; struggle meeting, [tr. Chinese dòuzhēng huì], in Communist China: a meeting at which those who have aroused official or public disfavour are criticized or denounced.
1925College Humor Sept. 20/2 I'll say you can park in my struggle buggy. 1946Struggle-buggy [see rinky-dink a.].
1966F. Schurmann Ideology & Organization in Communist China v. 318 ‘Struggle meetings’ were held throughout China in which offending cadres were attacked, and by mass demand removed from office. 1973Times 21 Mar. (China Trade Suppl.) p. viii/5 Officials who have been through ‘struggle meetings’, because they were considered to be bureaucratic..are likely to be sufficiently shaken by the experience to avoid arousing such resentments in the future.
▪ II. struggle, v.|ˈstrʌg(ə)l|
Forms: 4–5 strogel, 5 strogolyn, strogil (strokel), 6 strog(g)ell, stroggle, 4–6 strogle, strougle, 4–7 strugle, struggel, 6– struggle.
[ME. strugle, strogel, etc., a frequentative formation of obscure origin.
According to Skeat the root is that of ON. strúg-r, MSw. strūgh-er, ill will, Sw. dial. strug, contention, strife, reluctance, struug, revengeful, Norw. stru, refractory, Da. dial. struende, reluctantly. On this assumption, however, the formation of the ME. verb still requires explanation; there is no evidence of a Scandinavian type *struggla. Others regard the word as cogn. w. Du. struikelen, G. straucheln (MHG. strûcheln, freq. of OHG. strûhhên, -ôn), to stumble. The change from (k) to (g) would not be a strong objection to this etymology, but the meanings of the Eng. and the continental verbs are widely apart. Possibly the word may be due to phonetic symbolism, the beginning being suggested by words like strive, strong; cf. tuggle v., toggle v.2]
1. intr. To contend (with an adversary) in a close grapple as in wrestling; also, in wider use, to make violent bodily movements in order to resist force or free oneself from constraint; to exert one's physical strength in persistent striving against an opposing force.
c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 1130 As me was taught..Was no thyng bet to make yow to see Than strugle [v.rr. strogele, strogle, strougle] with a man vp on a tree. ― Pard. T. 501 And I shal ryue hym thurgh the sydes tweye Whil that thou strogelest [v.rr. struggelist, stroglest] with hym as in game. 1440J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 19 And gretely the Kyng strogild with hem, for to have berevyd thame thare knyvys; by the which labur his handis wer all forkute. c1440Promp. Parv. 480/2 Strogolyn (v.r. strobelyn), colluctor. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 211 b/1 A rechelles felaw stroglyd and wrestlyd wyth her and brake alle her egges. 1530Palsgr. 741/1, I stroggell with my bodye, as one dothe that wolde nat be holden, je me desrigle. 1569Roest tr. J. van der Noot's Theat. Worldlings 5 b, Much like vnto the Hare, who being caught in the nette, the more he struggleth, the faster he maketh hym self. 1595Shakes. John iv. i. 77, I will not struggle, I will stand stone still. 1600Earl Gowrie's Conspir. C 1, In this meane tyme, his maiesty, wyth struggeling and wrastling wyth the said maister Alexander had broght him perforce out of that study. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 120 In strugling with him for the knife, in wresting it out of his hand, hee hurt himselfe therwith in the forhead. 1611Bible Gen. xxv. 22 And the children struggled together within her. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 144 It is pleasant to see these Chickens, in one side some thrusting out their heads, others striving and struggling to get out their bodies. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 291 The Boat's brawny Crew the Current stem, And, slow advancing, struggle with the Stream. 1787Best Angling (1822) 56 Then if he [sc. the pike] struggles again very much, give him line again. 1815Scott Guy M. xl, The wind was adverse, attended by some rain, and they struggled against it without much assistance from the tide. 1825Bryant Afr. Chief 59 He struggled fiercely with his chain. 1842Tennyson Dora 100 So saying, he took the boy, that cried aloud And struggled hard. 1848J. Grant Adv. Aide-de-C. xl, I was struggling breathlessly in the water. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxiv, They..drank a great quantity of champagne at the buffet, where the people..struggled furiously for refreshments. 1856Kane Arctic Expl. II. xv. 165 We struggled manfully to force our way through. 1905E. Glyn Viciss. Evangeline 222 ‘No, no’, I said, struggling feebly to free myself.
b. To make violent efforts to breathe (usually, to struggle for breath); to be in the agony of death. Also (nonce-use) to pass out of (the world) with a struggle.
a1674Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 281 There will at some time or other, before he struggles out of this world, be sadness to him in the consideration. a1700Evelyn Diary 4 Feb. 1685, Being now in much paine, and struggling for breath.
2. fig. To contend resolutely, esp. with an adversary of superior power; to offer obstinate resistance; to make violent efforts to escape from constraint. Const. with, against, for.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ 964 But in myn age wrastle with hardenesse, That with hym stroglid neuere in grennesse Of youthe, þat mutacion and chaunge..me seeme shulde al straunge. c1425St. Christina xii. in Anglia VIII. 124/30 Fro þen forþ þey sturglid [? read struglid] nor enforced no-thinge ageyne goddes wille. 1530Palsgr. 741/1, I strogell, I murmure with wordes secretly, je grommelle. He stroggleth at every thyng I do. 1532Tindale Expos. v–vii. Matt. Prol. to Rdr. 6 b, Euen so is the spirite oppressed & ouer laden of the fleshe thorow custume, that she struggeleth and stryueth to get vp and to breake lowse in vayne. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 68 Oh limed soule, that strugling to be free, Art more ingag'd. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. vi. 381 With these and other arguments he struggles with his own conscience. 1771Lett. Junius xlix. 254 A virtuous man, struggling with adversity, [is] a scene worthy of the gods. 1821Scott Kenilw. viii, My father..sits at home struggling with his grief. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. xii. 268 Whenever a party struggles for predominance in the State, it necessarily becomes a political body. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 123 No sooner was the first pressure of military tyranny felt, than the nation..began to struggle fiercely. 1855Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. 14 Close to our own shores, the Netherlands are struggling vainly for their liberties. 1856Ann. Reg., Chron. 65/1 The counsel for the prisoner attempted to struggle against both the evidence and the prisoner's statement. 1857Borrow Rom. Rye xxxi, There came over me the same feeling of horror that I had experienced of old. I struggled manfully against it. 1874Green Short Hist. iii. §6. 146 It was with less success that the order struggled against the passion for knowledge. 1908Rider Haggard Ghost Kings i. 4 She and her people..had struggled against this South African scheme [of her husband's] even to the verge of open quarrel. 1918Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Mar. 121/4 There are States to-day prepared to help Germany to a dictatorship, against which, if she were successful, they would have to struggle in the end.
b. Said of passions, qualities, forces, etc.
1619Fletcher Knt. Malta ii. v, How nature and his honour struggle in him! 1663Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxvii. (1687) 300 Two passions he felt strugling in him at the same point of time. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 314 Half loth and half consenting to the ill, For loyal blood within him struggled still. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xliv, Pride, and something very like fear, seemed struggling in his breast. 1810Scott Lady of L. vi. ii, The sunbeams..struggling with the smoky air, Deaden'd the torches' yellow glare. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iii. viii, Hope and ruth, flickering against despair and rage, still struggle in the minds of men. 1858A. Lincoln in Polit. Deb. with S. A. Douglas 15 Oct. (1912) II. 268 Right and wrong..are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. 1906Petrie Relig. Anc. Egypt i. 5 This idea [of ‘a jealous god’] struggled hard against polytheistic toleration.
3. quasi-trans. with adv. or phrase expressing the result of struggling. lit. and fig.
1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts, Eccles. vi. 10 Neither can hee thinke to struggle himselfe out from the mighty, and over ruling power of his Creator. 1639Fuller Holy War ii. ii. (1640) 45 Till after many changes he struggled himself again into the place. 1646Unhappy Game Scotch & English 20 How they shufle and cut to strugle themselves out of the Bryers. 1660N. Ingelo Bentiv. & Ur. ii. (1682) 170 When the light began to appear, the Ass had strugled her self out. 1889Stevenson Master of Ballantrae iv, He there struggled down the last of his emotion.
4. To make great efforts in spite of difficulties; to contend resolutely with (a task, burden); to strive to do something difficult. † Also const. at. to struggle for existence: cf. struggle n. 1 d.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §12 They struggle with that which they cannot fully master. 1644Chas. I in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 299 Besydes our taske is not litle that we strugle with. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 606 They..wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream. 1687Atterbury Answ. Consid. Spirit Luther 64 The Church of England..had struggl'd and heav'd at a Reformation, ever since Wicliff's dayes. 1759Johnson Rasselas xxxv, Who that is struggling under his own evils will add to them the miseries of another? 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxix, She struggled to overcome the pleadings of her heart. 1808Scott Marm. i. xxviii, And when he struggled at a smile, His eye look'd haggard wild. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 34 Such an opportunity as seldom occurs, of cheering a noble mind struggling under misfortunes. 1827Lamb Elia Ser. ii. A Death-bed, Where for years they have been struggling to raise a Girls' School with no effect. 1849Q. Rev. Mar. 391 Long-horns [sc. cattle] which still struggle for a separate existence in a small district. 1855Poultry Chron. II. 498, I saw a hungry little bantam cock struggling with a huge corn much too large for his gullet. 1856A. Marsh Ev. Marston xxxv, Beds..where the same description of flowers were struggling for existence. 1862Calverley Verses & Transl. (ed. 2) 31, I hear that youth..struggling with the first few bars. And I do think the amateur cornopean Should be put down by law. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay i, While Glynn was struggling to answer the question..‘Where have I seen that face?’ 1897Hall Caine Christian x, When spoken to they would struggle to smile, but the smiles would break down after a moment. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo xviii. 190 Along the baked banks of which [dry ravines] a few stunted trees—the only ones to be seen—struggle to keep themselves alive.
5. To make progress with difficulty to, into, out of (a place, a condition), through (something interposed). Also with adv., along, forward, on. to struggle on: occas. to maintain existence, or continue one's course of action, with difficulty.
a1700Evelyn Diary 18 Apr. 1686, The book will, I doubt not, struggle through this unjust impediment. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 18 The light struggles dimly through windows darkened by dust. 1830James Darnley xvi, A bass-relief whose figures seemed struggling from the stone. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vii. ii, Either way, the world must contrive to struggle on. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge xxviii, Hugh, struggling into a sitting posture and gazing at him intently. 1844E. Warburton Crescent & Cross (1846) I. i. 1 The town itself lay buried beneath an avalanch of snowy mist, through which a few spires scarcely struggled into sight. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 452 His looks and tones had inspired terror when he was merely a young advocate struggling into practice. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. §27. 212 My telescope..directed upon the men as they struggled through the snow. 1865Seeley Ecce Homo v. (ed. 8) 40 Christ did not struggle forward to a position in which he could found a new state, but simply founded it. 1880A. H. Swinton Insect Variety 10 Here..still struggles on a remnant of a once rich coleopterous fauna of lacustrine aspect. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay vii, When he was slowly struggling back to life and strength. 1888F. Hume Mme. Midas i. Prol., He struggled to his feet quickly. 1902Buchan Watcher by Threshold 313 A moon was beginning to struggle through the windy clouds. 1908E. M. Gordon Indian Folk Tales x. (1909) 98 For a while the medical work struggled along under great difficulties. 1910Meredith Celt & Saxon xv. in Fortn. Rev. June 1061 His brown coat struggles out of the obscurity of the background [of the picture].
with cognate object.1842S. Lover Handy Andy xx, All gentle feeling vanished, as he saw Scatterbrain struggling his way towards him. 1871Daily News 6 Jan., The officers..were unable to struggle their way up to the inclosure in front of the altar.
†6. trans. To contest (a point) persistently. Obs.
1769Blackstone Comm. iv. xx. 280 The justices long struggled the point. |