| 释义 |
▪ I. faint, n.|feɪnt|
[f. faint a. and v.]
†1. Faintness. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 13477 (Gött.) If þai turn ham þair wai, For þe faint sone faile sal þai. c1320Sir Beues 4195 Beues for ffeynt bere hym lowe. c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 8814 For pure feint right now she sank. a1533Ld. Berners Huon cxx. 430 Huon..was sore wery for faynt, for the blude that he had loste. a1541Wyatt Poet. Wks. (1861) 149 My hope..stumbleth straight, for feeble faint. 1600Holland Livy iv. xli. 165 Wearied with travaile, and faint of his woundes.
2. A swoon.
1808Scott Marm. iv. xvi, The Saint, Who propped the Virgin in her faint. 1865L. Oliphant Piccadilly (1870) 280 In a dead faint. 1885R. L. & F. Stevenson Dynamiter 45 The night..found me still where he had laid me during my faint.
3. Comb. as faint-fit = fainting-fit.
1795Wolcott (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 190 Without a scream, a faint-fit or a kick. 1892[see dwalm n.].
▪ II. faint, a.|feɪnt|
Forms: 4 (and 9 in sense 1 b) feint, 4–6 fainte, faynt(e, feynt(e, 6 Sc. fant(e, 4– faint.
[a. OF. faint, feint feigned, sluggish, cowardly, pa. pple. of faindre, feindre (mod.F. feindre) to feign, in early use also refl. to avoid one's duty by false pretences, to shirk, skulk.]
†1. Feigned, pretended, simulated. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 19535 (Cott.) Þar-for tok he [Symon Magus] baptim faint. a1340Hampole Psalter xl. 6 Vayn thynge & faynt spak his hert. c1400Destr. Troy 12591 Þo lyghers..forget a faint tale vnder fals colour. c1440York Myst. xxix. 229 A faynte frend myght he þer fynde. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 144 He that loueth the with feynt loue. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 93 And finished the sayde peace with an assured othe..but it semed a faynt peace, for [etc.].
b. Law. faint action, faint pleading, etc.: = ‘feigned action’, etc.: see feigned.
1542–3Act 34–5 Hen. VIII, c. 24 The saide Manour..to be recovered by fainte pleader, reddicion or other fraude or covyne. 1552Huloet, Faynte accion, actio exermata. 1607J. Cowell Interpr., Faynt pleader. 1641Termes de la Ley 154 Faint pleading is a covenous, false, and collusory manner of pleading to the deceit of a third party. 1672in J. Cowell Interpr., Faynt alias Feynt Action. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 517 A feint title.
II. Sluggish, timid, feeble.
†2. Avoiding exertion, shirking, lazy, sluggish.
c1325Coer de L. 2519 ‘Rowes on faste! who that is feynt, In evel water may he be dreynt!’ 1393Gower Conf. II. 5 He..had his thoughtes feint Towardes loves and full of slouthe. c1440Promp. Parv. 153 Feynt, segnis. 1513Douglas æneis i. vii. 33 The beis..fra thair hife..Expellis..the faynt drone be. 1680Temple Orig. & Nat. Gov. Misc. 53 The spirits..are rendered faint and sluggish.
3. Wanting in courage, spiritless, cowardly. Obs. or arch. exc. in faint heart (now associated with sense 4 b).
a1300Cursor M. 18081 (Cott.) A faint fighter me thinc er þou. c1300K. Alis. 7597 Haveth now non heorte feynte! c1320Sir Beues 1575 Ase he was mad & feint To Iesu Crist he made is pleint. 1414Brampton Penit. Ps. cxvi (Percy Soc.) 44 Myn herte is fals[e], feynt, and drye. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 184 Thoughe ye shold abyde behynde as weke men and feynte. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lii. 177 Thou arte of a faynte corage. a1593H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 219 The faint spies that went to the land of Canaan. 1627May Lucan iii. (1635) 103 To send thee civill wars Having so faint a chiefe. 1702Rowe Tamerl. i. i, His Party..soon grew faint. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 689 Faint heart never yet raised a trophy.
absol.1814Byron Lara ii. x, The fierce that vanquish, and the faint that yield. 1870Bryant Iliad I. iv. 120 He made the faint of spirit take their place.
b. Proverb.1569W. Elderton Ballad, Brittains Ida v. i, Faint heart ne'er won fair lady. 1624Massinger Parl. Love ii. iii, All hell's plagues light on the proverb That says ‘Faint heart’—! But it is stale.
4. Wanting in strength or vigour.
†a. Of persons or animals, their faculties or condition; also (rarely) of material agents: Weak, feeble; sickly, out of condition. Obs.
c1350Will. Palerne 785 Febul wax he & faynt. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 88 With many ffair ffowle, þouȝ þey ffeynte were. c1420Pallad. on Husb. iii. 288 In bigger bowes fele, and fainter fewe Brannches doo traile. 1513Douglas æneis vii. viii. 74 Thi vile unveildy age, Ourset with hasart hair and faynt dotage. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxlii[i]. 7 My sprete waxeth faynte. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 143 Barley strawe..is fownde..not altogeather soe faint as haver strawe. 1653Walton Angler 130 If I catch a Trout in one Meadow, he shall be white and faint. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 204 If the Sire be faint, or out of Case. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. 36 Where the scantiest or faintest Land-winds are found. 1764Harmer Observ. iv. iv. 142 A very slow faint fire.
b. Of actions, wishes, purposes: Half-hearted, languid, feeble.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. vi. 24 Turning feare to faint deuotion. 1630in Picton L'pool Munic Rec. (1883) I. 158 Many disorders growen..through..faint execucon of those lawes. 1640Habington Edw. IV 183 The King..dismist the Embassadors with some faint comfort. 1728Veneer Sincere Penitent Pref. 4 A faint..progress in..religion. 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 201 Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 581 A faint show of opposition from one or two peers. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. Georgia 37 And found there had been some faint attempt at sweeping.
5. Producing a feeble impression on the senses or the mind; dim, indistinct, hardly perceptible:
a. of light, sound, odour.
1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. 270 The sound grew fainter and fainter. 1665Hooke Microgr. 84 By..Turpentine, &c. all those reflections are made more faint. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Vision, Faint Vision is when a few Rays make up one Pencil, and tho' this may be distinct, yet it is obscure and dark. 1784Cowper Task v. 59 Diligent to catch the first faint gleam Of smiling day. 1818Shelley Rosalind 1015 The summer wind faint odours brought From mountain flowers. a1839Praed Poems (1864) I. 96 Echo shrinks, as if afraid Of the faint murmur she has made. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. i. (1879) 10 A star of the sixth magnitude is..the faintest visible to the naked eye.
b. of a colour.
1552Huloet, Faynte and vnperfite coloure, dilutus color. 1665Hooke Microgr. 74 All manner of Blues, from the faintest to the deepest. 1716Lond. Gaz. No. 5468/4 Stolen..a Faint Bay Horse. 1730Thomson Summer 1317 (1746) From her naked limbs of glowing white, In folds loose⁓floating fell the fainter lawn. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 724 The faintest part of the picture. 1872Bryant Little People of Snow 111 She saw a little creature..With..faint blue eyes.
c. of markings, etc. Applied spec. to the lines of a pale blue or neutral tint ruled on paper as a guide for handwriting. Hence quasi-adv. in ruled faint.
d. of objects of mental perception, e.g. resemblance, probability, etc. Also of conceptions or representations: ‘Pale’ or feeble compared with the reality. Used in superl., with ellipsis of idea, notion.
1727Swift Gulliver ii. viii. 166 Some faint hopes of relief. 1751Jortin Serm. (1771) II. xvii. 333 The faint remembrance of the word of God. 1772Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 113 We form a faint idea of [it]. 1834Pringle Afr. Sk. x. 338 Such is a faint picture of the state of things. 1884Manch. Exam. 11 June 5/3 There is not the faintest chance that [etc.]. 1961Partridge Slang Dict. Suppl. 1083/1. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose ii. 27 ‘Where's Penny?’ said Ann. ‘Haven't the faintest,’ said Miranda.
absol.1840Browning Sordello v. 417 Some first fact I' the faint of time.
6. Feeble through inanition, fear, or exhaustion; inclined to ‘faint’ or swoon. Const. † of, with.
c1320R. Brunne Medit. 509 Þey broȝt hym to pylate, he stode ful feynt. c1380Sir Ferumb. 332 He ys boþe paal & feynt. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy. i. ix, Which of laboure were ful mate and feynt. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 249 Guycharde..was feynte and felle doun to the erthe. 1704F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 30 When a Man..rises first from his sick Bed..he quickly grows faint. 1837Major Richardson Brit. Legion ii. (ed. 2) 291 He was exceedingly..faint with the bruises he had received. 1867Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 272, I was taken so faint afterwards.
transf.1548Hall Chron. 230 b, Knowyng his treasorie..to bee so voyde and faint.
III. 7. a. Producing faintness; sickly; † having a sickly smell. Of the atmosphere: Oppressive.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxxvii. [clxxiii.] 530 The wether was so faynt. 1622Fletcher Beggar's Bush iii. i, The white Cony skin Though it be faint tis faire to the eye. 1673Temple Observ. United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 46 Warm faint Air turns in a Night to a sharp Frost. 1712W. Rogers Voy. 182 The Weather was very wet, hot and faint. 1864Sala in Daily Tel. 16 Aug., I wish La Villa Ricca de Vera Cruz had not quite so faint a smell. 1870Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1879) II. 345 The atmosphere was a little faint and sickish.
b. Of food: not fresh; tainted. local.
1848Dickens Dombey lvii. 573 A man..chewing a faint apple. 1902Westm. Gaz. 25 Oct. 2/3 This meat hadn't been trimmed. I admit it was ‘faint’.
IV. Comb.
8. a. with adjs. of colour, as faint-blue, faint-green, etc. b. parasynthetic, as faint-breathed, faint-hued, faint-lipped, faint-voiced, etc.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 301 The faint-breath'd children Cry often Bek. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 9 Persons..but pale in goodness, and faint hued in integrity. 1820Keats Hyperion iii. 19 Faint-lipped shells. 1832Tennyson Mariana in South 5 A faint-blue ridge upon the right. 1844Ld. Houghton Palm Leaves 138 Purple and faint-green relics of the day. 1871E. F. Burr Ad Fidem xiv. 284 Difficulties become faint-voiced.
9. quasi-adv. with ppl. adjs., as faint-gleaming, faint-glimmering, faint-heard, faint-lit, faint-warbled, etc.
1727–46Thomson Summer 48 The meek-ey'd morn appears..faint-gleaming in the dappled east. 1728–46― Spring 585 The long-forgotten Strain, At first faint-warbled. 1729Savage Wanderer iii. 12 The Stars..faintglimm'ring with remains of day. 1866Howells Venet. Life xvii. 260 Faint-heard refrains. 1867R. Lytton Chron. & Char., The faint-lit cold-wall'd corridors.
▪ III. faint, v.|feɪnt|
Forms: 4–5 feinte, 4–6 faynt(e, (6 fayncte), feynt(e, 5– faint.
[f. faint a.; cf. the rare OF. feintir = sense 1.]
1. intr. To lose heart or courage, be afraid, become depressed, give way, flag. Now only arch. after Biblical uses.
c1350Will. Palerne 3638 For here fon gun feynte & felde were manye. a1400Adam Davy's Dreams 118 A voice me bede I ne shulde nouȝth feinte. 1526Tindale 2 Cor. iv. 1 As mercy is come on us we fayncte not. 1548Hall Chron. 59 b, The straunger so faced the Englishman, that he faynted in hys sute. 1653Holcroft Procopius ii. 41 The soldiers blamed each other for fainting. 1701Steele Chr. Hero iii. 62 His great heart, instead of fainting and subsiding, rose and biggen'd. 1722Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iii. 187 He was despised by many; yet he fainted not. 1827Keble Chr. Y. 24th Sund. after Trin., Why should we faint and fear to live alone. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 478 Answer and faint not.
2. To become faint, grow weak or feeble, decline. Const. in, of. Obs. exc. poet.
c1400Destr. Troy 13918 All feblit þe freike, fainted of strenght. c1450Crt. of Love 460 All her ymage paynte In the remembraunce till thow begynne to faynte. 1530Rastell Bk. Purgat. ii. xviii, The understandynge begynnyth to faynt. 1568Jacob & Esau i. i. 31 in Hazl. Dodsley (1874) II. 190 Sometimes Esau's self will faint for drink and meat. 1623Bingham Xenophon 45 If they perceiue, that you faint in courage. 1697Dryden Virg. æneid ix. 473 The Fires were fainting there. 1820Shelley Œdipus ii. i. 56 Loading the morning winds until they faint With living fragrance. 1866B. Taylor Poems, Odalisque, The day, through shadowy arches fainting.
†b. To fall short. Obs. rare.
1623Bingham Lepsius' Comparison 3 It fainteth or straieth from the marke, if you aime further off.
3. To fall into a swoon. Also with away.
c1400Destr. Troy 3550 He..fainted for febull, and felle to þe ground In a swyme. c1440York Myst. xlv. 95 Caste some watir vppon me, I faynte! 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 149 And now he fainted, And cride in fainting vpon Rosalinde. 1668G. Etherege She Would if She Could iv. i, Oh, I shall faint! 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 107 Where Christ fainted thrice, under the weight of his Cross. 1742Wesley Jrnl. 18 Jan., As soon as she rose from prayer, she fainted away. 1847Grote Greece ii. lii. (1862) IV. 421 He fainted away and fell back. 1880Ouida Moths I. 16 She could have fainted.
b. To droop, sink into. lit. and fig. rare.
1712–4Pope Rape Lock iv. 34 There Affectation..Faints into airs, and languishes with pride. 1821Keats Lamia 139 A flower That faints into itself at evening hour.
4. To lose colour or brightness; to fade, die away. Const. into. Now rare.
1430Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xvii, Coloures that may neuer faynte. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 66 The Wines doe..beginne to faile or faint. 1675A. Browne Ars Pictoria 90 The next [grounds]..as they loose in their distance must..faint..in their colours. 1708H. Philips Cyder ii. 67 Unskill'd to tell Or where one colour rises or one faints. 1711Pope Let. H. Cromwell 12 Nov., Those..figures in the gilded clouds which while we gaze long upon..the whole faints before the eye, and decays into confusion. 1873Miss Thackeray Old Kensington xv. 124 The draperies hang fainting and turning grey and brown. 1890W. C. Russell Ocean Tragedy III. xxxii. 193 The sky had fainted into a sickly hectic.
b. nonce-use. To grow dull or insensible to.
1669Penn No Cross Wks. 1782 II. 93 We fainted to that pleasure and delight we once loved.
5. trans. To make faint or weak, depress, enfeeble, weaken. Rare in mod. use. Also impers. it faints me.
c1386Chaucer Man of Law's T. 828 O luxurie..thou feyntest mannes mynde. c1400Destr. Troy 11162 Þurgh failyng of fode..fainttes þe pepull. c1420Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1090 Ffele I have seyn thair dammes feynt or quelle. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xix. xiii, Doth he not knowe how your hert is faynted? 1581Mulcaster Positions iv. (1887) 22 Neither faint it [the body] with heat, nor freese it with cold. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iii. 103 It faints me To thinke what followes. 1614T. Adams in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxxv. 3 Deferred hope faints the heart. a1657Loveday Lett. (1662) 195 It..faints my industry. 1755Guthrie Christians Gt. Interest (1667) 113 This seriousness breaketh the man's heart, and fainteth the stoutness of it. 1858Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw III. 175 Too much joy almost fainted the heart of the Mistress. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 216 Son, whom needs it faints me to launch full-tided on hazards.
†b. To make less, diminish. Obs. rare.
1599Marston Sco. Villanie iii. viii. 212 With incensing touch To faint his force. |