| 释义 |
faint-hearted, a.|ˌfeɪntˈhɑːtɪd|
[f. as prec. + -ed2.]
Having a faint heart; wanting energy, courage, or will to carry a thing through; timid, cowardly. Also absol.
c1440Promp. Parv. 153 Feynt hertyd, vecors. 1535Coverdale 1 Sam. xiii. 7 All the people were fayntharted after him. 1631Gouge God's Arrows v. xi. 421 A few white⁓liverd, faint-hearted souldiers. 1723De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 17, I find you are faint-hearted, and unfit for our trade. 1843A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 54 Young fellows like you, are sometimes faint-hearted. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 145 A fainthearted..faction soon began to show itself among those of higher degree.
absol.a1600Hooker Eccl. Pol. (1617) 746 The punishment threatened..to the fearful and faint-hearted. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Goethe Wks. (Bohn) I. 395 The disadvantages of any epoch exist only to the faint-hearted.
Hence ˌfaint-ˈheartedly adv., in a fainthearted manner. ˌfaint-ˈheartedness, the quality or state of being fainthearted; timidity, cowardice.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Laschement..faint hartedly. Ibid., Couardise..fainthartednesse. 1605Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows ii. §76 To finde such fainthartednes in my⁓selfe at the first conceit of death. 1671H. M. tr. Erasmus Colloq. 110 But how many Christians dye very faint⁓heartedly? 1753N. Torriano Gangr. Sore Throat 60 A Faint-heartedness..always accompanies Putrefaction and Insensibility. 1874Motley Barneveld (1879) II. xi. 26 Baffled..by the faintheartedness of his nominal friends. 1876Mrs. Whitney Lights & Ins. xi. 120 ‘It is such a responsibility to take’..I said, faint-heartedly. |