| 释义 |
fireless, a.|ˈfaɪəlɪs|
[f. fire n. + -less.]
Devoid of fire, without a fire.
†1. Unlit, not flaming. Obs.
1649Stanley Europa etc. 29 With hizzing firelesse Torches.
2. a. Having no fire, without a fire.
1661Brome Epist. to Mr. J. B. 6 My fireless chymnies catch the cold. 1775F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 117 This cold season, when there is no writing in a fireless room. 1789Wordsw. Evening Walk, When..fireless are the valleys far and wide. 1852Hawthorne Blithedale Rom. I. v. 81, I went shivering to my fireless chamber.
b. Of a people: Having no knowledge of or means of procuring fire.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 228 The mention of a fireless race. ibid. 229 A fireless people.
c. fireless cooker, an insulated chamber brought to a heat suitable for cooking and capable of maintaining sufficient heat to cook with; also, = hay-box (hay n.1).
1908E. A. Huntington (title) The fireless cooker. 1945R. Molloy Pride's Way 291, I believe Mrs. Wilson approves of a fireless cooker. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai v. 83 The other gadget was the Fireless Cooker..a wooden box filled with straw.
3. fig. Without energy, life, or animation.
The alleged example from1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. (1641) 86/1 is an error for sireless a., q.v.
1656Trapp Comm. Matt. iii. 11 The Latines call a dull dronish man, a fireless man. |