| 释义 |
▪ I. fribble, n. and a.|ˈfrɪb(ə)l|
[f. next vb.]
A. n.
1. A trifling, frivolous person, one not occupied in serious employment, a trifler.
1664J. Wilson Cheats i. iii, A Company of Fribbles, enough to discredit any honest House in the World. 1771J. Giles Poems 161 A nymph who can for me forego The fop, the fribble, and the beau. 1865Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxiv. 128 The criminals they lash were at least no milksops in crime, no fribbles in vice. 1874M. Clarke His Natural Life (1875) I. i. xi. 162 Flirt, fribble, and shrew as she was. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet ii. iii, Yonder little fribble..is a haberdasher from town, who pretends to be a Templar. 1912D. H. Lawrence Let. 14 Nov. (1932) 76 William gives his sex to a fribble.
2. A trifling thing; also, a frivolous notion, idea, or characteristic.
1832W. Stephenson Gateshead Poems 24 To supply his horse's rack He deem'd it but a fribble. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 83 The fribbles, oddities, and monstrosities of humanity.
3. Frivolity, nonsense.
1881E. Mulford Republic of God ii. 31 note, This life, that is not that of fribble or of crime, is not ephemeral.
4. Comb., as fribble-like adj.; fribble-frabble, nonsense.
1822T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 239 He with legs planted wide in this fashion, Fribble-like, swings his frame. 1859Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 77 The innumerable whim⁓whams and fribble-frabble of fashion.
B. adj. Trifling, frivolous, ridiculous.
1798Brit. Critic Jan. 96 The superficial, trivial and frigid manner in which that fribble minister (Ministre de Boudoir) treated this important branch of administration. 1839Thackeray Crit. Rev. Wks. 1886 XXIII. 128 An illustration of some wretched story in some wretched fribble Annual. 1840― Catherine i, Lovely woman!..what lies and fribble nonsense canst thou make us listen to.
Hence ˈfribbledom, the spirit or behaviour of a fribble; ˈfribbleism, the quality characteristic of a fribble, frivolity.
1758Phanor in Goldsmith's Wks. (ed. Gibbs) IV. 429 He [Shakespear] disdained the fribleism of the French, in adopting the blemishes with equal passion as the beauties of the ancients. 1844Blackw. Mag. LV. 557 Such as the Quarterly informed us last year, in a fit of fribbledom, were worthy the neat little crowquills of lady-authors.
▪ II. fribble, v.|ˈfrɪb(ə)l|
[onomatopœic; prob. influenced in sense by association with frivol.]
†1.
a. trans. To falter, stammer (out); also intr. with through.
b. intr. To falter, totter in walking. Obs.
a1627Middleton Mayor of Queenborough v. i, They speak but what they list of it, and fribble out the rest. 1640Brome Antipodes ii. Wks. 1873 III. 257 If he [the actor] can frible through, and move delight In others, I [the author] am pleas'd. a1652― Mad Couple ii. ibid. I. 26 You haue often muttered and fribled some intentions towards me. 1709Steele Tatler No. 49 ⁋8 The poor Creature fribles in his gate. 1848Craig, Fribble..to totter like a weak person.
2. intr. In early use, to act aimlessly or feebly, to busy oneself to no purpose; to ‘fiddle’. Now (exc. dial.) only in strongly contemptuous sense: To behave frivolously, trifle.
1640Brome Sparagus Garden ii. ii, As true as I live he fribles with mee sir Hugh. 1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 36 Though Cheats yet more intelligible Than those that with the Stars do fribble. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. lxxviii. 378 He fribbled with his waistcoat buttons, as if he had been telling his beads. 1855Thackeray Newcomes II. 27 Not as you treat these fools that are fribbling round about you. 1892I. Zangwill Bow Myst. 60 Who's fribbling now, you or me, Cantercot? 1895E. Anglian Gloss., Fribble, to fuss about.
b. trans. to fribble away: to throw away or part with lightly, fool away. to fribble out (nonce-use): to portray with purposeless minuteness.
1633Shirley Witty Fair One iv. ii, Here is twenty pieces; you shall fribble them away at the Exchange presently. a1834Lamb Final Mem. viii. To B. Barton, Rembrandt has painted only Belshazzar, and a courtier or two..not fribbled out a mob of fine folks. 1879McCarthy Own Times I. x. 205 While Lord Melbourne and his Whig colleagues..were fribbling away their popularity. 1887Fenn Master of Ceremonies xii, Don't fribble away the season.
3. To frizz or frizzle (a wig). Sc.
1756[see fribbled ppl. a.]. 1822Galt Steamboat xii. 297 The minister had a blockhead whereon he was wont to dress and fribble his wig.
Hence ˈfribbled ppl. a., ˈfribbling vbl. n. and ppl. a. Also ˈfribbler, a trifler; ˈfribblery, frivolity.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 474 The gingling Eare, or Fancy..may have Patterns exceeding ordinary Imitation, or Friblings of Wit. 1656R. Fletcher Martiall iii. 63 He then that's pretty's but a fribbling fool. a1680Earl of Rochester Poems (1702) 129 And fribling for free speaking does mistake. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), A Fribbling Question. 1712Steele Spect. No. 288 ⁋2 A Fribbler is one who professes Rapture and Admiration for the Woman to whom he addresses, and dreads nothing so much as her Consent. 1756W. Toldervy Two Orphans III. 106 It was a severe punishment to the fribbled jessamy waiter. 1873H. Kingsley Oakshott xli. 278 He had been writing fribbling poetry. 1889T. Wright Chalice of Carden xxxiii. 227 Why this waste of time, this wronging of self, this reduction to a condition of fribblery? |