| 释义 |
▪ I. gasp, n.|gɑːsp, -æ-|
Also 6–7 gaspe.
[f. gasp v.]
1. A convulsive catching of the breath from distress, exertion, or the lessening of vital action; also, as a result of surprise.
1586Warner Alb. Eng. iv. xxi[i]. (1589) 94 [He] shortly gaue a quiet gaspe or twaine. 1727–32Gay Fables ii. xvi. 53 Can those [hoards] prolong one gasp of breath, Or calm the troubled hour of death? 1810Scott Lady of L. i. vii, While every gasp with sobs he drew, The labouring stag strained full in view. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop iv, The old lady gave a gasp. 1879Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 67 Then followed gasps and sobs, and then the steady flow Of kindly tears.
b. esp. (one's) last gasp: the final attempt to draw breath before the departure of life. at the last gasp: at the point of death. Also fig.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. 147 Retayning a valiant and inuincible minde vnto the last gaspe. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 17 Tell her the spirit of Antonio Wisheth his last gaspe breath'd upon her breast. 1611Shakes. Cymb. i. v. 53 His Fortunes all lye speechlesse, and his name Is at last gaspe. 1655Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 338 At this instant he [Cromwell] is like one at y⊇ laste gaspe, full of convulsions, laying hould on what commes next him. 1736Butler Anal. i. i. Wks. 1874 I. 29 In those diseases..[there may be] the highest mental enjoyments and sufferings, even to the last gasp. 1846Trench Mirac. vi. (1862) 184 He left her at the last gasp; he knew not whether to regard her as alive or dead. 1851Hussey Papal Power iii. 158 The authority of the Augusti breathed on that day its last gasp in Rome.
2. transf. in various occasional uses.
c1611Chapman Iliad xxiii. 380 But straite, more cleare appear'd the streight, Antilochus foresaw, It was a gaspe the earth gaue, forc't, by humours, cold and raw. 1710Congreve On Mrs. A. Hunt, Singing Wks. III. 875 Let..ev'ry ruder Gasp of Breath Be calm, as in the Arms of Death. 1795A. Musgrave Cicely I. 20 The wish to see our new sister occupied every thought, and engrossed every gasp of conversation 'till we reached Raby. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxi. (1856) 268 Winds nearly at rest, with the exception of a little gasp from the westward.
▪ II. gasp, v.|gɑːsp, -æ-|
Forms: 4 gaysp, 4–7 gaspe, 7– gasp.
[a. ON. geispa to yawn (Sw. gäspa), by metathesis from *geip-sa, cf. geip idle talk, geipa to talk idly. The weak grade of the root, found in Sw. dial. gispa, Da. gispe, appears also in Sw. mungipa corner of the mouth, OE. ᵹipung open mouth, f. ᵹipian to yawn (only in pr. pple ᵹypiᵹend ‘hiulcus’ = OLow Frankish gipendi ‘patens’). The root *gap- (see gape v.), whence Ger. dial. gapsen to gape for breath, belongs to a different vowel-series, but the sense of ‘opening’ is apparently common to both.]
1. intr. To catch the breath with open mouth, as from exhaustion (esp. in the death-struggle) or astonishment.
1390Gower Conf. II. 260 And thries on the water there She gaspeth with a drecchinge onde. a1400Morte Arth. 1462 Thare ware gomes thurghe-girde with grundyne wapynes, Grisely gayspande with grucchande lotes! 1583Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 61 Whilst I beheld Priamus thus gasping. 1645–6Milton Sonn. xi, Those rugged names to our like mouthes grow sleek, That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp. 1794F. Burney Lett. Apr., I almost gasped with impatience and revived old feelings. 1813Scott Trierm. ii. xxv, Already gasping on the ground Lie twenty of the Table Round. 1848Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. ii. iii. §2. 155 He has taken our breath away, and leaves us gasping.
fig.1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 126 The flouds do gaspe, for dryed is theyr sourse.
2. to gasp for (occas. after): to pant for (air); fig. to long for, to desire eagerly (cf. gape v.4).
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxiii. i, O God..How gaspes my soule for thy refreshing taste! 1684T. Hockin Gods Decrees 333 Future happiness..nature it self does incessantly gasp and breath after. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 375 The sick, for Air before the Portal gasp. 1711Addison Spect. No. 198 ⁋5 Seeing how dearly they loved one another, and gasped after their Liberty. 1833L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 9 The doors and windows, as we passed, were all open, gasping for air. 1844Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1850 I. 59 And gasp for space amid the Infinite.
3. trans. and quasi-trans. To exhale (occas. also, to inhale) with convulsive breathings, esp. to gasp one's last, to gasp (life) away. Also to gasp out: to utter with gasps. † to gasp up: to give up (the ghost).
1534Sir T. More Cumfort agst. Tribulation (1573) 42 And long was it not ere they gasped vp the goste. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 149, I cannot looke greenely, nor gaspe out my eloquence. 1653Baxter Chr. Concord 97 We have no other way to revive the hopes of the Churches, now they seem to be ready to gasp their last. 1697Dryden æneid ix. 558 He staggers round, his Eyeballs rowl in Death, And with short sobs he gasps away his Breath. 1791Cowper Iliad iv. 621 He..lay gasping life away. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 501 The poor girl..gasped out, ‘May God save him, if it be God's will!’ 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xi. 113, I soon found myself gasping the ammoniacal steam of some fourteen..fellow lodgers. |