| 释义 |
unˈbraced, ppl. a.
[un-1 8 or un-2 8.]
1. With dress or part of dress unfastened or loosened.
c1510Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) E v, Their false heare inuolued, in nettes intricate, Their brestes vnbraced, their smerking paynted chin. a1529Skelton E. Rummyng 134 Some wenches come vnlased, Some huswyues come vnbrased. 1601Holland Pliny II. 308 Women,..with their haire hanging loose about their eares, vngirt, vnlaced, and vnbraced. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. i. 78 Lord Hamlet with his doublet all vnbrac'd, No hat vpon his head. 1622Fletcher Sea-Voy. ii. i, Methought a sweet young man..Stole slylie to my Cabin all unbrac'd. 1821Scott Kenilw. xiv, He found Lord Sussex dressed, but unbraced and lying on his couch. 1875G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto xiii. 120 Presently steals in a slipshod drawer, unbraced, uncombed, unwashed.
2. Of a drum: Not made tight or tense; released from tension.
1625B. Jonson Staple of N. Induct., He doth sit like an vnbrac'd Drum with one of his heads beaten out. 1669Dryden Tyrannic Love i. i, Like the hoarse murmurs of a trumpet's sound, And drums unbraced. 1703Prior Advice to Painter 43 Near this, erected on a Drum unbrac'd, Let Heaven's and James's Enemy be plac'd. 1713S. Centlivre Wonder ii. i, Poor Gentleman, he is as melancholy as an unbraced drum.
3. Loosened, relaxed. Also fig.
1621Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 55 The little winged god with arm unbrac'd, And Bow unbent. 1760Cautions & Adv. Officers of Army 98 Little Good can be expected from him whose..unbraced Nerves..denote him fitter for his Grave..than for his Duty. 1776Paine Com. Sense (1791) 73 The property of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things.
4. Not braced or strengthened (by something).
1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 216 Their sensibilities unbraced by the co-operation of fixed principles. 1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. (1884) 354 His character untouched, his will unbraced. |