| 释义 |
grievance|ˈgriːvəns|
Forms: 4–6 grevaunce, (5 -awnce, -ons), 4–7 grevance, (5 -ans(e, 7 greevance), 6– grievance.
[a. OF. grevance, grievance, f. grever to harm, grieve: see -ance.]
†1. The infliction of wrong or hardship on a person; injury, oppression; a cause or source of injury. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 27823 (Cott. Galba) Couatyse es ane euil syn Þat mikel greuance gers bygin. c1386Chaucer Melib. ⁋520 If..a man of gretter myght and strengthe than thou art do thee grevaunce, studie and bisye thee rather to stille the same grevaunce, than for to venge thee. 1390Gower Conf. III. 34 The bodely delices alle..Unto the soule done grevaunce. c1400Destr. Troy 5034 And all giltes [ben] for-gyffen & greuans of old. c1440Promp. Parv. 211/1 Grevawn[c]e, or offence, or trespace, offensa, aggra[va]men. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cclxxxvi. 427 The frenchmen kepte good company with their prisoners, and raunsomed them courtesly, without any greuaunce to them. 1609Bible (Douay) Song 3 Childr. 27 The fire touched them not at al, nor payned them, nor did them anie grevance. 1641Protests Lords I. 4 To the great and universal grievance of your people. 1684H. More Answ. 190 To the much grievance and oppression of the people. 1720Pope Iliad xxii. 159 The Wife with-held, the Treasure ill-detain'd (Cause of the War, and Grievance of the Land), With honourable Justice to restore. 1765Blackstone Comm. i. vii. 244 If the consequence of that exertion be manifestly to the grievance or dishonour of the kingdom. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 127 (Le Dimanche) Happy people! that..sport away the weights of grievance which bow down the spirit of other nations.
†2. The state or fact of being oppressed, injured, or distressed; trouble, distress; suffering, pain. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 23083 In mi greuance yee did me gode. 13..Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2027 He..tolde hem alle his greuance. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 2753 Þai sal haf a day þare Als mykel bitter payn or mare, Als a man mught thole here of penaunce A yhere and fele als mykel grevaunce. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 213 Aurelius Hadde loued hire best of any creature..But neuere dorste he tellen hire his greuance. a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1065 Povert hathe in hym self ynow grevaunce, Withouten that that man hym more purchace. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 196 Clothis, wodde, and colle..by the wych he myght escape wythout empeyrement the grevaunce of the wyntyr. c1460Towneley Myst. iii. 58 Sex hundreth yeris and od haue I..liffyd with grete grevance. a1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxxi. iv, The moony vapours Shall not cast any mist to breed thy grevaunce. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. i. 163 See where he comes..Ile know his greeuance, or be much denide.
3. A circumstance or state of things which is felt to be oppressive. In mod. use, a wrong or hardship (real or supposed) which is considered a legitimate ground of complaint; something to complain of.
1481Caxton Myrr. iii. viii. 147 The fruytes..ben other⁓while sonner rype in one yere than in an other, and more assured of tempestes and other greuances. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iii. 37 Madam, I pitty much your grieuances. 1609Daniel Civ. Wars iv. lxxv, Future ill On present suffrings bruted to aryse, That farther grieuances ingender will. 1649Milton Eikon. v. Wks. (1847) 288/1 They undid nothing in the state but irregular and grinding courts, the maine grievances to be removed. 1661Bramhall Just Vind. vii. 173 The hundred Grievances of the German Nation proposed to the Popes Legate. 1688Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 226 As to y⊇ Request of y⊇ Assembly for Relief of Grievances. 1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 17 May, The war is a general grievance upon the people. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xxxiii. 16 One Day meeting me on the Green near the Fort, he stopt me to relate his Grievances. 1795Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 310 It is a foolish language, adopted from the united Irish⁓men, that their grievances originate from England. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 42 They sent to the King a statement of their grievances. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 124 In an early state of society any kind of taxation is apt to be looked on as a grievance. 1882A. W. Ward Dickens v. 112 The length of Chancery suits was a real public grievance. 1883C. J. Wills Mod. Persia 367 On being troubled by a pertinacious clergyman with many grievances.
†4. A disease, ailment, hurt. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 61 Sapience..swelleth a mannes soule, Ac grace is a grasse therof The greuaunces to abate. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 32 Þai schuld neuer hafe swilke greuaunce ne disese of þam mare. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. xxiv. (1869) 84 Al be it she hath no greuaunce, yet hath she displesaunce. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. v. 11 Ulcers and grievances of the mouth. 1634W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. i. iii, Many that haue come infirme out of England, retaine their old grievances still. 1761F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph II. 279 The Bath surgeon..declared it as his opinion, that the complaint might be removed without amputation, adding, that it was owing to wrong management that the grievance had gone so far.
†5. Displeasure, indignation, offence. to take in or to grievance, to take grievance with: to take offence at. Obs. (Cf. grief n. 4 b.)
c1380Sir Ferumb. 258 Charlys was in his greuance, stondyng among his feren. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 126, I prai the tak to no grevance This kene karping of syr Kay. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 10757 Grace dieu..Wych ys, sothly, evele apayd, And taketh gretly in greuaunce The maner off thy governaunce. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 1257 Yet sum there be therewith take grevaunce, And grudge thereat with frownyng countenaunce.
6. attrib. and Comb. grievance-monger.
1828Toronto Pub. Lib. MS. B 104 41 Like William Lyon Mackenzie, he was a confirmed grievance-monger. 1860Sat. Rev. IX. 304/2 They are the men who..hold grievance-meetings about the parson's surplice. 1890Spectator 2 Aug., The grievance-mongers will gather together. 1896Tablet 9 May 751 Those spoilt children of the State..are very busy just now in grievance-making. 1966Economist 12 Nov. 647/2 Mrs Gandhi's government and party can hardly be considered blameless. What they have to do to meet the real grievances that the grievance-mongers exploit is, simply, to succeed.
Hence † ˈgrievancer, one who occasions a grievance; one who gives ground for complaint.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. xi. xvii. §4 ⁋12 Now no day passed, wherein some petition was not presented..against the Bishops as grand grievancers. |