| 释义 |
▪ I. unˈdoing, vbl. n.1
[f. undo v.]
†1. Exposition; interpretation. Obs.
a1330Seuyn Sages (W.) 2352 He scholde..brenge a besaund to offring, And of his sweuen have undoing. 1382Wyclif Gen. xl. 8 And Joseph seide to hem, Whether not of God is the vndoyng? c1425Wyntoun Cron. iv. xxvi. 2576 Discripcion is wrytynge In til our propyr vndoynge. c1440Promp. Parv. 365/1 Ondoynge, or expownynge, exposicio.
2. The action of opening, unfastening, taking apart, loosening, etc.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 477 Of þat ee þe vndoynge Is of oure harte & vndirstandinge. a1400Pauline Ep. (Powell) 1 Cor. vii. 27 If þou art bowndyn to a wif, seeke þou not vndoyng. c1440Promp. Parv. 365/1 Ondoynge, or opynynge of schettellys, or sperellys, apercio. 1486Bk. St. Albans, Hunting e iii, Now of thage & undoyng of the boore. 1598Florio, Disciolare,..to put off hose and doublet without vndoing of points. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 484 The heeles of their shooes are seldome pulled up, to saue labour of vndoing them. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 912 They all bring about a loosening of the frame⁓work of..nervous matter... The muscular system also..shows a like undoing.
3. a. The action of bringing to nought, destroying, or ruining; the fact of being so dealt with; the state of being undone; also (with a), an instance of this.
Quotations under (a) illustrate the active, those under (b) the passive, use of the word.
(a)1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. x. iii. (Tollem. MS.), It is þe leste party and laste in undoynge of the body. 1423Rolls of Parlt. IV. 198/2 In hy udoyng to the Kynges Liege peple, and ayenis the ordenaunce and statuts. c1440Promp. Parv. 365/1 Ondoynge, or dystroyynge, dissipacio, destruccio. c1475Golagros & Gaw. 497 May nane do thame na deir with vndoyng. 1598Florio, Sfaccimento, a defacing,..a defeasance, an vndooing. 1617Hieron Wks. II. 358 If thou leauest out the manner of doing, this is an vndoing to thy doing. 1671J. Flavel Fount. Life v. 13 An Undoing to him in point of Reputation.
(b)c1400Laud Troy Bk. 9125 The Grekes were in point of vndoyng: Ne hadde ther comen ther riche kyng. 1415Sir T. Grey in 43rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. (1882) 583 Hit has broghte me to þis shame and undoyng. 1503–4Plumpton Corr. (Camden) p. cxiii, Sir Roger Hastings is at the point of undoinge, because hee hath not money to pay where he ought to pay. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades ii. vi. 171/1 Neither doest thou read that the state..of the Israelites was euer at any time in greater daunger and peril of vndooing. 1614R. Tailor Hog hath lost Pearle iv, How many country Clyents then might rest, Free from vndooing! a1716South Serm. (1744) XI. viii. 183 He that ventures to be a surety for another, ventures an undoing for his sake.
b. With possessive pronoun or genitive.
Chiefly in passive sense.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 589 Danyel of her vndoynge deuyned and seyde [etc.]. c1440Jacob's Well 127 He took redyly þo ȝiftes, & þat was cause of his vndoyng. 1478Paston Lett. Suppl. (1901) 151 Now he ys uppon hys makyng by vertues governance, or undoyng to the contrarye. 1562Pilkington Expos. Abdias Pref. 16 They saved your lyves and goods, not seeking your undoinge when it laye in their handes. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 353 For, exposed he was..to the accesse of as manie as sought the undoing of others. 1679J. Goodman Penit. Pard. ii. i. (1713) 157 His undoing was his making, and his misfortune proved his recovery. 1740Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 64 You see your undoing has been long hatching. 1823Byron Juan xiv. lxxxv, The latter works its own undoing. 1852Thackeray Esmond iii. ix, He was not the first that has..brought about his own undoing.
c. In the phrase to (one's) undoing.
1456Paston Lett. Suppl. (1901) 59 Thei wuld put alle juparte up on me to myn utter ondoyng. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 97 b, Lest he gete helpe of thy superyour, & so vanquysshe y⊇ to thy vtter vndoynge. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. V, 5 b, Whiche..might abuse the name of his commaundemente to any of our vndoyng. 1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) App. 138 By that meanes all his creditors came upon him to his utter undoinge. 1641W. Hakewill Libertie of Subject 83 That desperate motion that had been made against them to all their utter undoings. 1883Whitelaw Sophocles, Ajax 402 But me the child of Zeus..plagues To my undoing.
4. A cause of ruin or destruction.
1390Gower Conf. III. 229 Which was to him his undoinge. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1906) 60 Adam..beleued his wyff, the whiche was dethe and vndoyng to hym and her, and to us all. 1576in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 414 It is an accion of accompt..like to be the vtter vndooing both of him and his. 1605Chapman All Fools ii. i. 197 It had beene her undooing t' have hime seene. 1659Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 420 The Soldiers brake out into great disorders..; they were a terror to all, and an undoing to many. 1727Gay Begg. Op. i. iv, Mary-bone and the Chocolate-houses are his Undoing. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxiii, She will tell the truth, if it should be the undoing of her. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. xiii. 264 The marriage of Emma had well nigh been the undoing of England.
5. a. The action of reversing, annulling, etc.
1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 30 §1 The said judgementes..shall stande..without any reuersell or vndooyng of the same. 1611Cotgr., Rompement,..a cancelling, dissoluing, infringing, vndoing. 1650B. Discolliminium 16 Our Trade of doing, and undoing, will be endlesse. 1866J. H. Newman Let. to Pusey 36 He..became man, that by what way the disobedience arising from the serpent had its beginning, by that way also it might have an undoing. 1891J. Winsor Columbus ii. 50 When Isabella decreed the undoing of Columbus's kidnapping exploits.
b. Psychoanalysis. The obsessive repetition of a ritualistic action as if to undo some previous event, action, or attitude, or to signify that it never happened, usu. a symptom of obsessional neurosis.
1927L. P. Clark tr. Freud's Inhibition, Symptom & Anxiety vi. 42 The precautionary measures are rational, the abolitions through undoing are irrational, magical in nature. 1960Hinsie & Campbell Psychiatric Dict. (ed. 3) 770/2 Expiatory acts, counter-compulsions, and some forms of compulsive ceremonials and counting compulsions are among the more frequent expressions of undoing. 1965Rosen & Gregory Abnormal Psychol. iv. 75/2 A magical attempt to wipe out a real or fancied guilt is termed undoing. The individual engages in ritualistic behavior. 1972H. J. Eysenck Encycl. Psychol. III. 366/2 Undoing, an (inner) defense mechanism which allows appeasement of a guilt feeling about a forbidden motive gratification that has already occurred.
▪ II. unˈdoing, vbl. n.2 rare—1.
[un-1 12.]
The omission or neglect of doing; non-performance.
1587Golding De Mornay ii. 25 To speake properly, we must not seeke whence commeth the doing of euill, but whence commeth the vndoing of good.
▪ III. unˈdoing, ppl. a.
[f. undo v.]
Ruinous, destructive.
1654Tuckney Death Disarmed 33 It is an undoing gain to break their arm by catching at a feather. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xvi. 305 Little do such men know how..they put an undoing cheat upon their own souls for ever. 1793A. Seward Lett. (1811) III. 292 The present fashion of head-dress..has an undoing influence upon youth and beauty. |