| 释义 |
headless, a.|ˈhɛdlɪs|
[See -less.]
1. Without a head; having no head; deprived of the head, beheaded.
(Headless hood, in quot. 1579, is explained in the Globe ed., followed by recent Dicts., as = heedlesshood; but Spenser elsewhere always distinguishes headless and heedless.)
c1000ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 159/1 Truncus, heafodleas bodiᵹ. 13..Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1333 The heuedles bodi.. Was i-drawe thourgh eueri strete. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xiv. 331 Hym that never shall come agayn, but he be hedles. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 86 Cuddie, I wote thou kenst little good, So vainely taduance thy headlesse hood. 1596― F.Q. iv. iii. 20 The headlesse tronke, as heedlesse of that stower, Stood still awhile. 1773–91Hoole Orl. Fur. xlii. (R.), The headless trunk of Agramant. 1862D. Wilson Preh. Man II. xix. 126 Headless figures are the symbols of the dead.
†b. In grimly jocular phr. to hop headless = to have the head struck off, to be beheaded. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1082 Hedles schal þou hop. c1330King of Tars 1039 Hou the Sarazins that day Hopped hedles for heore pray. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. vii. 9 Mony ane of the cheif nobilitie..the Bruse gart hap heidles. 1635R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 111 Lest she saw ere long those on whom she most leaned, hop headlesse.
c. Having no head, or having lost the head (in various senses, see head n.1 II); without the top.
headless cross (spec.) = tau cross; see cross n. 18.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 881 Brenne heer and ther the heedles garlek stelis. 1513Douglas æneis vi. xiii. 12 That lenys him apon his heidless speir. 1563in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 163 There shalbe CC blew hedles Crosses made with all convenient spede. 1693C. Mather Wond. Invis. World (1862) 137 Several Poppets..with headless Pins in them, the Points being outward. 1884Milit. Engin. I. ii. 86 Each cylinder is made of gabions or headless casks, placed end to end, and lashed together.
d. Having no part distinctly organized as a head; = acephalous 3.
1880Bastian Brain vii. 107 Sedentary animals, though they may possess a Nervous System, are often headless. 1883American VI. 46 It [the oyster] is a headless creature.
2. Having no chief or leader.
b. Subject to no ecclesiastical head. (Cf. Acephali 2.)
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6617 A lond hedles in tyme of nede. 1529More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1260/1 Now to this great glory can ther no man come hedlesse. Our head is Christ. 1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 93 b, Headles heretikes bicause they were vnder no bishops. 1598Barret Theor. Warres ii. i. 28 Not to send them out like headlesse men. a1647Sir R. Filmer Patriarcha ii. §17 (Rtldg.) 41 It will lie in the hands of the headless multitude. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. xiii. ix. (L.), He..would..appeal to Christendom against the decrees of a headless council.
3. Wanting in brains or intellect; brainless.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 225 That the kyng of heuen wolde marry his onely eternall sone to a hedles woman. 1549Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1641) 22 Neither..touched of headlesse Captaines, nor holden of brainlesse Rebels. 1884Pall Mall G. 12 Sept. 4/2 A landowner, perfectly heartless and headless.
b. Of things, actions, etc.: Senseless, stupid.
1586J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 86/1 Their bare words or headlesse saiengs. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. i. ix. §2 (1622) 62 Headlesse Old-wiues Tales. 1701J. Law Counc. Trade Introd. (1751) 12 The main hazard..will be, of a rash, raw, giddy and headless direction.
Hence ˈheadlessness, headless condition.
1876L. Tollemache in Fortn. Rev. Jan. 112 This singular example of sanitary headlessness.
▸ headless chicken n.in allusion to the phenomenon whereby a chicken can move about after decapitation, attributed to reflex activity of the nervous system colloq. a person acting in a panic-stricken manner and not thinking clearly about what should be done (occas. also of an animal); originally and freq. as part of similative phrases, denoting frantic, unconsidered, and often futile activity, esp. in running about like a headless chicken and variants; also attrib.
1929E. J. Dies Plunger ix. 117 One man was quoted in the Tribune as saying, ‘The old man stood like a rock when other bankers were wringing their hands and flopping about like *headless chickens.’ He was credited, too, with having prevented ‘A panic of dreadful proportions’ when the Harper bubble burst. 1943P. T. Young Emotion in Man & Animal ii. 92 In contrast with reflexive behavior of the headless-chicken type, goal-oriented activity is observed to be persistently directed. 1966R. L. Gale Barron's Simplified Approach to Red Badge of Courage 53 He soon is terrified by the sudden attack and, seeing the others do the same, throws away his rifle and runs like a rabbit, a headless chicken, a blind man. 1977Economist 21 May 122/2 [He] is one of the more frantic of the headless chickens. 1993Sun 31 May 35/1 The players saw the tough side of Taylor as he let fly, accusing them of being headless chickens, of forgetting everything they had worked for and conceding a Sunday parks goal. 2002Independent 8 Mar. (Friday Review section) 1/4 There was a black Chelsea fan who was hyperactive, running around like a headless chicken trying to have a pop at everyone. |