| 释义 |
unˈmake, v.
[un-2 3. Cf. MDu. (Du.) ontmaken, OHG. in(t)mahhôn (G. entmachen).]
1. trans. To reverse or undo the making of (some thing or object); to reduce again to an unmade condition.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 11270 He made [nets], & hem vnmade ageyn. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. lxiii. (1869) 38 It is a iewell that was..maad..of my fader with oute smytinge of strok... For noyse and strokes maken it nouht, but tobreken it and vnmaken it. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. vi, So that Prelaty..must be forc't to dissolve and unmake her own pyramidal figure. 1690T. Burnet Theory Earth II. 132 God does not make or unmake things, to try experiments. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 74 ⁋11 She compels them to alter their work, then to unmake it. 1857Emerson Ode to Beauty 99 Dread Power!..if God thou be, Unmake me quite, or give thyself to me. 1868Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. i. 339 And now thou knowest in how short a space The God that made the world can unmake thee.
absol.1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 11416 And thogh that I make & vnmake, Blame me nat. 1821Byron Cain i. i. 142 But, if he made us—he cannot unmake.
b. With immaterial object.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 236 Matrimoigne for monye [they] maken & vnmaken. 1513Douglas æneid vi. ix. 199 Sum vtheris..That lawis maid and wnmaid, as thaim list. a1536Tindale in Marbeck Bk. of Notes (1581) 746 Who can suffer them.., for their owne profites, to make and vnmake lawes..? 1639Fuller Holy War ii. xvii. 67 God will not unmake his miracles by making them common. 1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) V. 266 When a statute..has been unmade by the authority that made it. 1822Byron Juan vi. lx, In perfect innocence she then un⁓made Her toilet, which cost little. 1860Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. Part. III. cxxiv. 77 The study of what has made and unmade military successes.
absol.1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 352 His Soule is so enfetter'd to her Loue, That she may make, vnmake, do what she list. 1848Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 17 Then comes the feeling which unmakes, undoes. 1876Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. II. 401 Perhaps the very first thing we see that wisdom do, is to unmake and separate, and seem to break and mix yet more.
2. a. To deprive of a particular rank or station; to depose.
1554Bale Declar. Bonner's Articles xix. 68 He is wonte to make kinges, and to vnmake them again at his plesure. 1567Jewel Def. Apol. 418 Saieinge withal, Hee had Power to make Emperours, and to vnmake them. 1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xiv. 129 An English King hath power..to make and unmake Members [of Parliament] as he shal please. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 70 They made and unmade Popes at their pleasure. 1736Thomson Liberty iv. 879 He mark'd the Barons of excessive sway, At pleasure making and unmaking kings. 1808Mitford Hist. Greece IV. 353 He made and unmade there what kings he pleased. 1894Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough I. 178 Her authority was such, that she could make and unmake ministers.
b. To deprive of a certain character or quality; to alter in nature. Also with compl.
1616B. Jonson Epigr. lv, At once thou mak'st me happie, and vnmak'st. 1669Dryden Tyrannic Love iii. i, You are so pure—That in the act 'twould change the impiety. Heaven would unmake it sin! 1709Tatler No. 66 ⁋4 To make our Patient any Thing better, we must unmake him what he is. 1710Shaftesbury Charac. (1711) I. 308 That which we fondly make our Happiness at one time, we may as readily un-make again at another. 1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ix. 200, I take her as God made her, and as men Must fail to unmake her. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871) II. 8 Her modest attitude..is partly what unmakes her as the heathen Goddess, and softens her into woman.
3. fig. To undo; to ruin or destroy; to bring to nothing.
1605Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 54 They haue made themselues, and that their fitnesse now Do's vnmake you. 1652Benlowes Theoph. iii. lxxxix, Sure, Thou to guilt, Which would unmake thy creatures, wilt Be just. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 189 To mistrust boundless wisdom, to contrive so, that it might have better been contrived, is to unmake its boundlesness. 1867Felton Anc. & Mod. Gr. II. i. 264 If the great powers are going to make a permanent European state out of Turkey, they must unmake the Turk. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. vii. 135 The machine unmakes the man.
4. To annul a decision of (the mind).
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 4 When you have made up your mind to go to West Africa the very best thing you can do is to get it unmade again.
Hence unˈmaking vbl. n.
1591Percivall, Deshazimiento, vndooing, vnmaking. a1676Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iii. i. (1677) 254 Though he seems to admit Eternal Vicissitudes of such Making, and Unmaking, and Restitutions of the inferior World. 1867H. Bushnell Moral Uses Dark Th. 285 A general unmaking of the world by transgression. 1871Smiles Charac. xi. 324 A wife may be the making or the unmaking of the best of men. |