| 释义 |
helpless, a.|ˈhɛlplɪs|
[f. help n. + -less.]
1. Destitute of help; having no assistance from others; needy. (Of persons, their condition, etc.)
c1175Lamb. Hom. 129 Drihten alesde þene wrechan..þe wes al helples. c1200Vices & Virtues (1888) 23 Ðat ðu naked ware and helpleas. c1460Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 182, I will not leyf you all helples, as men withoutten freynd. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 158 Hopelesse and helpelesse doth Egeon wend. 1694Kettlewell Comp. Persecuted 141 Helper of the Helpless..be thou my Fortress. 1715–20Pope Iliad vi. 513 A widow I, an helpless orphan he. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 379 Even to their families when they have left them in a helpless condition.
†b. Destitute (of). Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 83 Olde men and hore, þat helples beoþ of strengþe. a1700Dryden (J.), Helpless of all that human wants require.
2. Having no resources in oneself; unable to help oneself; shiftless. (The ordinary current sense.)
1620Quarles Div. Poems, Jonah, This naked portraiture before thine Eye Is wretched, helplesse man, man born to die. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. cxxx, One dire shot..Close by the board the Prince's main-mast bore..All three now helpless by each other lie. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 655 Strange names our rustics give To helpless infants. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 631 Tyrconnel looked on in helpless despair. 1871R. Ellis Catullus xvii. 18 Helpless as alder Lies, new-fell'd in a ditch.
3. Affording no help; unavailing, unprofitable. (The opposite of helpful.) Now rare.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 39 Thou..With vrging helpelesse patience would releeue me. 1592― Ven. & Ad. 604 As those poor birds that helpless berries saw. 1732Pope Ess. Man ii. 154 A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vii. ii. II. 242 Incondite dateless helpless Prussian Books.
†4. Admitting no remedy; that cannot be helped.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 49 Helplesse hap it booteth not to mone. Ibid. vii. 39 Such helpless harmes yts better hidden keep. |