| 释义 |
unˈnerve, v.
[un-2 3. Cf. Du. ont-, G. entnerven.]
1. trans. To destroy the strength of; to render physically weak. Also fig.
1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ii. (1626) 26 Pale sudden feare vn-nerves his quaking thighs. 1697Addison Ess. Georgics ⁋8 in Dryden Virgil, The Precepts..are often so minute..that they weaken and un-nerve his Verse. 1725Pope Odyss. xv. 448, When a length of years unnerves the strong, Apollo comes. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. 111 The spectre Poverty unnerv'd his frame. 1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ix. (1852) 271 The sight of mercy so transcendent..has unnerved the power of determined obduracy. 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. xxi. II. 453 This consciousness..unnerved his arm for the execution of the Herculean task. 1870Bryant Iliad v. I. 175 The weariness of toil unnerves thy frame.
2. To deprive (the mind, etc., or a person) of firmness or courage; to render incapable of acting with ordinary firmness or energy.
1704Moderat. Display'd v, A Modern Coward Principle design'd To stifle Justice, and unnerve the Mind. 1725Pope Odyss. xii. 245 Fear seiz'd the mighty, and unnerv'd the brave. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 272 'Tis not alone the grape's enticing juice Unnerves the moral pow'rs, and mars their use. 1791T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scot. 57 The horrid and incessant din..unnerves and overcomes the heart. 1844Talfourd Athenian Captive i. i, To speak of mortal sickness, and unnerve A soul of noble essence. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 125 The fear which it seems to have inspired completely unnerved the Romans.
Hence unˈnerving ppl. a.; unˈnervingly adv.
1722Hamilton Wallace v. (1816) 73 And sure while Scotia's enemies remain, Unnerving love should ever sue in vain. 1744P. Whitehead Gymnasiad iii. 53 He, alas! had felt th' unnerving Blow. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. (1823) I. 7 The mystic tribes of night's unnerving breeze. 1894Crockett Raiders 354, I had that sense of being hunted, which comes so quickly and is so unnerving. 1962I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xxxiii. 313 There was something unfocussed, something a little unnervingly fragmentary, in his present apprehension of Lindsay. 1976T. Heald Let Sleeping Dogs Die i. 10 Parkinson had been unnervingly friendly. |