| 释义 |
† unˈportable, a. Obs.
[un-1 7 b, 5 b.]
1. Too burdensome or grievous to be borne; unbearable, intolerable.
1382Wyclif Matt. xxiii. 4 Greuouse chargis, and vnportable, or that mown nat be born. 1424Paston Lett. I. 17 To here grete and unportable drede..in here spirites. c1470G. Ashby Active Policy 172 Ther hath be in late daies..To myche folk unportable punicion. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 299 b, All the great & unportable paynes whiche it was thy blessed wyll to suffre. 1540in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 273 That I may be delyvered from the cure, and to me the unportable burden in governance of this House. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. 491 These important and vnportable matters did no whit moue him.
2. Extremely large.
1536–7Act Hen. VIII, in Bolton Stat. Irel. (1621) 178 Whose Majestie..hath with the expence of an vnportable summe of his own treasure, defended vs.
3. Too heavy to carry.
a1618Raleigh Invent. Shipping 9 Had their Cables of Iron chains held any great length, they had been unportable. 1728E. Smith Compl. Housew. Pref., [It] would fill an unportable volume. 1782W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. II. 78 Which pieces are so large and unportable, that..a cart or wheel-barrow is necessary. |