| 释义 |
unˈsettled, ppl. a.
[un-1 8, or f. unsettle v.]
1. Not peaceful, tranquil, or orderly; disturbed; not (yet) quietly or firmly established.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 424 Of winged Clouds the wide inconstant House, Th' unsettled Kingdome of swift æolus. 1659Nicholas Papers (Camden) IV. 265 The new and unsettled Government in England. 1697Dryden æneis i. 791 My cruel fate, And doubts attending an unsettled state, Force me to guard my coast from foreign foes. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy i. xi, But the two extremes are more common, and in a greater degree in this unsettled island. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. I. 41 The hurry and unsettled state which..had attended their first arrival in the country. 1826Scott Woodst. v, The times were dangerous and unsettled. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. vi. 171 A report of a committee concerning the unsettled government of Virginia.
b. Of weather, etc.: Changeable, variable.
1707Mortimer Husb. 587 If unsettled or moist Weather happen at the time of its working. 1773Cook Voy. (1777) I. 59 The wind continued unsettled. 1803M. Charlton Wife & Mistress IV. 114 His health, which was yet very unsettled. 1879Froude Cæsar xvi. 255 The weather was too unsettled for his fleet..to join him.
Comb.1788J. White Jrnl. Voy. N.S. Wales (1790) 105 Strong breezes, with unsettled-looking weather.
c. That has not yet settled down; still in a state of flux or motion.
1691J. Harrington Introd. in Wood's Ath. Oxon. II. a i b, The Graces of Measure and numbers..are not to be expected in a rude and unsettled Language. 1845J. Phillips Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 552/1 [Remains of plants] might be long suspended in the unsettled water, and be transported along with the finer matter. 1894M. Dyan Man's Keeping (1899) 100 The dust flying in unsettled clouds about him.
2. Not settled in a particular place or position.
1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. vi. §3 To set himselfe in an house of cedar trees, and to behold the arke of the Lord's couenant vnsetled. 1729T. Innes Crit. Ess. (1879) 284 The Francs..appear in history as a people unsettled, roving up and down. 1761Churchill Rosciad 988 Next follows Sheridan—a doubtful name, As yet unsettled in the rank of Fame. 1782Martyn Geog. Mag. i. iii. I. 205 A considerable encampment of these unsettled Arabs. 1807J. Barlow Columb. ii. 212 These tribes have forester'd the fruitful zone, Their seats unsettled, and their name unknown. 1863Boyd Graver Th. Country Parson vii. 106 They were a race of hunters; unsettled, cruel and deceitful. 1896Harper's Mag. XXIII. 26/1, I am a single woman, unsettled as yet.
b. Path. Not confined to a definite part or spot.
1793Abernethy Surg. Ess. 18 He was..teized with unsettled rheumatic pains. 1819Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 267 A severe illness, arising..from unsettled gout.
3. Not settled or staid in character; of a restless or turbulent disposition.
1594Selimus 823 Resolue to venture it, Fortune doth fauour euery bold assay, And t'were a trick of an vnsetled wit Because [etc.]. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 66 All th' vnsetled humors of the Land, Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries. 1607Puritan i. iv. 31 Many desprate, vnsetled souldiours. 1675H. Woolley Gentlewom. Comp. 38 These unstaid dimensions argue unsetled dispositions. 1803Censor 1 July 84, I am sorry you seem so unsettled; I now..advise you to settle in service. 1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 63 Young people, who might be ‘unsettled’; that is, not sufficiently subservient. Ibid. III. 136 Too many of them are unsettled, reckless, slovenly.
b. Marked by absence of regularity, uniformity, staidness, or tranquillity.
c1714Pope Lett. (1735) I. 150 What is commonly called an unsettled Life (and what you with too much unjust Severity call a Vagabond Life). 1787Burns Let. to Jas. Smith 11 June, Should I stay, in an unsettled state, at home, I would only dissipate my little fortune. 1824L. M. Hawkins Annaline I. 307 High compassion called forth at her unsettled and forlorn condition. 1825Lamb Mr. Liston Wks. 1908 I. 315 The orthography varying, according to the unsettled usage of the times. 1830Forrester II. 270, I have already told you..of the unsettled life I led, after the loss of my mother.
c. Unsteady; unquiet.
1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxviii, She..then viewed the face with a long unsettled gaze. 1810Southey Kehama xv. xii, How often did she..from unsettled slumber start, and hear The Winds that moan above!
4. Undetermined, unresolved.
1593Marlowe Lucan i. 264 Now light had quite dissolu'd the mysty night, And Cæsars mind vnsetled musing stood. 1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 667 The Spaniard is not so simple, vnsetled & vncertaine in his determinations, as..to make our papers his Bulwarks. 1618T. Gainsford Hist. P. Warbeck ⁋27 Such humility..won the hearts of many as yet unsettled unto him. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 326 Uncertain and unsettl'd [he] still remains, Deep verst in books and shallow in himself. a1768Secker Serm. (1770) IV. 2 What the prophet Elijah said to the Israelites belongs equally to all of this unsettled Character: How long halt ye between two Opinions? 1823Mrs. Hemans Siege of Valencia v, Ere yet th' unsettled heart hath closed its long Impatient conflicts. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 360 The chiefs came in an unsettled state of mind, and showed at first much opposition to the conclusion of a treaty.
5. Of the mind: Unbalanced, disturbed.
1611Shakes. Temp. v. i. 59 A solemne Ayre, and the best comforter To an vnsetled fancie. 1693Dryden's Juvenal xiv. (1697) 353 It shews a manifest unsetled Brain. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 141 ⁋2 A combination of circumstances acting when his imagination was unoccupied, and his judgment unsettled. 1779Mirror No. 17, Such violent procedure might have effects too dreadful upon a brain which..is already much unsettled. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 180 Accounts perplex'd,..My mind unsettled, and my will unmade. 1825Scott Betrothed xxvii, Is his brain unsettled,..or is there some dreadful mystery in these broken words?
b. Of persons: Mentally affected.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 325 Do'st thinke I am so muddy, so vnsetled, To appoint my selfe in this vexation? 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., Maria, She said, she was unsettl'd much at that time. 1823S. Rogers Italy, Foscari 121 Unnerved, and now unsettled in his mind. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 107/1 A failure so annoyed him, that he became unsettled,..and at length died by his own hand.
6. a. Not assigned by will.
1671Shadwell Humourists iii, Your Estate, by being unsettled, may come to be divided among the Lawyers, after I have killed you. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. II. 232 You shall not..command a sixpence of my fortune, which I shall keep unsettled, as a check upon you.
b. Undischarged, unpaid.
1811Regul. & Orders Army 214 The Nature of the Claims of any Man which remain unsettled. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master ii. 53 Here parcels of unsettl'd bills.
c. Not determined or fixed; not freed from doubt or uncertainty; undecided.
1844J. S. Mill (title), Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. §65, I haven't made up my mind about the number yet, and there are several other points in the system yet unsettled. 1884Imp. Dict. s.v., An unsettled dispute.
7. Not occupied by settlers.
1724[see unseated ppl. a. 1]. 1788Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 617/2 This immense extent of unappropriated western territory, or vacant unsettled land. 1859Cornwallis Panorama New World I. 154 Those occupying runs in the then ‘unsettled’ districts. 1869Froude Short Stud., Educ. (1871) 328 A new and unsettled country.
Hence unˈsettledly adv.
1599Jas. I Basilikon Doron (1603) 115 Neither looking sillely, like a stupide pedant, nor unsetledly. 1651Culpepper Astrol. Judgem. Dis. Ep. A 3 b, That so you may..not float unsetledly upon the waves of Errour. 1685Case of Doubting Conscience 4 The Ballance no longer hangs in aequilibrio, or moves unsetledly this way or that. 1725N. Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1878) I. 72 Whenever any one that is your Superior speaks to you,..look neither..saucily, malapertly, nor unsettledly. 1824Scott Redgauntlet ch. vii, If I thought you were unfortunate in former undertakings,..which might cause you to live unsettledly. |