| 释义 |
▪ I. unˈsightly, a.
[un-1 7. Cf. MDu. onsicht(e)lijc, -lic (Du. † onzichtelijk), invisible, ugly, MLG. unsichtlik, MHG. unsihtlîh, -lîch invisible.]
Unpleasing to the eye; unhandsome, ugly.
In first quot. perhaps = ‘unable to see’.
a1425Cursor M. 6706 (Trin.), Who so smiteþ out his þralles eȝe And makeþ him vnsiȝtiliȝe [Gött. vnsihti for to sie; Cott. vn-mighti for-to seie]. 1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xviii. 139 Beeyng a slouenly felowe and vnsightly in his geare. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 59 The face woulde bee euill fauoured and vnsightly, if it were hairy. 1634Milton Comus 629 A small unsightly root, But of divine effect. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 82 They..betray their breeding by..an unsightly bow. 1757W. Wilkie Epigon. vi. 162 Now the place Unsightly shrubs o'erspread. 1784Cowper Task ii. 588 There..it compresses hard The..most unsightly bones. 1855Prescott Philip II, i. iii. I. 34 The unsightly trophies of the heads and limbs of numerous victims. 1892Stevenson Across the Plains vi, You can never have dwelt in a country more unsightly than that part of Caithness.
b. Applied to immaterial things.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 159 Good Sir, no more: these are vnsightly trickes. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 76 Truth,..whose first appearance to our eyes..is more unsightly and unplausible than many errors. 1787Cowper Poet's N. Year's Gift 8 To wish thee fairer is no need,..or more freed From temper-flaws unsightly. 1810Wordsw. Ess. Epitaphs ⁋6 The unsightly manner in which our monuments are crowded together.
▪ II. † unˈsightly, adv. Obs.—1
[un-1 11.]
In an unsightly manner.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 5/1 No Building..can be placed more unsightly or inconveniently, than in a Valley. |