| 释义 |
illegible, a.|ɪˈlɛdʒɪb(ə)l|
[f. il-2 + legible.]
Not legible, that cannot be read; esp. of written characters: Undecipherable.
[1615P. Gordon Barbour's Bruce Pref., It was an old tome, almost inlegeable in manie places.] 1640Howell Dodona's Gr. (1645) 55 The secretary poured the ink-box all over the writings and so defaced them that they were made altogether illegible. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ix, Here several pages of the manuscript were..totally illegible. 1851Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. Pref. to 2nd ed. 33 It is no excuse for illegible writing, that there are persons who could not have read it had it been plain. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. v. (1878) 58 Mrs. Oldcastle's face..was illegible.
†b. Unreadable, because of language or matter.
1756Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 37/2 Let plodding Sloan his taste for authors boast, The most illegible esteem the most. 1822Jeffrey Let. in Ld. Cockburn Life II. Let. xc, Clarissa Harlowe and Sir C. Grandison owe all their attraction to their length;..an abstract of either would be illegible. 1828Edin. Rev. XLVII. 203 Sir Michael Scott, again—being all magic, witchcraft, and mystery—is absolutely illegible.
Hence iˈllegibly adv., in an illegible manner.
1818in Todd. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 2 The diligent old man..could write so illegibly. |