| 释义 |
vengeful, a.|ˈvɛndʒfəl|
[f. venge v., after revengeful. Cf. avengeful a.]
1. Harbouring revenge; seeking vengeance; prone or inclined to avenge oneself; vindictive.
a1599Spenser F.Q. vii. vi. 48 [She] thinkes what punishment were best assign'd And thousand deathes deuiseth in her vengefull mind. 1701F. Manning Poems 77 A worse Event..The vengeful Cupid sent. 1713Swift On Himself Wks. 1755 IV. i. 12 The queen incens'd, his services forgot, Leaves him a victim to the vengeful Scot. a1763Shenstone Inscription vi. 24 Fair and flow'ry is the brake, Yet it hides the vengeful snake. 1812Combe Syntax, Picturesque xxv. 452 Again the vengeful foes appear'd, Again their angry standards rear'd. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxx. 414 One of them, the male, is excited—the other, the female, collected and vengeful. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets i. 9 Ulysses is..pitiless in his hostility; subtle, vengeful, cunning.
transf.c1600Shakes. Sonn. xcix, But for his theft..A vengfull canker eate him vp to death. 1848Faber Spir. Confer. (1870) 124 Wasted time is a vengeful thing. 1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such iv. 159 An abandoned belief may be more effectively vengeful than Dido.
b. Inflicting vengeance; serving as an instrument of vengeance. Said of a weapon, the hand or arm, etc.
(a)a1586Sidney Ps. xxi. xii, Thou shalt..ready make thy vengefull bow Against their guilty faces. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 198 Here's a vengefull Sword, rusted with ease. a1623Fletcher Love's Cure v. iii, I pray His vengeful sword may fall upon thy head Successfully. 1725Pope Odyss. i. 154 The proud oppressors fly the vengeful sword. 1807G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. iii. 253 The victorious career of Ida was stopt..by the vengeful sword of the valorous Owen. 1869Goulburn Purs. Holiness i. 1 So could he bid the vengeful fire fall from heaven.
(b)1696Tate & Brady Ps. cvi. 17 Her vengeful Jaws extending wide. 1729T. Cooke Tales, etc. 140 Of all who fought beneath this Chief's Command Not one escap'd the Critic's vengeful Hand. 1748Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 168 Rebellion's vengeful talons. a1800Cowper Iliad (ed. 2) xxi. 343 Allow no respite to thy vengeful arm Till ev'ry Trojan..within Ilium's lofty walls Be fast enclosed.
2. Of actions or feelings: Characterized or prompted by revengeful motives; arising from a desire for vengeance.
1635–56Cowley Davideis iii. Poems (1905) 328 Full thrice six years they felt fierce Eglons yoke, Till Ehuds sword Gods vengeful Message spoke. 1649Milton Eikon. viii. Wks. 1851 III. 392 That choleric, and vengefull act of proclaiming him Traitor. 1709Prior Carm. Sec. xvii, With wise Silence pond'ring vengeful Wars. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VII. 193 To us who seldom feel the vengeful wound, it is merely a subject of curiosity. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxix, The fury darted her knife at him with the vengeful dexterity of a wild Indian. 1845Ld. Campbell Chancellors liv. (1857) III. 77 In no composition that I have met with is there a greater display of vengeful malignity. 1874Green Short Hist. viii. §7. 534 The Massacre had left them the objects of a vengeful hate.
Hence ˈvengefully adv., ˈvengefulness.
1830–1Ruskin Iteriad ii. 300 His dark lightning-eye made him seem..like his own Thalaba, *vengefully fired. 1844Kinglake Eothen iv, On he goes vengefully thirsting for the best blood of Troy. 1897Advance (Chicago) 31 July 143/1 He looked at his mother vengefully.
1727Bailey (vol. II), *Vengefulness, vindictive or revengeful Temper or Nature. 1862Meredith Poet. Wks. (1912) 134 He fainted on his vengefulness, and strove To ape the magnanimity of love. |