| 释义 |
ˈvirtueless, a.
Also 4–7 vertu-, 6–7 vertue-.
[f. virtue n. + -less.]
1. Destitute of efficacy or excellence; ineffective, worthless.
c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 344 Wo worth þe faire gemme vertules. Wo worth þat herbe also þat doth no bote. 1390Gower Conf. III. 129 The seconde is noght vertules, Clota or elles Pliades It hatte. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark ix. 58 In the presence of the disciples they depraued the name of Jesu, as a thing vertuelesse, and of no efficacie. 1600Fairfax Tasso vi. lxviii, And vertuelesse she wisht all herbes and charmes, Wherewith false men encrease their patients harmes. 1627Hakewill Apol. ii. v. §3, I do not consent with them who would make those glorious Creatures of God vertulesse. c1642Observ. his Majesty's late Answ. & Expresses 9 Parliaments are thus vertulesse and void Courts. 1824New Monthly Mag. X. 264 The winds of March..are far from being virtueless. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. v. §4 The architecture of Palladio is wholly virtueless and despicable.
2. Destitute of virtue or moral goodness; immoral, vicious.
1402Hoccleve Let. of Cupid 262 But swyche filthes [= low women] as weren vertulesse, they quytten thus, this olde clerkis wisse. 1407Scogan Mor. Balade 133 That, whan ye come in your juges presence, Ye be not set as vertules behynde. 1533More Apol. x. Wks. 867/2 Howe badde so euer they reken me, I am not yet fullye so vertuelesse, but that [etc.]. 1594O. B. Quest. Profit. Concern. 23 The strange and monstrous life and death, of a vertulesse recreant. 1602How Choose Good Wife i. i. in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 9 O, too unkind unto so kind a wife, Too virtueless to one so virtuous. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. (1869) 112 We know the wicked man's..name, and yet..his virtueless name shall rot. 1803M. Charlton Wife & Mistress I. 307 You are not to become a worthless, virtueless, shameless fine lady. 1847G. Harris Life Ld. Hardwicke xiii. III. 222 Sallies of indignation, possibly not altogether virtueless, which on special occasions were wont to emanate from this monarch's lips.
Hence ˈvirtuelessness.
1891H. S. Constable Horses, Sport & War 221 The cowardice, imbecility, and virtuelessness of the other classes. |