| 释义 |
wastrel, n. and a.|ˈweɪstrəl|
Also 9 wastorel.
[f. waste v. + -rel.]
A. n.
1. In Cornwall: A tract of waste land. Obs. exc. in narrower sense, a strip of road-side waste.
1589–90Anc. Deed A. 13002 (P.R.O.), [Land in the] towne and feeldes severalls and wastrells of Tregorrock within the parish of St. Austoll. 1602Carew Cornwall i. 13 Their [tin] workes..lie either in seuerall, or in wastrell, that is, in enclosed grounds, or in commons. Ibid. 13 b, The Wastrel workes are reckoned amongst chattels, and may passe by word or Will. 1899‘Q’ (Quiller-Couch) Ship of Stars xi. 99 The Chapel stood..on a turfed wastrel where two high roads met and crossed. 1902C.T.C. Gaz. Nov. 466/1 [Launceston] The heaps..were not on the metal portion of the road, and the width of the wastrel where the heaps were was about four feet.
2. = waster n.1 6.
a. An article of bad or imperfect workmanship, rejected as unserviceable or not saleable at the full price.
1790Marshall Midl. Co. II. 445 Wastrels; outcasts; as wastrel bricks, &c. 1847Halliw., Wastrels, imperfect bricks, china, &c. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Wastrels, waste substances. 1870Churchm. Shilling Mag. VI. 42 The word wasteril or wastril, in the dialect of Hallamshire, signifies a knife that is made to sell, for show and not for use.
b. An unhealthy, wasted-looking animal.
1819Rees Cycl., Wastorels, or Wastrels... The young lambs, pigs, and calves, sold to the butchers, which are improper for keeping as stock, are sometimes also called by this name. 1899‘Q’ (Quiller-Couch) Ship of Stars vi. 48, I wouldn't ask a bird of mine to break the Sabbath for a wastrel like that.
3. a. A good-for-nothing, idle, worthless, disreputable person.
1847Halliw., Wastrel, a profligate. West. 1857Waugh Lanc. Life 120 There's ir Jammy; he's as big a wastril as ever stare't up a lone. 1881Times 4 Jan. 3/4 In Glasgow last night a ‘Hogmanay supper’ was given by some good Samaritans to a company of 2,000 outcasts and wastrels. 1885D. C. Murray Rainbow Gold i. ii, I'm not a runaway. I'm not a wastrel. I think if I set myself to do it that I can make a living somehow.
b. A neglected child of the streets, a city arab.
1877Huxley Techn. Educ. Sci. & Cult. (1881) 77 The educational method, the intelligence,..and good temper on the teacher's part, which are now at the disposal of the veriest waifs and wastrels of society. c1880Barnardo Taken out of Gutter 2 The juvenile ‘wastrels’ of London streets are, alas! still to be reckoned by their thousands.
4. A wasteful person, a spendthrift.
1887Baring-Gould Red Spider vi, Young Hillary, who, brought up in his father's improvident ways, was sure to turn out a like wastrel.
transf.1889Q. Rev. Apr. 390 London is the most conspicuous wastrel of both men and means.
B. adj.
1. Of manufactured articles: Waste, rejected as imperfect. Of workmanship: Good for nothing.
1790Marshall Midl. Co. II. 445 Wastrel bricks. 1852J. Allies Brit. etc. Antiq. Worc. (ed. 2) 106 The piles of encaustic tiles which were found..which were built up in columns with cement, probably were wastrel tiles, which were so used. 1898H. Sutcliffe Ricroft ix. 111 Wenches..all..full o' wastrel wark sooin as ye let 'em go an inch beyond weshing an' sewing.
2. Of an animal: Feeble, lacking strength or vigour.
1880Gardening Illustr. 7 Aug. 278 At this time the inferior and imperfect or wustrel [sic] birds may be killed. 1895Crockett Bog-myrtle v. vii. 412 A wastril whalp could hae dung us owre with its tail. We war tha surprised like.
3. Running to waste, spendthrift.
1894Kipling Seven Seas, McAndrews' Hymn 47 Blot out the wastrel hours of mine in sin when I abode. 1896Ibid., Last Rhyme of True Thomas 23 Where, blown before the wastrel wind, The thistle-down she floated by.
Hence ˈwastreldom, ˈwastrelism, extravagance, esp. with reference to government spending.
1906Westmorland Gaz. 14 Mar. 3/2 He was, indeed, heard to say that under our present Fiscal system the wine of our manhood was oozing out while the water of wastrelism was oozing in. Sir Wilfrid Lawson was..somewhat annoyed to think that the best of all drinks should be confounded with wastrelism. 1906Daily Mail 3 Nov. 4/2 All the old strongholds of Wastreldom have been carried. St. Pancras has thrown out its Wastrels; Islington will have none of them. 1919Ibid. 15 Oct. 6/2 Such arguments in the interest of wastrelism have been abundantly refuted. 1931J. Buchan Blanket of Dark 102 It was hard to believe that this was a gathering of the kings of wastreldom. |