| 释义 |
laborious, a.|ləˈbɔərɪəs|
Also 6 -yous(e.
[ad. F. laborieux (12–13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) or ad. L. labōriōs-us, f. labor labour: see -ious.]
1. Given to labour or toil; doing much work; assiduous in work, hard-working.
1390Gower Conf. II. 90 If thou wolt here Of hem that whilom vertuous Were and therto laborious. c1407Scogan Moral Balade 69 Therefore laborious Ought ye to be, beseeching god..To yeve you might for to be vertuous. 1555Eden Decades 318 Thinhabitauntes are men of good corporature..and laborious. 1634Rainbow Labour (1635) 5 The limbs of your industry are so strong and laborious. a1648Ld. Herbert Autobiog. Life (1886) 192 He..was observed seldom or never..to sweat much, though he were very laborious. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 242 All..combine to drive The lazy Drones from the laborious Hive. 1709Steele Tatler No. 21 ⁋5 Laborious Ben's Works will bear this Sort of Inquisition. 1752Hume Pol. Disc. i. 17 Their own steel and iron, in such laborious hands, become equal to the gold and rubies of the Indies. 1857Ld. Dufferin Lett. fr. High Latitudes (1867) 78 Those calm laborious minds..pursuing day by day with single-minded energy some special object. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 9 He was always serious in meaning and laborious in matter.
b. = labouring ppl. a. 1.
1777Hume Ess. & Treat. I. 280 By this means..a greater number of laborious men are maintained, who may be diverted to the public service. 1795Burke Th. Scarcity Wks. VII. 378 The moral or philosophical happiness of the laborious classes.
2. Of actions, conditions, etc.: Characterized by or involving labour or much work; toilsome. † Of wages: Hardly earned. Obs.
14..Chaucer's Friar's T. 130 (Corpus MS.) My office [is] ful laborious. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 83 Nothynge is more..laboryous to kepe, than is virginite. 1549Leland (title) The laboryouse Journey and Serche of Johan Leylande for Englandes Antiquitees. 1607Topsell Hist. Four-f. Beasts (1658) Pref., I have not any accesse of maintenance, but by voluntary benevolence for personal pains, receiving no more but a laborious wages. 1611Bible Ecclus. vii. 15 Hate not laborious worke, neither husbandrie. 1637Milton Lycidas 72 To scorn delights, and live laborious dayes. 1725Pope Odyss. iii. 127 Shall I the long laborious scene review, And open all the wounds of Greece anew? 1752Johnson Rambler No. 204 ⁋11 Forced jests, and laborious laughter. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 202 The subject of minute and laborious disquisition. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 7 In a laborious anxiety to be correct, they have evaporated away all the spirit of their book. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. iv. 33 These days were laborious and instructive. 1878Jevons Primer Pol. Econ. 43 The great advantage of capital is that it enables us to do work in the least laborious way.
b. Of concrete objects: Entailing labour in construction or execution; involving much elaboration. † Also (rare—1), Causing wearisome toil.
1555Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 49 The laborious Tabernacle whiche Moises buylded. 1666Pepys Diary 14 July, Up betimes to the office to write fair a laborious letter. 1705Addison Italy (1733) 105 The long laborious Pavement here he treads. 1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. xlvii, A most laborious and long-winded letter. 1847Tennyson Princess Prol. 20 Laborious orient ivory sphere in sphere. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. iii. 45 We have a large and laborious outfit to arrange.
3. Midwifery. Attended with severe labour.
1637T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1883) 148 Very apt are they to be with childe, and very laborious when they beare children. 1753N. Torriano Gangr. Sore Throat 23 Labours in such Circumstances are generally laborious. 1754–64Smellie Midwifery I. 242 Laborious births. 1855Mayne Expos. Lex., Labour, Laborious, or Instrumental..that requiring the use of extracting instruments for its completion..also called Difficult Labour.
†4. Pertaining to labour. Obs. rare—1.
1632Quarles Div. Fancies ii. lxxvi. (1660) 89 Me thinks that they should change their trade [sc. that of the theatre] for shame Or honour't with a more laborious name. |