| 释义 |
lapsed, ppl. a.|læpst|
[f. lapse v. + -ed1.]
1. That has glided away, dropped out of use, disappeared from sight, or fallen into decay.
1667Milton P.L. iii. 176 Once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall'd By sin to foul exorbitant desires. 1823Byron Juan xvi. xxi, A monk..appear'd, Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. iv. (1857) 66 During the lapsed century the waves had largely encroached on the low flat shores. 1881Times 2 Feb. 9/2 The House of Commons must recover its lapsed authority. 1890John Bull 5 Apr. 231/1 It is probable that the Lapsed custom of an annual dinner will be revived.
†b. That has been let slip incautiously. Obs.
1741Watts Improv. Mind ix. (1801) 80 Let there be..no sudden seizure of a lapsed syllable to play upon it.
2. Of a person: Fallen or sunk into a lower grade, or a depraved condition; esp. fallen into sin, or from the faith (cf. collapsed 3); applied Hist. to Christians who denied the faith during persecution. lapsed classes, lapsed masses: those who have dropped out of social standing. Also absol.
1638Penit. Conf. iii. (1657) 36 Such a lapsed sinner may not be incapable of pardon. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xiv. 48 But this plea is in common with the Heathens and lapsed Christians. 1668― Div. Dial. i. xvi. (1713) 35 That the standing Spirits hugely exceed the number of the lapsed. 1677A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. iv. (1704) 98 Free you from the rubbish the lapsed posterity of Adam lies groaning under. 1702Echard Eccl. Hist. iii. v. 406 His greatest Concern was for the Case of the Lapsed. 1706Stanhope Paraphr. III. 294 The Author of all Goodness to lapsed Man. 1754Richardson Grandison (ed. 6) II. 231 May not virtue itself pity the lapsed? 1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Praise Chimneysw., Good blood and gentle conditions, derived from lost ancestry and a lapsed pedigree. 1831–3E. Burton Eccl. Hist. xxv. (1845) 532 These lapsed Christians, as they were called..retained their belief in Christ. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xvi. (1857) 367 It almost necessarily takes its place among the lapsed classes. 1865Pusey Truth Eng. Ch. 198 The lapsed were restored under the prospect of renewed persecution. 1887Pall Mall G. 8 Mar. 2/2 To facilitate the elevation of the lapsed masses.
3. Said of a fief, devise, or legacy, the right to which has passed from the original holder, devisee, or legatee.
1617Minsheu Ductor, s.v. Lapse, That Benefice is in lapse or lapsed, whereunto he that ought to present, hath omitted or slipped his opportunities. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 513 If the legatee dies before the testator, the legacy is a lost or lapsed legacy, and shall sink into the residuum. 1816Scott Antiq. xviii, His lands..were reassumed by the emperor as a lapsed fief. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 195 The devise was lapsed and void. 1896T. F. Tout Edw. I, i. 16 The bestowal of lapsed fiefs was among the most important of the prerogatives of the Crown.
Add:[2.] b. transf. No longer an adherent to or practitioner of a particular (secular) principle, doctrine, etc. Freq. joc.
1959Times 13 Feb. 13/4 Egon Wellesz, a lapsed Schönbergian. 1974‘G. Black’ Golden Cockatrice iii. 58, I have to meet a lapsed Maoist. 1978P. Fuller Jrnl. 28 Mar. in Marches Past (1986) 21 If I were to..look out of the windows behind me on either side of ‘Reveries of a Lapsed Narcissist’, I would see a lake surrounded by weeping willows. 1979A. J. P. Taylor in Observer 29 July 9/3, I am a lapsed crank. I no longer have the enthusiasm for crankiness I had when I was young. 1992Washington CityPaper 21–27 Feb. 65/1 With the guidance of a lapsed psychiatrist..the couple come to suspect that they are the reincarnated Strausses. |