| 释义 |
worn-out, ppl. a.
[See wear v.1 9 b, 10 b, 11, 17. Cf. outworn.]
1. Of material things: Injured, damaged, defaced by wear, usage, attrition, or exposure, esp. to such a degree as to be no longer of use or service. † Of graphic characters: Obliterated.
1612Selden Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. iv. 72 The errour I imagine to be from restoring of wooren out times in Bede and others. 1615Sandys Trav. 40 The bases whereof did beare these now worne out characters. 1637Spelman in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 153 A single letter in a worne-out worde, is a great help to revive what wanteth. a1653Gouge Comm. Heb. xiii. 1 It is a very obscure and almost worn-out stamp of that glorious Image in which at first God made man. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ⁋2 For..Triangular Punches, I commonly reserve my worn out three square Files. 1756C. Smart tr. Horace, Epist. i. xix. 38 For the bribe of a worn-out coat. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Pawnbroker's Shop, The worn-out thin shoes. 1851Richardson Geol. (1855) 439 A worn-out vein of ironstone. 1865Trollope Belton Est. xxii. 259 The worn-out carpets and old-fashioned chairs. 1874Burnand My Time xxxiv. 372 There was a worn-out old safe in a corner.
b. Of a colour: Dull; not bright or vivid.
1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Apocynum, Small Umbels of worn-out purple-colour'd Flowers. 1812New Bot. Garden i. 6 These [flowers of Asclepias Syriaca] are of a worn-out purple colour.
2. Of persons, living things, etc.: Utterly exhausted and wasted in strength or vitality.
a1700Evelyn Diary 17 Feb. 1695 The Hospital design'd to be built at Greenwich for worn-out seamen. 1758P. Williamson Life (1812) 49 They used all proper means to recover my worn-out spirits. 1789Wesley Minutes Wks. 1872 VIII. 327 Every worn-out Preacher shall receive, if he wants it, at least ten pounds a-year. 1793Cowper To Mary 55 Thy worn-out heart will break at last. 1795–6Wordsw. Borderers ii. 927 We kill a worn-out horse, and who but women Sigh at the deed? 1796Marshall Planting I. 93 The rough and the worn-out Hedges. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xi. 105 Her father was a worn-out, broken merchant. 1852C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 78 The specific operation of lime upon a worn-out soil. 1854Poultry Chron. I. 595 This practice of crossing with a Gamecock was much in vogue with the old breeders, to improve a worn-out stock. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xiv. 496 There, in the woods, worn-out men sank down on the bare, frozen ground.
b. Of a smile: Faint, feeble, ‘wan’.
1842S. Lover Handy Andy xiv, At last, with ‘bated breath,’ and a very worn-out smile, [she] faltered forth.
3. Of ideas, devices, etc.: Hackneyed by use, trite, stale, out of fashion. Of institutions: Effete.
1713Addison Cato i. iii. 7 Your cold Hypocrisie's a stale Device, A worn-out Trick. 1782Cowper Mutual Forbearance 5 Those hangings, with their worn-out graces. 1801Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 5 Under the claims of a sort of antiquated and worn-out nobility. 1819in Croker Papers 3 May, His speech..treated a worn-out subject so as to make it appear a new one. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 23 This composition..exhibits the worn-out Grecian mythology in an aspect of picturesque novelty. 1851Kingsley Yeast xv, I am too old for that worn-out quibble. 1882Besant All Sorts xxviii. (1898) 194 The House of Lords..was an effete and worn-out institution.
†4. Of time: Past, departed. Obs.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 1350 This patterne of the worne-out age.
Hence worn-outness (also -outiness).
1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. ii, The worn-outiness of the old pony on which he used to ride. 1898B. Gregory Side Lights 434 Receiving allowances..on the same plea of wornoutness. |