释义 |
wretched, a.|ˈrɛtʃɪd| Forms: α. 3–5 wrecched (-ede, 4–5 -id, 4 -ide, 5 -yd, -et), 5 wrechched (-id, -yd); 3–5 wreched (3–4 -ede, 3–5 -id, 4 -yde, 5–6 -yd, Sc. -it, -yt), 5 vrechid, wreached, 6 wreiched; 5– wretched (5–6 -id, -yd, Sc. -it, 6 wreteched). β. 3–4 wrichede (4 -ed, 5 -id), 4 wryched, 4–5 wricched, -id, 5 wrycched. γ. Sc. 5–6 wrachit (5 wrochit), 6 wratchet, -eit, -it, ratchit. [Irreg. f. wretch a. + -ed1. Cf. wicked a.1] 1. a. Of persons, etc.: Living in a state of misery, poverty, or degradation; sunk in distress or dejection; very miserable or unhappy. αa1200Vices & Virtues 9 Ðanne ic wolde ðe wrecchede saule sa rewliche acwellan. a1240Wohunge in O.E. Hom. I. 277 Ihesu..riche ar tu.., and tah poure þu bicom for me, westi and wrecched. a1300Cursor M. 24517 Allas! quat es me nu to red, I wrechidest of all! c1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 2426 Wreched saul,..what may thou say When þou partes fra þe body away? c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 60 Þe wrechid Thebans bretheren two Were slayne. c1450Myrr. our Ladye 7 So ye vouchsafe of youre tender charyte..to praye for oure right poure & full wretched soulle. 1482[see wretchedful a.]. 1538Starkey England ii. i. 173 Pepul, wych now lyue in idulnes, wrechyd and pore. a1592Greene Alphonsus iv. iii, I am..the wretchedst man aliue. c1622Fletcher Prophetess iii. i, We are no Spinsters; nor, if you look upon us, So wretched as you take us. 1647Cowley Mistr., My Heart Discovered 37 What should the wretched Widow do? 1705Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 475 Man without God wretcheder than a stone or tree. 1795Southey Vis. Maid Orleans ii. 238 A most wretched band Groan'd underneath the bitter tyranny Of a fierce dæmon. 1829Hood Dream Eugene Aram xix, My wretched, wretched soul..Was at the Devil's price. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. i, The poor exasperated Mother, wretchedest and angriest of women. 1882J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xxiv, A mountain of it can't make you one hair's breadth the happier or the wretcheder. βa1340Hampole Psalter ii. 2 Þa ere fendis, þat bigiles wricched saules. γ1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 24 We wratcheit sinnaris pure, Our sin hes vs forlorne. b. absol., in sing. or plural sense.
1388Wyclif Isaiah xvi. 4 For whi dust is endid, the wretchid [1382 the wrecche] is wastid; he that defoulide the lond failude. 1576Whetstone Rocke of Regard i. 41 marg., Others pleasures a griefe to the wretched. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. v. 37 Who might be your mother That you insult, exult,..Ouer the wretched? 1730Thomson Autumn 1192 Let These Insnare the wretched in the toils of law. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho liv, The delight of having made the wretched happy. a1806H. K. White Remains (1825) 306, I heard the wretched's groan, and mourn'd the wretched's doom. 1844Kinglake Eothen ii, The wretched look often more picturesque than their betters. (b) spec. in phr. wretched of the earth [tr. F. damnés de la terre (F. Fanon 1961, as book title)].
1965C. Farrington tr. F. Fanon (title) The wretched of the earth. 1970Guardian 21 Aug. 11/3 Are the refugees, the most wretched of the earth, fertile ground for revolutionary activity on a mass scale? 1979Country Life 11 Oct. 1236/3 Our own native ‘wretched of the earth’, the alcoholics, the inadequates, the very poor. 1983C. Driver British at Table viii. 140 Protein alone cannot rescue the wretched of the earth. 2. a. Of conditions, etc.: Marked or distinguished by misery or unhappiness; attended by distress, discomfort, or sorrow. αc1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 141 Hwu wunderlich was his hider-cume and hwu wrecchede his her-biwist. a1300Cursor M. 949 Ȝee most leue þis lufsum land, Vnto þe wreched werld to gang. c1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 557 Þe bygynnyng of man..Es vile and wreched to behalde. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 138 A wrecched hous he helde al his lyf tyme. c1450Cursor M. 9573 (Laud MS.), Here now my prayere Of this wrecchid preson. 1538Starkey England i. ii. 47 Myserabul penury and wrechyd pouerty. 1581A. Hall Iliad i. 3 You see howe in this wretched warre our people doe decay. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 67 Oh wretched state! Oh bosome, blacke as death! 1697Dryden Virg. Past. i. 15 The raging Sword and wastful Fire Destroy the wretched Neighbourhood around. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 402 The Savages..killed them over again in a wretched Manner, breaking their Arms. 1785Burns Winter Night ix, Think, for a moment, on his wretched fate! 1847McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (ed. 3) II. 511 The disorderly and wretched state of the population. 1855Tennyson Maud ii. v. ii, Wretchedest age, since Time began, They cannot even bury a man. βc1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 21 It es lang sen any durst come nere þat wricched place. γc1480Henryson Prais of Aige 25 This wrachit warld may na man trow. 1552Lyndesay Monarche Prol. 209 In this wracheit vaill of sorrow. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 57 Quhen fra this wratcheit lyfe we wend. b. Of weather, etc.: Causing discomfort; very unpleasant or uncomfortable.
1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 27 March, A rainy wretched scurvy day from morning till night. 1836Dickens Sk. Boz, Streets—Night, It was such a wretched night out o' doors. 1888Encycl. Dict. s.v., Wretched weather. 3. a. Distinguished by base, vile, or unworthy character or quality; contemptible.
c1250Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 28 Þo ilke þinges so bieth bitere to þo wrichede flessce. c1290Codicem MS. Digby 86 (1871) 99 Weilawei, wrecchede bali, nou þou shalt to bere. a1333W. Herebert in Relig. Lyrics 14th C. (1924) 19 Dame, help at þe noede..Þat uor no wreched gult Ich boe to helle y-pult. c1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 80 Þat god haue merci..of my wreched synfulnes. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 172 Of this wrechit disobeysaunce cummys untreuth. 1495Rolls of Parlt. VI. 502/2 Their cursed, myschevous and wreched purpose. 1529More Dyaloge iii. xi. Wks. 226 We take suche a wretched pleasure in the hearing of their sin. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 776 margin, Oh depe and wretched dissimulation! 1608Topsell Serpents 278 The wretched nature of the young man, and his extreame impietie. 1652Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 213 Compatriots infected with the same leprosy of a wretched peevishness whereof those..rapacious varlets have given such cannibal-like proofs. 1720T. Innes Crit. Essay (1879) 311 Knox himself..led on the furious mob in this wretched expedition. 1754Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. iii. 109 The wretched Circumstances which put an end to our Lord's life. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Pawnbroker's Shop, Where the practised smile is a wretched mockery of the misery of the heart. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 421 The thing was clearly some wretched court intrigue. b. Of a poor, mean, or paltry character; mean, worthless; sorry, trifling.
1375Barbour Bruce ix. 403 Quhen sic a knycht, sa richt vorthy As this is.., In-to sic perill has hym set To vyn ane vrechit hamlet. c1450J. Capgrave St. Augustine 46 His cloþis..wer not ouyr costful, ne ouyr wrecched. 1450Lincoln Diocese Doc. 45, I gyff..my wrechid body to be Beryd in a chitte with-owte any kyste. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 265 This wretched victory they shall obteine, where..the Lord shal suffer them to ouerspreade the darknes of lyes. 1637Milton Lycidas 124 Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 274 He who play'd upon the Timbrel accompany'd with a wretched inharmonious Voice. Ibid. 406 A wretched coarse Cloth. 1711Addison Spect. No. 13 ⁋6 The wretched Taste of his Audience. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 297 A paper written in such wretched Spanish as we could muster up amongst us. 1778E. Harwood Eds. Classics (ed. 2) 5 Editions..printed on wretched paper. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 189 That still wretcheder apology for a coat. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 263 So wretched had his education been. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xxx, The wretched little islets of Gyara and Tremerus. 4. Of persons, etc.: Contemptible in character or quality; despicable, reprehensible; hateful.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 79 There stode a dragon,..Wretched and skaled al wyth asure. c1440Alph. Tales 82 [When] he hard þis clauce red,..þis wrichid clerk made a skorn þerat & sayd þat it was fals. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 62 Nero.., of alle men wrecchidhest, redy to alle maner vices. c1470Henry Wallace vii. 400 Had he the warld, and be wrachit off hart, He is no lord as to the worthines. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 b, Al though they be wretched lyuers & noughty packes. 1560tr. Fisher's Godly Treat. Prayer C j b, Euery man, be he neuer so extreme and wretched a synner. c1585[R. Browne] Answ. Cartwright 68 To eate the Lordes supper with open vnrepentant & wretched persons is not lawfull. 1710Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §92 The absurdities of every wretched sect of Atheists. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 107 The wretched tyrant..had exhausted the whole magazine of animal terror. 1855Tennyson Maud x. ii, At war with myself and a wretched race, Sick, sick to the heart of life, am I. transf.1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxi. (1856) 266 The icebergs are wretched enemies in the dark. 5. Of persons or animals: Poor in ability, capacity, character, etc.
c1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 85 On spurre with the whiche he was compellid to stere his wrechid hors to renne. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 150 Such as are farrowed in winter are commonly poore and wretched. 1668Evelyn tr. Freart's Idea Perf. Paint. 16 By the hand of some wretched Dauber. 1860Sala Lady Chesterfield 31 The women who make the wretchedest wives in the world. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 363 Daniel's omission of the wretched kings between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. †6. Niggardly; miserly. (Cf. wretch v.2) Obs.
1652Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 280 That the minister is the greediest man in the parish,..and that the richer they become..the more wretched they are. 7. Comb., as † wretched-fated, wretched-witched, and esp. wretched-looking.
1591Sylvester Ivry 425 People..Pleas'd with the blaze, do, wretched-witched Elves, For fuell (fooles) cast-in their willing Selves. 1615Chapman Odyss. xx. 50 Thou most sowre, and wretched-fated man Of all that breath! 1817J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 74 The single wretched-looking horse of each, half drowned in the torrent. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 383/2 The cattle of the district are in general wretched-looking. 1864A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock 295 The wretched-looking farm-houses of former years. Hence † ˈwretcheddom, misery. Obs.
c1320Cast. Love 408 He..tyed hym..To wreccheddam [v.r. wrecchedam] and serwe i-nouȝ. |