| 释义 |
wretchedness|ˈrɛtʃɪdnɪs|
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The state or quality of being wretched.
1. A condition of discomfort or distress caused by privation, poverty, misfortune, adversity, or the like; great misery or unhappiness.
In very frequent use from c 1375.
αc1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 6102 Þe day of wrethe and of wrechednes. c1386Chaucer Manciple's T. 67 Yet hath this brid..Leuere in a fforest that is rude and coold Goon ete wormes, and swich wrecchednesse. c1440Gesta Rom. vii. 19 Thenne..comyth aȝen..our lord, whenne þat he hath pyte of our wretchidnesse. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 448 Yf thou were in the abysmes of wrecchidnes and myseryes. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 He cast hym out into this vale of mysery and wretchednes. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 614/1 When they are weary of warres, and brought downe to extreeme wretchedness. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 61 Is wretchednesse depriu'd that benefit To end it selfe by death? 1679Dryden Pref. to Troil. & Cress. ad fin., Consider the wretchedness of his condition. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 229 Thought, busy thought!.. Strays (wretched rover!) o'er the pleasing Past: In quest of wretchedness perversely strays. 1760D. Webb Inq. Beauties Painting 161 A fine image of hopeless wretchedness, of consuming grief. 1820Syd. Smith Wks. (1850) 302 The manifold wretchedness to which the poor Irish tenant is liable. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlv, The great manufacturing town reeking with lean misery and hungry wretchedness. 1887Bruce Smith Liberty & Liberalism 615 What we call ‘wretchedness, unhappiness, and sin' are the inevitable results of the gap which does..exist between our powers and our aspirations.
βa1340Hampole Psalter ii. 11 Þe dred of god is noght of wricchidnes bot of ioy. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxvi. 124 Þai liffe with grete wricchedness and scantness.
γc1480Henryson Prais of Aige 12 Wrachitness his [= has] turnyt al fra weil to vo.
b. A cause or occasion of misery.
1382Wyclif James v. 1 Do now, ȝe riche men, wepe ȝe, ȝoulynge in ȝoure wrecchidnessis that shulen come to ȝou. c1410Lanterne of Liȝt 49 Þis a sorowful vanite & a greete wrecchidnes. c1450Myrr. our Ladye ii. 242 How grete tormentes & how grete wretchednesses they gather and hepe to theyr owne sowles. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. i. ii, Call not the Past Time, with all its confused wretchednesses, a lost one. 1893Amer. Mission. (N.Y.) Dec. 436 To these vices..is added now a new wretchedness,..the vice of drunkenness.
2. The condition or character of being base or vile, odious or contemptible; despicableness, meanness, badness.
13..Cursor M. 10887 (Gött.), Widuten sinne and wrecchednes Sal þu be mayden as þu es. Ibid. 17288 + 273 Als mikel os scho loued bifore Þe dele & wricchednes, Als mikel..loued scho crist thoru hir grete godenes. 1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 7 Ȝif it so befalle þat any of þe bretherhede falle in pouerte..so it be nat on hymselue along, thorwȝ his owne wrecchednesse. c1450Lovelich Grail xliii. 413 For more they loven wrechchednesse Thanne hevenely thing. c1475Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 51 Therfor ye oughte..conceyve the gret adversite that fallithe to us is..only for synne and wrecchidnes. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 2010 For baudy balades full of wretchednes. 1546Langley tr. Pol. Verg. de Invent. iv. i. 81 b, They..returned to their old wretchednes and sinful abhominacions. 1617Woodall Surg. Mate Pref., Wks. (1639) C j, Censuring other men in many things, but not perceiving their own wretchedness at all. 1645Milton Colast. Wks. 1851 IV. 345 The guilt of his own wretchednes. 1649― Eikon. Pref., [Their] Pulpit-stuffe..hath bin the..perpetuall infusion of servility and wretchedness to all thir hearers. 1755Johnson, Wretchedness,..despicableness.
†b. A base or reprehensible action; a vicious trait, deed, etc. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 171 Þei..tellen lesyngis & wrecchidnessis of synnis. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 795 [To] doon so heigh a cherlyssh wrecchednesse Agayns franchise and alle gentillesse.
†3. Sc. The state or condition of being miserly or parsimonious; niggardliness, miserliness. Obs.
c1470Henry Wallace viii. 526 Thai sawft na Sotheroun for thair gret riches; Off sic koffre he callit bot wretchitnes. c1500Lancelot 1857 Wrechitnes richt so..Haith Realmys maid ful desolat & barre. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxi. 4 He that hes gold and grit richess,..And levis in to wrechitness, He wirkis sorrow to him sell.
4. The state or condition of being mean, sorry, or paltry; inferiority, worthlessness.
1810Naval Chron. XXIII. 39 His seventh assertion..is..a curious specimen of the wretchedness of his information. 1828–32Webster s.v., The wretchedness of a performance.
5. The fact or character of being uncomfortable or unpleasant; discomfort.
1836Dickens Sk. Boz, Streets—Night, After a little conversation about the wretchedness of the weather. 1888Harper's Mag. Oct. 782 The gray wretchedness of the afternoon was a fit prelude to Barra. |