| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈlither, n. Obs.
[OE. lið(e)re:—prehistoric *liþrjôn-, f. *leþrom leather.]
A sling.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) F 385 Funda, liðre. c900tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xvii. [xiii.] (1890) 304 Swa micelre brædo swa mon mæᵹe mid liðeran ᵹeweorpan. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8124 Me ne miȝte noȝt ise bote arwen & flon, & stones out of liþeren [v.r. leþeren].
▪ II. lither, a. and adv.|ˈlɪðə(r)|
Forms: α. 1 lýðre, (hlýðre), léðre, (2 leoðre), 2–3 luðere, 3 leðere, luðre, (lui-, luyþer), 3–4 liðere, luther(e, 3–5 luðer, 4 luthur, luþur, lyþere, lythyre, 4–5 lethur, 5 lether, lethir(e, lethur, lithur, lythyr, (5 leither, 6 lytheir, liether, 3– lither. β. 5 ledyr, liddyr, lyder, -ir, -yr, 6 lidder, lydder, -ir, -yr.
[OE. lýðre:—prehistoric *liuþrjo-; the first element of MHG., G. liederlich lewd (in early use also slight, trifling, pretty), and related by ablaut to lodder. Some scholars regard the Gr. ἐλεύθερος and L. līber, free, as ultimately connected.]
A. adj.
†1. Of persons, their actions, dispositions, etc.: Bad, wicked; base, rascally unjust. Also of an animal: Ill-tempered. Obs.
c893K. ælfred Oros. vi. xxxvi, Ac se ealdormon hie betæhte lyþrum monnum to healdonne. c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke xix. 22 Of þinum muðe ic ðe deme la lyðra þeowa. a1175Cott. Hom. 241 Iudas and þat leoðre folc hit repen. a1225Ancr. R. 256 He is umbe, deies & nihtes, uorte unlimen ow mid wreððe, oðer mid luðer onde. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1873 A luþer emperour biuore þat het maximian. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 272 Al luþur bi-leue we loþen in herte. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 98 Þus I liue loueles lyk A luþer dogge. a1400–50Alexander 840 Sa he lost has þe lyfe for his leþer [Dublin MS. lether] wordis. a1529Skelton Agst. Garnesche 146 The follest slouen ondyr heuen, Prowde, peuiche, lyddyr, and lewde. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 39 All folke thought them..to lyther, To lynger bothe in one house togyther.
†b. absol. (quasi-n.). sing. Evil in the abstract. pl. Bad men.
a1225St. Marher 3 Ne ne let tu neauer mi sawle forleosen wiþ the forlorne ne wiþ the luðere mi lif. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 566 Oþer ellez þyn yȝe to lyþer is lyfte. Ibid. B. 163 For alle arn laþed luflyly, þe luþer & þe better. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 629 Lede clanly ȝour lif & no luþur wirche. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xviii. 82 Thus are þe lithere lykned to lussheborue sterlinges.
†2. Of things: Bad (in various senses, chiefly physical); poor, sorry, ill-conditioned, ill-looking, worthless; hurtful. Of a part of the body: Withered, paralysed, impotent. Obs.
c1000ælfric Gen. xli. 27 Þa seofon hlænan oxan and þa seofon hlyðran ear ᵹetacniað seofon hungerᵹear. c1050Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 179/45 Lolium et cetera adulterina genera Boþen and oðre lyðre cynn. a1225Ancr. R. 258 Þeo ilke reouðfulle garcen of þe luðere skurgen. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 621 So þat a luþer beuerege to hare biofþe hii browe. 13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 156 For be monnes lode neuer so luþer, þe lyf is ay swete. a1330Otuel 942 Sore he fel oppon þe grounde, & hadde a fol luþer wonde. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 868 Þere-fore no like no lud of his luþur fare. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 342 As in lussheborwes is a lyther alay and ȝet loketh he lyke a sterlynge. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 599 He passed..mony a playne, Til he come to that lethir sty, That him byhoved pass by. 1513Douglas æneis vi. v. 17 His smotterit habit, our his schulderis lidder. 1549Chaloner Erasm. on Folly F ij b, They..still daube theyr lither chekes with peintyng. 1556Abp. Parker Ps. xxxvi. Argument, He careth and carkth for his lytheir gayne. 1567Golding Ovid's Met. xii. 152 b, And in his lither hand he hilld a potte of wyne. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 7, I like them [radishes] better..being thus lyther, and withered as you see, then when they are fresh and cripsie.
†b. of the air: Foul, pestilential. Obs.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 220 Founde ich þat..hus [the pope's] bulle myghte Letten þis luþer eir..Thenne wolde ich [etc.].
3. Lazy, sluggish, spiritless; also absol. Now dial.
c1460Towneley Myst. xiii. 147 Crystys curs, my knaue thou art a ledyr hyne! 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xxxiv, Behald ȝe men that callis ladyis lidder. 1529Lyndesay Complaynt 75 Thocht I be, in my askyng, lidder. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 68 Thair lanciss come to lidder & slaw. 1600Look About You xi. c 4 b, Ile bring his lyther legges in better frame. 1611Florio, Badalone,..a lubbard, a lither, a loger head. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 143 The qualitie of the Princesse her servants, was not so lither and effeminate..as [etc.]. 1675Hobbes Odyss. (1677) 217 The man to see to was both great and tall, Though but a lither fellow. 1820Scott Abbot iv, Thine own laziness..that dost nothing but drink and sleep and leaves that lither lad to do the work. 1884J. C. Egerton Sussex Folks & Ways iv. 61 ‘Lither’..was quite familiar to him in the sense of ‘idle, lazy’.
b. lither lurden: = ‘lazy lout’. Hence the lither lurden: the disease of laziness = fever-lurden.
a1590Marr. Wit & Wisd. (Shaks. Soc.) 13, I am alwayes troubled with the litherlurden. 1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 129 What Iockie (lither lurden) lesse for wea, Thou'st be so tattert.
4. Pliant, supple; (of the air, sky) yielding. arch. Also, in mod. dialects (influenced by lithe a.): Agile, nimble.
1565Cooper Thesaurus, s.v. Brachium, Cerea brachia, Nice and liether armes. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 21 Thou antique Death..Two Talbots winged through the lither Skie, In thy despight shall scape Mortalitie. c1600Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iv. ii. (1881) 82 Vanish, I know thou art but lither ayr, Thy hand fell lightly on me. 1643J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea (1652) 102 They have wide, checker, lyther consciences. 1658Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 957 The Butterfly is a volatile Insect, having..two lither cornicles growing forth from before his eyes. 1807Hogg Mount. Bard, Mary of Moril Glen 103 With limbs as lydder and as lythe As duddis hung out to dry. 1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea iv. §239 We see, as in a figure, the lither sky filled with crystal vessels full of life-giving air. 1891Maxwell Gray In Heart of Storm I. 38 Boys..are made that lither and sprack they can't bide quiet long together.
†B. adv. Badly, wickedly; ill, poorly. Obs.
c1000Christ & Satan 62 (Gr.) Habbað we alle swa for ðinum leasungum lyðre ᵹefered. c1205Lay. 2785 Ah toward his lifes ende him ilomp wel luðere [c 1275 luþre]. a1225Juliana 33 Þu biwistest daniel bimong þe wode liuns ilatet se luðere. c1300Proverbs of Hendyng in Rel. Ant. I. 114 Lyht chep luthere ȝeldes.
Hence † ˈlitherback, a slothful person. † ˈlitherhead, wickedness.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9488 Þe godemen of þe lond hire luþerhede iseye. c1305St. Kenelm 88 in E.E.P. (1862) 50 Heo turnede to folie & to liþerhede al hire þoȝt. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 269 Hee must be no litherbacke, vnapt, or slothfull fellow.
▪ III. † ˈlither, v.1 Obs.
[f. lither n.]
a. trans. To hurl, shoot forth from (or as from) a sling.
b. intr. To sling stones, to let fly. Const. to (= at).
a1225Ancr. R. 290 Liðere to him luðerliche mid te holie rode steue. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11438 Hii wolde sir edward vawe out to hom sende Iliþered wiþ a mangenel, hom wiþ hom to lede. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 48 Þese lourdeines litheren þer-to þat alle þe leues fallen, And feccheth a-way this frut.
▪ IV. † ˈlither, v.2 Obs.
In 3 liðerien, lyþerien.
[f. lither a.]
intr. To act wickedly, to do harm.
a1300E.E. Psalter xxv. 5 Kirke of liþerand [Vulg. ecclesiam malignantium] hated I. Ibid. xxxvi. 9 For þat liþeres, outend sal þai. Ibid. civ. 15 In mine prophetes nil lithre þou.
▪ V. lither, liðere
obs. forms of lather v. |