| 释义 |
manless, a.|ˈmænlɪs|
[f. man n.1 + -less.]
1. a. Having no men (either in the sense of human beings or in that of adult male persons). Also (nonce-use), having no ‘men’ at chess.
c1050Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 186/1 Parietinae, roflease and monlease ealde weallas. a1400Sir Perc. 1787 My modir alle manles Leved I thare! a1626Bacon Consid. War with Spain (1629) 31 It was no more but a stratagem of fireboats manlesse and sent vpon them by the fauour of the wind in the night time. 1640R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) I. 270, I went forward with my companie manless. c1640Game at Chasse 22 in Maidment Bk. Scot. Pasquils (1868) 99 For still mismet and manles lousse the game. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 112 His majesty's lieges should..flee the covenant, and leave the cause manless. 1816Byron Darkness 71 The world was void,..Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless, A lump of death. 1834F. Wrangham Homerics 22 When Amazonia's manless kind Their plains o'er-ran. 1863W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 90 A humble, respectable, manless cottage. 1880Blackw. Mag. Feb. 244 A melancholy expanse, treeless, dwellingless, manless.
b. Of a woman: lacking the company of men, spec. having no husband or suitor.
1924[see manlessness]. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. xix. 161 Like so many manless women, Thérèse was extraordinarily sensitive and hostile to the masculine touch. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xxv. 189 Fear of living out her life as a manless woman. 1970O. Norton Dead on Prediction i. 5 I'd just been going through a pretty man⁓less period. 1972Guardian 16 Feb. 13/2 The 24-year-old, man-less office worker.
†2.
a. Unmanly, effeminate. Obs.
a1529Skelton Sp. Parrot 384 O causeles cowardes, O hartles hardynes! O manles manhod, enfayntyd all with fere! c1611Chapman Iliad iii. 30 O heauen, that thou hadst neare bene borne, Or (being so manlesse) neuer liu'd, to beare mans noblest state, The nuptiall honor. Ibid. xv. 319 The throtes of dogs shall graue His manlesse lims. 1621Quarles Div. Poems, Esther (1717) 136 To yield The right and safe possession of the Shield, Was foul reproach, and manless cowardize. 1653Waterhouse Apol. Learn. 82 That pusillanimity and manless subjugation, which by many in our Age scornfully is called Priest-riddenness.
†b. Inhuman. Obs.
c1611Chapman Iliad ix. 64 A hater of societie..being stuft, with manlesse crueltie.
Hence † ˈmanlessly adv., in a manless manner; ˈmanlessness, † (a) cowardice; (b) (of a woman) the state or condition of being manless.
1607Chapman Bussy D'Ambois Plays 1873 II. 94 Let her wounds Manlesly digd in her, be easd and cur'd. 1667Waterhouse Fire Lond. 92 That Dread and pavid manlessness, that seised the Inhabitants. 1924Public Opinion 7 Nov. 460/2 We find girls robbed of wholesome excitements..by the loneliness and manlessness of their lives. |