| 释义 |
merciless, a.|ˈmɜːsɪlɪs|
[f. mercy + -less.]
1. Of persons, their actions, attributes, etc.: Devoid of mercy; showing no mercy; pitiless, unrelenting.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 250 Þer was malys mercyles & mawgre much scheued. c1420Lydg. Siege Thebes 2206 So mercyles in his cruelte Thilke day he was vpon hem founde. 1550Crowley Epigr. 1236 Iudgemente shall be geuen,..Wythoute all mercye to suche as be merciles. 1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §94. 360 They..plotted the matchlesse, mercilesse, devilish, and damnable gun-powder-treason. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 249, I had rather..be devour'd alive, than fall into the merciless Claws of the Priests. 1843Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 291 A stern prince, merciless in his exactions. 1900Morley Cromwell vi. 94 The merciless suppression of the rising of the Ulster chieftains.
absol.1592Daniel Delia Sonn. xi, I pray in vaine, a merciles to moue.
b. transf. of inanimate things.
1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 The southwynd merciles eager Three gallant vessels on rocks gnawne craggye reposed. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. viii. 51 All dismayd through mercilesse despaire. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 185 The mercilesse fury of the Sea. 1714Pope Let. to Teresa Blount, Whatever ravages a merciless distemper may commit,..she shall have one man as much her admirer as ever. 1880L. Stephen Pope iv. 103 A doggrel epitaph..turned his fine phrases into merciless ridicule.
†c. As n. Mercilessness. Obs. rare.
1584C. Robinson Handf. Delites (Arb.) 25 The torments..Which he..had suffered long Al through this Ladies mercilesse.
†d. As adv. Obs.
1556Lauder Tractate 470 O Lord..help the pure that ar in stres Opprest and hereit mercyles.
†2. Obtaining no mercy. Obs.
c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xvii. 11 All vertew in hir visage dois remane, Bot merciles I go from ȝeir to ȝeir. 1567Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 119 God hes left us mercyles. |