| 释义 |
miscreant, a. and n.|ˈmɪskriːənt|
Also 4–6 -creaunt, 6 -croyaunte.
[a. OF. mescreant:—popular L. *minuscrēdentem: see mis-2 and creant a.1]
A. adj.
1. Misbelieving, heretical; ‘unbelieving’, ‘infidel’. Now arch., with some notion of sense 2.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 5227 (Kölbing) Grete hepes him lay about Of mani paiem miscreaunt. 1419in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 87 Sir John Oldcastell, that was myscreant and unboxome to the lawe of God. 1532More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 774/1 Al miscreant Painyms, all false Jewes, al false heretikes. 1562Legh Armory 26 b, If he [a Christian]..kill an heathen gentleman.. he shall beare the armes..without any difference, sauing only y⊇ word of y⊇ same miscreant gentleman. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter iii. 4 All their [sc. Atheists'] virulent and miscreant positions shall perish with them in unquenchable flames. 1715Rowe Lady Jane Gray v. Wks. 1728 III. 69 To break thro' all Engagements made with Hereticks, And keep no Faith with such a Miscreant Crew. 1823Scott Quentin D. xvii, Such a miscreant dog as this Boar of Ardennes, who is worse than a whole desert of Saracen heathens. 1844Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1889) 310 No outrage committed by the Catholic warrior on the miscreant enemy could deserve punishment. 1865Kingsley Herew. vi, The gates of the pit were too narrow for their miscreant souls.
2. Depraved, villainous, base.
1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 176 The Ring leader of the corruptest bawdes, and miscreantest rakehells in Italy. 1725Pope Odyss. xvii. 667 All the miscreant race of human kind. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 381 The miscreant ministers and judges and spies who had been the abettors of that tyrant House. c1820S. Rogers Italy (1839) 245 A miscreant crew, That now no longer serve me. 1850S. Dobell Roman i. Poet. Wks. (1875) 18 That..sneaks downcast With craven tail and miscreant trepidation To kennel and to collar.
B. n.
1. A misbeliever, heretic; an ‘unbeliever’, ‘infidel’. Now arch.
138.Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 303 A litel covent of Sathanas synagoge, þat ben moche worse þan heþene myscreauntis. c1400Three Kings Cologne 2 Þese þree kynges, þat of myscreauntes were þe first byleuyng men. 1470–85Malory Arthur xxi. xiii. 860 These foure knyghtes dyd many batayles vpon the myscreantes or turkes. 1550J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds §55 (1877) 73 Alvred kynge of Englande..fought agaynst the Danes and other myscreantes .lvi. battayles. 1554T. Martin Marr. of Priests Bb iij b, If the vnbeleuer or miscroyaunte dooe departe, let him departe. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxiii. §1 We are not therefore ashamed of the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ because miscreants in skorne haue vpbraided vs. 1632Lithgow Trav. x. 477 A blasphemous miscreant, against their Pope, their Lady, and their Church. 1668M. Casaubon Credulity (1670) 81 Enough to make any miscreant, (professing outwardly Christianity) to blush. 1719De Foe Crusoe (Globe) 584 With a Caravan of Miscreants, as he call'd them, that is to say, Christians. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. lviii. VI. 42 [Soliman's] generosity to the miscreants was interpreted as treason to the Christian cause. 1840De Quincey Essenes in Blackw. Mag. XLVII. 469/1 Now he [sc. Josephus] will reveal himself (in the literal sense of the word) as a miscreant. 1873Dixon Two Queens IV. xix. v. 27 A miscreant who had raised his impious hands against the Vicar of Christ.
transf.1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 17, I know many miscreants, that doubt whether the world hath such a beast [sc. a unicorn]. a1681Wharton Wks. (1683) 45 There..ever have been some Hereticks and Miscreants, who rail..against Astrology.
2. A vile wretch; a villain, rascal.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 39 ‘Vile Miscreaunt’, (said he) ‘whither dost thou flye The shame and death, which will thee soone invade?’ 1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 39 Thou art a Traitor, and a Miscreant. 1657Evelyn Diary 25 Dec., As we went up to receive the Sacrament the miscreants held their muskets against us. 1710Steele Tatler No. 101 ⁋1 These Miscreants are a Set of Wretches we Authors call Pirates. 1780Bentham Princ. Legisl. xiii. §1 The miscreant who would commit murder that he might succeed to an inheritance. 1835Lytton Rienzi i. iii, He belongs to a horrible gang of miscreants, sworn against all order and peace. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 251 The miscreant, fully armed, set out on his errand of blood.
Hence † miscreˈantic a., villainous.
1793J. Williams Life Ld. Barrymore 87 The miscreantic, pallid, hell-born, pestilential group. 179.[J. Williams] Crying Epistle 59 note, Mr. Pitt has apparently as little respect for individual worth..as the most vile and miscreantic of his predecessors. |