| 释义 |
▪ I. mortal, n.|ˈmɔːtəl|
[f. mortal a.]
1. Mortal thing or substance (see quot.).
1526Tindale 1 Cor. xv. 53 For this corruptible must putt on incorruptibilite, and this mortall [Gr. τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο, Vulg. mortale hoc] must put on immortalite. 1611Ibid.
2. One who is mortal; a human being in contrast with an immortal.
1567Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 133 Lord I am heir ane wratcheit mortall. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 115 Lord, what fooles these mortals be! 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxiv. 213 Names..are usefull onely to the short memories of Mortalls. 1713Addison Cato i. ii, 'Tis not in Mortals to command Success. 1882W. S. Gilbert Iolanthe i. 4 By our laws, the fairy who marries a mortal, dies!
b. Often used playfully for ‘person’. In negative contexts an emphatic equivalent for ‘(any) one’, ‘(no) one’. Cf. mortal a. 8 b.
1718Prior ‘Her Eyebrow-Box’, I can behold no Mortal now: For what's an Eye without a Brow? 1728Berkeley Let. Wks. 1871 IV. 149 Speak not, therefore, one syllable of it to any mortal whatsoever. 1846W. E. Forster in Reid Life (1888) I. vi. 186 What a strange little mortal he [Lord J. Russell] is, to be ruler of a mighty nation! 1860Reade Cloister & H. lxxviii, She dared not trust such a treasure to mortal. 1864A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock 164 Sandy and the other jolly mortals.
▪ II. mortal, a.|ˈmɔːtəl|
Forms: 4–5 mortail(e, -taill, 4–7 mortall, 5 mortalle, 5–6 mortale, 4– mortal; β. 4–5 mortel(e, -teil, -tiel, 4–6 mortell. See also mortual.
[a. OF. mortel, mortiel, mortal (mod.F. mortel), or ad. L. mortāl-is, f. mort-, mors death.]
1. a. Subject to death, destined to die.
Often in the tautologically emphatic phrase mortal man.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 376 Al were my lyf eterne, As I am mortal. c1391― Astrol. Prol. (1872) 1 Alle the conclusiouns..ben vn-knowe perfitly to any mortal man in this regioun. c1450Godstow Reg. 524 And the forsaid abbesse and Couente and ther successours shold warantiȝe and defende for euer the forsaid tenement,..to the forsaid Rector and scolers and to ther successours ayenst all mortall men. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 44–5 Are you all affraid? Alas, I blame you not, for you are Mortall, And Mortall eyes cannot endure the Diuell. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 355 No mortall man might ascend the Seat. 1667Sir W. Temple Let. M. Gourville Wks. 1731 II. 31 I begin to think that King and his Ministers are mortal like other People. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 643 What Madness cou'd provoke A Mortal Man t'invade a sleeping God? 1728Young Love Fame vi. 174 Old-age will come; disease may come before; Fifteen is full as mortal as three-score. 1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 297 Whose population which the earth grew over Was mortal, but not human. 1836C. Forster Life Jebb (1851) 325 His mortal remains were laid in St. Paul's Churchyard, Clapham. 1853M. Arnold Scholar-Gypsy xv, For what wears out the life of mortal men?
†b. Doomed to immediate death. Obs.
1513Douglas æneis x. xi. 45 Gif thow askis a resput or delay,..Of this evident deyd of Turnus ȝing,..Allthocht he mortale be rycht sone we knaw. c1622Rowley, etc. Witch Edmonton iii. (1658) 34 Not yet mortal? I would not linger you, Or leave you a tongue to blab. 1624Chapman Revenge for Honour iii. ii, Not pledg my peerlesse Mistresse health? Souldier, thou'rt mortall, if thou refuse it.
2. a. Causing death, deadly, fatal. Const. to. Now only of diseases, wounds, and blows.
† mortal nightshade = deadly nightshade: see deadly 4 c.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2252 The furies thre with al here mortal brond. c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 3418 This mortal beverage So noyous ys and so doutable. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xxxviii. 141 He..made in his body a grete wounde mortall. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. viii. (1895) 262 At hande strokes they vse not swordes but pollaxes, whiche be mortall, aswel in sharpenes as in weyghte. 1578Lyte Dodoens iii. xxiii. 448 Mortal Night⁓shade. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. x. 236 It is a dangerous thing to frequent so perillous and mortall a creature [quicksilver]. 1604Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 205, I am glad thy Father's dead, Thy Match was mortall to him. 1665–6Phil. Trans. I. 161 It is mortal to eat of the Flesh of creatures killed by Vipers. 1667Milton P.L. i. 2. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 284 Since the sickness had been so mortal in Mansoul. 1763Museum Rust. I. lxxxiii. 369 To avoid the early frosts, which are mortal to them. 1805Jefferson Let. 8 Feb. (1829) IV. 33 Strangers..find this fever as mortal as the genuine yellow fever. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxix, The master'd felon press'd the ground, And gasp'd beneath a mortal wound.
b. fig. Destructive or fatal (to a thing).
1670Baxter Cure Ch. Div. Pref. 2, I know that these principles are as mortal to the Churches, as they are to Souls. 1769Burke Late St. Nat. Wks. 1842 I. 83, I will shew him a fact more that is mortal to his assertions. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. (1819) 324 Here therefore might seem to be a mortal defect in their constitution. 1832–4De Quincey Cæsars Wks. 1859 X. 100 Even the more innocent exhibitions, in which brutes only were the sufferers, could not but be mortal to all the finer sensibilities.
c. Of a season or region: Characterized by many deaths. (Cf. mortality.) ? Obs.
1649Evelyn Diary 30 Oct., This was a very sickly and mortal Autumne. 1741Lett. James Murray, Loyalist (1901) 62 So sickly and mortal a place as So. Carolina. 1775A. Adams Fam. Lett. lix. (1876) 95 So sickly and so mortal a time the oldest man does not remember. 1803Malthus Popul. ii. ii. 207 The years 1757 and 1758 [in Sweden] were barren, and comparatively mortal years. Ibid. 209 Notwithstanding the mortal year of 1789, it appeared..that the general healthiness of the country had increased.
†d. mortal place: the ‘vital part’. Obs. rare—1.
1670Milton Hist. Brit. ii. 96 Last of all against himself he turns his Sword; but missing the mortal place, with his poinard finishes the work.
e. mortal mind: according to Christian Scientists, the source in man of all delusion and error, creating the illusion of bodily sensations, pain, and illness.
1875M. B. Eddy Science & Health vii. 341 Faith is all that ever made a drug remedy the ailments of a man. Mortal mind is belief, the immortal is understanding, the latter is Spirit, the former personal sense; we must learn to hold the immortal and mortal mind or belief separate. 1881― Ibid. (ed. 3) I. ii. 108 Mortal mind, and not muscles, nerves, bones, etc., determines the condition of its own body. Ibid. 114 Mortal mind is the remote cause of all suffering and sickness. 1903‘Mark Twain’ in North Amer. Rev. Apr. 508 In Christian Science terminology, ‘claims’ are errors of mortal mind, fictions of the imagination. 1910Encycl. Relig. & Ethics III. 577/2 In Christian Science this lying material sense, or sense of evil, is termed ‘mortal mind’. 1970F. S. Mead Handbk. of Denominations in U.S. (ed. 5) 71/1 Certain terms are important in the exposition of Christian Science... Mortal mind is ‘the flesh opposed to Spirit’.
3. Aiming at the destruction of an adversary.
a. Of war, a battle, etc.: Fought to the death.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 61 At mortal [v.r. mortel] batailles had he ben fiftene. 1393Langl. P. Pl. xviii. 290 Among here enemys in morteils [v.r. mortel(e, mortail] bateles To be culled and ouercome. c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 732 For he was lyke to endure that day A gret mortall shoure..With Vyce. c1500Melusine 144 There bygan a mortal medlee. c1600Shakes. Sonn. xlvi. 1 Mine eye and heart are at a mortall warre How to deuide the conquest of thy sight. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 512 The undoubted flower..of his army, which were in that mortall battell almost all slaine. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 115 The shocking Squadrons meet in mortal Fight.
b. Of an enemy: That will be satisfied only with the death of the object of his hostility; relentless, implacable. Also fig.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 732 For I am Palamon thy mortal [v.r. mortel] foo. 1390Gower Conf. I. 347 To grieve his mortiel enemy. c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 3134 But that they be..Mortal foon to chastite. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 124 He suld..hald him..for his inymy mortall. 1579G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 60 The mortallest enemy I have in this world? 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vi. 20 The mortallest enemy unto knowledge. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 38 Pleasure and pride, by nature mortal foes. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 445 Halifax was the mortal enemy of despotism and of Popery.
c. Of enmity, hatred, and the like: Pursued to the death, unappeasable; ‘deadly’. Hence fig. or hyperbolically, as a mortal aversion.
14..in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 107 Thou Herode of malice most mortall. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. i. 69 From childly & fatherly kindnes to mortal enmity. 1586J. Hooker Hist. Irel. 162/2 in Holinshed, Betwixt whome was a mortall hatred. 1665Sir W. Temple Let. to Sir J. Temple Wks. 1731 II. 4 He has a mortal Hatred to the Dutch for their supporting his City of Munster against him. 1714Addison Spect. No. 562 ⁋5 A Tribe of Egotists for whom I have always had a mortal Aversion. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. I. xix. 459 This great and unusual act of authority in the council gave the Roman pontiffs ever after a mortal antipathy to those assemblies. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 117 The Popish Chancellor became an object of mortal hatred. 1885O. W. Holmes (title) A mortal Antipathy.
4. Of pain, grief, fear, and the like: Such as might cause death; deadly in its effects. Often used hyperbolically and jocularly.
c1368Chaucer Compl. Pite 61 Sheweth unto your rial excellence Your servaunt, if I durste me so calle, His mortal harm, in which he is y-falle. c1402Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 214 To here this man,..His mortal wo, and his grete perturbaunce Compleyning. 1426― De Guil. Pilgr. 13679 Lyk a bryd..Wych, in hyr gret mortal ffer,..begynneth quake. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxx. (Percy Soc.) 148 He thinketh long after delyveracion Of his great wo and eke mortall paynes. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 477 By such meanes as he least feared might have procured any such mortall distrust or danger. 1693Dryden Ovid's Met. i. Daphne 128 The nymph grew pale, and in a mortal fright. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall xviii. 158 Her finery at church on Sundays has given mortal offence to her former intimates in the village. 1849–50Alison Hist. Europe V. xxix. §51. 221 Reports of the failure of the enterprise were generally spread, and diffused the most mortal disquietude. 1864Meredith Sandra Belloni xxv, Poor Braintop..sat in mortal fear lest his admiration of Emilia was perceived. 1879M. Arnold Mixed Ess., Falkland 210 The marriage gave mortal offence to his father.
5. Of sin: Entailing spiritual death; = deadly 5. Opposed to venial.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 12486 Dedly synne..The wych ycallyd ys ‘mortal’ Be-cause hys hurtys ffynally Ben in effect verray dedly. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 510 Ther be vij mortall synnes. 1566(title) Whether it be mortall sinne to transgresse ciuil lawes which be the commaundements of ciuill Magistrates. a1602W. Perkins Cases Consc. i. ii. (1609) 10 Now though euery sinne of it selfe be mortall, yet all are not equally mortall: but some more, some lesse. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 215 Mans mortal crime. Ibid. ix. 1003. 1887 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. VI. 266 The Church had pronounced it to be a sin of that ‘mortal’ kind which excludes from heaven.
fig.1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 66 b, If the fault in wordes be veniall, the fault in sentence and matter is mortall.
6. Pertaining to or accompanying death.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 154 When he [Diogenes] was awaked out of his mortal slepe, that is to saye, the last that euer he had before his death. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III.) 79 To reade nothing but pitifull stories, and mortall predictions. 1672Sir. T. Browne Let. Friend §x, All these, with many more, were so drowned in a mortal visage and last face of Hippocrates, that [etc.]. 1702Steele Funeral i. (1724) 16 This Fellow has a good mortal Look—place him near the Corps. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 288 Safe in the hand of one disposing Pow'r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. 1807Wordsw. White Doe i. 336 A tale of tears, a mortal story! 1821Shelley Hellas 851 Thou seest the mortal throes Of that whose birth was but the same. 1871Morley Condorcet in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 38 The mortal struggles of a society in revolution.
7. transf. (from sense 1.) Of or pertaining to man as a creature living on this earth and destined to die; relating to humanity.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 9306 In thys mortal lyff. 1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 45 This Testament is written in mens hartes,..not in tables of stone or mortall mettall. 1596Spenser Hymn Heav. Beauty 153 How then can mortall tongue hope to expresse The image of such endlesse perfectnesse? 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 67 When we haue shuffel'd off this mortall coile. 1637Milton Lycidas 78 Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil. 1651Fuller's Abel Rediv. 487 About this time Queen Elizabeth exchanged her mortall crown with an immortall. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 68 In Brakes and Brambles hid, and shunning Mortal Sight. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 31 The axe descending, terminated his mortal existence. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain vi, He..possessed the largest head which I ever beheld upon mortal shoulders. 1842Tennyson Sir Galahad 70 This mortal armour that I wear.
absol.1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. v, Heroes..have certainly more of mortal than divine about them.
8. In colloquial and slang uses.
a. Extremely great, ‘awful’; = deadly 8.
App. arising from hyperbolical or jocular applications of senses 3 and 4.
1716C'tess Cowper Diary (1864) 69 Lord Nottingham and the Duchess of Roxburgh take mortal pains to make the Princess think well of the Tories. 1762Bickerstaffe Love in Village i. vi. (1765) 12, I never saw such a mortal throng in our village in all my born days again. 1772Foote Nabob ii. Wks. 1799 II. 307 They do a mortal deal of harm in the country. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. v, I was a mortal sight younger then. 1865― Mut. Fr. i. xv, I'm not in a mortal hurry.
b. As an emphatic expletive (with any, every, or a negative). Cf. ‘earthly’, and sense 7 above.
1609B. Jonson Silent Woman iv. v, Cle. Shall I goe fetch the Ladies to the Catastrophe?..Daup. By no mortall meanes. 1843F. A. Kemble Later Life III. 36, I have every mortal thing to pack with my own single pair of hands. 1892Daily News 19 Nov. 5/4 We have the authority of Sir James Sawyer for saying that ‘we may eat any mortal thing we like’.
c. slang. Long and tedious. [Cf. F. ‘quinze mortels jours’, etc.]
1820Scott Monast. xxx, The interior one,..occupied them for three mortal hours. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxxix, You..take no more notice of me, all this mortal time, than if I was that 'ere dog. 1842Lytton Zanoni Introd. 19 And so on for 940 mortal pages in foolscap! 1878Stevenson Inland Voy. 232 The marionettes..performed a piece, called Pyramus and Thisbe, in five mortal acts.
d. Short for mortal drunk = dead drunk (see 10). Sc. and north. dial.
1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 54 He was often carried home to his crue, on a hand-barrow, just mortal. 1825Jamieson, Mortal, dead drunk. 1867A. Dawson Rambling Recoll. (1868) 21 They had tasted of the bottles of the whole fifteen by which time they were one and all of them ‘mortal’. 1891Barrie Little Minister xxiv, He doesna strike me except when he's mortal.
9. Comb.
1670Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada iv. iii, Instruct thy mortal elemented son. 1697― æneid xii. 1073 The mortal-temper'd steel deceiv'd his hand. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles ii. xi, Or, mortal-moulded, comest thou here From England's love, or France's fear?
10. adv. = mortally. Now only dial. or vulgar in the sense: Extremely, excessively, ‘deadly’ (cf. 8 a).
mortal drunk = dead drunk.
c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 3665 The pereyl ys so mortal strong. c1500Melusine 175 The batayll was there mortall fyers & doubtous for bothe partyes. 1753Warburton in W. & Hurd Lett. (1809) 156 St. John's well, after the name of a mortal cold bath in Nottinghamshire. 1778Susan Burney Let. 16 July in Mme. D'Arblay's Early Diary (1889) II. 247 She is mortal fond of the book, and has got it by heart. 1784R. Bage Barham Downs I. 9 A mortal rich gentleman. 1816Byron Siege Cor. xxi, Though slight was that grasp so mortal cold. 1844W. Cross Disruption xxvi. (E.D.D.), The mistress o' the house was ‘mortal drunk’ in bed. 1855Thackeray Newcomes II. 35 Missis was mortal angry. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 92/1 All hands were mortal drunk. 1867A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset (1869) I. xxxiii. 352, I wouldn't speak if I warn't well nigh mortial sure. |