| 释义 |
needs, adv.|niːdz|
Forms: 1 nýdes, 1–6 nedes, 4 neodes, 4–5 nedez, 4–6 nedis, 4–7 needes, 5 neds, needis, 5–6 nedys, 7 Sc. neids, 4– needs.
[OE. nýdes, nédes: see need n. and -s1.]
Of necessity, necessarily. a. In general use. Now rare.
In 14–15th c. frequently used with behove.
a1000Laws ælfred xiii, Se þe hine þonne nedes ofsloᵹe, oððe unwillum. c1131O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1131 Hi scolden nedes. 13..Cursor M. 5869 (Gött.), Fra þat time nedis had þai, Do tua iornays apon a day. a1352Minot Poems (ed. Hall) ix. 28 At þe Neuil cros nedes bud þam knele. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 215 [Thou] art so loth to leue that leue shalt needs. c1449Pecock Repr. i. ii. 9 Perceuyng whanne an argument procedith into his conclusioun needis. 1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 49 [We] claim and prove a succession and therefore needes a visibilitie from the time of the apostles. 1870Rossetti Poems, Burden Nineveh xv, And needs were years and lustres flown Ere strength of man could vanquish thee.
b. In clauses containing must.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. xii. (1868) 106 Nedes the wordes moten ben cosynes to þo þinges of whiche þei speken. c1440Jacob's Well 261 Nedys I, & my wyif, & my chylderyn..muste lyve. 1470–85Malory Arthur viii. i. 273 Depe draughtes of deth toke her, that nedes she must dye. 1583T. Watson Poems (Arb.) 60 But needes perforce I must become content To mealt in minde. 1642Rogers Naaman 346 It must be needs a very reproveable evill which causeth such a fulsomenesse. 1782Cowper Gilpin 89 Stooping down as needs he must Who cannot sit upright.
c. Directly following the vb., in must needs.
13..Guy Warw. (A.) 3668 So miche folk þer was y-slawe..He most nedes opon men go. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 218 Þes þingis moten nedis be, but ȝit is not anoon ende. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. iii. 149 The argument now maad muste needis haue his entent. 1529Wolsey in Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880) 10 Thes thyngs consyderyd..must nedys make me yn agony. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 129, I must needs begin with Ignatius. a1688Cudworth Immut. Mor. (1731) 113 The Soul must needs have the same Passions. 1741Middleton Cicero (1742) I. ii. 126 If every thing must needs be committed to Pompey. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall II. 374 The Squire must needs have something of the old ceremonies observed on the occasion. 1875Helps Ess., Dom. Rule 37 A man thinks that he must needs understand those whom he sees daily.
Prov.c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 21 He must nedys go that the deuell dryves. 1532[see drive v. 1 b]. 1601Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 31. 1638 Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. 95.
d. So needs must. Freq. as an elliptic phrase, esp. after than or if. With the proverbial uses cf. sense c.
1390Gower Conf. I. 291 For it is seid thus overal, That nedes mot that nede schal. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 38 For than he nedys must yeve credence. 1550Crowley Epigr. 88 Nedes must we have places for vitayls to be solde. 1604E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 195 We beleeue them no more then needs must. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 412 Needs must the Power That made us..Be infinitly good. 1734Berkeley Lett. Wks. 1871 IV. 218, I shall stay no longer in Dublin than needs must. 1782Cowper Gilpin 188 My head is twice as big as yours, They therefore needs must fit. 1821Scott Kenilw. xvi, I..would have no more of these follies than needs must. 1871Browning Balaustion 2287 She shall go, if needs must.
Prov.1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 1434 Nedes must he rin that the deuyll dryuith. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage i. xv. 71 Needs must they goe whom the diuell driueth. a1659[see drive v. 1 b]. 1835Southey Doctor III. lxxxiii. 77 ‘Needs must go when the Devil drives’, says the proverb: but the Devil shall never drive me. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. v, Needs must, when somebody drives. 1853T. C. Haliburton Sam Slick's Wise Saws I. xiii. 267 ‘Needs must when the devil drives, so here goes,’ and off he went for the water. 1886[see drive v. 1 b]. 1898J. Arch Story of Life xvi. 379 Needs must when illness drives. 1916E. Wallace Clue of Twisted Candle (1918) xi. 133 But needs must when the devil drives, as the saying goes. 1956G. Durrell My Family xiv. 189, I think we had better have a cab. An extravagance, of course, but needs must where the devil drives, eh?
e. will needs or would needs, implying determination or fixity of purpose. Now arch.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 143 And ȝif ȝe willeþ nedes stryve, abydeth þe dome of God Almyȝty. 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1274/1 She bi the diuels entisement wold nedes knowe euyll to. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 108 He needes will be Absolute Millaine. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 36, I would needs..go and see the town of Wisby. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., Passport (Versailles i.), The master of my hotel..will needs have it..that I should be sent to the Bastile. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxx, Vulcan..would needs wed Venus, and our Chronicles tell us what came of it.
Hence ˈneeds-be n., necessity.
1881A. W. Momerie Orig. Evil 31 Peter could discover no needs-be in the humiliation and death of Christ. 1894Westm. Gaz. 27 Nov. 2/2 A penetrating insight into the needs-be of a finely touched nature. |