| 释义 |
▪ I. ne'er, adv.|nɛə(r)|
Forms: 3–6 ner, 4–7 nere, 6–8 Sc. neir, 6 neare, 7 ne'r, neer(e, 7–8 ne're, 6– ne'er.
[Contracted form of never, as e'er for ever.]
1. Never. Chiefly poetic.
c1205Lay. 30205 He wolde aȝein wenden heom to his folke..and ner [c 1275 neuere] æft a-ȝen teon. c1320Cast. Love 427 Nere nowther speketh him good. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. vi. (Skeat) l. 89, I nere desyred wrathe of the people ne indignacion of the worthy. c1420Chron. Vilod. 3089 In þe ȝere of grace..A thousonde euene and ner on mo. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxv. 21 Thy trublit gaist sall neir moir be degest. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 25 Thou gettest such praise, As neer decaies. a1631Donne Poems (1650) 57 So these extreames shall ne'r their office doe. 1680Otway Orphan v. vii, Mon. We ne're must meet again... Cast. Ne're meet again? Mon. No, never. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 46 You have the old Proverb on your Side, Naught's ne'er in Danger. 1795Burns Dumfries Volunteers i, We'll ne'er permit a foreign foe On British ground to rally. 1829A. Hallam in Lockhart Scott (1839) IX. 332 Those dogs that from him ne'er would rove.
†b. I wot ne'er, I know not. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 93 Þei seiden to him, Where is he? And he seide, Y woot nere. c1400Mandeville (1839) xx. 219 Where [= whether] it be by Craft or be Nygromancye, I wot nere. c1475Partenay 5702 Wherfor it gan do, certes wote I nere. 1513More Rich. III, Wks. 39/1, I wote nere whither any preachers woordes ought more to moue you. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 5 Nay I wot neere, but it hath left behind it a wale in my throate.
c. Sc. Used euphem. in place of deil, devil.
1814Scott Wav. lviii, The ne'er be in me, sir, if I think you're safe. 1816― Antiq. ix, I was at the search..; but ne'er-be-licket could they find that was to their purpose.
2. ne'er the less = nevertheless.
a1300Cursor M. 21247 Bot ner-þe-less for his liuelade, o biscop siþen he tok þe hade. c1374Chaucer Compl. Mars 130 But ner the lesse, for al his heuy armure, He foloweth her. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 33 Nertheles vertu of necessyte I wyl make. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 168 b, Nerethelesse many princes there bee, whiche..abuse the good menne. 1621Quarles Div. Poems, Esther Argt. viii, Yet be thy iust Petition ne'rthelesse Entirely granted. 1822Byron Werner i. i. 684 Ne'er the less I must have three.
†b. So ne'er the later or latter. Obs.
1382Wyclif Prov. xxiii. 3 If ner the latere thou haue power in to thi soule. c1400Beryn 3120 Ner the lattir He held it nat al foly that Geffrey did clatir.
3. Comb. as ne'er-changing, ne'er-dying, ne'er-ending; ne'er-seen, ne'er-sufficed, ne'er-touched.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 46 His new Kingdome of nere-changing night. 1606― Ant. & Cl. iii. xii. 31 Want will periure The ne're touch'd Vestall. 1612J. Davies Muse's Sacrifice Wks. (Grosart) II. 83 Like a ne'er-suffized Graue. 1647Stapylton Juvenal 226 The white sow..That for her thirty ne're-seen paps was fam'd. 1693Congreve in Dryden's Juvenal xi. (1697) 280 Arms, which to Man ne'er-dying Fame afford. a1704T. Brown Satire Woman Wks. 1730 I. 56 A veng'ance of ne'er-ending harms.
b. ne'er-be-good, ne'er-do-good = ne'er-do-well. So † ne'er-thrift.
c1440York Myst. xxxiii. 266 Þou nerthrift [printed -thrist] of Nazareth, now neuend is þi name. 1675Cotton Burlesque upon B. Wks. (1725) 210 'Tis that Nere-be-good, thy Son, Has made me do what I have done. a1814Intrigues of a Day v. i. in New Brit. Theatre I. 168 A couple of as arrant ne'er-be-goods as ever cheated a poor poet. 1814Scott Wav. xxx, D'ye hear what the..young gentleman says, ye drunken ne'er-do-good?
▪ II. ne'er
var. new-year. Sc. |