| 释义 |
awful, a.|ˈɔːfʊl|
Forms: α. 1 eᵹefull, 3 eiful(l, eifful. β. ahefull, 4 aghful(l, 6 aufull, 7 awefull, 7–8 awfull, 7–9 aweful, 5– awful.
[f. awe n.1 + -ful, continuing the sense of OE. ęᵹefull: see awe n.1 Occas. compared awfuller, -est. With sense 4, cf. the sense-history of Gr. δεινός awful.]
I. objectively: Awe-inspiring.
1. Causing dread; terrible, dreadful, appalling.
αc885K. ælfred Boeth. xviii. §2 Romane nama..wæs..maneᵹum folce swiþe eᵹefull. c1220Leg. St. Kath. 39 Þurh fearlac of eiful þreates.
βc1230Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 271 To fihte aȝaines alle þe ahefulle deuiles. c1425Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxix. 90 And swore mony ane awful athe. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 360 They reared thence vnto the Saxons such awefull armies. 1722De Foe Plague 64 The other scene was awful and full of terror. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 85 Too evidently looking his awfullest. 1876Green Short Hist. viii. §9 A series of awful massacres.
2. Worthy of, or commanding, profound respect or reverential fear.
αc1000ælfric Deut. x. 17 God..mihtiᵹ & eᵹefull.
βa1300Cursor M. 7869 Dauid he was an aghful man, Ful rightwisli he regnd þan. c1425Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 50 He wes in justice right lauchful And til hys legis all awful. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 98 An awefull Princely Scepter. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 11 Preaching..in the most awful Auditory of the University. 1711Addison Spect. No. 169 ⁋9 Cato's character..is rather awful than amiable. 1871Macduff Mem. Patmos xix. 264 His truth, His awful holiness.
3. Solemnly impressive; sublimely majestic.
1660Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 179/1 Dwell awful Silence on the shady Hills. 1706Addison Rosamond iii. i, Domes in awful pomp arising. 1853Maurice Proph. & Kings iii. 39 How awful to feel himself there..an atom amidst the infinity of nature!
4. a. slang. Frightful, very ugly, monstrous; and hence as a mere intensive deriving its sense from the context = Exceedingly bad, great, long, etc.
1809Fessenden Pills Polit., Poet. & Philos. 2, I fear our..nation Is in an awful situation. 1816Pickering Vocab. 42 Awful, Disagreeable, ugly. New England. In New England many people would call a disagreeable medicine, awful; an ugly woman, an awful looking woman... This word, however, is never used except in conversation, and is far from being so common in the sea-ports now, as it was some years ago. 1818Keats Let. 27 Apr. (1958) I. 273 It is an awful while since you have heard from me. a1834Lamb Gent. Giantess Misc. Wks. (1871) 363 She is indeed, as the Americans would express it, something awful. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 28 To what an awful extent the Spanish peasant..will consume garlic. 1870M. Bridgman R. Lynne II. x. 212 He writes an awful scrawl. 1873R. Broughton Nancy I. 26 What an awful duffer I am! Mod. What an awful time you've been!
b. As adv. = awfully adv. 3.
1818J. Palmer Jrnl. Trav. U.S. 131 [It is] awful hot. 1832J. Romilly Cambr. Diary 24 June (1967) 17 An awful bad sermon from Hudleston. 1848Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., We not unfrequently hear such expressions as ‘an awful cold day’. 1865Punch 11 Mar. 103/1 We sailed all about the horizon Seeing sights as was awful surprisin'. 1866A. Trollope Belton Est. III. x. 261 It is awful lonely here, too. 1876‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer ii. 17 You see, Aunt Polly's awful particular about this fence. 1923R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean iii. 39 A prairie town called Follansbee that looks awful good to me.
II. subjectively: Filled with awe.
†5. Terror-stricken; timid, timorous, afraid. Obs.
c1590Marlowe Faust. ix. 37 Monarch of hell under whose black survey Great potentates do kneel with awful fear. 1681Manton Serm. Ps. xix. 74 Wks. 1872 VII. 280 Careful to please God, and awe-ful to offend him. a1748Watts (J.) A weak and awful reverence for antiquity.
6. Profoundly respectful or reverential.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iii. 76 How dare thy ioynts forget To pay their awfull dutie to our presence? 1607Topsell Serpents 641 The whole swarm and company is kept in awful order. 1641Stock On Malachi (1865) 56 An awful child will hardly be drawn..to do aught that his father hath..forbidden him. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. l. 129 At an awful distance they cast away their garments. 1846Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 2 Towards the East our awful greetings Are wafted. 1879G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xii. 74 Gibbie sat calm, awe-ful..while the storm roared.
III. Comb.; adverbially, as in awful-gleaming, awful-looking, or in parasynthetic deriv., as awful-eyed.
1647H. More Song Soul Notes 147/2 Manly, and awfull-eyed Fortitude. 1870Bryant Homer I. i. 12 The awful-gleaming eye. |