| 释义 |
▪ I. puny, a. and n.|ˈpjuːnɪ|
Also 6 puney, 6–7 punie, punye, 7 punay, punee.
[Phonetic spelling of puisne, q.v.]
A. adj.
†1. Junior; inferior in rank, subordinate: = puisne a. 1, 1 b. Obs.
a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1609) 64 The officer before whom the Clerke is to take the essoyne, is the puny Justice in the common pleas. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 296 Appealing..from the lower house of punys Burgesses to the higher house of auncient Barons. 170.in C. Fiennes Diary 278 The Lord High Steward askes ye Lords one by one beginning with the puny Lord, so to the highest. 1733Swift On Poetry Wks. 1755 IV. i. 191 Put on the critick's brow, and sit At Wills' the puny judge of wit.
†2. Later, recent: = puisne a. 2. Obs.
1628Prynne Cens. Mr. Cozens 29 Composed by some vaine and illiterate Monkes of punie times. 1648― Plea for Lords 373 No precedents of puny date within time of memory. 1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. ii. Pref. A 2 b, Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of Parliament..were not knowne nor heard of till punier times than these.
†3. Raw, inexperienced; that is a novice or tyro.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 36 How the yong whelpe of Talbots raging wood, Did flesh his punie-sword in Frenchmens blood. 1602Herring tr. Oberndoerffer's Anat. A iij b, No Commander will prefer the punee and fresh-water Souldier before the auncient and well-disciplined Warriour. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 21 These terrors may disturb some small pretenders and puny novices. 1712W. Rogers Voy. (1718) 244 Neither do I think it half so bad as these puny marriners tell us.
4. a. Of inferior size, force, or importance; minor; petty, weak, feeble; small, diminutive, tiny.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 86 Arme, arme my Name: a punie subiect strikes At thy great glory. 1596― Merch. V. iii. iv. 74 And twentie of these punie lies Ile tell, That men shall sweare I haue discontinued schoole Aboue a twelue moneth. 1692E. Walker Epictetus' Enchir. viii, The puny loss shall not disturb your mind. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1739 (1831) I. 113 Some puny scribbler invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of inconsistency. 1838Emerson Addr., Lit. Ethics Wks. (Bohn) II. 208 The great idea, and the puny execution. 1898G. W. Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 139 The River was punier than ever and the belt of bush thin.
b. esp. of human beings and animals: Of small growth and feeble vitality; undersized and weakly.
1604Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 244 Euery Punie whipster gets my Sword. 1647Trapp Comm. 1 Tim. v. 1 Lash him not with the scourge of the tongue, as a puny-boy. 1664Power Exp. Philos. 28 Muffet calls this Insect Locustellum or a puny-Locust. 1693C. Mather Wond. Invis. World (1862) 125 He was a very Puny Man, yet he had often done things beyond the strength of a Giant. 1742Young Nt. Th. ix. 2203 Each flow'r, each leaf, with its small people swarm'd, (Those puny vouchers of Omnipotence!). 1875Jowett Plato, Rep. Introd. (ed. 2) III. 39 They..did not wish to preserve useless lives, or raise up a puny offspring.
c. In bad condition or health; physically weak; ailing. U.S. dial.
1838K. De R. Kennedy in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 289, I found your dear Aunt Catherine in a very puny state, not entirely confined, but obliged to rest herself on the bed more or less every day. 1866C. H. Smith Bill Arp 170 Me and him like to have fit, and perhaps would, if I hadn't been puny. 1904W. N. Harben Georgians xvii. 163 Little Minnie begun to fail; she got so puny she spit up ever'thing she ate. 1943T. Pratt Barefoot Mailman i. 7 Don't you go making fun of sickness. Mister Dewey Durgan here has been puny the last few days and needs the best advice. 1947Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. viii. 33/1 [S.W. Ohio] Puny, in poor health, thin, emaciated. 1979–80Verbatim Winter 14/1 [In Missouri] puny was ‘confined to bed’, poorly meant ‘chronically ill’, and bad sick meant it was time to call the undertaker.
†B. n. Obs.
1. One younger or more recent than another or others; a junior.
1565Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 94 Therefore S. Augustine saith, Deus docuit Petrum per posteriorem Paulum... Thus God instructed Peter by Paul his punie, that was called after him. 1603Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (1632) 324 The eldest..child shall succeed and inherit all; where nothing is reserved for Punies, but obedience. 1628Jackson Creed ix. xviii. §3 Much less did the ancient poets..borrow their fancies..from the Jewish rabbins, who were their punies.
2. A junior or recently admitted pupil or student in a school or university, or in the Inns of Court; a freshman. Also fig. or allusively (leading to sense 3).
1548Patten Exped. Scotl. L vj Like y⊇ play in Robin Cooks skole, whear bicaus the punies may lerne thei strike fewe strokes, but by assent & appointement. 1590J. Stockwood Accidence A j b, The Booke to the Punies and Petits of the Grammar Schoole. 1607Christmas Prince (1816) 1 They whome they call Fresh-menn, Punies of the first yeare. 1673Lady's Call. i. i. §19 As if vice now disdain'd to have any punies in its school.
3. A raw or inexperienced person; a novice, tyro.
1589Nashe in Greene Menaphon Pref. (Arb.) 8 The idle vsage of our vnexperienst and illiterated punies. 1607Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. iii, I see thou'rt but a puny in the subtill Mistery of a woman. 1638Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. iv. §23. 204 Punies in Logick, know that universall affirmatives are not simply converted. 1688H. Wharton Enthus. Ch. Rome 55 He was no puny in this Art.
4. a. An inferior, a subordinate; a person of small account. Now rare. arch.
1579G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 61 [To reap] displeasure of my worshipfullist dearist frendes... Contempte and disdayne of my punyes and underlings. 1626C. More Sir T. More 2, I..who know my selfe a verie puney in comparison of so manie famous men. 1658Osborne Jas. I, 23 The Swis, though owners of brave actions, are yet so farre their Punies in the learning of trade. 1711Countrey-Man's Let. to Curat 4 Sacheverell Himself is but a puny for an oculist in comparison of him. 1922Joyce Ulysses 386 Thou chuff, thou puny, thou got in the peasestraw.
b. A junior judge; = puisne n. 2.
1608A. Willet Hexapla in Exod. 526 That the punies and inferiour Iudges should deliuer their opinion first.
Hence (nonce-wds.) † ˈpuny v. trans., to make puny or insignificant, to dwarf; ˈpunyish a., somewhat puny; ˈpunyism, puny character.
1649Cleveland Epitaph ii, To puny the Records of time By one grand Gygantick Crime. 1832Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 865 Feeblish faces that must frown, punyish figures that must strut. 1791Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 70 The punyism of a senseless word like Duke, or Count, or Earl, has ceased to please.
▪ II. puny
obs. form of punaise, bed-bug. |