| 释义 |
scelerate, a. and n.|ˈsɛlərət|
Also 6–9 scelerat, 6 Sc. scelerait.
[ad. L. scelerātus, pa. pple. of scelerāre, f. sceler-, scelus wickedness: see -ate2. Cf. F. scélérat (in Cotgr. 1611; OF. had sceleré), It. scellerato, Pg. scelerado.]
†A. adj. Atrociously wicked. Obs.
a1513Fabyan Chron. vii. 675 And fledde is now clerely the scelerat flokke. a1548Hall Chron., Rich. III 29 b, His myscheuous actes and scelerate doynges. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 296 So scelerait, and ingrait for to chois. 1613Sir A. Sherley Trav. Persia 8 The scelerat treason conspired against vs. 1625Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1845 There was resistance against such a scelerate Prince. 1665Winstanley Loyal Martyrol. 102 Such a Scelerate Villaine. a1734North Exam. i. iii. §98 (1740) 191 The most scelerate Plot that ever was heard of.
B. n. An atrociously wicked person, a villain, wretch. Obs. exc. arch.
The spelling scelerat is after the F. scélérat; the word has been occasionally used by Eng. writers with italics and accents as a foreign word.
1715Cheyne Philos. Princ. Relig. ii. 88 Hence it is, that Scelerats, can by no Arts, nor any Amusements how violent soever, stifle the Cries of a wounded Conscience. 1728–31Lett. fr. Fog's Jrnl. (1732) I. 15 That honourable Prison [the Tower of London] is reserv'd for illustrious Scelerates. 1790Burns Let. to (? G. Hamilton), Creation-disgracing scelerats such as they, God only can mend, and the devil only can punish. 1880Shorthouse J. Inglesant xxii. 295 He was, and is, a scelerat and a coward.
Hence † ˈscelerately adv.; † ˈscelerateness.
1613Sir A. Sherley Trav. Persia 5 The punishment was nothing proportionable to the sceleratnesse of the fact. 1632Lithgow Trav. v. 188 My companion fled, and escaped the sceleratnesse of their hands. Ibid. x. 493 The peruerted policy of subtile Serpents, had sceleratly suggested my concealment. |