| 释义 |
▪ I. brunt, n.1|brʌnt|
Forms: 4– brunt, 4–6 bronte, 5–6 bront, brunte, 6 brount.
[First in 14th c. Origin unknown; generally sought in ON. bruna ‘to advance with the speed of fire’; though such a formation from that is difficult to explain etymologically, and connecting links are wanting. The word may rather be an onomatopœia of Eng. itself: cf. dunt, and various br- words implying sharp or smart application of force. It is possible however that some association with burnt (in Sc. brunt), as if the ‘chief brunt’ were ‘the hottest’ of the fight, has influenced sense 4.]
†1. A sharp blow. Obs.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 174 Bot baysment gef myn hert a brunt. 1400Sowdone Bab. 3166 He smote the bisshope withe a bronde And gaf him an evel bronte. 1470–85Malory Arthur xx. xxi. (Globe) 472/2 Sir Gawaine gave him many sad brunts and many sad strokes.
†b. at a brunt: at one blow, at once, suddenly. Obs. (Cf. Fr. tout à coup, tout d'un coup.)
c1400Alexander (Stev.) 134 All þat was bitten of the best, was at a brunt dede. a1555Ridley Wks. 53 Traditions..at one brunt are revived. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 69 Here Osorius..uttereth all his skill at a brunt. 1609Bible (Douay) 2 Kings xxiii. 8 Which killed eight hundred at one brunt.
†2. An assault, charge, onset, violent attack. (Often after bear, abide, sustain, etc.) Obs.
a. of fighting men, physical agents.
1430Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxiv, The pore souldiours Which bare the bronte euer of such shoures, And the mischiefe of werre comonly. 1531Elyot Gov. (1834) 201 [He] there alone sustained the whole brunt of his enemies. 1570Levins Manip. 189 A Brunt, impetus. c1590Marlowe Faust. i. 93. 121 Stranger engines for the brunt of war. 1601Holland Pliny II. 491 Sustaining the charge and brunt of K. Porsenaes army. 1648Gage West. Ind. x. (1655) 32 At the third brunt, they made those lusty souldiers flie.
b. of sickness, temptation, persecution, etc. Obs. or arch.
1542Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 245 Strength maye suffre a brount. 1563Homilies ii. xvi. ii. (1859) 461 So many and great brunts of affliction and persecution. a1617Bayne On Ephes. (1658) 127 A brunt of unbelief doth not evacuate our faith. 1693W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 533 He endures sore brunts, magnos impetus sustinet. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 210 Wishing to despise..Brunts of fate and scorns of men.
†c. at the first brunt: at the first charge or onset; fig. at starting, at first. Obs.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys cxlviii, Though some of his men be overthrown at the first brunt. c1532Ld. Berners Huon (1883) 395 At the fyrste brounte the Almaynes were constrayned to recule abacke. 1549Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. i. 23 A doctrine, that at the fyrste brunte seemeth base and folyshe. 1693Mem. Ct. Teckely i. 44 They put them into disorder at the first brunt.
3. Shock, violence, or force (of an attack).
(This more abstract sense was at first only vaguely evolved from the preceding, which it has now superseded. Phrases like brunt of war, of battle, etc. connect 2 and 3.)
a. of war, or of any material force.
1579Fenton Guicciard. ii. (1599) 84 All the brunt and swaigh of that daies fight. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iii. 42 Athens..endured the hardest and worst brunt of Darius invasion. 1667Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 40 Neither will it [Brasse] like Gold resist the utmost brunt of the Fire. 1728Morgan Algiers II. iv. 282 Utterly averse To stand the Brunt of another Engagement. 1809Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. IV. 324 Bearing the first brunt of the enemy's attack. 1862Marsh Eng. Lang. ii. 29 It was on the Cymry that the chief brunt of the contest fell.
b. of an immaterial force.
1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 15, I must needes abide the brunt of his displeasure. 1662Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 447 When such prisoners..have weathered out the brunt of that disease. 1774Burke Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 175, I had rather bear the brunt of all his wit. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. iv. 198 Grindal..bore the whole brunt of the queen's displeasure. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 88 To avoid the brunt of their argument.
4. The chief stress or violence; crisis. (Formerly expressed by chief brunt, greatest brunt.)
1598Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 4 The first three, fiue, or seuen rankes..do beare the chiefe brunt. 1665Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 144 It had inabled him to bear the greatest brunt of Humane Affairs. ]1769Robertson Chas. V, III. xi. 309 The wing of the French which stood the brunt of the combat. 1815Moore Lalla R. (1824) 93 Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) I. vii. ix. 239 The brunt of the danger seems past. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 241 But the English had borne the brunt of the fight. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. vii. 110 The brunt of the defence fell on ships, not on soldiers.
†5. A sudden effort, strain, or outburst; a ‘fit’, ‘spurt’. (Cf. 1 b.) Obs.
c1450Merlin xviii. 282 Thei spored theire horse ouer the brigge at a brunt. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 76 [Oxen] they graunte to be not so good as horses at a sodeyne brunte, and (as we saye) at a deade lifte. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 12 It is but for a brunt of newfanglednesse. a1626Bp. Andrewes Serm. xix. (1661) 389 His vigour is not brunts only, or starts, impetus. 1670R. Rhodes Flora's Vagaries 58 It will be but one Brunt o' th' Old mans anger.
6. Comb., as brunt-bearing adj.
1654Chapman Alphonsus Plays 1873 III. 243 Saxon lansknights and brunt-bearing Switzers.
¶ Error for brute, bruit.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 52 Herd ye not the Exclamation And the grete brunte..Crucyfy hym! 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxxviii. 222 The brunt went yt he was chiefe heed of the prouostes treason.
▪ II. † brunt, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
A bud, a ‘spur’ on a fruit tree.
1668Markham Way to Wealth No. 9 iii. i. 97 You must gather your fruit clean, without leaves or brunts..for every brunt would be a stalk for fruit to grow upon.
▪ III. brunt, v. rare.|brʌnt|
[f. brunt n.1]
†1. intr. To make an assault or attack. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 54 Bruntun, or make a soden stertynge, insilio. 1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 74 They would brunt without a main force.
2. trans. To bear the brunt of, face boldly. rare.
1859I. Taylor Logic in Theol. 194 Brunting the chilling fogs of a winter's afternoon, in England. 1859G. Meredith R. Feverel iv. (1885) 29 ‘Do you think they'll ever suspect us?’ ‘What if they do? We must brunt it.’
▪ IV. brunt
obs. and dial. pa. tense and pple. of burn v. |