| 释义 |
sheepish, a. (adv.)|ˈʃiːpɪʃ|
Also 3 shepiss(h)e, 4 schep-, 4–6 shepishe, 6 sheppeshe, etc.
[f. sheep n. + -ish. Cf. MDu. schaepsch (Du. schaapsch), G. schäfisch.]
1.
†a. Of, pertaining to, or concerned with sheep; ovine. Obs.
b. Resembling sheep or their characteristics. Now rare.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 37 Sume men..goð eche dai to chirche alse shep to uolde..and beð cleped shepisse men. 1532More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 763/2 For al their shepishe semblaunce outwardly, righte rauenous wolues are they within. 1536in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 114 Soche greate ones..in time paste, like bell-wethers, had led the sheppeshe flockes of England against their prince. a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (Sommer) 1 b, Some [shepherds were] setting a bell for an ensigne of a sheepish squadron. 1611Stafford Niobe ii. 218 How to chuse the best tarre:..how to excell in sheepish surgery. 1847Helps Friends in C. i. ii. 31 It is not a sheepish tendency, but an independent resolve growing out of our nature.
†2.
a. Meek, innocent. Obs.
c1200Ormin 6654 Niss he nohht hinnderrȝæp ne pratt..Acc iss shepisshe & bilewhit.
†b. Simple, silly. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 212 Queynte sleiȝtis to disceyue schepische men of worldly goodis. 1592Nashe P. Penilesse 19 b, I haue reade ouer thy Sheepish discourse of the Lambe of God and his enemies, and entreated my patience to bee good to thee whilst I read it. 1613Marston Insat. C'tess i. i. 10 Zounds what a sheepish beginning is here?..thou art a simple louer. 1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. People vii. 169 Would not the English do you a kindness in that, you sheepish Fellow, you?
†c. Excessively meek or submissive, fearful or timorous; mean-spirited. Obs. exc. as implied in 3.
c1510Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) F v, While thou would behaue thee demure and pacient, Beware, be not remisse nor sheepish in no wise. 1659Milton Free Commw. 17 Monarchs..whose aim is to make the people, wealthy indeed perhaps and wel-fleec't..but..not only in fleece, but in minde also sheepishest. 1709Shaftesbury Charac. I. 93 We are happily tam'd and render'd thus mild and sheepish. 1711Addison Spect. No. 13 ⁋3 If the former was too furious, this was too sheepish, for his Part.
3. Bashful or awkward in the presence of others, esp. in society to which one is unaccustomed; embarrassed or out of countenance from an excess of shyness or diffidence.
1693Locke Educ. §68 Being used constantly to the same Faces, and little Company, will, when he comes abroad, be a sheepish or conceited Creature. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. i. i, Sensible, good-natured; I like all that. But then reserved and sheepish; that's much against him. a1774Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 124 Bring an unlicked cub into company, and you will find him shy and sheepish;..uneasy in all situations. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxix, All the sheepish bashfulness common to those who have lived little in respectable society. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 369 Sheepish lads from the Universities. 1876Smiles Sc. Natur. ix. (ed. 4) 170 And away she went, leaving Edward looking rather sheepish.
4. quasi-adv. and adv. = sheepishly.
1581Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1888) 187 It maketh him to shepish bashfull. 1784Cowper Task iv. 629 Sheepish he doffs his hat. |