| 释义 |
▪ I. sickly, a.|ˈsɪklɪ|
Forms: 4 sek-, 5 seke-, seekly, 6 Sc. seiklie; 4 sykliche, 6 syck(e)ly, 6–7 sickely, sicklie, 6– sickly (7 -ley).
[f. sick a. + -ly1. Cf. MDu. siekelic (Du. ziekelijk), MHG. (and G.) siechlich, OIcel. sjúkligr, Norw. sjukleg, Sw. sjuklig, Da. sygelig.]
1. a. Ailing or indisposed; in a poor state of health; not robust or strong.
c1350Will. Palerne 1505 Whan þemperour.. seie him so sekly þat he ded semed,..sorwe sank to his hert. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1528 Thou nedelees Counseylest me, that sykliche I me feyne! c1440Promp. Parv. 451/2 Seekly, or ofte seke, valitudinarius. 1483Cath. Angl. 327/2 A Sekely man, valitudinarius. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 44 The impotent syckely and aged people, which be not able to travaile to the said Churches. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iv. 61, I am not such a sickely creature, I giue Heauen praise. 1623R. Carpenter Consc. Christian 99 When you shall lie on your beds sickly, or in health conferre with your souls secretly. 1691Hartcliffe Virtues 55 Another of this way of Life, being sickly, expressed much Courage in..adventuring upon any hard Enterprize. 1748Anson's Voy. i. iv. 50 The Captains of the squadrons represented to the Commodore, that their ships companies were very sickly. 1779Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 575 The troops and seamen arrived in a very sickly condition. 1833H. Martineau Manch. Strike ii. 20 Being in the air so much..prevents my being sickly, as I used to be. 1894H. Drummond Ascent Man 339 A mother who did not care for her children would have feeble and sickly children.
absol.1837T. Hook Jack Brag xi, Jack made an attempt at popularity amongst the sicklies at Cheltenham.
fig.1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. ii. 98 Leuing the pretence of necessitie, wherein they haue but a weake and sickly defence. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 17 In this sickely and elder age of the world. 1674Essex Papers (Camden) I. 164 As in Sick bodies, so in Sickly governments, Change is desired. 1757Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. i. iv. Wks. X. 243 Armorica..was then, like many other parts of the sickly empire, become a mere desert.
b. Of plants, etc.: Characterized by a feeble or unhealthy growth.
1697Dryden Virg. Past. v. 55 No fruitful Crop the sickly Fields return. 1713Young Last Day i. 63 Yet all must drop, as autumn's sickliest grain. 1748Gray Alliance 1 As sickly Plants betray a niggard Earth. 1837Lytton E. Maltrav. 3 The herbage grew up in sickly patches. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 79 He found..the seeds of C. lancifolia represented by three sickly plants.
c. Of the mind: Weak, disordered.
1741–2Gray Agrippina 72 How oft in weak and sickly minds The sweets of kindness lavishly indulg'd Rankle to gall. 1781Crabbe Library 60 Here alt'ratives by slow degrees control The chronic habits of the sickly soul.
d. Of things: (cf. sick a. 7).
1826Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 32 The beer..cannot recover itself, but remains sickly, and becomes sour.
2. Of conditions, etc.: Connected with, arising from, characterized by, ill-health.
1406Hoccleve La Male Regle 15 My body empty is,..and ful of seekly heuynesse. c1412― De Reg. Princ. 124 My seekly distresse For-bad myn eres vsen hire office. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 40 To satisfie his seiklie appetyte. 1689Evelyn Diary 29 Mar., Things far from settled.., by reason of the slothfull, sickly temper of the new King. 1704F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 140 A sickly Complaining Life they lead, because they will not take Courage. 1783M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 213 The sickly state of several families..in this place. 1831D. E. Williams Life & Corr. Lawrence II. 490 It represented the youth..with a pensive and rather a sickly countenance. 1887M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike i, Of all the evils that can befall a man, I think a sickly youth must be the worst.
transf.1885L'pool Daily Post 30 June 4/6 Faded twigs keeping up a sickly struggle for existence.
†3. Pertaining to sickness or the sick. Obs.
1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 118 Thou know'st shee ha's rais'd me from my sickly bed. 1640Brome Sparagus Garden iv. vi, Give me my Gowne and Cap though, and set mee charily in my sickly chaire. 1726Swift Stella's Birthday 77 Wks. 1751 VII. 127 She at your sickly Couch will wait. a1814Apollo's Choice ii. iii. in New Brit. Theatre IV., The sweet delight of tending on a sickly couch.
4. Marked by the occurrence or prevalence of sickness; unhealthy.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 96 This Physicke but prolongs thy sickly dayes. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1699) 223 This is a very sickly place and I believe hath need enough of an Hospital. 1744Berkeley Siris §77 In the late sickly season of the year. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 39 The island..became sickly and unhealthful to an extreme degree. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 645 The ship lay out in the open bay; no vessel near her was sickly. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 424 The year 1685 was not accounted sickly.
5. Causing sickness or ill-health; producing discomfort or nausea.
1604E. G[rimstone] tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies ii. xiv. 114 To live vnder a heaven or aire that is contrarie, troublesome or sicklie. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 721 From the vicious Air, and sickly Skies, A Plague did on the dumb Creation rise. 1754Gray Progr. Poesy 49 Night, and all her sickly dews. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 159 The sickly, and almost pestilential, exhalations of low and marshy grounds. 1855Bain Senses & Int. ii. iv. §20 We have sweet odours that are sickly, in other words, depressing. 1882H. De Windt Equator 113 Dense grey mists..enshrouding the pretty village in their sickly vapours.
6. Of light, colour, etc.: Faint, feeble.
1695Prior Taking of Namur xiii, In vain France hopes, the sickly Light Shou'd shine near William's fuller Day. 1813Shelley Q. Mab ix. 124 The broad beam of day, which feebly once Lighted the cheek of lean Captivity, With a pale and sickly glare, then freely [etc.]. 1862M. E. Braddon Lady Audley iii, The pale lavender muslin faded into a sickly grey. 1888‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. x, When the sickly winter sun was feebly trying to shine through the grey clouds.
fig.1825Macaulay Ess., Milton (1897) 5 A far-fetched, costly, sickly, imitation.
7. Of feelings, etc.: Weak, mawkish.
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. iii, His soul laboured under a sickly sensibility of the miseries of others. 1805Foster Ess. iv. ii. 138 The fastidiousness of sickly taste. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 42 The sure mark of a sickly unreality in morals.
8. Comb., as sickly-born, sickly-coloured, sickly-looking, sickly-scented, sickly-sweet.
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. i, This was the elderly and sickly-looking person, who had been precipitated into the river along with the two young lawyers. 1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. I. 358 He was sickly-looking, seemed dispirited at first. 1864Tennyson En. Ard. 260 Now the third child was sickly-born and grew Yet sicklier. 1882Garden 18 Mar. 186/1 A sickly coloured sward throughout the summer. 1912R. A. Freeman Singing Bone 136 The same idea having occurred to me, I applied the handle of the knife to my nose and instantly detected the sickly-sweet odour of musk. 1932D. Gascoyne Roman Balcony 85 The courtesan in the sickly-scented secrecy of her thick-curtained chamber. 1951S. Spender World within World 267 We had to distinguish between those which smelt like pear-drops, carnations and sickly-scented hay. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai xiii. 222 The room was..sickly-sweet.
▪ II. † ˈsickly, adv. Obs. rare.
[f. sick a. + -ly2.]
In a sick manner; with sickness.
1572J. Jones Bathes of Bathes Ayde Ep. Ded. 2 When the state of the body is sicklie affected. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 107 Whose execution..Grapples you to the heart and loue of vs, Who weare our Health but sickly in his Life.
▪ III. sickly, v.|ˈsɪklɪ|
[f. sickly a.]
1. trans.
a. To cover over (or o'er) with a sickly hue. Chiefly fig.
Usually in direct echoes of the Shakespeare passage.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 85 Thus the Natiue hew of Resolution Is sicklied o're, with the pale cast of Thought. 1637Suckling Aglaura iii. i, Hope..has so sicklied o're Their resolutions that we must not trust them. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) III. 227 Her features regular; but want had sicklied over their beauty. 1784Universal Mag. I. 204 But there too, Superstition's hand Had sicklied every feature o'er. 1847Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. v. 225, I have seen the china-rose..sicklied all over with the myriads that thronged its leaves. 1876W. Page-Roberts Law & God (ed. 4) 122 A man's virtues begin..to get an unhealthy cast and to be sicklied o'er.
b. To render sickly or pale. Also fig.
1763Churchill Ep. to Hogarth Poems 1767 I. 111 Thy Drudge..Sicklies our hopes with the pale hue of Fear. 1807Fenton Epistles 52 Sicklied with age, and sour'd with self-disgrace. 1879Meredith Egoist xxiii, The silver lustre of the maid sicklied the poor widow.
2. intr. To assume a sickly appearance.
1882‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 186 The broad oak foliage sicklied and looked parched. |