| 释义 |
▪ I. soothing, vbl. n.|ˈsuːðɪŋ|
[f. soothe v.]
The action of the verb, in various senses.
a1400Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xlix. 185 For ȝif þou woldest hit putte to soþing Þat he seyde ouur niȝt vppon þe morwening. c1400Destr. Troy 11495 Thus sotelly with sothyn he set hom a cas, What fortune might falle. a1592Greene Jas. IV, 1131 Whilst cloking craft with soothing climbes so high. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 430 Secret soothing and flattering of the heart. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 184 The soothing of the people in their unreasonable, or irremediable grievances. 1702Rowe Tamerl. i. i, Away, Deceiver; I will not hear thy Soothing. 1813Scott Rokeby iv. x, 'Twas long ere soothing might prevail Upon the child to end the tale. 1847Helps Friends in C. i. iii. 40 This [trouble] appears..unworthy of having any remedy, or soothing, thought out for it.
b. pl. (In first quot. = soothsayings.)
1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 78 Gods, quod he, this messadge turne you to a prosperus omen. Cancel theese menacing soothings, thee godlye reseruing. 1601Dent Pathw. Heaven 372 Whether it bee more meet that I should beleeue the Scriptures, or your soothings iudge you. 1745W. Thompson Sickness v. 135 Ideal sounds Soft-wafted on the Zephyr's fancy'd wing, Steal tuneful soothings on the easy ear. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxv, The soothings of sympathy and the delicate arts of benevolence.
▪ II. soothing, ppl. a.|ˈsuːðɪŋ|
[f. as prec.]
†1. Flattering, blandishing; specious, plausible.
1599Shakes., etc. Pass. Pilgr. i, O, love's best habit is a soothing tongue. 1603Daniel Lady Anne Clifford 76 The tongues of praise, And troopes of soothing people, that collaud All that we doe. 1644Milton Bucer on Div. Wks. 1851 IV. 338 Under a false and soothing title of Marriage. 1671― P.R. iii. 6 At length collecting all his Serpent wiles, [he] With soothing words renew'd, him thus accosts.
2. a. That soothes, calms, quietens, etc.; pacifying, mollifying.
1746Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. i. 49 The Power of Words, and soothing Sounds appease The raging Pain. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wm. (1767) II. xiii. 249 From an agreeable young woman..it is incredibly soothing. 1801Southey Thalaba vi. ix, Lull'd by the soothing and incessant sound, The flow of many waters. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 92 Had the King been wise, he would have pursued a cautious and soothing policy towards Scotland. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xii. 160 The soothing influences of dinner had departed.
b. Of medical applications, drugs, etc.; spec. soothing powder (in quot. fig.); soothing syrup, a medicinal preparation supposed to calm fretful children; freq. fig., flattery; empty reassurance; merely palliative remedies; mawkish or sentimental music, emotion, etc.; hence soothing-syrupy adj.
1839Spirit of Times 27 Apr. 87/2 Then comes an ague from Canady, vich can't be cured by American Soothing Syrup nor Durham Mustard. 1861N.Y. Tribune 26 Dec. 2/5 Don't fail to procure Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup for children teething. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 422 Infants who are being drugged by unscrupulous nurses with ‘soothing syrups’ or other opiates. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 597 The affection..disappears in a few weeks under an iron tonic and a soothing application. 1901W. Churchill Crisis ii. ix. 193 Senator Bell was their candidate, and they proposed to give the Nation soothing-syrup. Ibid. xiv. 246 When the worst comes, the Soothing Syrup men will rally for the Union. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-Made Merchant xviii. 261 A lady..in a soothing-sirupy way asked if I would lend it to her. 1914G. B. Shaw Translations & Tomfooleries (1926) 243, I really cannot earn two hundred and fifty guineas by playing soothing syrup to you. 1917R. Fry Let. 20 July (1972) II. 415 My first soothing powder..was to have been a preface but got printed separately. 1926E. Glyn Love's Blindness xvi. 183 If he dispelled..all alarm in Vanessa's imagination, it might possibly be only temporary soothing syrup. 1928E. O'Neill Strange Interlude viii. 305 Here are passion and hatred and regret and joy and pain and ecstasy, and these are men and women..whose blood is blood and not soothing syrup! 1945Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 26 Oct. 5/1 The race between Russia and the United States to obtain strategic bases is fooling no one but the American people—who are still being doped with soothing syrup that differences between ourselves and Russia are those of language and inexperience in foreign affairs. 1963Times 21 Jan. 9/2 Mr. Macmillan and his colleagues must put away the soothing syrup that nothing is really as bad as it seems, that even if all is not quite for the best it automatically will be in the end. 1978O. White Silent Reach xxvi. 268 That's a personal assurance, not official soothing syrup. |