| 释义 |
spindly, a.|ˈspɪndlɪ|
Also 8 Sc. spinly.
[f. spindle n.]
1. a. Of plants: Of a slender and weakly growth.
1651in Hartlib Legacy (1655) 106 No more then a strong and fairly spread root could have a small and spindly head. 1743Maxwell Sel. Trans. Agric. Scot. 80 Where it..continues as Quagmire, it is all Fog at Top, with a short spinly thin Grass. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 550 On such lands the growth of the crop may be so retarded as to become weak and spindly. 1855Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVI. i. 131 The corn turns yellow and spindly. 1880I. L. Bird Japan I. 242 Sandy ridges with nothing on them but spindly Scotch firs and fir scrub.
b. Of growth: Characterized by slimness or attenuation and weakness.
1856Glenny Everyday Bk. 121/1 Cramped into a weakly spindly growth, a temporary bloom, and a premature decay. 1887Sat. Rev. 1 Oct. 444 They [sc. trees] developed an abnormal spindly habit in their struggles upwards.
2. In general use: Having a slender elongated form implying, or suggestive of, weakness.
1827Sporting Mag. (N.S.) XX. 170 A late writer..complains of our present breed of racers as weak and spindly. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. 108 Therefore I've worn, like many a spindly youth, False calves these many years upon me. 1883I. Banks Forbidden to Marry I. vi. 102 Spindly fire-irons. 1892Sladen Japs at Home xvi, The spindly little lacquer tables,..with bowed legs.
3. Comb., as spindly-legged, spindly-stemmed adjs.
1951J. Cleary in Murdoch & Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories 434 The other boy and the two girls, the freckle-faced, *spindly-legged..girls, are all working now. 1971Flying Apr. 71/2 It was a big, spindly-legged beast.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 262 Some stretches of this forest were made up of thin, *spindly stemmed trees of great height. |