| 释义 |
spotless, a.|ˈspɒtlɪs|
Also 4 -lez, 6 -les, 6–7 -lesse.
[f. spot n.1 Cf. WFlem. spotteloos.]
1. Free from spot or stain; not marked with, or disfigured by, spots; of a pure or uniform colour.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 856 Of spotlez perlez þay beren þe creste. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 182 The people of Rome.. Send thee..This Palliament of white and spotlesse Hue. 1606Marston Parasitaster iv. G 4, Vntrodden snow is not so spotless. 1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 157 The body being clear, fair, pure, neat, and spotless. 1726–46Thomson Winter 812 Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press. 1853C. Brontë Villette xxiii, The bed seemed to me like snow-drift and mist—spotless, soft, and gauzy. 1876M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 15 The red-brick floor spotless as if it were a floor in a picture.
b. In specific names.
1827Griffith tr. Cuvier V. 274 The Ai seems to vary considerably as the Spotless Ai, the Yellow-faced Ai. 1832J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & Moths 19 The Spotless Brown (Polyommatus Titus). Ibid. 188 The Spotless Straw (Depressaria immaculana).
2. fig. Free from stain or blot; immaculate, pure.
1577[see spottiness]. 1590Spenser Tears Muses 388 Sweete Loue deuoyd of villanie..But pure and spotles. 1634W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. 318, I..do protest unto you..that my fidelity is spotless. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 318 How have ye..banisht from mans life..Simplicitie and spotless innocence. 1738Wesley Ps. cxxi. vi, Like thy spotless Master thou, Fill'd with Wisdom, Love and Power. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxiii. III. 333 The people applauded his spotless integrity. 1836Thirlwall Greece xiv. II. 228 His mother's reputation was not deemed spotless. 1875Manning Mission H. Ghost xii. 331 So, I may say, all are bound to live a life that is spotless before God.
absol.1850Thackeray Pendennis liv, O you spotless, who have the right of capital punishment vested in you.
b. Guiltless or innocent of something. rare—1.
1619Fletcher, etc. Knt. Malta ii. v, Ye fight for her, as spotless of these mischiefs, As heaven is of our sins. |