| 释义 |
▪ I. startling, vbl. n.|ˈstɑːtlɪŋ|
[f. startle v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb startle.
†1. A moving about; a rushing about. Obs.
1375Barbour Bruce iii. 704 A gret stertling he mycht haiff seyne Off schippys. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 307 Þat bole heet Apis, þat was i-woned to..warne by his pleyenge and startelynge what was to comynge. a1513Fabyan's Chron. vii. ccxxxviii. (1811) 277 Stertlynge of beestys.
†2. The action of starting suddenly through surprise, alarm, etc.; an instance of this, a sudden start. Obs.
1624Donne Serm. xix. (1640) 188 It is rather a startling in our sleep, then any awaking at all, to have a sudden remorse,..and no constant perseverance. 1652Kirkman Clerio & Lozia 34 Her trembling body, her unaccustomed startlings and disquietness. 1677Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 193 Custom doth by degrees take off the startling of conscience. 1825Warman Tremaine III. xvii. 317 Why..this shrinking of the soul back on herself, this startling at destruction?
3. The action of causing surprise or sudden fear.
1797Coleridge Remorse i. ii. 329 If..our rude startling Drove you to this, your not ungentle, wildness. 1880Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 244 She has a turn for startling.
▪ II. ˈstartling, ppl. a.
[f. startle v. + -ing2.]
†1. Capering, prancing. Obs.
The phrase startling steed was apparently interpreted by Dryden in sense 3.[c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1204 Vp on a courser stertelynge as the fyr..Sit Enyas.] c1450Merlin xvi. 257 With vij hundred Knyghtes vpon startelinge stedes. 1513Douglas æneis iv. iv. 56 The child, amyde the planis, Joyus and blyth his stertling steid to assay. 1566Gascoigne Jocasta v. ii. 104 Downe our duke dismountes From of his startling steede. [1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 701 The startling Steed was seiz'd with sudden Fright.] †2. Fickle, irresolute. Cf. startle v. 4. Obs.
1645Milton Tetrach. 25 Unless wee imagine Moses weaker then every negligent and startling Politician.
3. Starting with terror; easily terrified or shocked; timorous. Of sleep: Disturbed. Now rare or Obs.
1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 2 That we resembled melancholique hares Or startling stagges, whom euerie shadow scares. a1718Prior Poems, Power 824 In broken Rest, and startling Sleep to mourn. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 44 Oft, fancy-led, at midnight's fearful hour, With startling step we scaled the lonely tower. 1810T. L. Peacock Genius of Thames p. vi, When in the startling grove The battle-blast was blown. 1813Shelley Q. Mab ix. 175 'Tis but..The transient gulf-dream of a startling sleep. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 121 The startling peewits..Scream joyous whirring over-head.
†4. Of eyes: ‘Starting from their sockets’, protruding. Obs.
1648Gage West Ind. 173 His look was grim with a wrinkled forehead, and broad startling eyes.
5. That causes a shock of surprise; that suddenly and forcibly compels attention.
1714T. Lucas Mem. Gamesters (ed. 2) 275 He receiv'd the startling News, that his Lady was gone to London with the Lord M―n. 1826Lamb Pop. Fallacies ix, If by worst be only meant the most far-fetched and startling, we agree to it. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 30 The statement is as false as it is startling. 1884Punch 27 Dec. 305/2 Read the startlingest of tracts! Get ‘The Truth about the Navy’. 1911H. Brown Hist. Scot. I. iv. vii. 244 Some of their tenets were certainly startling.
Hence ˈstartlingly adv., ˈstartlingness.
1840L. Blanchard in New Monthly Mag. LIX. 413 So strangely, so startlingly like. 1859Meredith R. Feverel xxxviii, She could make you forget she was a woman, and then bring the fact startlingly home to you. 1871Mozley Univ. Serm. v. (1876) 97 We have suddenly become alive to the strangeness and startlingness of the fact. 1886Harper's Mag. Dec. 26, I rapped at the door somewhat startlingly. |