| 释义 |
lifelessadj. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian līflās , Middle Dutch lijfloos , Old Saxon līflōs (Middle Low German līflōs ), Old High German lībelōs (Middle High German līplōs , lībelōs ; early modern German leiblos ), Old Icelandic líflauss , Old Swedish liflös (Swedish livlös ) < the Germanic base of life n. + the Germanic base of -less suffix. Compare Dutch levenloos, Middle High German lebelōs (German leblos). Having no life or vitality. 1. the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective] OE Ælfric (Claud.) xx. 7 Gyf þu ðis don nelt, ðu byst dead forhraðe & þa ðe þe to lociað beoð liflease eac. c1225 (?c1200) (Royal) (1981) l. 484 (MED) He..mid his word awahte þe liflese liches to lif ant to leomen. c1540 (?a1400) 8668 The Myrmaidons..Bere hym..to his big tent, There left hym as lyueles. c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxxix. 9 in (1998) II. 113 The liuelesse carcases of those, That liu'd thy seruants, serue the Crowes. 1651 W. Sanderson 19 He fear'd, that within few daies the Laird would be landlesse and livelesse. 1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in I. xvii. 286 He many a lifeless Trojan heap'd On slain Patroclus. 1841 H. W. Longfellow ix There in the twilight cold and grey, Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay. 1851 J. Ruskin I. App. iv. 351 A blank level of lifeless grass. 1927 H. T. Lowe-Porter tr. T. Mann I. iv. 154 So strongly, so resistlessly..was he rapt back into the past that one might have said it was a lifeless body lying here on the bench. 2004 J. Denby p. vii Slowly the soil is washed away and the terrible, lifeless form of a man lies exposed. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > unconsciousness > [adjective] 1584 T. Cogan ccxli. 236 And for this imbecillitie, for that Sleepe after a sort maketh a man senselesse, and as it were liuelesse, it is called in Latine Mortis imago.] 1668 P. M. Myst. & Miracles Love v. 67 in W. Charleton Consuming themselves in greedy looks, leave their bodies faint and liveless. 1671 H. M. tr. Erasmus 517 If the Scorpion by chance creep by the herb Wolfsbane, it grows pale and liveless. 1795 E. Parsons I. iii. 51 His senses fled, and he fell extended on the floor. Happily a servant was passing..and beheld the lifeless body... He was soon restored to his senses. 1826 B. Disraeli II. iii. vi. 74 Mrs. Felix Lorraine sank lifeless into his arms. 1892 S. Baruch II. ix. 211 Pouring cold water upon a poor girl who is writhing under a hysteric spasm or lies lifeless in a hysteric swoon often restores her. 1995 M. S. Peden tr. I. Allende (1996) 326 We noticed she was deep in an abnormal sopor, like a swoon, lifeless, and wearing the expression of a child. the world > life > source or principle of life > absence of life or consciousness > [adjective] OE Ælfric (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xl. 335 Ealle oðre þeoda wurðodon mislice deofolgyld, and ðam fela templa arærdon, and mid andgitleasum and lifleasum anlicnyssum afyldon. 1556 N. Grimald tr. Cicero ii. f. 69 Whatso in things liuelesse, and whatso in the vse..of beastes is done profitablie to mannes life. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) i. ii. 240 That which here stands vp Is but a quintine, a meere liuelesse blocke. View more context for this quotation 1686 J. Scott II. vii. 1352 They conjured their Demons into their consecrated Images, and made the liveless Stocks to move and speak. 1753 J. Marchant 58 The Trees bow'd down, attentive to his Lyre, And lifeless Stones seem'd dancing in the Choir. 1851 F. W. Robertson (1876) 4th Ser. x. 124 A collection of lifeless forces. 1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid i, in tr. 93 Then on the lifeless painting he feeds his heart to his fill. 1941 J. S. Huxley xiii. 274 Scientific humanism..insists that the same scientific procedure can be applied to human life as has been applied to lifeless matter and to animals and plants. 2002 C. Williams 83 The Ogboni agbada hung lifeless just as it had almost always done on the back of the bedroom door. the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [adjective] > lacking animation the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > nourishing > not OE Ælfric (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxvi. 236 Ða treowa þe on æppeltune wexað, þa ðe sind liflease, sawullease, and andgitlease [L. sine spiritu, sine anima, sine vita]. c1225 (?c1200) (Royal) (1981) l. 414 (MED) Þe wrenchfule feont..weorp ham ut sone of paraises selhðen in to þis liflese [v.r. liflease] lif. a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve (Harl. 4866) (1897) l. 3894 Aftir moot he rowne with a pilwe, His lyfles resouns þere to despende. 1573 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger (rev. ed.) lv. f. 170v For Vespasian..did soone releeue the worlde that had long beene liuelesse and forlorne. 1590 C. Marlowe sig. C4 Ceaseless and disconsolate conceits. Which dies my lookes so liuelesse as they are. 1633 Bp. J. Hall ii. 194 Feeding on hearbs, and rootes, and such other livelesse nourishment. 1642 J. Spelman 20 They are livelesse conventions without all vertue and power. 1733 S. Bowden I. 39 But ah! how dull, how lifeless are these Lays! 1849 J. Ruskin v. 157 The effect of the whole, as compared with the same design cut by a machine or a lifeless hand. 1890 6 Dec. 2/5 This market is lagging again... Flax lifeless. 1944 A. M. Lindbergh Diary 21 Feb. in (1980) 410 Monday was a cocoon day—dull, damp, and lifeless and cold. 2003 Aug. 32 (advt.) Other shampoos can leave add-ons that add up to dull, lifeless hair. the world > space > place > absence > fact of being unoccupied > [adjective] > deserted 1615 R. Brathwait 45 A young vnnurtur'd girle fit for men, vnfit for liuelesse tombes which couer them. 1744 J. Thomson Summer in (new ed.) 85 A wild Expanse of lifeless Sand and Sky. 1780 H. Walpole (ed. 2) IV. vii. 124 Statues furnished the lifeless spot with mimic representations of the excluded sons of men. 1879 R. Browning 53 Treeless, herbless, lifeless mountain. 1942 ‘H. Clement’ in June 101/1 The area was covered with..towering skeleton frameworks which held upright the slender double cones that hurtled across the dark, lifeless regions between stars. 2006 19 June 78/3 Up here, it's cratered and lifeless terrain. Phrases1546 J. Heywood i. xi. sig. Diii v He is lyueles, that is fautles. 1629 J. Gaule 309 Hee is liuelesse..that is faultlesse. 1737 A. Ramsay (1776) 32 He's lifeless that's faultless. 1858 25 607 What is lifeless is faultless, says the ancient philosopher, and no doubt the stage has its shortcomings. 1984 5 175 I shall illustrate by a brief examination of some Catholic comparisons, proverbs and stylised comments that the content of what is said can also indicate the..religion of the speaker... (73) They're lifeless that's faultless. 2005 V. L. Ginzburg 273 He is lifeless that is faultless—this well-known maxim is completely valid. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  adj.OE |
