单词 | meanness |
释义 | † meannessn.1 Obsolete. rare. 1. Communion, fellowship. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > [noun] ymonec888 i-mennessec1050 meanc1175 ferredc1200 fellowshipa1225 fellowredc1230 sameningc1230 companyc1275 monec1300 conversationc1340 meanness1340 affinity?c1400 companyingc1443 compernagea1500 frequentation?1520 society1529 convoying1543 companionship1548 companyship1548 combining1552 haunt1552 community1570 unition1584 consociation1593 companionry1595 sodality1602 conversinga1610 converse1610 consorting1611 consociety1624 consociating1625 togetherness1656 association1659 consortiona1682 sociality1758 mixture1764 junction1783 consortation1796 conversancy1798 mingling1819 companionage1838 boon companionship1844 mateship1849 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 14 Ich y-leue holy cherch generalliche and þe mennesse of halȝen. c1350 Ayenbite (1866) App. 268 We byddeþ þet þou zigge ous huet is hare dede in mennesse. 2. Land held in common.Quot. c14251 is a late copy of a grant of various plots of land in Kent, made in 996; quot. c14252 is a Middle English translation of the same text. ΚΠ c1425 ( Royal Charter: Æðelred II to his Mother Ælfþryð (Sawyer 877) in S. Miller Charters of New Minster, Winchester (2001) 146 Of þæt forda ofer þa mænisse to þorn æcere. c1425 in E. Edwards Liber Monasterii de Hyda (1866) 250 (MED) Fro that ford, ovyr manysse to Thornacre. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † meannessn.2 Obsolete. The condition of being between two extremes; moderateness in size or in some other quality. ΚΠ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 304v Oþur it [sc. the matter] is moyste and ayry and chaunged to þikkenesse & druyenesse of eorþe, so þat it passeþ nouȝt menenes of erþe. c1450 Contin. Lydgate's Secrees (Sloane 2464) 2555 (MED) Visage rounde, boody hool and right, With meenesse of the heed is good in ech wyght. 1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Luke warmth,..meannes, between hot and cold. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022). meannessn.3 1. Weakness, inferiority, smallness; an instance of this. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > [noun] poornessa1382 povertya1387 bada1425 lessness?a1425 worsenessa1425 nethertyc1443 minority1533 badness1539 lesserness1540 evilness1547 meanness1556 punyship1581 inferiority1599 under1600 worserness1602 inferiorness1674 deteriority1692 baddishness1824 shoddiness1886 crumbiness1949 the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > condition of being held in contempt > [noun] > state or quality of being contemptible shendfulness?c1225 wretchdom?c1225 wretchedness1389 caitifhedea1400 vilitya1425 despectuousness1447 lousiness1530 scornfulness1535 meanness1556 contemptibleness1574 worthlessness1604 contemptibility1611 caitifness1649 despicableness1653 pitifulness1670 despisableness1673 paltriness1727 shabbiness1827 despicability1830 piggery1854 wormishness1925 shittiness1929 scuzziness1980 1556 R. Robinson tr. T. More Utopia (ed. 2) sig. Aii To the meanesse of whose learninge I thoughte it my part to submit..my stile. 1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xxxi. 66 The Ministers greatnes or meannesse of knowledge to do other things. 1682 J. Norris tr. Hierocles Golden Verses 28 Nor to scoff at the meanness of his understanding. a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) XI. 82 The great purpose that brought Christ out of his Father's bosom, and clothed him with the infirmities and meannesses of our nature. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 64 We suffer greater injuries from the contemptible meanness of the one [sc. the mouse], than the formidable invasions of the other [sc. the elephant]. 1833 C. Lamb Barrenness Imaginative Faculty in Last Ess. Elia 180 The large eye of genius saw in the meanness of present objects their capabilities of treatment. 1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 19 Feb. in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) ii. 88 The associations of moral sublimity and beauty seem to throw a veil over the physical meannesses. 2. Lowliness; insignificance; lowness of birth, social status, etc. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > humility > [noun] > of rank or birth meanness1579 humility1623 1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Oct. (Gloss.) It seemeth he hath forgot the meanenesse of shepheards state and stile. 1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie cxcvii. 1226 Let vs learne to acknowledge our meanesse with all humilitie. 1659 J. Milton Considerations touching Hirelings 97 Without soaring above the meannes wherin they were born. 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xiii. 358 The rusticity of his appearance and manners still betrayed in the most elevated fortune the meanness of his extraction. 1830 A. Heber Life R. Heber II. xxv. 258 The minister began to fear a rising competitor, as well knowing that the meanness of his own birth and functions had been no obstacle to his advancement. 1886 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David VII. Ps. cxxxvi. 170 Reaching downward even to beasts and reptiles, it is, indeed, a boundless mercy, which knows no limit because of the meanness of its object. 1900 Eng. Hist. Rev. July 561 The meanness of his birth. 1934 M. Callaghan Such is my Beloved i. 8 He began to run his plump hand through his black hair..full of pity because of the meanness of their lives. 3. Poorness of appearance or equipment; shabbiness. Of literary or artistic work: poverty of style, execution, or design; (occasionally) lack of an elevated style, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > paltriness, meanness, or contempt miserableness1633 meannessa1656 narrowness1661 sorriness1668 paltriness1727 threadbareness1771 wretchedness1810 trumperiness1868 picayunishness1870 threadbarity1892 a1656 Bp. J. Hall Shaking of Olive-tree (1660) ii. 436 The King of Gods in meanness drest. 1672 J. Dryden Def. Epilogue in Conquest Granada 170 [Jonson] when he trusted himself alone, often fell into meanness of expression. 1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 419 I doubt however whether this Figure be not of a later Date..by the Meanness of the Workmanship. 1815 J. Scott Visit to Paris viii. 130 I found their students..assiduously copying the hard atrocities and cold meannesses of their own David. 1832 G. Downes Lett. from Continental Countries I. 155 Richtenschwyl and its precincts are very pretty, notwithstanding the meanness of most of the houses. 1852 C. Dickens Let. 12 Oct. (1988) VI. 776 Its intrinsic meanness as a composition. 1988 N. Guttman in M. Waddington Canad. Jewish Short Stories (1990) 198 I resented the meanness of her tweedy suits and loafers. 4. a. Smallness of character or mind; pettiness.In later use this sense is often difficult to distinguish from sense 5. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > ignobleness or baseness > [noun] villainyc1386 simplessea1393 littlenessa1400 unnoblenessc1400 unnobilitya1425 unnobletya1425 ignoblenessc1450 ignobility?a1475 vileness1549 vilityc1550 haskardy?1578 dunghillry1581 indignity1589 beggarya1616 ignoblesse?1616 poorness1625 lowness1652 meanness1660 society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] littlenessa1400 unkindnessc1400 uncharitableness1544 uncharity1548 incharity1586 poorness1625 strait-heartedness1646 meanness1660 incharitableness1679 ungenerosity1757 ungenerousness1757 smallness1813 1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 263 in Justice Vindicated This doth not proceed from any abject baseness or meanness of spirit. 1718 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xiv. 103 Lives there a Man so dead to Fame, who dares To think such Meanness? 1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) viii. 218 Who that sees the meanness of our politics, but inly congratulates Washington, that he is long already wrapped in his shroud? 1878 M. C. Jackson Chaperon's Cares II. viii. 91 His dastardly soul would stoop to the lowest depths of meanness. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers vi. 114 There came over him a look of meanness and of paltriness. 1989 B. Chatwin What am I doing Here 157 With the calculated meanness of scholars they have picked his brains and failed to acknowledge their source. b. An instance of this; a mean act. Usually in plural. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > ignobleness or baseness > [noun] > instance or act of littleness1622 meanness1683 menialism1832 society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] > instance of littleness1622 meanness1683 menialism1832 1683 J. Oldham Poems & Transl. 142 Let others who such meannesses can brook, Strike Countenance to every Great man's Look. 1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil i. iv. 48 To descend to the meannesses of..frightning children and old women. 1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph I. 276 I fear my letter might fall into Mr. Arnold's hands: his curiosity might lead him to open it (for the conscious mind will descend to meannesses). 1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Wks. I. 23 The little one never told him about sharp words and petty meannesses. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling iii. 25 He slipped in like a shadow and done his meanness and slipped out afore day. 1992 Ann. Rev. Sociol. 18 13 The tendency to attribute such events to motives or meannesses in persons. 5. Niggardliness, stinginess; an instance of this. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [noun] fastship?c1225 scarcenessa1300 scarcity1340 niggardyc1390 nithingheada1400 scarcehead1420 nigonryc1430 niggardship?a1439 pinching1440 straitheadc1450 straitnessc1460 niggard cheap1463 niggardnessc1487 nigonshipa1500 niggardise1502 niggishness1519 niggardliness1556 parsimony1561 illiberality1581 nearness1584 tenacity1586 Euclionism1599 paring1607 servilitya1610 niggeralitya1612 scanting1625 scant-handednessa1627 closefistedness1631 niggardess1632 close-handedness1646 strait-handedness1649 penury1651 unbountifulness1660 parsimoniousness1671 penuriousness1672 stinginess1682 closeness1712 illiberalness1727 meanness1755 cheeseparing1834 scrimping1835 churlishness1846 screwing1848 skinflintism1853 screwiness1856 flint-paring1860 skinflintiness1861 scrimp1864 flint-skinning1873 penny-pinching1895 skimping1898 tight-fistedness1975 1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Meanness,..Sordidness; niggardliness. 1822 J. MacDonald Mem. J. Benson 520 He carefully shunned both meanness and imprudent expenditure. 1823 C. Lamb Old & New Schoolmaster in Elia 125 All this [is] performed with a careful economy, that never descends to meanness. 1840 Southern Literary Messenger 6 534/1 He had been always above the temptation to pecuniary meannesses. 1928 E. Wallace Again Three Just Men x. 212 But for his inherent meanness, he would have gladly paid good money to be rid of her. 1990 D. McCullin Unreasonable Behaviour xxv. 185 Despite his legendary reputation for meanness, he financed big expansion plans for both papers. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.11340n.2a1398n.31556 |
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