| 单词 | to think better of |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto think (the) better of Phrases P1. to be the better: to be profited, advantaged, or improved. In later use with for indicating the source of the profit, advantage, or improvement.In quots. OE, c1275 with impersonal copular verb and dative personal pronoun. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > be advantageous or beneficial [verb (intransitive)] > more or most to be the betterOE the world > action or operation > advantage > be advantageous or beneficial [verb (intransitive)] > derive benefit to be the betterOE profit1340 getc1390 advancec1405 gain1575 benefit1623 to have (also get, want, etc.) a run for one's money1874 OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) anno 1073 Her Wyllelm kyng..mid his landfyrde ferde inn ofer þæt wæð, & he þær naht ne funde þæs þe heom þe betere wære. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2710 Wel ȝe me bi-hatet halde ȝeif ȝe wulleð. eow swal beon þe betere. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 2424 (MED) Som goodly word..Wherof thin herte was the bettre. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1363 I shal ben neuere the bettere. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 32 (MED) What were god þe bettyr? a1500 ( Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) (1953) v. ii. f. 89v (MED) Schuld thei neuere be the beter. 1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. I3v I thanke yee I am the better for your asking. 1619 J. Dyke Counterpoison 37 What are we the better to know our disease? 1695 J. Collier Misc. upon Moral Subj. 64 Friendship is one of those few Things which are the better for the Wearing. 1727 A. Pope et al. Peri Bathous 13 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. Has had some Poetical Evacuation, and no question was much the better for it in his Health. 1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen 17 You wear out only your own girths, without your horse being a bit the better for it [sc. spurring the wrong part of the horse]. 1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park I. xi. 233 A man..cannot go to church twice every Sunday and preach such very good sermons..as he does, without being the better for it. 1860 Brit. Q. Rev. Jan. 73 Whether Dr. Bushnell's doctrine on this head be true or false, his book would have been greatly the better by his entirely ignoring it. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 127 I'd have been all the better for a nip. 1910 Q. Rev. Jan. 223 The best of things are the better for liberal seasonings of laughter. 1962 Amer. Q. 14 36 Even a free, meandering..brook may be the better for having..its banks cleared of overgrowing weeds. 2010 N.Y. Mag. 28 June 70 (heading) The era of the skill-challenging, danger-embracing..play zone has dawned, and the city's children are the better for it. P2. a. to be no (or little) better than: to be just (or almost) the same as (something bad, inferior, etc.); to be merely (the thing specified). ΘΚΠ society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > licentious [phrase] no better thanc1330 c1330 Simonie (Auch.) (1991) l. 108 Þanne is a lewed prest no betre þan a iay. c1475 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Caius) l. 8782 To honoure so pore a knyght That was no better and [read than] a page. 1564 A. Bacon tr. J. Jewel Apol. Churche Eng. sig. Aiiii Kings and princes..condemned all Christians..and didde compt them no better than the vilest fylth. 1624 T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον ix. 438 Making their corrupt bodies no better than sinkes of sinnes, and spittles of diseases. 1641 W. Thomas Speech in Parl. 12 What indignity it was, that a she daughter of France, being promised to be a Queene, was become no better than a waiting woman. 1702 Eng. Theophrastus 249 [He is] no better than a negative traitor to his country. 1781 G. Gibson Let. 5 Feb. in T. Jefferson Papers (1951) IV. 529 They are little better than Dril Serjeants. 1890 Spectator 13 Sept. Dr. Liddon had early realised that preaching does not come by nature;..that amateur sermonising is no better than amateur acting. 1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 1 July 35/2 It is distressing indeed to read in this day and age that nurses are still considered little better than highly paid housemaids. 2002 W. Rhode Paperback Raita (2003) 140 He stood up for his artistic integrity. Otherwise he would have just been..no better than a whipping boy. b. to be no better than one should be and variants: to be of doubtful moral character, esp. (of a woman) to be sexually promiscuous. Now archaic or literary. ΚΠ 1604 Pasquils Iestes sig. C A Man, whose wife was no better then she should be. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 189 Others..backe themselves with this, That your best Preachers are no better then they should be. 1764 F. Sheridan Journ. to Bath i. i, in Sheridan's Plays (1902) 263 That same Lord Stewkly is no better than he should be, (between ourselves). 1780 Mirror No. 104 Every woman who passed much of her time in town, he made no scruple to say, was no better than she should be. 1815 C. Lamb Let. 28 Apr. in Lett. C. & M. A. Lamb (1978) III. 147 To term her a poor outcast seems as much as to say that poor Susan was no better than she should be. 1873 A. Trollope Eustace Diamonds I. xxiii. 305 He..almost believed that she was not now, and hadn't been before her marriage, any better than she should be. 1882 J. C. Morison Macaulay 105 They are all no better than they should be. 1904 A. Bennett Great Man xiii. 139 Her..suspicion that the self-styled Miss Foster was no better than she ought to be. 1937 A. L. Rowse Sir Richard Grenville xix. 346 The one was a brute, and the other a vixen, and no better than she should be into the bargain. 1998 I. de la Bere Last Deception Palliser Wentwood iii. 68 Comes in here for a port on market days, ever so refeened, but no better than she should be by all accounts. P3. the (sooner, earlier, bigger, older, etc.) the better: used to emphasize the importance or desirability of what is specified by the first comparative. Also with relative clause postmodifying the first comparative (see the adv. 1c). ΚΠ c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) ii. §38. 46 Tak a rond plate of metal..the brodere the bettre. a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Claud.) (2011) 207 Þan schal he leton þe brugge of bedyens doune whan he is bedon done þat is spedeful for hys soule, and þe saunur þe bettor. 1524 in State Papers Henry VIII (1836) IV. 225 The sonner ye be round with her the better. 1575 G. Turberville Bk. Faulconrie 326 Then take an olde Tyle, the older the better, and make powder thereof. 1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husbandry Table Hard Words Pitch of Burgundy is Rossen, and the blacker the better. a1639 W. Whately Prototypes (1640) ii. xxxiv. 161 Friendship is like wine, the elder the better. 1657 W. Greenwood Απογραϕὴ Στοργῆς 34 It is a natural distemper, a kinde of Smalpox; every one hath had it, or is to expect it, and the sooner the better. 1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 45 The rougher it lies for a Winter fallow the better. 1771 in J. Watson Jedburgh Abbey (1894) 98 The bells must be removed, and the sooner the better. 1815 T. Quayle Gen. View Agric. Islands on Coast of Normandy 265 In February or March, but the earlier the better, the rice-balks are harrowed down. 1880 E. Glaister Needlework v. 49 The letters are made in linen tape, unbleached, the yellower the better. 1921 Amer. Woman Jan. 16/2 To avoid the multiplied chin, sleep with head low, the lower the better. 1951 W. S. Burroughs Let. 24 Apr. (1993) 82 So far as I'm concerned the sooner he sails off into the sunset the better. 1986 P. Leigh Fermor Between Woods & Water (1988) v. 111 He had a passion for limericks, the racier the better. 1994 J. Birmingham He died with Felafel in his Hand (1997) viii. 173 Oh I love parties, the bigger the better. P4. a. so much the better: used to indicate that a specified action, event, situation, etc., will have a generally welcome or personally advantageous result, or an additional subsidiary benefit.Typically used in conditional statements (with if) positing a particular scenario in terms of its potentially desirable outcome. ΚΠ ?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 151v, in Middle Eng. Dict. at Much(e Ȝif þat it be a childe þat cheweþ and he be fastinge, so moche it is þe better. 1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. xxxiii. f. xiiv/2 The messangers reported to the kyng..that they coude fynde no man but that was redy to abyde the aduenture of batayle. It is so moche the better quod the kyng. 1610 G. Markham Maister-peece ii. c. 383 If you make two razes on each side, it shall bee so much the better. 1738 A. Pope One Thousand Seven Hundred & Thirty Eight 4 Laugh at your Friends, and if your Friends are sore, So much the better, you may laugh the more. 1856 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Flower Garden 2 If we can show finer and more remarkable specimens than our neighbours, so much the better. 1905 Times 14 Oct. 7/3 If in telling the truth we succeed also in shocking the bourgeois, why, so much the better! 1997 A. H. Carter First Cut (1998) iii. 295 If a light snow in an ill-equipped city forces us to stay at home once in a while so that we can ponder our lives, so much the better. 2006 Inside Edge June 89/2 Not everybody is paying attention to your play, and..if someone pegs you as a moron, so much the better. b. so much the better for ——: used to suggest that an event, situation, strategy, etc., will be beneficial or profitable to the person or thing specified, often at the expense of others. Cf. so much the worse for —— at worse adj. and n. Phrases 1b(b).Sometimes used ironically or with a pejorative implication of heedless self-interest. ΚΠ ?1592 H. Barwick Breefe Disc. Weapons f. 17 If it be a Musket, so much the better for my purpose. 1672 E. Ravenscroft Citizen turn'd Gentleman i. i. 11 He is a fool too..? So much the better for her... She'l..rule the rost as long as she lives. 1749 Ladies Advocate 116 Suppose it was cold frosty Weather; so much the better for her Health; the Air would do her good. 1888 H. R. Haggard Mr. Meeson's Will vi. 87 Business is business; and if I happen to have got to windward of the young woman, why, so much the better for me. 1917 A. Cahan Rise of David Levinsky ix. xvi. 290 Why, of course they have got another partner. Of course they have... So much the better for you. Let them go to the eighty black years. 1989 M. Mathabane Kaffir Boy in Amer. (1990) xxxvii. 225 The Marxist strategy of ‘emmiseration’—let the people become hungrier and poorer, so much the better for the revolution. 2016 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 23 Jan. (Review section) 42 The undisputed queen of British baking returns to our screens trailing reports of a failed attempt to crack America... So much the better for us if it enables her to make more homegrown cookery shows. P5. (all) the better to: so as to (do something) more easily or effectively. ΚΠ ?a1430 T. Hoccleve Clothing of Virgin (Huntington) l. 103 in Minor Poems (1970) ii. 293 Heer-aftir the bettre to speede, And in hir grace cheerly for to stonde, Hir psalteer for to seye let vs fonde. 1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes Prol. sig. aav That all tho persones that ententyfely rede or here them may be styred the better to trace the way of eternall saluacyon. 1597 W. Raleigh Let. 30 Oct. (1999) 174 Of whos good service and the better to incorag others wee humble pray your lordships to have consideration. 1635 R. Brathwait tr. M. Silesio Arcadian Princesse iv. 168 Wee should willingly addresse our discourse unto you, all the better to satisfie our selves how those artfull experiments have wrought with you. 1680 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. xi. 202 The better to come at it with the Tool. 1725 New Canting Dict. at High-pads They have a Vizor-Mask, and two or three Perukes of different Colours and Make, the better to conceal themselves. 1763 Ann. Reg. 1762 84 Rioters..called White Boys, from their wearing shirts over their other cloaths, the better to distinguish each other by night. 1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose Introd., in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 136 The right side of his head a little turned up, the better to catch..the clergyman's voice. 1875 tr. J. Grimm & W. Grimm in Wonder-world 22 ‘Oh! but, Granny, what a terrible big mouth you have!’ ‘All the better to eat you with!’ And scarcely had the wolf uttered this, than..he..seized poor Little Red-Riding-Hood. 1930 C. Beaton Diary in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) iii. 30 Rex Whistler could not resist touching up the flowing chevelure and mustachios, the better to conform with the other murals. 1988 P. Monette Borrowed Time x. 264 He'd spent three years in Paris..walking around and sitting over coffee, all the better to people-watch. 2008 P. Hensher Northern Clemency 3 Both had the habit, at a party, of moving swiftly to the back wall the better to watch arrivals. P6. a. In phrases where the contextual sense is ‘greater in quantity or amount’. Cf. sense A. 5. (a) or better: or a larger quantity, amount, or number than that specified; or more. ΚΠ 1438 in L. F. Salzman Building in Eng. (1992) App. B. 511 The rafteris shulle contayne in the foot viij enches or better. 1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. W. Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 177 The golde..is..of .xxii. caractes or better in fynesse. 1686 S. Sewall Letter-Bk. (1886) I. 32 A small trus of Bever in a box weighing sixteen pounds or better. 1736 Compl. Family-piece ii. ii. 256 A Piece of thin Sheet-lead rolled up, of about an Ounce or better, makes the best Plummet. 1876 3rd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1875–6 160 He would point out to me a horse with the remark..‘can take a forty clip or better any day in the week’. 1889 N.Y. Times 15 Sept. 13/2 All officers and members of organizations armed with the Remington rifle scoring 25 points or better at 200 and 500 yards..were accounted ‘marksmen’. 1921 R. W. Chambers Little Red Foot xxxi. 344 A body of green-coats,—some three hundred or better,—marching down the Schenectady road. 1942 Fortune Nov. 60/1 A flight timer that will clock pursuit planes traveling 400 m.p.h. or better. 1987 Canad. Geographic Dec. 76/2 Half of the school's 44 graduates were Ontario Scholars, with averages of 80 percent or better. 2012 C. Haines Bonefire of Vanities iii. 42 Mariam Littlefield has been dead for two decades or better. (b) and better: and a larger quantity, amount, or number than that specified; and more. Now rare. ΚΠ a1450 E. Clere in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 32 He seith to me he is þe last in þe tayle of his lyflode, þe qweche is cccl marke and better. 1521 in W. C. Dickinson Sheriff Court Bk. Fife (1928) 229 The hors wes wortht viij merkis & bettir. 1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1382/1 Woorth one hundred and twentie pounds and better. 1630 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime (new ed.) iii. 15 Vntill nine and better they are exercised in repeating. 1679 R. Hooke Lectiones Cutlerianae 49 One root.., with all the growth out of it, I have found weighing ten pounds and better. 1744 B. Lynch Guide to Health i. iii. 47 An extraordinary long Life, even of an hundred Years and better. 1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. iv. 62 Ah! poor man! he has been dead these eight years and better . View more context for this quotation 1823 W. Scott Peveril I. vi. 164 Pursued by half a score of horsemen, and better. 1903 W. E. B. Du Bois Souls of Black Folk ii. 28 The very name of the Bureau stood for a thing in the South which for two centuries and better men had refused even to argue. 1931 PMLA 46 1306 He's been a-livin' here these last six weeks an' better. 1994 Colorado Springs Gaz. Tel. 27 Mar. c10/4 The river holds a number of true ‘hogs’—fish of 5 pounds and better. b. better than: more than. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [adjective] > greater number moOE moreOE fele1340 better than1471 outnumbering1796 1471 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 352 That shall dysseavayll hym better than a cc marc. 1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 129 Able to furnish better then ten thousand men with horse. 1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. vii. 239 The bodies..being better than an inch long. 1739 F. Blomefield Ess. Topogr. Hist. Norfolk I. 708 This Town was better than a Mile long, and as much broad. 1769 T. Gray Let. 26 Jan. in Corr. (1971) III. 1054 It is better than three weeks since I wrote to you. 1823 C. Lamb On Some of Old Actors (new ed.) in Elia 399 I think it is now better than five-and-twenty years ago. 1874 H. S. Caswell Walter Harland xxiii. 133 It's better than a month ago, I dreamed of bein' over here. 1958 Musical Q. 44 271 William Bergsma..has for better than a decade been recognized by some as a highly provocative musical talent. 2005 J. Horne Desire Street 50 Kyles was better than a month into this nightmare, a month and a million miles from the world he had known across town. ΚΠ 1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. L.8 Then ought he to haue al tithes paid him whatsoeuer with the better. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 163 When his father was 62 yeares old with the better. 1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 333 To pay what one hath borrowed with the better. P7. for the better: resulting, or so as to result, in a better state, condition, or situation. Cf. for the best at best adj., n.1, and adv. Phrases 3b(a). ΚΠ c1450 (a1400) R. Lavynham Treat. Seven Deadly Sins (Harl. 211) (1956) 2 It is for þe better þt god suffryth oftetyme a prowd man..to fallyn in to sum gret opyn synne. c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 148 Jt war than spedefull, yat sik a man war put off for the better. 1592 H. Arthington Seduction To Rdr. sig. A3v I finde nothing in substance added to the originall, but certaine wordes and sentences changed for the better. a1626 L. Andrewes XCVI Serm. (1629) 556 Risen with the same love and affection, He had before: Not changed it, neither. Yes, changed it: (I said not well in that:) but, changed it for the better. a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) ii. vii. 200 River-Fish..will alter their figure, some for the better and some for the worse, being put into Ponds. 1700 J. Dryden Fables Pref. sig. *D If I have alter'd him any where for the better. 1781 R. Twining Jrnl. 12 Aug. in Sel. Papers Twining Family (1887) 31 The scene changed, and changed for the better. 1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 16 June in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1987) IV. 300 Two dozes of barks and opium..had produced an alteration in her pulse for the better. 1870 S. H. Hodgson Theory of Pract. I. iv. xxxii. 234 Suppose that the expectation is falsified for the better, that we expect to be paid pence and are paid pounds. 1921 R. S. Woodworth Psychol. 534 Introduce a nice young lady into an officeful of men, and the atmosphere changes, often for the better. 1941 E. Linklater Man on my Back xxiii. 322 There was a decisive turn for the better when the old runrig system of agriculture was discarded. 2012 Sight & Sound Apr. 24/1 Almost every year the competition gets a critical pasting..but this year I did notice a shift for the better. P8. euphemistic. a better place: heaven. Esp. in to go to a better place and variants: to die. Cf. a better world at world n. 1b. ΚΠ 1481 tr. Cicero De Senectute (Caxton) sig. i2v The soule goeth in to a better place, and where it shal be better than it was in this present life. ?1555 T. Paynell tr. J. L. Vives Office of Husband sig. Dd.iv Forasmuch as by death he goeth to a better place, lette him not care for suche thinges as he leaueth here. a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iv. ii. 207 I will giue him a present shrift, and aduise him for a better place. View more context for this quotation 1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 302. ⁋14 Ye guardian Angels,..lead her gently hence innocent and unreprovable to a better Place. 1720 A. Pennecuik Streams from Helicon (ed. 2) i. 59 The pious old Man, who's Riches was Grace, Leaving the Earth for a better Place. 1814 W. Scott Waverley III. xxii. 340 Many of those who would have rejoiced most freely upon these joyful espousals, are either gone to a better place, or are now exiles from their native land. View more context for this quotation 1826 ‘G. Penseval’ Labours Idleness ii. 114 ‘Poor soul!—Well: she is in a better place now,’ I rejoined, not knowing what to say, and recurring to the usual mode of consolation. 1991 T. Mo Redundancy of Courage (1992) xx. 259 Mortars ranged along the known co-ordinates to blast us to a better place. 1992 I. Banks Crow Road iii. 56 Your grandmother has gone to a better place, Prentice. P9. a. something is better than nothing and variants: it is better to receive a portion of or alternative to what one wants than to receive nothing at all. [Compare Middle French mieulx vault aucun bien que neant (c1401).] ΚΠ 1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. x. sig. D And by this prouerbe appereth this o thyng, That alwaie somewhat is better than nothyng. 1612 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don-Quixote: Pt. 1 iii. vii. 181 I will weare it as I may: for something is better then nothing. 1726 T. Burnett Demonstr. True Relig. 35 Being is better, than not being, or something is better, than nothing. 1831 Lancet 23 Apr. 124/1 The merest tyro in political economy knows..that something is better than nothing; that half a loaf is better than no bread. 1951 Law & Contemp. Probl. 16 46 Pending Utopia, it is suggested, something is better than nothing. 1992 L. E. Goodman Neoplatonism & Jewish Thought 186 Something is better than nothing; a world in which evolution occurs is better than one in which no such process is possible. 2013 Huffington Post (Nexis) 30 Oct. The piecemeal approach is not totally bad. Something is better than nothing. b. better than nothing: used to indicate that having something inferior to what one wanted or expected is preferable to having nothing at all. ΚΠ 1658 J. Durham Comm. Bk. Revelation 63 This consideration is alleged..as a reason to put men to write..; it was..better than nothing. 1751 E. Justice Amelia 111 If I only get what will buy fine Tea, 'tis better than nothing. 1865 ‘Ouida’ Strathmore I. ii. 22 The rabbits were tame [sport] in comparison with the..pheasants..; but still they were better than nothing. 1885 E. P. Warren & C. F. M. Cleverly Wanderings ‘Beetle’ 15 Bread and butter was better than nothing. 1919 Outing Mar. 325/1 A shower is better than a tub bath. A washbowl or any other contrivance is better than nothing. 1987 D. Poliquin Obomsawin Sioux Junction (1991) xvi. 128 The food wasn't exactly five-star, but it was better than nothing. 2000 E. Garcia Anonymous Rex ii. 23 One grand's better than nothing. P10. to think (the) better of. a. To form a better opinion of; to look upon more favourably. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > [verb (transitive)] > esteem more than before to think (the) better of1560 value1614 1560 A. L. tr. J. Calvin Serm. Songe Ezechias iv. 71 Let the fathers then thinke better of this then they haue bene accustomed. 1574 J. Whitgift Def. Aunswere to Admon. ii. iii. 103 I will not charge you so, but will thinke better of you, vntill the contrarie do more appeare. a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. iii. 14 To make vs no better thought of a little helpe will serue. View more context for this quotation 1699 B. Jenks Bell rung to Prayers 47 The Universality of Sober Men..cannot but think the better of these Families, that shew such Exemplary Piety, as all the rest ought to Imitate. 1750 G. Jeffreys Let. 23 Sept. in J. Duncombe Lett. Eminent Persons Deceased (1772) II. cxxv. 184 There was a time when this Polydore had reason to think better of her. 1793 J. Wilde Addr. Soc. Friends of People 63 He might even think better of Mr Burke's political knowledge, were he now alive, than he did in the year 1778. 1800 M. Edgeworth Castle Rackrent 172 Nay, don't be denying it, Judy, for I think the better of ye for it. 1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona iii. 31 I judged..he would think the better of me if I knew my questions. 1909 G. Stein Three Lives 128 I think better of you every day I see you, and I like to talk with you all the time now. 1948 D. Thomas Let. 25 May (1987) 675 I do not think any better of a verse because it takes weeks, and quires, to complete it. 2010 A. Munro in New Yorker 11 Oct. 95/2 She offered Howard one, saying, quite audibly, ‘Don't mind Daddy.’ He accepted, but didn't think the better of her. Spoiled rich miss. Unmannerly. b. To decide not to do (something) after reconsideration. Frequently in to think better of it. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > reverse or abandon one's purpose or intention [verb (transitive)] > abandon, give up, or discontinue forhightc1000 forswearOE forletc1175 sdeign1590 to think (the) better of1752 to get off ——1951 1648 T. Gage Eng.-Amer. xx. 172 Though this in drunkennes were agreed upon, yet in sobernes the good Christians thought better of what they had agreed upon. 1752 Bp. W. Warburton Lett. (1809) 116 I resolved to be prepared for them (who, by the way, thought better of it). 1781 M. P. Andrews Dissipation ii. iv. 23 His Lordship's library. So I will—No, I won't, now I think better of it; for what can his library produce to entertain me? 1812 Examiner 21 Sept. 596/1 The enemy's General thought better of it,—beat a retreat. 1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 430/1 The..gentleman seems to have thought better of his contrariness. 1917 A. Cahan Rise of David Levinsky (1993) ix. xii. 273 I was going to parade the ‘quip’ before Max and Dora, but thought better of it. 1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! xiv. 122 About to scatter some milk powder into my char, I thought the better of it. 2003 S. Mackay Heligoland (2004) vii. 114 He reflects that she really ought to have the place alarmed..but thinks better of saying so. P11. to be better than one's word (also promise): to do more than one has promised. Cf. as good as one's word (also promise) at good adj., n., adv., and int. Phrases 4e. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > outdoing or surpassing > outdo or surpass [verb (intransitive)] > go beyond bounds > beyond what one has promised to be better than one's word (also promise)1627 1627 T. Gataker Ieroboams Sonnes Decease 33 God oft in such cases is better than his word. 1690 T. Burnet Theory of Earth iv. 167 God may be better than His word. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. xiv. 283 I was indeed better than my Word: For I returned to him that very Afternoon. View more context for this quotation 1769 J. Hall-Stevenson Yorick's Sentimental Journey Continued IV. 87 When Madame de Rambouillet alighted to rien que pisser, she was better than her word. 1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol v. 78 Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more. 1874 A. Trollope Lady Anna I. xiii. 169 Minnie was better than her promise. 1905 W. Cheney Way of North xv. 195 Marfa Alexandrovna had been better than her word and had furnished us not only with an interpreter, but also bearers to advance our loads. 1966 T. Clancy Marine (new ed.) 295 Colonel Newman was better than his word, and the big CH-53E with its security team arrived eighteen minutes after the emergency call. 1995 J. Dean Managing Primary School (ed. 2) x. 133 It is better to err on the cautious side and then please people by being better than your word. P12. Forming attributive phrases with than, as better-than-average, better-than-chance, etc.See also better than ordinary at ordinary adj. 2c. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > quality of being better or superior > [adjective] > specifically of a thing betterOE better-than-average1725 better-quality1844 better-class1849 better-type1928 the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > probability, likelihood > [adjective] likelya1400 seemlya1400 probable?a1425 allowablec1443 seeming?c1450 apt1528 topical1594 liking1611 suspicable1651 presumable1655 feasible1656 suspected1706 in the cards1764 on the cards1788 in the dice1844 liable1888 better-than-chance1964 1725 J. Sedgwick New Treat. Liquors vii. 124 The Prescription of Bleeding ought to be from the Hands of a better than six Months educative Understanding. 1829 tr. C. Malte-Brun Universal Geogr. (new ed.) IV. ci. 165 Thirty-four thousand hundred weight of a better than ordinary quality are obtained every year in Hungary. 1848 Prairie Farmer May 156/1 The class of youth I have had under my care would, in some respects, afford a better than average chance for the success of the experiment. 1938 J. Hilton To you, Mr. Chips i. 21 The school was perhaps a better-than-average example, both educationally and structurally, of its type. 1944 Sun (Baltimore) 4 Mar. 9/4 A better-than-fair horse, which he..guided to second place..in the $7,500-McClennan. 1964 Language 40 262 A better-than-chance probability that a language will possess certain features. 1994 Investors Chron. 28 Jan. 50/3 Lonrho rose 8p on these better than expected figures. P13. better the devil you know than the devil you don't and variants: it is wiser to deal with someone or something which is familiar, though undesirable, than to risk a change that might lead to an even worse situation. Now frequently shortened to better the devil you know. ΚΠ 1586 D. Rowland tr. Lazarillo de Tormes sig. H6v The olde prouerbe: Better is the euill knowne, than the good which is yet to knowe.] 1827 New Times 1 Sept. We may as well pay it [sc. rent] to..our countrymen as to strangers [on the principle]..laid down in the proverb, ‘better the devil we do know, than the devil we do not know’. 1857 A. Trollope Barchester Towers ii. vii. 123 ‘Better the d—— you know than the d—— you don't know,’ is an old saying..but the bishop had not yet realised the truth of it. 1929 K. S. Prichard Coonardoo ii. 31 Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know, and you'll always rule the roost, I suppose. 1959 M. Spark Memento Mori x. 135 Godfrey had always seemed better than the devil she did not know. 1997 A. Garland Beach 71 In one direction there were gunmen... In the other direction we didn't know what we might find... Better the devil you know is a cliché I now despise. 2007 Independent 10 Feb. (Save & Spend section) 5/2 The company seemed to think it was a case of ‘better the devil you know’. P14. may the better man win and variants = may the best man win at best adj., n.1, and adv. Phrases 7. ΚΠ 1845 Spirit of Times 24 May 148/1 The men are to run [the race] between twelve and two o'clock... We hope that ‘both may be well on the day, and the better man win’. 1876 Peru (Indiana) Republican 6 Oct. Hurrah for Hayes and Tilden [sc. electoral candidates] and may the better man win! 1922 Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer 8 July 1/3 May the better woman win and the better woman I think and hope is Suzanne [Lenglen]. 1985 Jet 15 Oct. 47/1 I knew I had to do my best and let the better man win. And believe it or not, the better man won. 2005 Times 28 Oct. 96/2 Was that gesture..an unspoken ‘play well and may the better man win’, the golfing equivalent of two boxers touching gloves? P15. a. better cheap: see cheap n.1 8. the fewer the better cheer: see cheer n.1 Phrases 6. to have seen better days: see day n. Phrases 9b(a). the better deal: see deal n.1 1d. the better foot before: see foot n. and int. Phrases 8. to go (one) better: see go v. 36. the grey mare is the better horse: see grey adj. and n. Phrases 1a. to have the better hand: see hand n. Phrases 2i(a). two heads are better than one: see head n.1 Phrases 5c. to be on the better side of the hedge: see hedge n. Phrases 1. neither barrel better herring: see herring n. 2. one's better judgement: see judgement n. Phrases 3. to kiss better: see kiss v. 6n. to know better: see know v. Phrases 9c. to know no better: see know v. Phrases 9a. better luck next time: see luck n. Phrases 4c. to build a better mousetrap: see mousetrap n. 2e. for want of a better name: see name n. and adj. Phrases 5. one's better nature: see nature n. 7b. better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick: see poke n.5 1b. his room is better than his company: see room n.1 9b. to say better: see say v.1 and int. Phrases 3a(d). to have the better end of the staff: see staff n.1 Phrases 7. streets better: see street n. and adj. Phrases 6c. take better way with you: see way n.1 and int.1 Phrases 5b. a woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be: see woman n. Phrases 1c. a bird in the hand is better than two in the wood: see wood n.1 5e. for better, for worse: see worse adj. and n. Phrases 3b. b. Proverbial phrases in sense A. 3a. better (to be) the head of a dog than the tail of a lion: see head n.1 Phrases 5d. better late than never: see late adv. Phrases 3. better wed over the mixen than over the moor: see mixen n. Phrases 2. better dead than red: see red adj. and n. Phrases 10. better (to be) safe than sorry: see safe adj. Phrases 15. better (to be) sure than sorry: see sure adj., adv., and int. Phrases 10. < as lemmas |
| 随便看 |
英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。