| 释义 |
devastation|dɛvəˈsteɪʃən|
[prob. a. F. dévastation, n. of action f. dévaster, and L. dēvastāre, used in 1502, but not in Cotgr. 1611; Florio, 1599 and 1611, has It. devastatione, ‘a wasting, spoiling, desolation, or destruction’.]
The action of devastating, or condition of being devastated; laying waste; wide-spread destruction; ravages.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1190 The ruine and devastiation [sic] of so many..great cities. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. ix. 213 The great Devastations made by the Plague..in Forein Parts. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 395 E'en now the devastation is begun And half the business of destruction done. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xv, Over the beautiful plains of this country the devastations of war were frequently visible. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 72 Devastation is incomparably an easier work than production. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 188 The terrible devastation wrought by the great tidal wave which followed the earthquake at Lima.
b. Law. (See quot. 1848.)
1670Blount Law Dict. s.v. Devastaverunt, The orderly payment of Debts and Legacies by Executors, so as to escape a Devastation, or charging their own Goods. 1848Wharton Law Lex., Devastavit, a devastation or waste of the property of a deceased person by an executor or administrator being extravagant or misapplying the assets. |