| 释义 |
devour, v.|dɪˈvaʊə(r)|
Also 4–6 devoure, 5 -vowre, -vowryn, -vouir, -wore, 6 devore, -vower, -voir(e.
[a. OF. devorer (stressed stem devur-, devour-) = Pr. and Sp. devorar, It. devorare, ad. L. dēvorāre to swallow down, f. de- I. 1 + vorāre to swallow, gulp.]
(Formerly often with up.)
I. properly.
1. To swallow or eat up voraciously, as a beast of prey; to make a prey of, to prey upon.
c1315Shoreham 29 He soffreth noȝt to be to-trede, And of bestes devoured. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 55 Of Babiloyne sall a nedder comme, þat sall deuoure all þe werld. c1430Lydg. Chichev. & Byc. in Dodsley O. Pl. XII. 334 Wherfor Bycorn this cruel beste will us devouren at the lest. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 12 He..was of wylde bestes or Woluys slayne or deuouryd. 1559Mirr. Mag., J. Cade xxi, Set aloft for vermine to deuower. 1588A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. Prayers 36 The dragon with his mouthe oppin reddy to deuoire ws. 1650Trapp Comm. Pentat. I. 70 Like enough to devour up both men and beasts. 1722Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. ii. 120 Turned as a wolf to devour the lambs. 1869Tennyson Coming of Arthur 27 And ever and anon the wolf would steal The children and devour.
absol.1610Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 84 Brauely the figure of this Harpie hast thou Perform'd (my Ariell): a grace it had, deuouring.
2. Of human beings:
a. To eat greedily, eat up, consume or make away with, as food.
b. spec. To eat like a beast, to eat ravenously or barbarously.
a.1382Wyclif Rev. x. 9 He seide to me, Take the book and deuoure it. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxix. 265 Than they wente vnto the dukes place of lancastre..that was callyd the sauoy, and ther they deuoured and destroyed al the goodes. 1586B. Young tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 187 On Shroftuesdaie night I devoured so much, that y⊇ next daie I had no stomacke to eate anie thing at all. 1833H. Martineau Manch. Strike x. 110 To devour their meals hastily, as if their time were not their own. 1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 240 We never eat more than enough. We never devour lobsters, or oysters, or salmon.
b.1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 442 A great feeder, so that he seemed rather to devour his meat than to eat it. 1611Bible Ecclus. xxxi. 16 Eate as it becommeth a man..and deuoure not, lest thou be hated. 1719De Foe Crusoe II. ii. 28 The poor creatures rather devoured than ate it.
II. transf. With consume as the main notion.
3. Of a person or personal agent: To consume destructively, recklessly, or wantonly; to make away with, waste, destroy (substance, property or fig. its owners). Obs. exc. in bibl. language.
a1340Hampole Psalter Cant. 511 Him þat deuours þe pore in hidil. 1382Wyclif Ps. xxxiv. 25 Ne sei thei, wee shal devouren hym. 1382― Luke xv. 30 This thi sone, which deuouride his substaunce with hooris. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 66 He wolde his joly blood honoure, Though that he schulde holy chirche deuoure. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 280 Lightliche þat þei leue loseles hit deuouren. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. iii. (1885) 115 The reaume of Englonde..wolde be than a pray to all oþer nacions þat wolde conqwer, robbe, and deuouir it. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. i. (1701) 23/1 If any one maintain not his Parents, let him be infamous, as likewise he that devours his patrimony. 1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 19 So we say of some Guardians, They have devoured the Orphans, intimating the Orphans' patrimony.
b. with the sense swallow up more or less present: cf. 5.
1382Wyclif Mark xii. 40 Scribis..whiche deuouren the housis of widewis. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 140 Ye..rape and deuour the almes and sustenaunce of the poore seruauntes of god. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 11 She..Inticeth princes to devour heaven, Swallow omnipotence, out-stare dread fate. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 6 Thou, Varlet, dost thy Master's gains devour. 1836Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 144 Wherever Religion has been the mother of wealth the daughter has invariably devoured the parent.
†c. To make a prey of, treat with rapine. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 515/1 He hath devoured twenty maydens and wyves agaynst their wylles in his dayes. c1540in Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 73 Seikand Christes peple to devoir. 1547Salesbury Welsh Dict., Teisio morwyn, devoure a mayden.
†d. To despoil (a person) of (substance) by consuming it. Obs. rare—1.
1545Brinklow Compl. iv. (1874) 17 Let them make good defence, that their poore neyhbors..be not deuouryd of their corne and grasse.
4. Of inanimate agencies: To consume, destroy. Said esp. of fire, sword, pestilence, or other agencies which claim numerous victims.
c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 14 This old story..That eild..hath nigh devoured oute of my memory. 1382Wyclif Joel ii. 3 Before the face of hym fijr deuourynge, and after hym brenyng flawme. 1393Gower Conf. I. 339 So that no life shall be socoured, But with the dedely swerd devoured. 1538Starkey England i. ii. 46 Etyn away, dayly deuouryd and consumyd by commyn syknes and dysease. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 39 Stir Iupiter to anger to send vs a Stroke that shal deuoure vs. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 266 The Earth did not bring forth its Fruits..but devoured very many people by famine. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 210 But the Monument..is not now to be seen, for Time has devoured it. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 183 Haile mixt with fire must rend th' Egyptian Skie And wheel on th' Earth, devouring where it rouls. a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 300 Their Beings no Corruption can devour, Annihilable by sole boundless Power. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 69 The flames devouring the light growth. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. I. iv. 61 Whom the sword spared famine and pestilence devoured.
III. With swallow as the main notion.
5. Of water, the earth, etc.: To swallow up, engulf.
1555Eden Decades 92 He had seene many Culchas deuoured of whirlepoles. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 148 The iawes of darknesse do deuoure it vp. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 128 The very ouze, The quicksand that devours all miserie. 1614Raleigh Hist. World II. iv. i. §4. 135 Those that tooke the Sea, were therein deuoured ere they recouered them. 1783Crabbe Village i. Wks. 1834 II. 79 The ocean roar Whose greedy waves devour the lessening shore.
6. Of persons:
a. To take in greedily and with eagerness the sense of (a book, discourse, or the like).
1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 63 They have devoured all sortes of bookes. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 150 She'l'd come againe, and with a greedie eare Deuoure vp my discourse. 1647Trapp Comm. Epistles 530 Ministers must so devour and digest the holy Scriptures, that [etc.]. 1753A. Murphy Gray's-Inn Journ. No. 40 ⁋2 Miss Vainlove devoured up these Expressions of Admiration with a greedy Ear. 1823Scott Quentin D. Introd., He devoured the story of the work with which he was engaged. 1831Brewster Newton (1855) I. i. 15 Devouring some favourite author. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke i. (1876) 11 Missionary tracts..how I devoured them. 1878R. H. Hutton Scott ii. 19 He learned Spanish and devoured Cervantes.
b. To take in eagerly with the eyes; to look upon with avidity.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iii. (1676) 312/1 Drink to him with her eyes, nay drink him up, devour him, swallow him as Martial's Mammurra is remembered to have done. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 645 Early Visitants, With eager Eyes devouring..The breathing Figures of Corinthian Brass. 1718Prior Solomon ii. 381 With an unguarded look she now devour'd My nearer face. 1870Morris Earthly Par. II. iii 57 His eyes devoured her loveliness. 1891I. Zangwill Bachelors Club 186 The Doctor devoured her with his eyes.
c. To absorb greedily or selfishly.
1647–8Sir C. Cotterell Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 11 The House of Guise in a manner devoured all the Chief Employments of the State.
d. To swallow or suppress within one's own breast (chagrin, grief, etc.).
1650Trapp Comm. Pentat. i. 262 To persevere in prayer, and to devour all discouragements. 1820Scott Abbot xxxviii, Catherine Seyton devoured in secret her own grief. 1850Prescott Peru II. 182 Devouring his chagrin as he best could.
7. Of things:
a. To occupy (a person) so as to engross the attention; to absorb.
(Sometimes including the notion of consuming (4) or of swallowing up (5))
1500–20Dunbar Poems xiv. 81 Devorit with dreme, devysing in my slummer. 1608Shakes. Per. iv. iv. 25 Pericles, in sorrow all devour'd, With sighs shot through, and biggest tears o'ershower'd, Leaves Tarsus and again embarks. 1715–20Pope Ep. Addison 41 Poor Vadius, long with learned spleen devour'd, Can taste no pleasure since his Shield was scour'd. 1863Mrs. Oliphant Sal. Ch. xxi. 25 She walked home with Beecher, devoured by feverish hopes and fears. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ii. (1875) 79 Not to hold ideas of this kind a little more easily, to be so devoured by them, to suffer them to become crotchets.
b. To absorb so as to do away with.
1625E. Tilman in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 244 The joy of the people devoured their mourning. 1875Helps Ess., Pract. Wisd. 5 The large hands and feet of a dwarf seem to have devoured his stature.
8. Phrases.
†a. to devour difficulties [F. dévorer les difficultés]: to tackle and overcome difficulties with spirit. Obs.
b. to devour the way, course, etc. [F. dévorer l'espace]; to get over the ground with great rapidity.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 47 He seem'd in running, to deuoure the way, Staying no longer question. 1642Rogers Naaman 128 She will hold close to her own tacklings and devour a great deale of difficulty. 1648Sanderson Serm. Ad Aulam xvi. §25 (1674) 230 He that setteth forth for the goal, if he will obtain, must resolve to devour all difficulties, and to run it out. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 190 Wat Tyler was woundly angry with Sir John Newton, Knight..for devouring his distance, and not making his approaches mannerly enough unto him. 1725Pope Odyss. viii. 102 None..swifter in the race devour the way. 1772Pegge tr. Fitzstephen's Descr. London 38 The signal once given, they [the horses] strike, devour the course [cursum rapiunt], hurrying along with unremitting velocity. 1883Holme Lee Loving & Serving II. xiii. 271 The strong black horse was very fresh, and devoured the road before him. |