| 释义 |
diabolical, a. and n.|daɪəˈbɒlɪkəl|
[f. as prec. + -al1.]
1. Of or pertaining to the devil; actuated by or proceeding from the devil; of the nature of the devil.
1503Hawes Examp. Virt. v. 59 Be neuer taken in dyabolycall engyne. 1548Hall Chron. 114 b, [They] adiudged the same Jone [of Arc] a sorceresse, and a diabolical blasphemeresse of God. 1603Adv. Don Sebastian in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 400 He began to suspect the same apparition to be diabolical or merely fantastical. 1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. xii. §10. 175 The most ancient of all diabolicall tentations..Yee shall be as Gods, knowing good and evill. 1651― Leviath. iv. xlvi. 370 Hee was commonly thought a Magician, and his Art Diabolicall. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 409 If a God..governs Nature, diabolical spirits direct and confound at least the affairs of the children of men. 1862H. Spencer First Princ i. i. §6 (1875) 21 That Religion is divine and Science diabolical, is a proposition..implied in many a clerical declamation.
b. Resembling a devil in outward appearance.
1752Foote Taste i. Wks. 1799 I. 9 Daubing diabolical angels for ale-houses. 1839W. Chambers Tour Holland 34/1 An old fantastical-looking dwelling..literally covered with diabolical figures.
2. Characteristic of or befitting the devil; devilish, fiendish, atrociously wicked or malevolent.
1546Langley tr. Pol. Verg. De Invent. vii. vii. 141 b, Of al these supersticiouse sectes afore rehersed there is not one so diabolical as the sect of Mahometaines. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. iv. 10 This Mystery..that is so horrid, and Diabolical, and so Antipodal to both the Person and Spirit of Christ. 1709Steele & Swift Tatler No. 68. ⁋1 This Malevolence does not proceed from a real Dislike of Virtue, but a diabolical Prejudice against it. 1789Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 321 To collect the various papers found in the Bastile, and then..to write the annals of that diabolical castle. 1818Scott Rob Roy xii, I shall never forget the diabolical sneer which writhed Rashleigh's wayward features. 1882B. M. Croker Proper Pride I. vii. 134 Such diabolical vengeance, uprooting my home and estranging my wife. 1884A. R. Pennington Wiclif vi. 193 Their so-called poverty is nothing else but a diabolical lie.
3. slang. In weakened sense: outrageous, disgraceful; disgracefully bad. Also, used as an intensive, esp. in diabolical liberty.
1958B. Behan Borstal Boy iii. 231 Why ain't I given a chance to follow my trade in 'ere, eh?..It's a diabolical liberty. Geezers get no chance to follow their trade. 1965Listener 30 Sept. 507/2 A parody piece..which took diabolical liberties with Eurovision song contests, British Beatlemania and other suitable themes. 1972Mitton & Morrison Community Project in Notting Dale 69 The names he called those kids round there was diabolical for any vicar. 1982S. Townsend Secret Diary A. Mole 94 Asked our postman about communications between Tunisia and England. He said they were ‘diabolical’. 1986Observer 16 Feb. 50/4 From my point of view that pitch was dangerous. In fact, it was diabolical.
†B. n. A person possessed by a devil; one of diabolical character. Obs.
1547Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 426 As your naturals and diabolicals would have you to do. 1829Southey Sir T. More I. 127 That devilish [doctrine] concerning infants, which so many divines (more fitly they might be called diabolicals!) have repeated after St. Augustine.
Hence diaboliˈcality, diabolicalness.
1839J. Rogers Antipopopr. Introd. 16 Then we should see..diabolicality..overwhelm everything good. |