| 释义 |
▪ I. dissolute, a. (n.)|ˈdɪsəl(j)uːt|
[ad. L. dissolūtus loose, disconnected, pa. pple. of dissolvĕre to loosen, disunite, dissolve; cf. F. dissolu.
The appearance of the senses in Eng. does not correspond with their original development in Latin.]
†1. Having their connexion or union dissolved; disconnected, disjoined, disunited. Obs.
1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. C j, Nature..wyl nat leue them [membres sparmatyf] thus dyssolute, reioyneth and knytteth them the best that she may. 1578Banister Hist. Man i. 3 It were requisite, that the..bones should neither be dissolute and unioyned, nor yet altogether whole, and continuall. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 278 The part excommunicated is no longer a Church, but a dissolute number of individuall persons. 1651― Govt. & Soc. vii. §10. 107 It is no longer a Court, or one Person, but a dissolute multitude without any supreme power.
†2. Relaxed, enfeebled, weak; wanting consistence or firmness of texture or temperament. Obs.
c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xlv, But I be holpen of þe & inwardly enformed, I am made all leuke & dissolute. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 188 You loose hands, and dissolute knees, ye shall be strengthened. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 345 The flesh of the Alzabo..is of a slender and dissolute substance. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. iv. 120 This lax and dissolute consistency [of the blood]..makes it apt to dissolve into Serum. 1816Coleridge Statesm. Man. 354 Vital warmth..relaxing the rigid, consolidating the dissolute, and giving cohesion to that which is about to sink down.
†3. Having the energies, attention, etc. relaxed; wanting firmness, strictness, or assiduity; loose, lax, slack, careless, negligent, remiss. Obs.
1382Wyclif Prov. xix. 15 Slouthe sendeth in slep; and a dissolut [1388 negligent] soule shal hungre. c1430Lydg. Minor P. (1840) 245 (Mätz.) Now passyng besy, now dissolut, now ydil. 1574Whitgift Def. Aunsw. iii. Wks. 1851 I. 330 Neither the law was then cruel, neither yet the gospel is now dissolute for the greatness of forgiveness. 1589Hakluyt Voy. 188 Through meere dissolute negligence shee [a ship] perished on a sand. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxii. §18 To temper the minde, lest contrarie affection comming in place should make it too profuse and dissolute. 1619W. Sclater Exp. 1 Thess. (1630) 459 Alas, how cold..are our affections often? How dissolute our practice? How dull our memory?
†4. Unrestrained in behaviour or deportment; not subject to proper restraint; loose, wanton. (In quot. 1620, Wasteful, lavish.) Obs. (exc. as involved in 5).
c1460Stans Puer 20 (MS. Harl. 2251) in Babees Bk. 26 With dissolute [MS. Lamb. wantowne] laughters do thow non offence To-fore thy souerayn. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 99 b, What cause hast yu to be so dissolute & mery? 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 117 This cattell is foolish and dissolute, easie to stray abroad hither and thither, contrarie vnto sheepe, which keepe together. 1620Shelton Don Quixote ii. iv, A great deal of Goods..of all which the young man remained a dissolute Lord. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 45 A rude sort of men, without Laws, without Government, free and dissolute [liberum alque solutum]. 1713Berkeley Guardian No. 3 ⁋1 It is a certain Characteristick of a dissolute and ungoverned mind to rail or speak disrespectfully of them.
b. Careless or lawless in style. Now rare.
1566T. Stapleton Ret. Untr. Jewel Epist., Your maner of writing is..so Dissolut Loose and Negligent. 1619W. Sclater Exp. 1 Thess. (1630) 559 Either hee is too profound, or too plaine..too dissolute, or too exact. 1718Prior Solomon Pref., Heroic with continued rhyme..was found too dissolute and wild. 1771H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. IV. i. (R.) A loose, and, if I may use the word, a dissolute kind of painting. 1851Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. xvii. 184 The dissolute dulness of English Flamboyant.
5. That has thrown off the restraints of morality and virtue; lax in morals, loose-living; licentious, profligate, debauched. (Of persons, their actions, etc.) The current sense.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 28 Dyssolute man folowyng sensualyte. 1548Hall Chron., Rich. III (an. 2) 32 b, A woman geven to carnall affection, and dissolute livinge. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 204 Wee will yet haue more trickes with Falstaffe: his dissolute disease will scarse obey this medicine. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 150 Belial, the dissolutest Spirit that fell, The sensualest, and, after Asmodai, The fleshliest Incubus. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 15 The many untimely deaths occasioned by a dissolute course of life. 1874Green Short Hist. vi. §i. 267 The nobles were as lawless and dissolute at home as they were greedy and cruel abroad.
B. n. A dissolute person, a profligate. rare.
1608Day Hum. out of Br. iv. iii, Did your euer conuerse with a more straunger dissolute? 1824Landor Wks. (1846) I. 177/2 Half the dissolutes in the parish. 1838Southey Poet's Pilgrim. ii. iii. x. note, The homely but scriptural appellation..has been delicately softened down..Helen Maria Williams names her [Ch. of Rome] the Dissolute of Babylon.
¶ There are many instances of dissolute for desolate († dissolate), mostly scribal or typographical errors, sometimes perh. owing to actual confusion.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvi. i, A place of dissolute darkenes. 1612Brerewood Lang. & Relig. x. 83 Greece..more dissolute then any region of Europe subject to the Turk. 1834T. C. Croker Fairy Leg. S. Irel. 135 I got ashore, somehow or other..upon a dissolute island.
▪ II. † ˈdissolute, v. Obs. rare.
[f. dissolute a.]
trans. To render dissolute.
1679M. Prance Addit. Narr. Pop. Plot 29 The ready way to new-mould a Nation, is, first to dissolute and debauch it. |