| 释义 |
dowf, douf, a. (n.) Sc. and north. dial.|daʊf|
Also 6 dolf, (8 doof).
[The 16th c. form is constantly dolf, but it is prob. that the ol here (as in 16th c. rolp = rope, roup, nolt = nowt, nout, ON. naut) merely stands for ow, and that dowf is etymological. Perh. a. ON. dauf-r deaf; cf. Du. doof deaf, benumbed, faint. The notions of ‘deaf’ and ‘dull’ frequently interchange: cf. Du. dof ‘hollow, smothered, dull, faint, heavy’, related to doof.]
A. adj. Dull, flat; wanting in spirit or energy; inactive, spiritless. Of sound: Dull, flat, hollow.
1513Douglas æneis iii. iv. 97 Dolf wox thair spretis. Ibid. v. vii. 59 The dasyt bluid..Walxis dolf and dull throw myne vnweildy age. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus i. 413 Thy dolf hart for dredour ay deuaillis. 1721Ramsay Prospect Plenty x, How dowf looks gentry with an empty purse! 1785Burns Sec. Ep. to Lapraik iv, Her dowff excuses pat me mad. 1814Scott Wav. xliii, The lad can sometimes be as dowff as a sexagenary like myself.
b. Comb., as dowf-hearted (dolf-).
1513Douglas æneis ix. ii. 50 The dolf hartit Troianis.
B. n. A dull spiritless fellow.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 56 To have a galle, and be clepid a douffe. [1724Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iv. i, He get her? slaverin doof!]
Hence dowf v. trans., to make ‘dowf’, deprive of energy. ˈdowfness, dullness; want of spirit.
1513Douglas æneis xi. xiv. 21 Huge dolfnes, and schamful cowardice. 1818Hogg Brownie of B. II. 38 (Jam.) There was a kind o' doufness and melancholy in his looks. 1838J. Struthers Poetic Tales 77 Auld age douffs down the spirit. |