| 释义 |
▪ I. drear, n.
Also 6 drere.
[A back-formation from dreary a., by the Elizabethan archaists.]
†1. Dreariness, sadness, gloom. Obs.
1563Sackville Induct. to Mirr. Mag. xx, Sith sorrowe is thy name And that to thee this drere doth wel pertayne. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 40 A ruefull spectacle of death and ghastly drere. Ibid. ii. xii. 36 The hoars Night-raven, trump of dolefull drere. 1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. iv. vi, His dim eyes see nought but death and drere. 1775S. J. Pratt Liberal Opinions (1783) IV. 48 In the drear of December.
2. A dreary person. colloq.
1958M. Allingham Hide my Eyes x. 101 ‘What an evil-eyed old drear,’ he remarked. 1966J. B. Priestley Salt is Leaving v. 61 He was just a miserable little drear.
▪ II. drear, a. Chiefly poet.|drɪə(r)|
[A poetic shortening of dreary a.]
a. = dreary a. 4.
1629Milton Nativity 193 A drear and dying sound Affrights the flamens at their service quaint. 1795Southey Vis. Maid Orleans i. 12 A moor, Barren, and wide, and drear, and desolate. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. i. Crt.-yard of Castle 18 All is silent, sad, and drear. 1968A. Clarke Darkened Room x. 127 I've bought you..a little towel—I think hospital ones are normally rather drear.
b. Rarely of persons; = dreary 3.
a1717Parnell Fairy Tale (R.), His heart was drear, his hope was cross'd. 1855Browning Saul iv, So agonized Saul, drear and stark, blind and dumb. 1962Movie Nov. 34/3 The Israelites are mainly drear, and the little fun comes from the performances of Anouk Aimee as the queen of Sodom and Stanley Baker as her brother.
c. Comb., as drear-nighted, drear-white.
a1821Keats Stanzas i, A drear-nighted December. 1844Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1889 I. 97 When he tosseth his head, the drear-white steed.
Hence ˈdrearly adv.; ˈdrearness.
1861D. Greenwell Poems 170, I lose the drearness Of the Present. 1891G. Meredith One of our Conq. II. xi. 270 The scene striking him drearly. |