| 释义 |
ˈratherest, adv. (and a.)
[f. rather adv. + -est.]
†1. Soonest. Obs. rare—1.
a1425Cursor M. 22129 (Trin.) Turne..þei shul raþerest and siþen oþere at þe leest.
2. Most of all, most particularly. Obs. exc. dial.
c1420Chron. Vilod. 1014 Þe best we shull ratherest byleve to. 1535Fisher Spir. Consolat. Wks. (1876) 352 It shall anon lose the vertue & quicknesse in stirring & moving of your soule, when you woulde ratherest have it sturred. 1567W. Barker Xenophon, Schole Cyrus i. E iv b, When you haue most plentie, then ratherest prouide against wante. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 19 His..vntrained, or rather vnlettered, or ratherest vnconfirmed fashion. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 66 Gin thou'lt no fancy her, And ratherest wad ha'e Meg.
3. rather of the ratherest, just a little too much or too little.
Grose assigns the phr. to Norfolk and explains it as ‘meat underdone’, and Forby says ‘it is chiefly applied to the insufficient dressing of meat’. This appears to associate the origin of the expression with rathe a.3
[1787in Grose Prov. Gloss.] a1825in Forby. 1865Mrs. H. Wood Mildred Arkell ii. iv. 68 The women would find it rather of the ratherest for heat. |