| 释义 |
threadbare, a.|ˈθrɛdbɛə(r)|
Also 5 Sc. thred bar, (8 thread-bear), 5– thread(-)bare.
[f. thread n. + bare a.]
1. Of a garment, etc.: Having the nap worn off, leaving bare the threads of the warp and woof; worn to the thread; shabby; worn-out.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 113 But ȝif a lous couþe lepe I con hit not I-leue Heo scholde wandre on þat walk hit was so þred-bare. c1386Chaucer Prol. 260 He was nat lyk a Cloystrer With a thredbare cope as is a poure scoler. c1470Henry Wallace vi. 449 Thi ald hud, becaus it is thred bar. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 28 Thred-bare cote, and cobled shoes, hee ware. 1693Bowles Juvenal v. 193 Will any Freedom here from you be born, Whose Clothes are thread-bare? 1711Addison Spect. No. 42 ⁋2 Dresses and Clothes that were thread-bare and decayed. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 196 Wit and coin are always doubted with a thread-bare coat.
2. fig. Resembling a threadbare garment; hence, poorly furnished or provided; meagre, scanty, poor, beggarly; contemptible, ‘sorry’.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1431 Som person is so threde-bare of konnynge. 1462Marg. Paston in P. Lett. II. 83 Yelverton is a good thredbare frend for yow. c1518Skelton Magnyf. 223 Welth and Wyt, I say, be so threde bare worne. a1550Fane wald I luve 19 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 308 Sum strykis down a threid bair cheik. 1586Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 44 With bad attire, and thred-bare dyet, he liued with him a pretty season. 1676Marvell Mr. Smirke 10 What Power they have, they will not wear it thred bare. 1704Swift T. Tub Introd. ⁋25 A conscience thread-bare and ragged with perpetual turning. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 438 We should often have had but a threadbare history.
b. esp. Having lost its influence, freshness, or force by much use; trite from constant repetition; commonplace, stale, hackneyed.
1598E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 26 So long he hath vsde to cry, oh rare, That now that phrase is growne thin & thred⁓bare. 1657J. Watts Vind. Ch. Eng. 107 A trite, and thredbare exception. 1746Chesterfield Lett. (1870) 23 The trite, threadbare jokes of those who set up for wit without having any. 1825Scott Let. 29 Apr., If this quotation is rather threadbare. 1891Mrs. Oliphant Jerusalem i. iv. 157 A strange sermon upon..the fallacy of the hopes of men, which is a threadbare subject.
3. Of persons: Wearing threadbare clothes; shabby, seedy; hence, impecunious, hard up; down-at-heel, out-at-elbows. Now rare or Obs.
1577R. Wrighte in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 75 He shall not onley be thrid bare but ragged. 1628Earle Microcosm., Prison (Arb.) 82 Onely to be out at elbowes is in fashion here, and a great Indecorum, not to be thredbare. 1672Shadwell Timon i. Wks. 1720 II. 298 Honesty, Thou foolish, slender, thread-bare, starving thing. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 16. 108 You shall see him..in close Whisper with a thread-bare Philosopher. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 136 [He] took the thread-bare Longfield..under the arm, and carried him away.
4. Comb., as threadbare-genteel, (cf. shabby-genteel).
1849Clough Amours de Voyage i. 130 Some Threadbare-genteel relations. |