| 释义 |
fitful, a.|ˈfɪtfʊl|
[f. fit n.2 + -ful. A word used once by Shakespeare, and popularized by writers of the beginning of the 19th century.]
1. Of a disease: Characterized by fits or paroxysms. Obs. exc. in Shakespeare's phrase.
1605Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 23 Lifes fitfull Feuer. 1744Armstrong Preserv. Health i. 131 Quartana..this fitful pest With feverish blasts subdues the sickening land.
2. Characterized by irregular fits of activity or strength; coming and going by fits and starts; full of irregular changes; spasmodic, shifting, changing, capricious.
1810Scott Lady of L. i. Prol., And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung. 1816Byron Siege Cor. xxi, So seen by the dying lamp's fitful light. 1832H. Martineau Each & All ii. 18 His impulses were generous, but fitful. 1841Miall Nonconf. I. 1 The fitful and convulsive energy they have at times displayed. 1874Motley Barneveld I. i. 5 The first fitful years of peace. |