| 释义 |
gainful, a.|ˈgeɪnfʊl|
[f. gain n.2 + -ful.]
1. Productive of gain or profit; profitable, advantageous. Now rare exc. as in b.
1555Bale in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xxxix. 108 It promiseth ful remission of our sins thro Christ's gainful sufferings. 1600Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 144, I hope..that your skill in navigation shall be gaineful unto you. 1658Whole Duty Man ii. §18. 19 We are to consider it, as the gainfullest, as the joyfullest day of the week. 1861M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France Introd. 36 An intervention gainful and agreeable to friends, injurious and irritating to enemies. 1884Manch. Exam. 14 Nov. 5/3 They have no objection to the expedition, which will be gainful to them in many ways.
b. esp. Leading to pecuniary gain; lucrative, remunerative.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 86 By this pretence they make moste gainefull markets. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 717 The Hollanders and Zelanders..make a very gaineful trade thereof [herrings]. 1692South Serm. (1697) I. 540 He will dazle his Eyes..with the luscious Proposal of some gainfull Purchase. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Savage Wks. III. 252 Savage..then attempted a more gainful kind of writing. 1791T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scotl. 302 It is likely to turn out a very gainful undertaking. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 104 She..speedily established a regular and gainful trade in milk. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 85 The gainful Crafts of the goldsmith and the moneyer.
⁋In the following quot. gainful is treated in some Dicts. (after Sympson) as a different word, f. gain prep., and meaning ‘untractable, fractious’; but the context seems to admit of the interpretation ‘lucrative’.
1621Fletcher Pilgrim iv. iii. (1647) You will find him gainfull, but be sure ye curb him.
2. Of persons and their actions: Bent upon making gain; adapted to make gain. rare.
1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 26 Ah, for these gainful men—somewhat indeed Their sails are rent, their bark beat. 1871Smiles Charac. xi. (1876) 308 Withdrawing the mind from thoughts that are wholly gainful, by taking it out of its daily rut. 1882Farrar Early Chr. II. 66 Men make gainful plans for the future without any reference to God.
Hence ˈgainfully adv., ˈgainfulness.
1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 2 Cor. ix. 8 God..is sufficiently able..to make your almesdedes gaynfully to returne vnto you. 1628Strafford in Browning Life (1891) 292, I am..gainfully, commodiously seated for the service both of king and people. 1646W. Jenkyn Remora 30 The toothsom gainfullnesse of a silver shrine. 1668Howe Bless. Righteous (1825) 163 If you would comprehend the gainfulness [of godliness] fully. 1868Maine Vill. Commun. (1876) 393 The Bar is getting to be more and more preferred to Government service..both on the score of its gainfulness and on the score of its independence. 1880Nat. Respons. Opium Trade 27 Drawbacks to the gainfulness of the opium trade to India. |