| 释义 |
godsend|ˈgɒdsɛnd|
[Altered form of God's send, sond in god n. 16 c; see also sond.]
1. Some desirable thing received unexpectedly and as it were from the hand of God, esp. something of which the recipient is greatly in want.
1820Lady Granville Let. 20 Aug. (1894) I. 159 Even a bore was a godsend. 1834Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 391 Mr. Telford..has left me {pstlg}500..This is truly a Godsend. 1844Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 291 If you will still send me some books..they will be a godsend. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. v. vii. §2 (1872) 529 Any casual gain or godsend, is naturally devoted to the same purpose. 1892G. S. Layard C. Keene iii. 45 Louis Napoleon was little less than a godsend to the journalistic enterprise of those days.
b. spec. A wreck. dial.
1814Pegge Suppl. to Grose, God-send, the wreck of a ship. Kentish coast. [1821F. Burney Let. to Mrs. Piozzi 15 Mar., The inhospitable shore, where shipwreck is..considered as a godsend.] 1822Scott Pirate viii, It's seldom sic rich Godsends come on our coast.
2. A welcome event; a happy chance.
1831Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 295 The peace was reckoned a God-send, both by the fleet and army. 1845J. W. Croker in C. Papers 30 Dec. (1884), Potatoe famine was a godsend which enabled him to open a long conceived design. a1859De Quincey Ceylon Wks. XII. 27 By a mere god-send, more troops happened to arrive from the Indian continent. 1885Truth 11 June 924/1 So far as the Government are concerned, the defeat is a perfect godsend. |