| 释义 |
ˈGod-ˈspeed
[See god n. 8 and speed v.]
1. to bid (wish) one God-speed, to utter the words ‘God speed (you)’; esp. to express a wish for the success of one who is setting out on some journey or enterprise.
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. ii (Town & C. Mouse) xv, This burges brocht thame sone quhair thay suld be; Without god speid thair herberie was tane. Ibid. xxiv, Quhen in come gib hunter..And bad god speid. 1526Tindale 2 John 10 Yf ther come eny vnto you and bringe not this learninge him receave not to housse: neither bid him God spede. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. iv. 32 A brace of Draymen bid God speed him well. 1776Wesley Wks. (1872) IV. 76 Every one seems to bid us God-speed! 1865Lowell Polit. Ess. (1888) 229 Every humane and generous heart..has wished us God-speed. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 300 Fulvius..marching by inner lines, amidst a population who bade him God-speed, managed to reach Rome [etc.].
2. In substantival use, a God-speed, a parting wish for one's success.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. viii. 90 Three hearty cheers from all hands followed us,—a God-speed as we pushed off. 1887R. Buchanan Heir of Linne vi, Old Sampson bade the stranger a God-speed on his journey.
b. attrib. in God-speed dinner, God-speed party. (Cf. farewell n. 4.)
1867Athenæum 26 Oct. 539/1 Lord Lytton will preside at a Godspeed dinner to be given to Mr. Charles Dickens, on Saturday, next week, November 2. 1887T. A. Trollope What I remember II. vii. 127, I went, and the God-speed party was a very pleasant one.
3. fig.
†a. the Godspeed (of a thing), the conclusion, finish. Also, in the Godspeed, in the nick of time. Obs.
1606Day Ile of Guls iv. G 4, But and I come to the god⁓speed ont, ile tel em ont soundly. 1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 201 A Devil came in just in the God-speed, and told them [etc.]. 1740tr. De Mouhy's Fort. Country Maid (1741) II. 61 Had not the Curate interposed in the Godspeed, the Inn-keeper had certainly crippled him. 1803M. Charlton Wife & Mistress II. 248 So the old housekeeper, she comes in, in the God's speed [sic].
b. at the back of God-speed = at the back of beyond (beyond C b).
1858Trollope Dr. Thorne v. (1859) 63, If I don't leave you at the back of God-speed before long, I'll give you the mare and the horse too. |