| 释义 |
unbeˈknown, ppl. a.
Also dial. onbeknown, unbeknawn, etc.
[un-1 8 b.]
1. In absolute or adverbial const. in the phrase unbeknown to, without the knowledge of.
1636T. Goodwin Return of Prayers iv. 75 To sympathize with another in praying for such a thing unbeknowne one to another. 1836–7Dickens Sk. Boz, Seven Dials, If my 'usband had treated her with a drain..unbeknown to me, I'd tear her precious eyes out. 1837― Pickw. xxxiv, ‘I was there,’ resumed Mrs. Cluppins, ‘unbeknown to Mrs. Bardell’. 1885Law Times 28 Feb. 321/2 The chalk had been opened..unbeknown to the tenant. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 31 Oct. 10/3 That this number is insufficient is being quietly demonstrated at the present time, unbeknown to the general public. 1952J. L. Waten Alien Son 121 Unbeknown to our parents we sneaked away from the street one summer day.
ellipt.1866Reade G. Gaunt xvi, I shall send you some stock from the castle, and you can cook his vegetables in good strong gravy, unbeknown. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxi, My love rose up so early And stole out unbeknown. 1901J. Barlow From Land of Shamrock 215 Openin' it at the breakfast-table, unbeknown, to set people passin' remarks, and risin' a laugh on him.
2. Unknown; lying outside of one's knowledge or acquaintance. Also absol.
1824Monthly Mag. LVII. 408 They agreed to be both at the tourney, But unbeknown and clad in common armure. 1861Clough Poems, etc. (1869) I. 262 Gentlemen unbeknown to ladies give their arms to ladies aforesaid, to conduct them into dinner. 1888Pall Mall G. 7 May 2/2 He..is loath to prophesy as to what is possible or is not possible in that ‘land of the unbeknown’. 1976Jrnl. Lakeland Dial. Soc. No. 38. 39 Ah nivver really spock t' dialect proper, but Ah hev a gey lot ev dialect sayings Ah offen let slip oot, unbeknawen like! |