| 释义 |
gracious, a.|ˈgreɪʃəs|
Forms: 4–5 gracios(e, 4–6 graciouse, (4 -iouce), -ius(s, -yous(e, (5 -yows), 5–6 grac(i)eux, 6–7 gratious, (6 -ius), 4– gracious. Also gratiose.
[a. OF. gracious (mod.F. gracieux) = Pr. gracios Sp. gracioso (also as n.: see gracioso), Pg. gracioso, It. grazioso, ad. L. grātiōsus, f. grātia: see grace and -ous.
The L. word usu. means ‘enjoying favour’, ‘attracting favour, pleasing’. In mod.Fr. the prevailing meaning is ‘graceful’; but all the senses below have existed in Fr. use.]
†1. Enjoying grace or favour; in good odour, acceptable, popular. Also of actions: Winning favour or goodwill. Const. to, with. Obs.
13..Coer de L. 6456 It was to Richard a gracious dede. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 20, I am sorie I am so litle gratius in Pembrook that I cannot yit..obtain mi grace. 1602Warner Albion's Eng. xi. lxi. 268 Alreadie was he gratious both with her and all the Court. 1613in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 279, I marvel he would offer himself, knowing how little gracious he is. 1613Beaum. & Fl. Captain v. iv, I am a handsome gratious fellow amongst women. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §339 Spies were set upon..all..discourses, which fell from those, who were not gracious to them. 1658Cleveland Rustick Rampant Wks. (1687) 400 Ever babling those things which he fancied would be Gracious to the Multitude. 1691Ray Creation (1714) 379 Which renders persons gracious and acceptable in the eyes of others. 1727Swift Let. to Writer of Occas. Paper Wks. 1778 XI. 129 You are not supposed to be very gracious among those who are most able to hurt you. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Quality (1809) IV. 92 This man wanted to be gracious with my pretty young wife. 1821D. Haggart Life 55, I..got very gracious with the dub coves, on account of my being a quiet orderly prisoner.
2. a. Of a character likely to find favour; having pleasing qualities. Now somewhat arch. or poet.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5805 He ys a man ful gracyous Gode to wynne on to þine hous. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 954 Al þat growus in þe ground of graciouce þingus. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 91 Grace is a manere in man bi which he is graciouse to God. 1398Trevisa Barth De P.R. xvii. xxiii. (Tollem. MS.), Cipresse..haþ bitter leues, and violent smel, and graciouse schadowe. 1490Caxton Eneydos xv. 54 The byrdes renewen theyre swete songe gracyouse. c1491Chast. Goddes Chyld. 10 Among al bestes there is a gracious best whiche men call apes. 1509Fisher Funeral Serm. Hen. VII, Wks. (1876) 269 His speche gracyous in dyuerse languages. 1530Palsgr. 314/1 Gracyouse in spekyng, facont, facunde. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xix. 23 b, They woulde endevour..too make the Bascha condescend to a better and more gracious composition. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. A viij b, Ioyned to a Citie, to the sight most gratious. 1768H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 108 The body..was found almost entire, and emitted a gracious perfume. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy Pref. 5 If to paint one's country in its gracious aspect has been a weakness. 1852M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna i. i. 6 How gracious is the mountain at this hour! 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home 107 A thousand shrubs and gracious herbs. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 240 A gracious gift to give a lady, this!
†b. Endowed with grace or charm of appearance, attractive; also in more limited sense, graceful, elegant. Obs.
1340–70Alisaunder 182 Grete yien & graie, gracious lippes. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 933 To loke on þe glory of þys gracious gote. c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 556 A man child she bar by this Walter ffull gracious and fair for to biholde. c1400Mandeville (1839) vi. 69 Toward the Est ende of the Cytee, is a fulle fair Chirche and a gracyouse. a1400–50Alexander 4909 Ane of þe graciousest gomes þat euire god fourmed. c1500Melusine lxi. 366, I desyre none other thing erthly nor none other I shal not aske nor take of you, but only your gracyous body. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon ix. 174 Gracious as the morning star of heaven. 1604Marston Malcontent ii. iv. D 3, Hee is the most exquisite in forging of veines..dying of haire [etc.] that euer made an old Lady gratious by torchlight. 1607–12Bacon Ess., Beauty (Arb.) 210 In beautie that of favour is more then that of collour, and that of decent and gracious mocion, more then that of favour. 1613–39I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 38 The Wave..instead of the Ovolo, in my Judgment is very gracious. 1649Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 45 His person is not very gracious, the small-pox having put out one of his eyes: but he is of good shape.
c. gracious living: an elegant way of life, esp. with reference to the proprieties and niceties in standards of housekeeping. Occas. ironical. Hence gracious liver.
[1932Q. D. Leavis Fiction & Reading Public 319 Cf. the following advertisement taken at random from one of the luxurious women's magazines: Those who golf at St. Andrews..shop in the Rue de la Paix..those who live graciously, are fastidious in their choice of ships.] 1937New Yorker 16 Jan. 24/3 Many a shoe wholesaler has learned more about what constitutes a Pattern of Gracious Living. 1945Palestine Post 26 Oct. 7/6 American magazines..are all geared to some super-glamourized Gracious Living in relation to the opinion of the neighbours. 1951J. Cannan And All I Learned ix. 154, I don't demand luxury..but I do like gracious living. 1953K. Amis Lucky Jim xiv. 145 It should be possible for the right man to stop, or at least hinder, her from being a refined gracious-liver and arty-rubbish-talker. 1958Observer 13 Apr. 9/3 One of the main problems the Russians are wrestling with to-day is how to achieve ‘gracious living’. 1959‘M. Derby’ Tigress iii. 129 The suburban vulgarity of gracious living. 1969M. Pugh Last Place Left xxiii. 178 In a booming bistro..we sat hard against a gracious liver who called the bread the club of death.
3. Characterized by or exhibiting kindness or courtesy; kindly, benevolent, courteous. Now rare (chiefly poet.) exc. with some notion of sense 4.
a1310in Wright Lyric P. xvi. 52 Heo is dereworthe in day, Graciouse, stout, ant gay. c1400Destr. Troy 13553 Iff ye haue ferkit any fode to þis frith now, Bes gracius, for goddes loue, ges me som part! 1450–70Golagros & Gaw. 389 Schir Gawyne the gay, gude and gracius. c1477Caxton Jason 29 They had neuer seen none so courtays ne so gracious. 1598Marston Pygmal. xv. 127 Be gracious vnto him that formed thee. 1859Tennyson Guinevere 326 Sir Lancelot..Was gracious to all ladies. 1871Blackie Four Phases i. 41 An essentially selfish motive can often be traced beneath the gracious surface.
4. a. Condescendingly kind, indulgent and beneficent to inferiors. Now only of very exalted personages (cf. b), or in playful or sarcastic applications.
1390Gower Conf. II. 141 Be gracious and do largesse. Ibid. III. 190 It sit a king to be pitous Toward his people and gracious. 1543Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 190 Quher⁓for we beleif your lordschip wilbe so graciuss to pardon ws to remane at hame at this tym. 1713Swift Let. to Miss Vanhomrigh Lett. 1766 II. 285 When I am fixed anywhere, perhaps, I may be so gracious to let you know, but I will not promise. 1787F. Burney Diary Oct., She [the Queen] almost regularly came to my room, and spent the time in gracious converse. 1791Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 102 The gracious intentions of his sovereign. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. iii, I am sure I am very much obliged to you at least, sir, said Miss La Creevy in a gracious manner. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 125 He now proclaimed that he had been only too gracious when he had condescended to ask the assent of the Scottish Estates to his wishes. 1855Ibid. xiii. III. 320 He was a gracious master, a trusty ally, a terrible enemy. 1876Trollope Autobiogr. vii. (1883) I. 168 [He] turned out to be a duke,—and a duke, too, who could speak English! How gracious he was to us, and yet how thoroughly he covered us with ridicule.
b. Used as a courteous epithet in referring to kings, queens, or dukes, their actions, etc.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 133 Þan was Inglond in pes & charite, & alle in Henry gracious kyng & fre. a1413Prince of Wales Let. to Hen. IV in Facsim. Nat. MSS. I. 36, I recomande me to yowr good & gracieux lordship. 1530Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII (1827) 22 Paied to ij Nonnes of Caunterbury by way of the kinges gracieux rewarde xls. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 52 Owr noble and gratious prince kynge Phylyppe. 1559Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, Our most gracious Quene, and gouernour. 1571Act 13 Eliz. c. 29 §2 In the third yeare of her Highnes most gratious Raigne. 1638Marquis of Hamilton Let. to Chas. I in H. Papers (Camden) 21 Your Matts most gratious letter of the 29. 1771Junius Lett. xlix. 253 The gracious prince who governs this country. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 112 The voice of the majority decides that my gracious master shall not be written to.
†c. gracious Lord [= F. † gracieux seigneur], a name given to some fish. Obs.
1694Motteux Rabelais iv. lx. 236 Rock fish, Gracious Lords, Sword fish [etc.].
5. a. Of the Deity, Christ, the Virgin Mary: Disposed to show or dispense grace, merciful, compassionate, benignant.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 133 How mercyful and gracyouse God es. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xv. 134 And god is ay gracious..to alle þat gredeþ to hym. c1410Hoccleve Mother of God 81 Thy gracious bountee spredith al aboute. c1430Hymns Virg. 99 Graciose crist! my soule þou haue. 1535Coverdale 2 Kings xiii. 23 The Lorde was gracious vnto them, and had mercy vpon them. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 444 The moste mightie and gratious God..prolong your life in health and prosperitie. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 148 Under the shadow of Thy gratious Wing. 1650T. Hubbert Pill Formality 122 So great, so good, and so gratious a God. 1687Dryden Hind & P. i. 64 But, gratious God, how well dost thou provide For erring judgments an unerring Guide? 1738Wesley Psalms ii. viii, I heard my Gracious Father say [etc.]. Ibid. v. i, O Lord, incline thy gracious Ear. 1847Tennyson Princ. ii. 174 A pack of wolves! the Lord be gracious to me! 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 2 A gracious, benevolent and all-powerful being. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. xi. (1877) 218 God is so gracious that He gives man faith and a religious spirit upon his asking for it. 1877Maclear Mark i. 36 His gracious presence was not to be confined to Capernaum.
quasi-adv.a1617P. Bayne Lect. 269 Therefore the Lord hath dealt marvellously gracious with us.
b. ellipt. as a substitute for the name of God. In various exclamations, as gracious! Ah (Oh) gracious! good gracious! † goodly and gracious! O my gracious! gracious me! gracious sake!, etc. See also goodness 5.
1713,1744[see goodly a.]. 1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man i. Wks. (Globe) 616/1 Good gracious! can I believe my eyes or my ears! 179.Pegge Derbicisms i. (E.D.S.) s.v., Ah gracious! an exclamation for ah gracious God! or, ah be gracious unto me! 1794A. M. Bennett Ellen I. 18 ‘Gracious!’ she exclaimed. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 65 Shot in a duel too! good gracious! 1850Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 137 My startled look and exclamation, ‘Oh, gracious!’ 1856G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. i, But we women—gracious! if we only take the trouble, we can turn the whole male sex round our little fingers. 1856Mrs. Stowe Dred I. xi. 144 'Married! O, my gracious! 1884Pae Eustace 14 Gracious me, how does she come to be the sister of that huge salmon-fisher? 1885Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 77 ‘By gracious!..there ain't anything like that in this world for business.’ 1893‘Q.’ [Couch] Delect. Duchy 155, ‘I hope to gracious you'm goin' to keep it up.’
†6. Characterized by or endowed with divine grace, godly, righteous, pious, regenerate. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 2081 Noe, þat gracius and god. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 457 Þat all men..schul..calle hem moste holy faderis, and most blessid and moste mercyful and gracius. 1533More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1137/1 All the olde holy expositours of the scripture, whiche were good menne and gracious. a1635Sibbes Confer. Christ & Mary (1656) 100 A gracious Christian never wanteth arguments of assurance of salvation. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 102 Grace of Regeneration..introduceth gracious habits of sweetnesse, peace and love. 1669Bunyan Holy Citie 130 All the holy and truly gracious Souls that are with him on the Mount Zion. 1738Wesley Psalms lxxx. xv, Error in ten thousand shapes Would every gracious Soul beguile. 1757― Wks. (1872) XIII. 202, I could not deny his being a gracious person.
†7. Happy, fortunate, prosperous. Obs.
1340–70Alex. & Dind. 193 Alixandre..þat grete god amon in graciouce timus Bi-gat on olimpias þe onurable quene. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I 321 Insule Fortunate þat beeþ þe gracious ilondes. c1460Towneley Myst. xiii. 244 Bot were I not more gracyus and rychere befar, I were eten outt of howse and of harbar. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 76, I..desir'd her, To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo, For her poore Brothers pardon. 1611― Wint. T. iii. i. 22 Goe: fresh Horses, And gracious be the issue.
†8. Given by way of indulgence or mercy:
a. gracious day (see quot.);
b. said of a mortal thrust given to one in great pain (cf. coup de grace). Obs.
1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 141 Some one of the Standers by is permitted to give him a gracious stab to the Heart. 1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xlii. 233 Some of these days are called gracious days, because upon them the respondent is not obliged to stay in the schools above half the time, which respondents upon other days are.
9. Comb.
1868Ld. Houghton Select. fr. Wks. 29 A strife of gracious-worded difference. |