| 释义 |
unˈborn, ppl. a.
[OE. unboren (un-1 8 b), = OFris. un-, oen-, onbern (WFris. on-, ûnberne), MDu. and Du. ongeboren, OHG. ungi-, ungaporan (MHG. ungeborn, G. -boren), ON. and Icel. ú-, óborinn (MSw. oborin, -burin, Norw. uboren, Da. ubaaren).]
1. Not yet born; still to be born. (Freq. with preceding yet.) Also in fig. context.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xlviii. 367 Mid ðy ðe hie ofsniðen mid ðy seaxe hefiᵹlices ᵹedwolan ða unborenan bearn, ðe..beoð mid wordum ᵹeeacnode on ᵹeleaffullra mode. c1000ælfric Lives Saints xxiii. 429 Ure hælend se þe unborenum cildum lif sylð on heora modra innoðe. c1200Ormin 17327 Forr þatt Nicodem wass ȝet Unnborenn i þatt time Off Haliȝ Gast. c1375Cursor M. 12232 (Fair.), I wende my make ware vnborne [Cott. noght born]. c1386Chaucer Melib. ⁋2231 Ther is ful many a child vnborn of his mooder that shal sterue yong by cause of that ilke werre. c1465Chevy Chase 9 The chylde may rue that ys vn-born, it wos the mor pitte. 1535Coverdale Eccl. iv. 2 Wherfore I iudged..him that is yet vnborne to be better at ease then they both. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, Young chyldren, as well borne as unborne. 1624Eliz. Jocelin (title), The Mothers Legacie, To her vnborne Childe. 1695Prior Ode after Queen's Death iii, Ages to come, and Men unborn Shall bless her Name. 1717Pope Iliad x. 61 Yet such his acts, as Greeks unborn shall tell. 1779Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 294 They had just discovered, by what means I know no more than the child unborn, that [etc.]. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 190 The devise would have been void, being to an unborn person for life. 1840Thirlwall Greece VII. lvi. 169 The throne was to be shared between an idiot and an infant yet unborn. 1887Spectator 22 Oct. 1406 The total abolition of settlements upon unborn lives.
b. transf. or fig. Of time, etc.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 21 A Portent Of broached Mischeefe, to the vnborne Times. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 220 Nor staid [He], but..in Paternal Glorie rode Farr into Chaos, and the World unborn. 1712Spect. No. 316 ⁋5 The present Time alone is ours, the future is yet unborn. 1757Gray Bard 108 Ye unborn Ages, crowd not on my soul! 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. i. (1782) I. 26 Venice was yet unborn; but the territories of that state..were inhabited by the Venetians. 1822Shelley Unfinished Drama 203 A nook of unblown violets And lilies-of-the-valley yet unborn. ― To Jane, Invit. 7 The brightest hour of unborn Spring. 1884Chr. Treasury Feb. 92/2 It is not a function of human intellect to read the secrets of unborn ages.
2. Not born; deprived of birth. Also fig.
a1275Prov. ælfred 447 in O.E. Misc. 129 For betere is child vnboren þenne vnbeten. a1300Cursor M. 15372 To mare blis it had him ben Vnborn if þat he ware. c1386Chaucer Shipman's T. 1372 Yet were me leuere that I were vnborn Than me were doon a sclaundre or vileynye. 14..Lat. & Eng. Prov. (MS. Douce 52) fol. 27 Better is a chylde vnborne þen vnlerned. c1450Mirk's Festial 87 Yf God had don vengeans, anon the world had ben endyd mony a day agoo, and so mony had be vnborne, þat now ben holy sayntys yn Heuen. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 20 Better vnborne than vntought, I haue heard saie. 1595Daniel Civ. Wars ii. xcvii, This mighty burthen wherewithall they goe Dies vndeliuered, perishes vnborne. 1618Bp. Hall Contempl. N.T. i. i, Many a father repents him of his fruitfulnesse, and hath such sons as he wishes unborne. c1645Heywood & Rowley Fortune by Land & Sea iii, These mischiefs make me wish my self unborn. a1661[see unbred ppl. a. 2].
transf.1390Gower Conf. II. 109 Withdrawgh the Banere of thin Armes, And let thi lyhtes ben unborn.
3. Existing without having been born.
1821Shelley Hellas 769 Look on that which cannot change—the One, The unborn and the undying. |