| 释义 |
greediness|ˈgriːdɪnɪs|
Forms: see greedy.
[f. greedy + -ness.]
The attribute of being greedy. Const. as in the adj.
1. Excessive longing for food or drink, or avidity in the consumption of it; gluttony, voracity, ravenousness.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 13044 Gredynesse Off sundry metys and deyntes. c1440Jacob's Well 144 For mete is good to man..so mesure be kepte, & þe sause þerto be dreed of god, þat gredynes be left. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 99 b, Voracite or gredynesse in eatyng. 1575Brieff Disc. Troubles Franckford (1846) 11 As the harte chased pantethe for gredines off waters. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 73 There is too much of the greedinesse of the Wolfe still remaining. 1744Birch Life Boyle B.'s Wks. I. 10 Philaretus was little given to greediness, either in fruits or sweetmeats. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop v, He chewed tobacco and water-cresses at the same time and with extraordinary greediness. 1856Macaulay Biog., Johnson (1867) 88 He contracted a habit of eating with ravenous greediness.
2. Excessive eagerness or longing for wealth or gain; covetousness, avarice, rapacity, greed.
1154O.E. Chron. (Laud. MS.) an. 1086 He wæs on ᵹitsunge be feallan & grædinæsse he lufode mid ealle. c1175Lamb. Hom. 103 Heo [auaritia] is helle iliche, forðon þet hi ba habbeð unafillendliche gredinesse. a1225Ancr. R. 416 Ne beo non þe grediure uorto habben more. Þeo gredinesse [is] rote of hire bitternesse. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 178 Gredynesse and avarice letten þes two partis. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 9034 The costys & the gret expense That thow dost hym for to plese, And hys gredynesse tapese. 1535Coverdale Eph. iv. 19 To worke all maner of vnclennes euen with gredynesse [so 1611 and 1881; Wyclif in coueityse; Gr. ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ]. 1661Bramhall Just Vind. vi. 134 The greediness and extortion of the Court of Rome. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 296 In excuse for his greediness, it ought to be said that he was the poorest noble of a poor nobility. 1884A. R. Pennington Wiclif vi. 193 Greediness for wealth. 1885L'pool Daily Post 11 Apr. 5/1 To explain off-hand the greediness of Russia in the Afghanistan direction.
3. Excessive longing or desire in general; eager longing; eagerness, keenness.
1553Brende Q. Curtius ix. 183 The gredines of glory & the vnsaciable desire of fame, made no place to seme to far. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 6 Eger greedinesse through every member thrild. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 7 Th' vnsatiate greedinesse of his desire. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. v. x. (1848) 336 A Greediness of Knowledge, that is impatient of being confin'd. 1668Lond. Gaz. No. 232/3 The people are with greediness expecting the issue of the ensuing Diet. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) II. 175 With what greediness are the miraculous accounts of travellers received. 1794Paley Evid. ii. ii. (1817) 58 A topic which is always listened to with greediness. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 179 Men flew to frivolous amusements..with the greediness which long and enforced abstinence naturally produces. |