| 释义 |
underˈminer
[f. undermine v. So Du. ondermijner.]
1. One who undermines; a sapper.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 257 b, Vndermynars ouerthrewe the walle. 1556Withals Dict. (1562) 79/1 An vnderminer, cunicularius. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 400 A frame or engin..under which the pioners and underminers had their ingresse and egresse. 1658Osborne Jas. I, 34 These underminers..intended in their calculation the destruction of the house of Lords. 1802James Milit. Dict., Underminer, a sapper.
fig.1601Shakes. All's Well i. i. 131 Blesse our poore Virginity from vnderminers and blowers vp. 1654‘Palaemon’ Friendship 28 He that is an underminer of the Foundation must of necessity ruine the Superstructure.
2. A secret or insidious assailant, subverter, destroyer, etc.
1564Palfreyman Baldwin's Mor. Philos. (1600) 129 b, The whole broode of..secret vnderminers, hipocrits, and double dealers. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. xxvi. 4 Neyther will I come in company with undermyners. 1608D. T[uvill] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 60 b, There are another kinde of cunning vndermyners. 1656Baxter Reformed Pastor iii. ii. §4 Nor suffer underminers or persecutors to scatter them. 1693South Serm. 96 No one is bound to look upon..his under⁓miner..as his friend. a1734North Lives (1826) I. 386 At court there are always a sort of underminers who [etc.]. 1838Lytton Calderon i, To..his foes, his underminers—he assumed a yet greater frankness.
b. Const. of (the thing or person assailed).
1598Dallington Meth. Trav. B ij, The Iesuites, vnder⁓minders and inveiglers of greene wits. 1650T. Hubbert Pill Formality 70 In all ages there have been underminers of the power of godliness in a secret way. a1674Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 113 The neglect of Justice is an infallible underminer..of that security. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 403 A secret enemy to their interest and an underminer of it. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) 412 A concealed infidel, a secret underminer of things sacred. 1802F. Burney Let. 14 Mar., Depression, that cruel under⁓miner of every faculty that makes life worth sustaining. 1879J. Cook Marriage 8 Do you stand here, underminers of the family life, and gaze into the eyes of these women! |