| 释义 |
▪ I. undeˈserving, vbl. n.
[un-1 13.]
Want of desert or merit.
1598Florio, Immerito, vnworthines, vndeseruing. a1635Sibbes Confer. Christ & Mary (1656) 24 When any temptation cometh for our unworthinesse, and our undeserving. 1711M. Henry Hope & Fear Balanced 14 Let us keep up an humble Sense of our own Vndeservings and Ill-deservings. 1906Quiller-Couch Mayor of Troy xi, They came contritely, conscious of their undeserving.
▪ II. undeˈserving, ppl. a.
[un-1 10, 5 d.]
1. Not deserving (something good); lacking desert or merit; unworthy. Also const. of.
1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Jas. ii. 30 b, He yt hath..preferred the vndeseruing rich man before the deseruing pore man. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 7 When I call to minde your gracious fauours Done to me (vndeseruing as I am). 1647Cowley Mistr., Discovery iv, One would give with lesser grief, To an undeserving Beggar than a Thief. 1725Pope Odyss. xv. 335 Mingling with the suitors' haughty train, Not undeserving, [I may] some support obtain. 1748G. White Serm. (MS.), So should we love others, though undeserving of our Love. 1796–7Jane Austen Pride & Prej. xlix, Wickham is not so undeserving, then, as we have thought him. 1821Shelley Adonais xxiv, Whose sacred blood..Paved with eternal flowers that undeserving way. 1847Harris Life Ld. Hardwicke I. 8 Such influences..certainly were not..undeserving of attention.
absol.1713Guardian No. 4 ⁋1 Fame..promiscuously bestowed on the Meritorious and Undeserving. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ii. v, We are liable..to confer our choicest favours often on the undeserving.
b. With direct object.
1603Daniel Panegyric Congratulatory xxv, There is no accesse By grosse corruption, bribes cannot effect For th' vndeseruing any offices. 1796F. Burney Camilla V. 515 [It] makes me..feel undeserving my own hopes! 1860C. Clive Why Paul Ferroll killed his Wife xii, Creatures undeserving respect, incapable of goodness.
2. Not deserving (harsh treatment, etc.); guiltless, innocent. Also with direct object.
a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. x, I was caried..to doo my best to destroy this sonne..undeserving destruction. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Phormio i. v, I hard you long since accuse vs all vndeseruing. 1697Dryden æneis viii. 763 If your hard decrees..Have doomed to death his undeserving head. 1796F. Burney Camilla III. 59 Unused to, because undeserving control. Ibid. 404 Thou must linger on, then, in captivity, thou poor little undeserving sufferer! 1865Conington tr. Horace, Odes i. xvii. (ed. 3) 21 Lest Cyrus..His passion on your chaplet wreak, Or spoil your undeserving dress.
†3. Undeserved, unmerited. Obs.—1
1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 366 My Ladie..In curtesie giues vndeseruing praise. |