| 释义 |
half-dead, a.
[See half adv.]
1. In a state in which death seems as likely as recovery; in a state of extreme exhaustion or prostration from sickness or fatigue.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 282 Wið þære healf deadan adle. c1175Lamb. Hom. 81 For-whi hit seið alf quic and noht alf ded. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 163 Nys he more þan half ded y lad in a bere. c1400Destr. Troy 6652 Half ded of þe dynt, þer þe duk lay! 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 179 Their horses halfe dead through travell. 1864Tennyson Grandmother ix, And all things look'd half-dead, tho' it was the middle of May.
2. Of a clock: see quots., and dead 24 b.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 79 For clocks with shorter than half seconds pendulums the pallets are generally made ‘half dead’, that is the rests..are formed so as to give a slight recoil to the wheel. Ibid. 116 [A] Half Dead Escapement..[is] a clock escapement in which there is a little recoil. |