| 释义 |
harmless, a.|ˈhɑːmlɪs|
[f. harm n. + -less.]
1. Free from harm or injury; unhurt, uninjured, unharmed. Now rare.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 72/39 Harmles he feol and hol man i-novȝ. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2664 Hypermnestra, To passen harmlesse of that place, She graunted hym. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxiv. 201 The scottes escaped harmelees. 1587Mirr. Mag., Sabrina xvi, Drowne mee, and let my mother harmlesse goe. 1685Cotton tr. Montaigne I. 482 Some..undertook by this means..to save harmless the religion of others. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xii, Pecking up her food quite harmless and successful.
2. Free from loss, free from liability to punishment, or to pay for loss or damage; esp. in to save harmless.
1418E.E. Wills (1882) 33 That þ⊇ same Ionet saue and kepe harmeles myn heirs..a-ȝens Iohn Roe. 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 46 Yf ye saue me harmles in the spirituel court. 1592West 1st Pt. Symbol. §103E, That he the same R.S...shall acquite, discharge, and from time to time for euer saue harmelesse the said H.M. and J. his wife. 1651J. Marius Bills of Exchange 23 Giving Bond to save harmelesse. 1755N. Magens Insurances I. 112 It was agreed to keep the king harmless. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 472 A person.. covenanted..that he would save the lessee harmless from any claiming by, from, or under him.
3. Free from guilt; innocent. arch.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 509 Harmles me him nom, & mid hors to drou, & suþþe anhunge him. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 675 Þe ryȝt-wys man schal se hys face, Þe harmlez haþel schal com hym tylle. 1529More Dyaloge iv. Wks. 279/1 To the helpe and defence of his good and harmelesse neyghbour, against y⊇ malice and crueltie of y⊇ wrong doer. 15941st Pt. Contention vi. 24 In Pomphret Castle harmelesse Richard was shamefully murthered. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. xxix. 50 How happy..those things live, that follow harmless Nature? 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. v. 134 Up to the very last scene, she bears him harmless of all suspicion.
4. Doing or causing no harm; not injurious or hurtful; inoffensive, innocuous.
1533More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1047/1 They loue better hunger and thurste, then the harmelesse lacke of them bothe. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 71 The sucking Lambe, or harmelesse Doue. 1653Walton Angler i. 16 The most honest, ingenious, harmless Art of Angling. 1718Motteux Quix. (1733) II. 279 The harmlessest Fellow in the World. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 29 One of the most harmless of human vanities. 1894J. T. Fowler Adamnan Introd. 32 The harmless snake.
5. Comb., as harmless-looking.
1890M. Corelli Wormwood III. 248 Liquid..harmless-looking as spring-water. |