| 释义 |
heartless, a.|ˈhɑːtlɪs|
[f. heart n. + -less.]
1. lit. Without a heart.
1586J. Hooker Girald. Irel. (1808) VI. 319 None hartlesse liues. 1603Drayton Odes iv. 19 It cannot two Brests fill, One must be heartlesse still. 1753Scots Mag. July 315/1 A shapeless, helpless, heartless body.
2. Destitute of courage, enthusiasm, or energy; spiritless; out of heart, disheartened, dejected.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11564 Þorow ildelnesse of pes Are Bretons feble & herteles. 1380Lay Folks Catech. (Lamb. MS.) 1375 Hertles in eny gostly good. a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 644, I hertles was ay thurghe myne impressede drede. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. vi. 313 The kingis capitane was sa hartles at the sycht of sik a multitude. 1666Lond. Gaz. No. 65/1 Their own Seamen being poor heartless fellows. a1795Aikin Evenings at Home xvii. (1858) 227 Whence, cold and heartless, home he slunk, Involved in sore disgrace. 1799–1805Wordsw. Prelude ix. 515 A hunger-bitten girl..Was busy knitting in a heartless mood Of solitude.
b. Without warmth or zeal; not heartfelt, hearty, or zealous.
1658Whole Duty Man v. § 22. 47 Slight and heartless petitions. 1706E. Gibson Assize Serm. 28 These ill impressions make subjects cold and heartless in their service. a1822Shelley Falsehood 96 Heartless scraps of godly prayer.
†3. Without understanding; foolish. Obs.
1382Wyclif Prov. xii. 8 Who forsothe is veyn and herteles [Vulg. excors] shal ben open to despising. c1440Promp. Parv. 237/2 Hertles, or vnherty, vecors. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 211 O hertles folys, haste here to our doctryne. 1611[see heartlessly].
4. Destitute of feeling; lacking in affection or friendliness; callous, unfeeling, unkind, cruel.
(The current sense, which, however, is not recognized in Johnson, Todd, Webster 1828; it is doubtful whether the Shakes. quotation belongs here.)
1599? Shakes. Pass. Pilgr. 279 How sighs resound through heartless ground. 1816Shelley Alastor 690 Heartless things Are done and said i' the world. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 368 Leolin cried out the more upon them—Insolent, brainless, heartless! 1887Ruskin Præterita II. vi. 189 He made up his mind that I was heartless and selfish.
5. Of land: Without fertility, sterile.
1594Plat Jewell-ho. i. 38 In an hartlesse peece of ground. 1611R. Fenton Usury ii. xiii. 95 The land if it want a Iubile will in time grow hartlesse. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 37 Growndes that are mossy and heartlesse. 1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xii. 154 Of so cold and heartless a quality as almost to defy improvement.
6. Of food or drink: Without stimulating or sustaining power.
1657Austen Fruit Trees i. 131 Wine that was [not] worth the drinking being so small, and heartlesse. 1674R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 90 Following Heartless Slops and Spiritless Small-beer. 1688Burnet Persec. Piedmont 39 Bad Bread, black and heartless, without Substance. 1869Blackmore Lorna Doone lvi, Their wretched heartless stuff, such as they call claret.
7. Of plants or trees:
a. Without heartwood or core.
b. Not forming a heart or compact mass of leaves.
1731S. Hales Stat. Ess. I. 13 The motion of the sap..in the heartless vegetable would otherwise be very slow. 1859W. H. Russell in Times 24 Mar. 9/4 Spongiose and heartless timbers are of no good. 1883Leisure Ho. 149/1 Heartless..cabbages. |