| 释义 |
ˈheaven-born, a.
1. Of celestial birth, of divine origin.
1595J. Weever Epigr. iv. xxii. (1599) E vj, Some heaven born goddesse. 1629Milton Nativity 30 While the Heaven-born child All meanly wrapped in the rude manger lies. 1794Coleridge Monody on Chatterton 16, I weep that heaven-born Genius so should fall. 1863I. Williams Baptistery i. vi, The immortal shoot Of heaven-born virtue.
2. Of such original genius or ability as to seem specially prepared or designed by Heaven for the work. Now often sarcastic.
1789in Parl. Hist. XXVII. 1080 (Ho. Lords 17 Jan.) The duke [of Chandos] parodying what Mr. Pitt's father had said of General Wolfe, pronounced the present Chancellor of the Exchequer a heaven-born minister. 1789Burke Sp. Ho. Com. 6 Feb. Speeches 1816 III. 394 The present minister, he understood, had been called ‘a heaven-born minister’ in another place. 1827Scott Jrnl. 27 Aug., He is a heaven-born teacher. 1858J. B. Norton Topics 265 The same Heaven-born amateurs still occupy the bench, and the quality of their judgments cannot but be the same. |