| 释义 |
unˈsavoury, a.
[un-1 7.]
†1. Having no savour; not attractive to the taste; tasteless, insipid. Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 262 Loke nu hwo grucche..of mistrum, oðer leane mel of unsauure metes, of poure pitaunce? 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 425 Fresshe flesshe other fisshe whan it salt failleth, It is vnsauory. c1400Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1908) 108 Til thoruȝ his mercy..the vnsauery water and colde of aduersitie..be torned in to wyne and conforte. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 74 Also is Weerish tast called Unsavoury. 1576Newton Lemnie's Complex. i. 87 Choler is bitter:..Phlegme, vnsavery as water. 1601Bp. W. Barlow Defence 89 The white of an egge, without salt, is flash, and vnsavery, sayth Job. 1610Bp. Carleton Jurisd. 261 The Pope would hereby prooue vnsauery salt good for nothing but to be troden vnderfoot of men. 1652Gaule Magastrom. 284 Crying out.., tread me under feet, as unsavory salt. 1784Cowper Task i. 125 Hard fare! but such as boyish appetite Disdains not; nor the palate, undeprav'd By culinary arts, unsav'ry deems.
transf.13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 822 Þis vn-sauere hyne Louez no salt in her sauce. 1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 141 b, That same stemme of the Judaicall figtree brought foorth..vnsauourie, & vnripe people. 1585Greene Planetomachia F 4 b, Phlegme..doulce, vnsauory & natural.
b. fig.
c1449Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 89 If such maner of arguyng..schulde be sett in sermonyng, the sermon schulde be ful vnsauory. c1450tr. De Imitatione ii. viii. 48 Hov dry & hov harde þou art wiþoute ihesu! hov unsauory, hov veyne, if þou coueite eny þinge wiþoute ihesu! 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1291/1 The context of the story shuld..seme very farre vnsauery, by reason of the often interposicion of the iniciall letters. 1540Morysine Vives' Introd. Wysd. G ij, Bodely workes be unsavery, excepte they have sauce from the hart. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1188 Some..will say..that the oracles..be none of his [sc. Apollo's], because they are but rudely made and unsavery. 1634Milton Comus 742 The good thereof Consists in mutual and partak'n bliss, Unsavoury in th' injoyment of it self.
†c. Bot. (See quots.) Obs.
1548Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 77 Symphytum petreum..; this herbe..may be called in english vnsauery Margerum. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. 948 Abrotanum Inodorum, Vnsauorie Sothernwood,..growes flat vpon the grounde with broade leaues. 1660Catal. Plant. Cantab. Index 6 Unsavoury field Cranes-bill, cicutæ folio inodorum. 1728Bradley Dict. Bot., Thymum Inodorum, Unsavory Thyme.
2. a. Unpleasant or disagreeable to the taste.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 46 For scheep ben goode for to ete, and getis fleish is unsavery. c1400Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iv. ii. 58 These fowle buskes and wylde myght nought fructyfyen no..lusty fruyte, but bytter and vnsauoury. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 222 The flesshe of this beaste is fylthy and vnsauery. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. 86 b, The geathered Olyue, if it lye to long in heapes, putrifieth by reason of heate, and makes vnsauery oyle. 1617Woodall Surg. Mate (1639) 356 An approoved good Medicine, and not much unsavovry to bee taken. 1667Milton P.L. v. 401 Unsavourie food perhaps To spiritual Natures. 1812J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 97 Towards March they become unsavoury, but in no way tainted. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. iii. 42 As unsavory a dose of flax-seed and quinine as was ever honored by the name of beer.
b. Disagreeable or offensive to the sense of smell, or to refined feelings.
1539Elyot Cast. Helthe 55 These excrementes be none other, but matter superfluouse and vnsauery. 1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 78 Thee victals..They do leaue haulf mangled with sent vnsauerye bepoudred. 1591Sir H. Unton Corr. (Roxb.) 199 In his sicknes none could endure to be with him, he was so unsavorie. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 108 Those..which scent an unsavory breath turne their heads aside. 1684Contempl. St. Man ii. vi. (1699) 196 Unsavoury Smells, so proper unto Prisons. 1725Pope Odyss. iv. 598 Unsavoury stench of oil. 1784Cowper Task iv. 196 The smoke of lamps, The pent-up breath of an unsav'ry throng. 1825Waterton Wand. S. Amer. ii. 103 An unsavoury little beast, called bug.
fig.1547J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes 213, I will stirre that vnsauery sinke of treson and trecherie.
Prov.1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 30 Great bost and small roste, Maketh vnsauery mouthes.
3. Unpleasant, disagreeable, distasteful.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 177 Þei sclaundren goddis lawe..& maken it vnsawory to worldly men. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋510 Thurgh which bitternesse euery good dede of his neighebor semeth to hym bitter and vnsauory. c1440Gesta Rom. xxiii. 80 This is an vnsavery question; this rebavde we saw never before. c1456Pecock Bk. of Faith (1909) 116 Oold custom..wole make that these bokis at first schulen be unsavery. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 17 To keepe no more but needfullie, and count excesse vnsauerie. 1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. iii. xxvi. 130 All that tended to safety was vnsauory. 1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iv. viii. 37 This..will be very unsavory language, to many Arminianized Conformitans. 1657Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer 256 Suppose some Preachers should be so careful, as not to vent any thing unsavoury. 1845James Arrah Neil v, You came hither upon an unsavoury errand.
†b. Ill-natured. Obs.—1
1568T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 45 Then pleasant speech suppresse, and faine a sowre unsauerie looke.
4. Objectionable on moral grounds; having an unpleasant or disagreeable character or association.
a. Of persons.
1401Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 52 For Sathanas by ȝour sawes is sent into soulis, that ben ful unsavery. c1450tr. De Imitatione i. xxiv. 33 O þou most wrecchid and unsauory synner, what shalt þou answere god? 1552Huloet, Vnsauery queane, blittea meretrix. 1605Camden Rem. 219 That they be the salt of the earth, and if the salt once appall, the world must needes waxe vnsauerie. 1849James Woodman vi, They are very unsavoury fellows.
b. Of things, language, etc.
1536Elyot in Croft E.'s Gov. (1883) I. p. cxxvi, Unsavery gloses and commentes. 1550Bale Eng. Votaries ii. iii, Professinge the vnsauery vse of Sarum. 1586W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 54 The motion of some vnsauery loue, such as in the sixt Eglogue he seemeth to deale withall. 1615Day Festivals Ep. Ded., The Unsavorie Pamphlets..that have passed the Presse as well as Sermons. 1657Trapp Comm. Ezra vi. 11 Those..who turne it into a..pest-house of noysome lusts by their unsavoury speeches. 1723Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 26, I heard some account of his unsavoury carriage when a student.., and that he was stopped in his licentiatory trials for some immorality. 1882Athenæum 23 Dec. 842/3 A number of grim anecdotes and unsavoury details. 1894Sir E. Sullivan Woman 44 There are many unsavoury laws in our code. |