| 释义 |
unˈstring, v.
[un-2 4 and 4 b.]
1. a. trans. To relax or remove the string(s) of (a lyre, bow, etc.).
(a)1611Florio, Discordare,..to vnstring, to vntune. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv, A musitian will string and vnstring his lute. 1725Pope Odyssey viii. 107 His golden lyre Demodocus unstrung. a1774W. Whitehead Enthusiast xv, Enthusiast, go, unstring thy lyre; In vain thou sing'st. 1869Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxi. 1 Our weakness unstrings our harps, but his strength tunes them anew.
(b)1707E. Smith Phædra & Hippolitus ii. 24 His idle Horn on fragrant Mirtles hung, His Arrows scatter'd, and his Bow unstrung. 1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 52 Let us suppose that a bow..be bent and unstrung in the water. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 507/1 To Unstring the Bow. [Directions follow.]
b. To undo the strings of (a purse). Also absol.
1681Swearing Master 1 Come Wil, unstring, and pay your Groat. 1685Roxb. Ball. (1888) IV. 285 Now unstring your purse, and be kind to the poor. 1771Colman Prose Sev. Occas. (1787) III. 188 To swathe and dress it [he] first unstrings his purse. 1861Geo. Eliot Silas M. ix, My father wasn't quite so ready to unstring as some other fathers I know of. 1884Manch. Exam. 11 June 5/1 They would have to unstring the national purse, and find the money.
2. a. To detach from a string. Also fig.
1697Dryden Virg. Past. vi. 29 For want of better Bands His Garland they unstring, and bind his Hands. 1763Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) V. 387 Unstringing the beads from the rosary of antiquity. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Africa xvi. I. 367 Having unstrung the dice,..they rattle them between their hands, and drop them on the ground.
b. To detach from union; to separate, sever.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 46 So do but unstring my soul and body,..the thing is gone.
3. a. To render lax or weak; to disorder (the nerves, etc.).
1700Dryden Ovid's Met. xii. 748 Light was the Wound; but in the Sinew hung The Point: and his disabled Wing unstrung. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 273 Terror and trepidation would unstring our nerves. Ibid. 498 So far as to unstring the very sinews of government. 1800S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 51 The very apprehension..might unstring her nerves. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam xi. xx, That voice unstrung his sinews, and he threw His dagger on the ground. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 26 His conscience must have been unstrung by the..engagement he had made.
b. To unnerve, upset (a person).
1897Miss F. F. Montrésor At Cross Roads ii, I could not live with so much sympathy, it would unstring me.
c. intr. Of the nerves: to be released from tension, to become lax.
1906Hardy Dynasts ii. vi. v. 308 My nerves unstring, my friends, my flesh grows weak. 1972D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play xv. 130 He systematically slackened his body and mind..feeling the knots twitch loose, the nerves unstring.
Hence unˈstringing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1824Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 256 The fatigue and worry..have been very unstringing. 1833H. Martineau Cinnamon & Pearls ii. 28 It gave more time for the unstringing of his nerves. |