| 释义 |
horrible, a. (n., adv.)|ˈhɒrɪb(ə)l|
Forms: 4–6 or(r)i-, hor(r)i-, h)or(r)y-, -bel(l, -bil(l, -ble, -bull(e, -byl(le, (4 orebil, orble, 5 arrable, horreble, horebyl, 5–6 horrable, -bul, 6 orabill), 4– horrible.
[a. OF. (h)orrible (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) ad. L. horribilis, f. L. horrēre: see horre and -ble.]
A. adj.
a. Exciting or fitted to excite horror; tending to make one shudder; extremely repulsive to the senses or feelings; dreadful, hideous, shocking, frightful, awful.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4472 So grete hyt was and so orryble. 1340Ayenb. 43 Ane greate zenne, dyadlich, and orrible. c1375XI Pains Hell 201 in O.E. Misc. 217 Orebil wormys devouryd hem þere. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 282 Thanne moot I dye of sodeyn deth horrible [v.r. orrible]. 14..MS. Cantab. Ff. v. 48 lf. 45 (Halliw.) Fendis led hir with arrable song. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 397 a/1 He made the horryblest crye that myght be herde. 1535Coverdale Job xxxvii. 5 It geueth an horrible sownde, when God sendeth out his voyce. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 152 That orabill wes to euerie Cristin man. 1568Turner Herbal iii. 35 Bitter and horrible thinges destroye the appetite. 1604Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 112 The horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse. 1667Milton P.L. i. 61 A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great Furnace flam'd. 1727De Foe Hist. Appar. iv. (1840) 31 An apparition and a horrible monster in the night. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxvi. 343 It is horrible—yes, that is the word—to look forward to another year of disease and darkness. 1870Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 311 Superb instances of terrible beauty undeformed by horrible detail.
b. as a strong intensive (now colloq.): Excessive, immoderate. (Primarily of things objectionable, but often without such qualification. Cf. awful, dreadful, frightful, tremendous.)
1460J. Capgrave Chron. 155 The Kyng of Frauns [was] toke prisonere be the Soudan, and raunsond to a horibil summe. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn vii. 28 Suche an horryble and dysmesurable a strok. 1529More Comf. agst. Trib. (1573) 36 [Solomon] multipliyng wiues to an horrible number. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 178 [He] ranne his head at the wall with such a horrible force as he therewith dash'd out his braines. 1676Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 33, I cannot get rid of my horrible cold heere. 1676Temple Let. to Chas. II Wks. 1731 II. 423 They had a horrible mind to the Peace. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol 10 Apr., This letter is of a horrible length.
c. In combination (parasynthetic).
1552Huloet, Horrible sowned, or voyced, horrisonus, horriuocus. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. xv, Horrible-shaped animals.
B. as n. A horrible person or thing; † a being inspiring awe or dread (quot. 1400); a horrible attribute or characteristic; a story of horrible crime or the like (cf. dreadful C.).
c1400Destr. Troy 13260 An old temple..I founde, Of a god, þat with gomes was gretly honouret. At þat orribill I asket angardly myche, Of dethe, & of deire, as destyny willes. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil ii. vi. (1840) 242 Among all the horribles that we dress up Satan in. 1851H. Melville Moby Dick I. xxxviii. 273 Such a waggish leering as lurks in all you horribles! 1890Pall Mall G. 2 Sept. 7/2 Those children of this world, the writers of ‘penny-dreadfuls’ and ‘halfpenny horribles’. 1899[see penny horrible s.v. penny 11]. 1909Daily Chron. 3 Sept. 1/6 Both boys said yesterday that they had been reading ‘penny horribles’ about burglaries. 1917A. Conan Doyle His Last Bow i. 51 There is but one step from the grotesque to the horrible.
C. as adv. Horribly, terribly; usually as a mere intensive = Exceedingly (cf. horribly).
c1400Apol. Loll. 24 Þei curse more souare & horribelare hem þat þei hatun. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiii. 496 By cause of the grete stone that was at his necke whiche was horryble hevy. 1513Q. Kath. Let. 13 Aug. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 83, I am horrible besy with making standerds, banners, and bagies. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 3 Glou. Me thinkes the ground is eeuen. Edg. Horrible steepe. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 182 Shee has a horrible high colour indeed. 1623Webster Devil's Law-Case ii. iii, I am horrible angry. 1708Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin v. 84 Her Den groan'd horrible. 1843Carlyle Past. & Pr. ii. vi, A far horribler composed Cant. |