| 释义 |
unˈwell, a.
Also 5 north. vnwele; Sc. 7 unweal, 9 un-, onweel.
[un-1 7. Cf. NFris. (Sylt) unwel, WFlem. onwel, G. unwohl.]
a. Not well or in good health; somewhat ill; indisposed.
Before 1780 almost always north. E., Sc., Anglo-Irish, or U.S. Not in Johnson (edd. 1–4). In very frequent use from c 1785. ‘Crabbe..told us that Lord Chesterfield was the first person who introduced the word ‘unwell’ into common use, and..it was forthwith admitted into the vocabulary of fashion’ (1825 C. Wordsw. in Overton & W. Life (1888) 36).
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3649 A man was seke and vnwele. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. vi. 30 Gargamelle began to be a little unwell in her lower parts. 1666Mrs. Carstaires in J. Carstaire's Lett. (1846) 161 My sister still contanues unwell. The doctour thinks she is in great hazard. a1700Evelyn Diary 10 Oct. 1659, I..tooke lodgings..for all the winter, my son being very unwell. 1737Berkeley Let. Wks. 1871 IV. 248 My three children have been ill... George is still unwell. 1750C. Gist Jrnls. (1893) 34, I was unwell and stayed in this Town to recover myself. 1755Chesterfield Let. 8 Oct., I am what you call in Ireland, and a very good expression I think it is, unwell. 1757E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) I. 218, I hope that it is only your spleen, which makes you fancy yourself unwell. 1768Chesterfield Let. 17 Oct., I am, neither well nor ill, but unwell. 1788A. Seward Lett. (1811) II. 117, I have been so unwell with a violent cough. 1826Scott Jrnl. (1890) I. 231, I am well-nigh choked with the sulphurous heat of the weather—or I am unwell. 1856J. Richardson Recoll. I. 61 Morris..suddenly retired as if taken unwell! 1882Tennyson Promise of May iii. i, Mr. Steer still continues too unwell to attend to you.
b. euphem. Having menstrual discharges.
1844Dunglison Med. Dict. (ed. 4) s.v. 1934J. Rhys Voyage in Dark i. vi. 78 When I was unwell for the first time it was she who explained to me, so that it seemed quite all right. 1964E. Bowen Little Girls ii. iii. 96 Miss Kinmate, herself unwell today, had not the slightest intention of going in.
Hence unˈwellness.
1653D. Osborne Lett. (1888) 140 You..never send me any of the new phrases of the town... Pray what is meant by wellness and unwellness? 1755Chesterfield Let. 8 Oct., This unwellness affects the mind as well as the body, and gives them both a disagreeable inertness. 1865W. M. Punshon in Macdonald Life (1887) 250 This chronic ‘unwellness’ is difficult to understand. 1876Darwin in Life (1887) I. 69 Owing to frequently recurring unwellness, and to one long and serious illness. |