| 释义 |
unwieldy, a.|ʌnˈwiːldɪ|
Forms: 5–7 unweldy, 6 -ye, 6–7 -ie; 5–7 unweeldy, 5 -weeldi, 6 -ie; 6–7 unwealdy, -ie; 6–8 (9) unweildy (6 -weyldy, Sc. wnveildy), 6–7 -ie; 6– unwieldy, 7 -ie; 6–7 unwildy, 6 -wildie, Sc. -wyldy. (Also 5–7 vn-, 5–6 on-.)
[un-1 7, 5 b + wieldy a. Cf. the early unwield a. and unwieldly a.]
†1. Of persons, the body, etc.: Lacking strength; weak, impotent; feeble, infirm. Also const. with preps., as for, of, to (with inf.). Obs.
c1386Chaucer Manciple's Prol. 55 So vnweeldy was this sory palled goost. 1421–2Hoccleve Dialog 248 My lymes sumdell now vnweldy be. 1442in Proc. King's Counc. Irel. (Rolls) App. 274 The said Erlle..is aged, vnweldy and vnlustie. 1513Douglas æneid viii. v. 71 Furth held the king vnweildy in auld ȝeris. 1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. i. vi. (1886) 10 A toothless, old, impotent, and unweldie woman. 1606G. Woodcocke Hist. Ivstine xxxiv. 111 Altogither giuen to sloath, and growne so vnweeldy through dayly ryot. 1621T. Granger Expos. Eccles. xii. 321 So doe olde men, because they are vnwealdie, and vnable to auoide dangers. 1659W. Chamberlayne Pharon. i. iii. 72 At that stroke his Limbs Slack their unwieldy Nerves.
absol.1550Crowley Way to Wealth 685 To releue the vnweldy that be not able to labour for theire fode.
(b)1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 80/1 Narcissus..was vnwieldy for his age to gouerne that function alone. 1588T. Hughes Misfort. Arthur i. ii. 13 Any wight vnwildie of herselfe. 1592Nashe P. Penilesse E 2 b, To corrupt the braine, and make it vnapt and vnweldie for anything. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 128 The weilding of his sword hath not made him unweildie to do any other work.
†b. Of age, etc.: Characterized or attended by infirmity, weakness, or impotence. Obs.
1430–40Lydg. Bochas i. 2127 In his vnweeldi age He was compellid to holden his passage Out off Thebes. c1450― Secrees 645 Yif inpotence of his vnweldy age, In his desirs put hym nat abak. 1502Will of Wilbey (Somerset Ho.), Oppressed with gret unweldy age. a1592Greene Jas. IV, iii. iii, Mine age vnweldie and vnmeete for toyle. 1659W. Chamberlayne Pharon. ii. iii. 167 Although unwieldy age allow Not strength to sell my life at such a rate Honour aimes at. 1685Dryden tr. Horace, Odes i. ix. 28 E're with'ring time the taste destroyes, With sickness and unwieldy years!
2. Of persons or animals: Moving ungracefully or with difficulty, by reason of corpulence or ponderousness; lacking litheness or flexibility; awkward, clumsy.
1530Palsgr. 328/2 Unweldye, boystouse, lourt. 1538Starkey England 79 In a dropcy the body ys vnweldy, vnlusty, and slo. 1563B. Googe Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 69 A bluddy Butcher byg and blunt, a vyle vnweldy knaue,..at hym..let dryue. 16022nd Pt. Return Parnass. iii. ii. 1257 Then the old vnweldy Camels gin to dance. 1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Wars x. 11 Others that wore Armes which made them unweldier, not so nimble to avoid a hurt. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 134 The motion of so unwildy Creatures as Elephants. 1741J. Wilford Mem. App. 41 From the unwieldiest Beast of Land or Deep. 1779Mirror No. 8, I have seen the unwieldy burgess changed into a slender gentleman. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxix, He was, though now somewhat unwieldy, a powerful, athletic man. 1867E. F. Bowden tr. Fathers of Desert 149 An unwieldy Bactrian camel had gone mad.
transf.1553T. Wilson Rhet. 2 b, Nothyng is more nedefull, then..to cherishe these our lompishe and vnweldie natures. 1606Chapman Gent. Usher iii. ii. 174 She shall have an unweldie and dull soule If she be nothing moov'd with my poore tongue. 1635A. Stafford Panegyricke in Female Glory e 7, The toylesome burthen of unweldy clay.
b. Characterized by clumsy massiveness, awkward shape, or ponderousness.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 83 When that..strayts shal be opned neere craggy vnwieldye Pelorus. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. viii. 28 Th' other Knight, Whom with his weight vnweldy downe he held. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 39 As a ship of exceeding great bulke..endangered through the own unweldy hugenesse. 1671Milton Samson 54 But what is strength without a double share Of wisdom, vast, unwieldy, burdensom. 1720Pope Iliad xvii. 834 As when two mules..Drag some vast beam, or mast's unwieldy length. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. 30 Elephants and whales please us with their unwieldy greatness. 1793T. Beddoes Observ. 101 Two cases of unwieldy corpulence. 1828Lytton Pelham II. xxi, His person..was of no unwieldy obesity. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xx. 260 Of such unwieldy bulk as not unfrequently to be mistaken for the walrus. 1892Photogr. Ann. 374 On account of its unwieldy dimensions.
c. Expressed, manifested, or exhibited in a clumsy, awkward, or ungraceful manner; awkwardly performed.
a1635Corbet Poems (1807) 107 What a sting Of lust do their unwildy daunces bring? 1648J. Beaumont Psyche vii. xxxii, O'rpowr'd with most unweildy thanks and praise. 1728Thomson Spring 776 The broad Monsters..flounce, and tumble in unwieldy Joy. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. i. 124 Their motion being the most unweildy that can be conceived. 1789Cowper On Queen's Visit to London 20 [Water] Up⁓spouted by a whale in air, T'express unwieldy joy. 1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. lxxviii, The manners of Lady C..made her feel her own as something unwieldy and overgrown. 1850L. Hunt Autobiog. xvii. (1860) 268 Two grampuses..interested us extremely by their unwieldy gambols.
3. a. Of weapons: Difficult to handle or wield. Also transf.
a1547Surrey æneid ii. (1557) C ii b, The aged man..Forceless..cast his weake unweldy dart. 1595Locrine iii. iv. 44 This great vnwildie club. 1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 173 The weapon would be too heavy, to unweildy for us to use. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 160 With my unwildy weapon..I struck him into the left side. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 368 These Swords were strange great unweildy Things. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 289 Pole-axes like ours, but somewhat more rough and unweildy.
b. Difficult to control, guide, move, manipulate, etc., by virtue of size, shape, or weight; clumsily massive, awkwardly large; unmanageable.
1552Elyot s.v. Inhabilis, A ship that by reason of the biggenesse is vnwildie. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 71 Untill hee see our small divided maniples cutting through at every angle of his ill united and unweildy brigade. 1663Cowley The Complaint v, The dull work of thy un⁓weildy Plough. 1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 161 These Doors are commonly un-weildy to lift off and on. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. II. 408 Ships, which were unwieldy, and of great burden. 1814Ld. J. Russell in S. Walpole Life (1889) I. 75 His legs being quite swollen and unwieldy. 1865Kingsley Herew. xxi, A pole..which he dragged after him, like an unwieldy tail. 1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xix. 406 Division-walls,..composed of large and un⁓wieldy stones.
c. fig., transf., and in fig. context.
1538Starkey England iii. 79 We haue ouer-many [priests], wych..make our polytyke body vnweldy and heuy. 1589Almond for Parrat B iij, His..burlibond adiunctes, that so pester his former edition with their vnweldie phrase, as no true syllogisme can haue elbowe roome. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. ix. 139 [To] make us Britains beare Th' vnwieldy Norman yoke. 1632Lithgow Trav. iv. 144 This vnwealdy body [of the Ottoman dominion in Persia] hauing two heads, began to decline. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xix. 125 Though an unwieldy Affluence may afford some empty Pleasure to the Imagination. a1704T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1720 I. 113 Raising their own Fortunes to an unweildy Bulk. 1744Akenside Pleas. Imag. iii. 117 Hints deep-omened with unwieldy schemes, And dark portents of state. 1777Burke Let. to Sheriffs of Bristol Wks. III. 187 The unwieldy haughtiness of a great ruling nation. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. p. vi, The second fault of Guthrie's Grammar..is its unwieldy and disproportionate account of Great Britain. 1807J. Barlow Columb. vi. 331 Athenian youths, the unwieldy war to meet, Couch the stiff lance. 1826–7H. Neele Lit. Rem. (1829) 49 The ‘Iliad’ [of Chapman] is written in the cumbrous and unwieldy old English measure of fourteen syllables.
absol.1702Steele Funeral iii. 44 That strong Masculine thing..pretends to all the Tenderness in the World! and would Fain put the Unwieldy upon us for the Soft, the Languid!
4. Indisposed to submit to guidance or command; restive, recalcitrant, indocile. Also const. to.
1513Douglas æneid xiii. vi. 34 [He] went..the onweldy common pepill ilkane To caus adres eftir thar faculte. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Titus 28 That nacion beyng rebellious and vnweyldy to be ordered. 1584Lodge Alarum E iv, What praise deserueth he that will proffer..the raine to an unwildie colt? 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. §30. 659/2 The Flemings grew vnweildie to his commandements. 1730T. Boston Mem. vi. (1899) 67 In the forenoon I thought my heart was very unwieldy.
fig. and transf.c1611Chapman Iliad xiv. 13 As when with vnwieldie waues, the great Sea forefeeles winds, That both waies murmure. 1641Milton Reform. i. 13 Exact Reformation is not perfited at the first push, and those un⁓weildy Times of Edward 6. may hold some Plea by this excuse. a1699J. Beaumont Psyche x. ccclxxxvii, He knows the heat of this unweildy Passion, And will allow it brave Immoderation.
†5. Inexpert or awkward (in doing something); incapable, unpractical. Obs.
1666J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 201 They are..so fearful and unwieldy in the handling of Armes, that they are easily reduc'd under subjection. 1709Steele Tatler No. 27 ⁋2 A Rake..is a poor unwieldy Wretch, that commits Faults out of the Redundance of his good Qualities. |