| 释义 |
vilify, v.|ˈvɪlɪfaɪ|
Also 5–8 vilifie, 7 villifie, 8 -fy; 6 vilefy, 7 villefie.
[ad. late L. vīlificāre (Jerome), f. vīlis vile a.: see -ify. Hence also It. vilificare, Pr., Pg. vilificar.]
1. trans. To lower or lessen in worth or value; to reduce to a lower standing or level; to make of little (or less) account or estimation. Also refl.
Freq. in the 17th c.; now rare or Obs.
(a)c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. ix. 76 If..I vilifie myself & bringe me to nouȝt,..& make me dust as I am, þi grace shal be merciful to me. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 85 He who vilifies himselfe, doth not thereby save one penny. 1630R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 21 Who humbled himself in the forme of man..: vilifying himself to make man like himself. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxii. 253 The recompenses which God hath promised to those that vilify themselves to serve him. a1684Leighton Comm., 1 Peter i. 23 (1850) 212 Are you not born to a better inheritance?.. Why then do you vilify yourselves?
(b)1604T. Wright Passions v. §4. 251 Long delayes and many suites vilifie the giftes;..for..it is bought dearely, which is purchased with long prayers. 1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 157 Such a mariage, wherin the minde is so disgrac't and vilify'd below the bodies interest,..is not of Gods institution. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 448 Though seeming Commendations,..yet..enough to vilifie, and cheapen the Noblest Merit. 1677Govt. Venice 129 The Republick of Venice not only detains their Dukes Prisoners in their Palace,..but it daily retrenches their Priviledges, to vilifie them the more. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 29 It would vilify, and, I may say, vulgarize the Almighty, to imagine him resident among ourselves. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 147 The wealth and pride of individuals..makes the man of humble rank and fortune sensible of his inferiority, and degrades and vilifies his condition. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. v. 207 When [a hierarchy's] distinctions of rank are of such vast compass as to vilify the humbler clerical orders.
†b. To make morally vile; to degrade; also, to defile or dirty. Obs.
1615J. Taylor (Water P.) Taylor's Rev. Wks. (1630) ii. 146/1 Such Motley, Medley, Linsey-Woolsey speeches Would sure haue made thee vilifie thy breeches. 1619H. Hutton Follie's Anat. (Percy Soc.) 19 You vilifie your selfe with endlesse shame, Imposing scandall to each poet's name. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 513 Thir Makers Image..then Forsook them, when themselves they villifi'd To serve ungovern'd appetite. 1684Contempl. St. Man i. iv. (1699) 38 Altho' the Soul be of it self of a most Noble Substance, yet his Vices do so much vilifie it, that he makes it more abominable than the Body. 1781[see vilifying ppl. a.].
absol.1749Chesterfield Lett. (1774) I. 440 Nothing vilifies and degrades more than pride.
†c. To bring disgrace or dishonour upon. Obs.
1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 139 The Anabaptists..resisting the most painfull godly Ministers, and reproaching and vilifying them, by their wicked lives. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxxxvii. (1674) 117 [They] blush to think that their Ancestors have so shamefully vilified their house. 1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland ix. 34 Their Priests, who either take no care of instructing the people, or vilify their doctrine by the sordidness of their lives. 1749Smollett Regicide ii. x, Heav'n shall not see A deed so abject vilify my name.
2.
†a. To depreciate or disparage in discourse; to talk slightingly or contemptuously of. Obs. (passing into next).
1586Day Eng. Secretary i. (1595) 77 Your Vncles care, was by vilefying his wealth vnto you..to purchase for you the endowment of a farre more greater and assured treasure. 1629H. Burton Truth's Triumph 288 The Pontifician so much depressing and vilifying his owne indisposition. 1645E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 2) 71 As these Sectaries villefie others, so they magnifie themselves. 1667Anne Wyndham King's Concealm. (1681) 53 Some envious persons have sought to diminish and vilifie the faithful services which the Colonel..performed. 1691Ray Creation i. (1692) 162 To disparage, deride, and vilifie those Studies which themselves skill not of. 1736Butler Anal. ii. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 180, I express myself with caution, lest I should be mistaken to vilify reason. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 117 ⁋1 The disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify what they cannot comprehend.
b. To depreciate with abusive or slanderous language; to defame or traduce; to speak evil of.
1598Marston Sco. Villanie Prol. (1599) 168 When I once hear..some span-new come fry Of Innes a-court striuing to vilefy My dark reproofes. 1624Gataker Transubst. 51 After he hath thus spent some part of his railing Rhetorick in traducing and vilifying this Protestantical Divine his Adversary. 1659T. Pecke Parnass. Puerp. 175 Mother-in-Lawes, Poets much Vilifie. 1670Baxter Cure Ch. Div. Concl. Pref. §5 Not..to hate and flye from one another; nor to vilifie and backbite one another. 1713Steele Englishman No. 13. 83, I have really taken a secret Pleasure in seeing him employed in villifying me. a1720Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iv. 348 One of those persons whom even his enemies could not vilify without praising him. 1764T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. iii. (1765) 351 Randolph, in return, vilified Dudley, in a great number of letters. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xxxviii, The priestly party..spared no effort to vilify me. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 115 He was slandered and vilified by the corrupt monks. 1889G. C. Brodrick in Oxf. Chron. 11 May 7/7 Those who had devoted their whole influence to vilifying such a remedial policy.
absol.a1854H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iv. (1855) 439 So artfully does he misrepresent them, so vehemently does he vilify.
†3. To regard as worthless or of little value; to contemn or despise. Obs. (Common in 17th c.)
1598Marston Sco. Villanie iii. x. (1599) 223 Opinion mounts this froth vnto the skies, Whom iudgemente reason iustly vilifies. 1641Baker Chron., Hen. I, 60 A private man, vilified, and thought to have but little in him. 1652–62Heylyn Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 64 Gold here so vilified that they exchange it gladly for Brass. 1671Trenchfield Cap Gray Hairs (1688) 40 For no man but vilifies that person in his own estimate, who is loose bodied upon that account.
†4. intr. To become common or worthless; to lose value. Obs.—1
a1654Binning Sinners Sanctuary x. Wks. (1735) 210/1 It is Ignorance that magnifies other Mysteries, which vilify through Knowledge.
Hence ˈvilified ppl. a.; ˈvilifying vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈvilifyingly adv.
1828Scott F.M. Perth xiv, He knows how willingly Clement Blair will lay down a *vilified life upon earth.
1611Bible Transl. Pref. ⁋12 Their second defence of their *vilifying and abusing of the English Bibles. 1643Chas. I Proclam. Wks. 1662 II. 345 To countenance the vilifying of the Book of Common Prayer. 1676Hale Contempl. ii. 183 In the midst of all the..Vilifyings that the World heaps upon me.
1663Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xv, I will not recite all the *vilifying language..which he was affronted with. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. I. 81 That vilifying Malice and Contempt, which Proud and Profligate People..let fly at Them and their Office. 1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) II. l. 68 Free from all the villifying effects of dirt.
1682Bunyan Holy War 203 Thou didst also teach the Town of Mansoul to speak contemptuously, and *vilifyingly of their great King Shaddai. |