| 释义 |
wasteful, a.|ˈweɪstfʊl|
Forms: see the n. and -ful.
[f. waste n. + -ful.]
1. That causes devastation, desolation, or ruin; that destroys or lays waste.
a. of a person or animal, thing personified, personal action or attribute. ? Obs.
a1300–1400Cursor M. 18230 (Gött.) Þu prince of tinsel and þu duke Of wastful werk, sir belzabuk. 1576Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs (1880) 32 What man..with more vehemency of voyce giveth warning eyther of a wastefull beaste, or of a spoiling theefe than this [dog]? 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 2 When Winters wastful spight was almost spent. 1596Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 283 Wastefull vengeance. 1615G. Sandys Trav. iv. 218 England..defended by the Sea from wastfull incursions. 1667Milton P.L. x. 620 Yonder World, which I So fair and good created, and had still Kept in that state, had not the folly of Man Let in these wastful Furies. 1783Burke Sp. Fox's E. India Bill Wks. 1842 I. 282 The several irruptions of Arabs, Tartars, and Persians into India were, for the greater part, ferocious, bloody, and wasteful in the extreme. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose xvii, He collected his scattered forces from the wasteful occupation in which they had been engaged.
quasi-adv.1728–46Thomson Spring 122 Insect armies..wasteful eat Through buds and bark into the blackened core Their eager way.
b. of a thing, its action. Now rare.
c1590Marlowe Jew of Malta iii. 287 First will we race the City wals our selues,..And..Open an entrance for the wastfull sea. 1600Fairfax Tasso viii. lxxii, Mongst them Alecto strowed wastefull fire. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 461 [Storms] being oft times noxious where they light On man, beast, plant, wastful and turbulent. 1712Blackmore Creation i. 747 But not impel them o'er their bounds of sand, Nor force the wasteful deluge o'er the land. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 266 The wasteful action [of water] is very conspicuous at Dimlington Height. 1833H. Martineau Tale of Tyne ii. 28 These wasteful fires were a terrible nuisance.
2. Useless, worthless; unused.
†a. Of desires, words, etc.: Empty, vain, profitless. Of time: Unoccupied, spare. Obs.
c1440Jacob's Well 303 Þowȝ þou be poore..þou mayst haue þis grauel of wast in þin herte in wastfull & feruent desyris, wyllys, & delyȝtes. Ibid. 304 Þe secunde fote depthe is wast of þi mowth, þat is, wastfull woordys, whann þou spekyst all of þi good, of þi rycches, [etc.]. a1547Surrey Paraphr. Eccl. ii. 32 But when I made my compte with howe great care of mynd..that I had sought, so wastfull frutt to fynde Then was I streken strayte. 1573Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 426, I was the bolder to take mine occasion thus equitare in arundine longa, so spending my wasteful time within mine own walls. 1577Fulke Confut. Purg. i. iii. 216 That I haue alleaged already is sufficient to represse that vaine and vnskilfull insultation, that you vse in so many wastfull wordes against vs.
b. Refuse, waste. rare.
1868Lynch Rivulet (ed. 3) cii. i, For He, the Sower, must return..The wheat to garner, and to burn Of tares the wasteful heap.
3. Of a place: Desolate; unused, unfrequented, uninhabited, void. Obs. exc. arch. and poet.
1572–3Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 419, I would remove some part of an old, decayed, wasteful, unwholesome, and desolate house at Ford, to enlarge the little house I have at Bekesborne. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 50 Thy rymes and roundelayes, Which thou were wont on wastfull hylls to singe. Ibid. Dec. 23, I went the wastefull woodes and forest wyde. 1642H. More Song of Soul To Rdr., Thus sing I..To wastefull woods, to empty groves. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 961 When strait behold the Throne Of Chaos, and his dark Pavilion spread Wide on the wasteful Deep. 1712Blackmore Creation ii. 119 A wastful, cold, untrodden wilderness. 1827Pollok Course of Time iii. 261 At the midnight hour..in wasteful hall,..Thou mightst have seen him bending o'er his heaps, And holding strange communion with his gold. 1883Bridges Prometheus 43 When he had taken the throne and chained His foes in wasteful Tartarus. 1890E. H. Barker Wayfaring in France 313 The Druids of old, who sought these wasteful places as the fittest for the worship of that Mystery.
as complement.1618Ainsworth Ps. cxxxvii, Daughter of Babel, wastful layd.
4. Of a person, his disposition, etc.: Addicted to waste; given to useless or excessive expenditure; regardless of economy in the management or use of resources; prodigal, extravagant, thriftless.
1538Elyot Dict., Prodigus, prodigall, wastefull, an outragious expender. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus Prol. B ij b, The gospell reherseth the lyfe of the prodigal son .i. of the wastfull spendyng chylde by a knowen parable. 1570Levins Manip. 186/32 Waystfull, dispendiosus. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxvii. §4 As in the Gospell that wastfull young man which returned home to his Fathers house was with ioy both admitted and honoured. 1604Rowlands Looke to it 40 You carelesse wretches of the wastfull vaine, That for your Families will not prouide. 1662Hibbert Body Divinity i. 186 They that lose time are the greatest losers and wastfullest prodigals. a1768Secker Serm. (1770) III. vii. 170 For it is hardly to be hoped, but that our Negligence about their Conduct will tempt them, either to be dishonest, or idle, or wastful, in our Service.
b. Of expenditure, style of living, etc.: Characterized by waste or extravagance.
1451J. Capgrave St. Gilbert 69 In his riding had he no costful hors, no wastful aray, not many hors, ne many seruantis. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus v. iv. Z iij, By prodygalitie or wastfull spendyng. 1595Shakes. John iv. ii. 16 Or with Taper-light To seeke the beauteous eye of heauen to garnish Is wastefull, and ridiculous excesse. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 289 By plundering the public creditor, it was possible to..support..the wasteful expenditure of the court. 1885Tennyson Anc. Sage 5 One..richly garb'd, but worn From wasteful living. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 May 5/2 No society..is more free from the drawback of wasteful expense in management.
†c. Beneficently extravagant, lavish. Obs. rare.
1701Addison Let. fr. Italy to Ld. Halifax 106 How has kind Heaven adorned the happy land, And scattered blessings with a wasteful hand!
5. Of a person, an action, process, etc.: That wastes, consumes or expends unprofitably (something specified or implied); not economical. Const. of.
1587L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Of Oxen (1596) 72 Some do vse to feede them on the ground without a racke, but that is thought to be..more wastfull of hay. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 171 A wasteful condensation of the newly introduced steam must take place. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 263 Rival parties of trappers soon exhaust the streams, especially when competition renders them heedless and wasteful of the beaver. 1874H. H. Cole Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus. 234 The material..is in itself of such beautiful texture that it seems wasteful of good things to cover it with embroidery. 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 203 It seems to me rather wasteful to spend a lot of extra money on half-plate slides, and then only use them for quarters. 1893Bookman June 85/2 He knows what he can do, and, avoiding any wasteful dissipation of his powers, does that efficiently.
†b. of a thing. Obs.
1607Shakes. Timon ii. ii. 171 When euery roome Hath blaz'd with Lights,..I haue retyr'd me to a wastefull cocke, And set mine eyes at flow. 1618W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. xi. (1623) 33 The greater Trees..haue filled and ouer-loaden themselues with a number of wastfull boughs and suckers.
6. That causes bodily waste or decay. Now rare.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 341 The one sleepes easily because he cannot study,..lacking the burthen of leane and wasteful Learnings. 1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. xcvi, Using every argument to rouse her from this wasteful excess of grief. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. ix. 241 Self-inflicted penances, wasteful abstinences,..and all such like spontaneities. |