| 释义 |
whereat, adv. Now formal or arch.|hwɛərˈæt|
[f. where 15 + at prep.]
1. interrog.: At what? rare.
In first quot. app. = for what cause or reason, wherefore: cf. at prep. 34, 37.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3237 Qvað god, ‘quor-at calles ðu me?’ c1480Henryson Cock & Fox 563 Now Iuge ȝe all quhairat Schir Lowrence leuch. 15..Adam Bel & Clym of Clough cxlvii, ‘I hold hym neuer no good archar That shuteth at buttes so wyde.’ ‘Wherat?’ then sayd our kyng. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus i. iii. G j, Thou wottest fulle lyttell wherat thou reioysest. 1755Johnson s.v., Whereat are you offended?
2. rel. At which.
a. in local and allied senses.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxvi. 121 A wyndowe, whare at þe light commez in. 1513Douglas æneis ii. viii. 33 A litle ȝett..Quhairat was wont alane Andromacha To entir. 1588A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. h iv, Giff ȝow wald knaw ye dominicall lettre of ony hundereth ȝere, quhairat ye ordre of ye first table according to ye awld kallendar is interrupted. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage v. xi. 425 At this Cart hang many..Ropes, whereat all the people hale and pull. 1626Gouge Serm. Dignity Chivalry §1 Take notice of the generall Scope whereat the Holy Ghost aimeth in this Chapter. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 84/2 The Pit or Hole, from the Body, or stock there is whereat the branches sprout out. 1865Swinburne Chastelard ii. i. 78 Albeit I think Ye have caught the mark whereat my heart is bent. 1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 27, I returned to the spot whereat the Squire kept dreary watch.
b. in reference to occasion or cause.
1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 11 Wherat many were offended. 1599T. Storer Life & D. Wolsey F 4, What had the wiser sort whereat to smile? 1667Milton P.L. ii. 389 With full assent They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews. 1782Cowper Gilpin 205 Whereat his horse did snort, as he Had heard a lion roar. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlvi, Nell could not help weeping..; whereat..the simple schoolmaster shed a few tears himself. 1897J. L. Allen Choir Invis. ii, The inventor..said..that..he would demonstrate by his own model that some day navigation would be by steam: whereat they all laughed kindly at him for a dreamer. |