| 释义 |
wickedness|ˈwɪkɪdnɪs|
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
1. The quality of being wicked; wicked character or disposition; depravity, iniquity, immorality.
a1340Hampole Psalter xxx. 13 Luf kelis and wickidnes brennys. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) ix. 33 Þai er..full of all maner of wickedness and malice. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 113 Clau. Disloyall? Bast. The word is too good to paint out her wickednesse. 1625Bacon Ess., Truth (Arb.) 501 The Wickednesse of Falshood, and Breach of Faith. 1703De Foe More Reform. 12 What tho' the Baudy runs thro' all he Writ, The more the Wickedness, the more the Wit. a1768Secker Serm. (1770) I. ix. 211 As all this arose from Infirmity, not Wickedness, they met with an easy Pardon. 1834Dickens Sk. Boz, Steam Excurs., The unfortunate little victim..receiving sundry thumps..for having the wickedness to tell a story. 1873‘Ouida’ Pascarèl ii. i, So I reasoned in the wickedness of my heart.
2. Wicked action or conduct; iniquity as committed or perpetrated; occas. wicked speech or statement.
a1300Cursor M. 1090 Mistrauing þan had he son, Þat he sum wikcudnes hade don. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andreas) 179 Þat I sic vikitnes Wald with hyr do and foulnes. c1393Chaucer Mariage 7, I dar not writen of hyt noo wikkednesse. c1470Henry Wallace iii. 344 Causer of wer, wyrkar of wykitnes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 23 Conteinyng bothe the Heresies already condemned, and also newe errours, and great wickednes. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 72 That we suld leif our wickitnes, And fle vaine warldlie appetyte. 1605Shakes. Lear iii. vii. 98 (Qo. 1) Ile neuer care what wickednes I doe, If this man come to good. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. vi. 27 For Calamity arriving [sic] from great wickedness, the best men have the least Pitty. 1827Southey Hist. Penins. War II. 65 The scene of an action..infamous to the French for the enormous wickedness with which they abused their victory. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 367 Persons who think that there is no excess of wickedness for which courage and ability do not atone. 1901Besant London in 18th Cent. 237 The greatest wickedness that any man could commit, in his eyes, was not to pay his debts.
b. (with a and pl.) A piece of wickedness; a wicked act or proceeding.
a1325Prose Psalter lxxxviii[i]. 32 Y shal uisite in chasteing her wickednesses. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems, De Prof. 99 Ther wikkednessis yif thow do Observe, Tabyde thy doom yt were to hard a schour. 1535Coverdale Amos i. 13 For thre and foure wickednesses of Edom I wil not spare him. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 26 He fed his eyes by being a spectator of those wickednesses, which Nero only commanded to be done. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1768) III. 47 So premeditated and elaborate a wickedness. 1817Southey Let. to Editor of Courier 17 Mar., That it might be published surreptitiously at any future time, was a wickedness of which I never dreamt. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xli, I'd sooner do a wickedness as I could suffer for by myself, than ha' brought her to do wickedness.
†3. Poorness of spirit: cf. wicked a.1 2 d. Obs.
1375Barbour Bruce xii. 280 Gif ȝhe let cowardis And vikkidnes ȝour hertis suppris.
†4. In physical sense: Malignancy, corruption: cf. wicked a.1 2 c. Obs. rare.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 18 Whanne þe bodi is purgid fro wickide humouris, þe wickidnes of þe mater renneþ fro þe wounde. |