| 释义 |
knavish, a.|ˈneɪvɪʃ|
[f. knave n. + -ish1.]
Characteristic of or appropriate to a knave, having the character of a knave.
†1. Low, vulgar; obscene. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Manciple's T. 101 His wyf anoon hath for hir lemman sent. Hir lemman? certes, þis is a knauyssh speche. Forȝeueth it me. a1529Skelton Col. Cloute 653 Howe ye were wonte to drynke Of a lether bottell With a knauysshe stoppell.
†2. Roguish, rascally, mischievous, impertinent.
1552Huloet, Knauishe, proteruus. 1573Baret Alv. K 87 A Knappish, or knauish tongue, lingua proterua. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 32 That shrew'd and knauish spirit Cal'd Robin Good-fellow. Ibid. iii. ii. 440 Cupid is a knauish lad, Thus to make poor females mad. 1603Dekker Grissil (Shaks. Soc.) 15 You may be ashamed to lay such knavish burden upon old age's shoulders.
3. Basely unprincipled, fraudulent, rascally.
1570Levins Manip. 145/33 Knauish, peruersus. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 250 'Tis a knauish peece of worke. a1704T. Brown Two Oxf. Schol. Wks. 1730 I. 8 Some..are poor and cannot pay, and others knavish and will not pay. a1800Cowper Ep. Protest. Lady 6 Praise is the medium of a knavish trade. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. v. 405 It was a knavish piece of business. a1859Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. V. 38 He had employed a knavish Jew to forge endorsement of names. |