| 释义 |
witling|ˈwɪtlɪŋ|
[f. wit n. + -ling1 2.]
A petty wit (see wit n. 9, 10); one who fancies himself a wit; a pretender to wit (see wit n. 5, 7); one who utters light or feeble witticisms.
1693Dryden Persius Sat. i. Prol. 17 Let Gain, that gilded Bait, be hung on high, The hungry Witlings have it in their Eye. 1702Engl. Theophrastus 6 There are many impertinent Witlings at Will's. 1712–14Pope Rape of Lock v. 59 A Beau and Witling perish'd in the throng, One died in metaphor, and one in song. 1807W. Irving Salmag. No. 2 ⁋5 Does any witling want to distress the company with a miserable pun? 1876Meredith Beauchamp's Career xx, ‘What's in hand?’.. Luckily some witling said, ‘Fours-in-hand!’ and so drily that it passed for humour.
attrib.1817J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 228 The miserable witling captiousness of an opposition. 1845Miall in Nonconf. V. 45 A witling poet. |