| 释义 |
▪ I. melancholy, n.|ˈmɛlənkəlɪ|
Forms: 4 malyncoly, 4–5 malycoly, malencoli(e, -colye, malicoli, 4–6 malancoly, -encoly, melancoly(e, -lie, 5 mali(n)coly, -yncolie, malencholye, malancoli(e, -lye, melancholye, 5–6 mallancoly, 5–7 melancholie, 6 melacholy, melancholi, Sc. -kolie, 6–7 melancholly, -olye, 6– melancholy.
[a. OF. melancolie, melencolie, malencollie, etc. (mod. F. mélancolie), ad. L. melancholia, a. Gr. µελαγχολία lit. ‘condition of having black bile’, f. µελαν-, µέλας black + χολή bile. Cf. Pr. melancolia, Sp. melancolía, It. melancolia, malinconia; also G. melancholie, Du. melankolie, Da., Sw. melankoli.
Down to the 17th c. the poetical examples commonly indicate stress on the second or fourth syllable.]
†1. The condition of having too much ‘black bile’ (see b); the disease supposed to result from this condition; in early references its prominent symptoms are sullenness and propensity to causeless and violent anger, and in later references mental gloom and sadness. From the 17th c. onwards the word was used without its ætiological implication as the name of the mental disease now called in technical language melancholia. Obs.
Quot. 1866 is an exceptionally late instance of the sense: cf. quot. 1859 in 3.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3710 Þe man wraþþyþ hym lyghtly, For lytyl as yn malyncoly, Þat synne ne ys ryght gref Þat sone ys wroþe, and lyghtly lef. c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 360 Thy sweuenes ek and [al] swich fantasye Dryf out, and lat hem faren to myschaunce; For þey proceden of þi malencolye. 1471Caxton Recuyell (ed. Sommer) 21 After many right sorowful syghes engendrid in þ⊇ roote of malencolie. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. lvii. 84 The dissease called choler or melancholy. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 99 That windy malancholy arising from the shorter ribs, which so saddeth the mind of the diseased. 1677J. Webster (title) The Displaying of supposed Witchcraft, wherein is affirmed that there are many sorts of Deceivers and Impostors, and Divers persons under a passive Delusion of Melancholy and Fancy. But that [etc.]. 1722Quincy Lex. Phys.-Med., Melancholy [is] supposed to proceed from a Redundance of black Bile; but it is better known to arise from too heavy and too viscid a Blood. 1866W. H. O. Sankey Lect. Ment. Dis. ii. 33 There are cases of melancholy which are accompanied by great restlessness.
†b. concr. The ‘black bile’ itself: one of the four chief fluids or ‘cardinal humours’ of the ancient and mediæval physiologists. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. xi. (1495) 95 Malencoly is bred of trowbled drast of blode and hath his name of melon that is blak and calor that is humour, so is sayd as it were a blak humour, for the colour therof lynyth toward blackenes. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 202 Þer is engendrid anoþer substaunce þat is sumwhat stynkyng & is clepid malancoli. 1533Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 8 In the body of Man be foure principall humours: Bloudde: Fleume: Choler: Melancoly. 1578Banister Hist. Man v. 70 A short vessel, whereby the splene belcheth vp melancolye into the ventricle. 1610P. Barrough Meth. Physick iii. xxx. (1639) 149 The Iaundeis is nothing else but a shedding either of yellow choler, or of melancholy all over the body. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. ii. vi. (1712) 56 There are receptacles in the Body of Man and Emunctories to drain them of superfluous Choler, Melancholy, and the like.
†2. Irascibility, ill-temper, anger, sullenness.
c1350Will. Palerne 4362 Meke þe of þi malencoli for marring of þi-selue. 1375Barbour Bruce xvi. 128 Vith that the king come hastely, And in his gret malancoly,..To schir Colyne sic dusche he gave. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 252 And if she be riche, of heigh parage, Thanne seistow it is a tormentrie To soffren hire pride and hire malencolie. a1400–50Alexander 1981 Þat I mete þe in my malicoly my meth be to littill. 14..Tundale's Vis. 76 (Wagner) Tundale gruched and wex wrothe..Þe man speke to hym curtesly And brought hym out of his malycoly. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xv. 29 The kynge beyng in his malencoly, assone as he sawe hym he sayd in great yre, certesse vncle of Lancastre, ye shall nat attayne as yet to your entent. 1530Palsgr. 244/1 Melancoly testysnesse, melencolie. 1567in Satir. Poems Reform. vii. 191 For wickit lyfe imprisont was Ferquhaird, Quha slew him self of proude melancolie.
personified.1390Gower Conf. I. 280 Malencolie..which in compaignie An hundred times in an houre Wol as an angri beste loure. c1400Rom. Rose 4998 Malencoly, that angry sire. 1595Shakes. John iii. iii. 42 If that surly spirit melancholy, Had bak'd thy blood, and made it heauy, thicke.
3. Sadness and depression of spirits; a condition of gloom or dejection, especially when habitual or constitutional.
In the early quots. with mixture of sense 2. In the Elizabethan period and subsequently, the affectation of ‘melancholy’ was a favourite pose among those who made claim to superior refinement; see, e.g. Jonson Every Man in his Humour (passim), and quots. under melancholy a. 3; cf. also 3 d below.
c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 1216 Bycause he wolde soone dye, He ne eet ne dronk, for his malencolye. 14..Sir Beues 582 (MS. M) Iosyan..Toke hym vp and kyssud hym swete, His malincoly there to abate. 1485Caxton Chas. Gt. 168 Whyche also slewe my cosyn the kyng Claryon, for whome I am in grete melancolye. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. (1598) 386 The Hare [gave] her sleights; the Cat, his melancholy. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 38 Musicke did apply Her curious skill the warbling notes to play, To drive away the dull Melancholy. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 34 My minde was troubled with deepe Melancholly. 1593Drayton Sheph. Garland (Roxb. Club) 68 And, being rouzde out of melancholly, Flye, whirle-winde thoughts, vnto the heavens, quoth he. 1692Dryden Cleomenes i. i. 2 This Melancholly Flatters, but Un⁓mans you. What is it else, but Penury of Soul; A Lazie Frost, a numness of the Mind? 1716Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady X— 1 Oct., It gives me too much melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried alive. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xxxiv, A morbid melancholy seized upon the Irishman. 1859Bucknill Psychol. Shaks. 240 Care should be taken..to distinguish between melancholy and melancholia. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 372 The melancholy associated with general paralysis is commonly marked by great exaggeration.
personified.1601Shakes. Jul. C. v. iii. 67 O hatefull Error Melancholies Childe. 1632Milton L'Allegro 1 Hence loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest midnight born. 1750Gray Elegy Epit., And Melancholy mark'd him for her own. 1819Keats Melancholy iii, In the very temple of Delight Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine.
†b. A cause of sadness, an annoyance or vexation. Chiefly in pl. Obs.
1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes (c 1490) F vj, The maistre of a grete house hath many melancolyes. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 57 Which to a diligent writer is the greatest melancholy and vexation that can befall.
c. A state of melancholy. † Also, a melancholy fit or mood (often in pl.). Obs.
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 17 b, Two or three straungers, whom inwarde melancholies hauing made weery of the worldes eyes, haue come to spende their liues among the countrie people. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1319/2 Entring by litle and litle out of his present melancholies into his former misfortunes. 1650Jer. Taylor Holy Living ii. §5 (1727) 107 If we murmur here, we may at the next melancholy be troubled that God did not make us to be Angels or Stars. 1774Burke Corr. (1844) I. 480 In spite of all my efforts, I fall into a melancholy which is inexpressible. 1798C. Smith Yng. Philos. I. 64 A deep yet soft melancholy succeeded.
d. In a lighter sense: A tender or pensive sadness.
1614Drummond of Hawthornden Madrigal, ‘When as she smiles’, A sweet melancholie my sences keepes. 1632Milton Penseroso 12 But hail thou Goddes, sage and holy, Hail divinest Melancholy. 1634― Comus 546, I..began Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy To meditate my rural minstrelsie. 1796Coleridge Sonn. to Bowles [2nd vers.] 8 Their mild and manliest melancholy lent A mingled charm, which oft the pang consigned To slumber. 1844A. B. Welby Poems, Melancholy 117 Love's delicious melancholy.
†e. A short literary composition (usually poetical) of a sad or mournful character. Obs.
1596Lodge Marg. Amer. L i b, Another melancholy of his, for the strangenesse thereof, deserueth to be registred. Ibid., Another [sc. poem]..hauing the right nature of an Italian melancholie, I haue set down in this place.
4. Comb., as melancholy-purger; melancholy-mad, melancholy-sick adjs.; † melancholy water, a decoction recommended as ‘good for women if they are faint’.
1660Trial Regic. 171 He was melancholly sick. 1676J. Cooke Marrow Chirurg. 812 Of Melancholy Purgers, Simple and Compound. 1684H. Woolley Queen-like Closet (ed. 5) 15 The Melancholly Water. Take of [etc.]. 1853Hickie tr. Aristophanes (1872) II. 683 He has sent away my master melancholy-mad.
▪ II. melancholy, a.|ˈmɛlənkəlɪ|
Forms: 6 malancoly, malincolye, melancholie, 6–7 malancholy, melencholly, 7 melancholly, 6– melancholy.
[From the attrib. use of the n.]
†1. Affected with or constitutionally liable to the disease of melancholy. Also absol. Obs.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 233 b, The contemplacyon of suche turneth eyther to supersticyousnes..or to a melancoly folysshnes. 1542Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 245 Melancoly men may take theyr pleasure. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 190 It is also effectual to be given to melancholy people, which are void of reason. 1698M. Henry Meekness & Quietn. Spirit (1822) 80 The quietness of spirit will help..to suppress melancholy vapours. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. 260 All Spices are bad for melancholy people.
†b. Of or affected by the melancholy ‘humour’.
1604T. Wright Passions i. ix. 35 A little melancholly blood may quickly change the temperature, and render it [the hearte] more apt for a melancholly Passion. 1610Markham Masterp. ii. cxii. 404 It proceedeth from melancholy and filthy bloud. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. iii. Socrates xiv. (init.), As to his person, he was very unhandsome, of a melancholy complexion. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physick 306 A crooked melancholy vein under the Tongue. 1667Phil. Trans. II. 493 'Tis vulgarly said that this black part of the bloud is Melancholy bloud.
†c. Producing the disease of melancholy. Obs.
1650Baxter Saints' R. ii. vii. §3 Sauls Melancholy Devil would be gone, when David played on the Harp.
†2. Irascible, angry; sullen. Obs.
1575–6Durham Depos. (Surtees) 290 Sir Richerd is a very earnest malincolye man, and some tyme gyven to be angrye. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 191/1 When wee come to make our prayers to God, wee must not bring thither with vs, our melancholy passions and fretting and fuming. 1604Chapman Byron's Conspir. ii. i. (1608) D 2 b, Duke Byron Flowes with adust and melancholy choller.
3. Of persons, their actions, attributes, feelings, state, etc.: Depressed in spirits; sad, gloomy, dejected, mournful; esp. of a constitutionally gloomy temperament.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. ii. 2 Boy, What signe is it when a man of great spirit growes melancholy? 1592Lyly Midas v. ii. 104 (Bond), Melancholy is the creast of Courtiers armes, and now euerie base companion, beeing in his muble fubles, sayes he is melancholy. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. iv, I will be more proud and melancholie, and gentleman-like then I haue beene, I doe ensure you. c1598Sir J. Davies Epigr. No. 47 See yonder melancholy Gentleman, Which hood-wink'd with his hat, alone doth sit. 1744Harris Three Treat. Wks. (1841) 40 A funeral will much more affect the same man if he see it when melancholy, than if he see it when cheerful. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Mania, Some are dull and stupid, others very sorrowful and melancholy. 1774Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Sel. Wks. I. 136, I remember, Sir, with a melancholy pleasure, the situation [etc.]. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 293 There is no more melancholy creature in existence than a mountebank off duty. 1884F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer I. i. 17 If I am sad and inclined to melancholy humours.
absol.1759Johnson Rasselas xlvi, For this reason the superstitious are often melancholy, and the melancholy almost always superstitious.
transf. (of animals).1593Nashe Christ's T. 25 b, The mellancholy Owle, (Deaths ordinary messenger). 1612Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 204 The melancholie Hare. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 42 He is a solitary, melancholy, and bold fish, always being by himself.
b. Pensive, thoughtful; sadly meditative.
1632Milton Penseroso 62 Sweet Bird that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musicall, most melancholy! 1659Wood Life Feb. (O.H.S.) I. 270 To refresh his mind with a melancholy walke. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xl, A certain music, never known before, Here soothed the pensive, melancholy mind. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. 190 The tender images we love to trace Steal from each year a melancholy grace. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. All Fools' Day, We will drink no wise, melancholy, politic port on this day.
†c. in proverbial and other similes. Obs.
1592Lyly Midas v. ii. 100 (Bond), I am as melancholy as a cat. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 83–8. 1599 ― Much Ado ii. i. 221, I found him heere as melancholy as a Lodge in a Warren. 1606Wily Beguiled Prol. A 2 b, Why, how now, humorous George? What, as melancholy as a mantle tree? 1607Dekker Northw. Hoe i. Wks. 1873 III. 11 I'me as melancholy now as Fleet-streete in a long vacation. a1732Gay New Song of New Similies, I, melancholy as a cat Am kept awake to weep.
4. Of visible objects, sounds, places, etc.: Suggestive of sadness, depressing, dismal. Also, of sounds, words, looks, etc.: Expressive of sadness.
† melancholy hat (? jocular nonce-use, or slang), app. applied to a mourning hat (but cf. quot. c 1598 in sense 3).
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 86 Melancholy Bells. 1600― A. Y. L. ii. vii. 111 Vnder the shade of melancholly boughes. 1614J. Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque B 1 b, Go to the next Haberdashers & bid him send me a new melancholy hat. 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 43 Padua is the most melancholy City of Europe. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 747 Melancholy Musick fills the Plains. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol 10 Apr., Eight or ten of them make a melancholy concert with their pipes. 1725Sloane Jamaica II. 307 It loves low melancholly places. 1728–46Thomson Spring 612 The stock⁓dove breathes A melancholy murmur thro' the whole. 1833L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 197 You glide in a canoe-like boat..shut in by melancholy banks. 1835Lytton Rienzi i. i, The thick and melancholy foliage. 1843Borrow Bible in Spain x, With here and there a melancholy village. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 198 The fountain made a melancholy gurgle. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 475 Negro children..with..immense melancholy deer-like eyes.
Comb.1877Black Green Past. v, He was a melancholy-faced man.
†b. In the 17th c.: Favourable to the pensive mood. (Cf. 3 b.) Obs.
1641Evelyn Diary 8 Oct., So naturally is it [the Parke] furnish'd with whatever may render it agreeable, melancholy and country-like. 1644Ibid. 30 Sept., The house is moderne, and seemes to be the seate of some gentleman, being in a very pleasant though melancholy place.
5. Of a fact, event, state of things: Saddening, lamentable, deplorable.
1710Wodrow Analecta (1842) I. 308 It was one of the melancholyest sights to any that have any sense of our antient Nobility, to see them going throu for votes, and making partys. 1763C. Johnston Reverie II. 44 You are affected with this melancholy detail. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., Remise Door, Melancholy! to see such sprightliness the prey of sorrow. 1807Med. Jrnl. XVII. 247 The most serious and melancholy effect ensued. 1886Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXVIII. 291 A melancholy instance of the extent to which Dr. P. acts upon the principle of bending facts to theory.
6. In certain book-names of plants, as melancholy gentleman, a kind of rocket, Hesperis tristis; melancholy (plume) thistle, Carduus heterophyllus; melancholy tree, the Night Jasmine, Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis.
1629Parkinson Parad. Table, The Melancholy [text p. 260 Melancholick] Gentleman. 1690Ray Syn. Stirp. Brit. 52 The great English soft or gentle Thistle or Melancholy Thistle. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 319 Melancholy Thistle, Carduus. Melancholy-tree, Nyctanthes. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 237 Cnicus heterophyllus (Melancholy Plume Thistle).
Hence ˈmelancholyish a. nonce-wd.
1837Lytton in Fonblanque's Life & Lab. (1874) 53, I had a melancholyish letter from Lady Blessington.
▪ III. † ˈmelancholy, v. Obs.
[ad. OF. melancolier, f. melancolie melancholy n.]
trans. To make melancholy.
1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 290 b/2 The pleasure of god is that; of whiche thou melancolyest thy selfe to be soo doon. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. Q iij b, It brenneth the blode & melancolyeth it. 1567Paynel tr. Herberay's Treas. Amadis of Gaule 78 Ye melancholy your selfe..for the mariage that I have found out for you. a1657R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 165, I am extremely melancholy'd at your dilated resolutions of seeing London. |