| 释义 |
▪ I. misfortune, n.|mɪsˈfɔːtʃən, -uːn|
[f. mis-1 4 + fortune n.]
1. Bad or adverse fortune; ill-luck.
1502Arnolde Chron. 60 b/2, For his mysse fortune they wepe and waile. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxii. 5 They come in no misfortune like other folke. 1579Termes of Law 62 When any man by mysfortune is slaine by an horse or by a cart. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 5 When so her father deare Should of his dearest daughters hard misfortune heare. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §20 The common misfortune of Princes, that in so substantial a part of their Happyness..as depended upon their Marriage, Themselves had never any part. 1742Act 15 Geo. II, c. 30 Persons who have the Misfortune to become Lunaticks. 1874Mozley Univ. Serm. ix. 195 Misfortune, adversity, soften the human heart.
personified.1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. iv. 36 And neuer dare misfortune crosse her foote, Vnlesse she doe it vnder this excuse. 1650Waller Poems (1664) 180 Here weeps Misfortune, and there triumphs Crime. 1742Gray Eton 57 Black Misfortune's baleful train! 1838Lytton Leila i. ii, Misfortune set upon my brow her dark and fated stamp.
b. An instance of this.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxviii. 257 After which season..fell to the Frenshe Kynge many and dyuerse mysfortunys. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 39 A misfortune which chaunced in the goulfe of the sea Atlantic. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 12 Nor shall our past Misfortunes more Be charg'd upon the ancient Score. 1767Gray in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 69, I have many désagrémens that surround me; they have not dignity enough to be called misfortunes, but they feel heavy on my mind. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 177 He might perhaps be affected by the personal misfortunes of his generous kinsmen. 1860J. W. Warter Sea-board II. 181 To be deprived of Burial..has ever been looked upon as amongst the greatest of misfortunes.
c. Proverbial phrases.
1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. iii. 29 marg., Misfortunes seldome come alone. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. 1. §71 Let the fault or misfortune be what and whence it will. 1717G. Redpath in Burns Mem. Wodrow (1838) I. p. vii, Which is not our crime but our misfortune. 1717Addison tr. Ovid's Met. iii. Cadmus ad fin., You'll find it his misfortune, not his fault. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxii, Misfortunes, saith the adage, never come singly. 1862Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. iii. 83 The overabundance of leisure..is often a misfortune rather than a fault.
2. dial. and colloq. to have or meet with a misfortune: to have an illegitimate child. Hence used simply for: An illegitimate child, bastard.
1801Har'st Rig liii, She wi' a Misfortune met, And had a bairn. 1835Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 42 It would be difficult for me to say that an Annandale woman's virtue is the worse for a misfortune. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy iii, ‘If you please, ma'am, I had a misfortune, ma'am’, replied the girl, casting down her eyes. 1866Carlyle Remin. (1881) II. 156 A special ‘misfortune’ (so they delicately name it), being of Esther's own producing. ‘Misfortune’ in the shape ultimately of a solid tall ditcher. a1881― in New Lett. Jane W. Carlyle (1903) I. 59 [‘Wee Jen’] Ann Cook's ‘misfortune’.
▪ II. † misˈfortune, v. Obs.
Also 5 mes-.
[mis-1 1.]
a. impers. or said of an event: To happen unfortunately.
b. intr. Of a person: To happen by mischance to do something.
c. To be unfortunate, come to grief.
1466Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 173 It mesfortened me..to hurte my lege. 1470–85Malory Arthur ix. ii. 340 And soo it mysfortuned hym, another stronge knyght met with hym. 1533More Apol. 94 b, Whych thynge to se so mysfortune betwene any two crysten folke, is a thynge myche to be lamented. 1533― Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1102/1 As for this argument of mine..I missefortuned to make so feble, yt he taketh euen a pleasure to play with it. 1599Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 276 Whatsoever shall happen to faille or misforten about the clock. 1615E. Howes in Stow Ann. Pref. {fatpara}7 The Queene after mariage was conceiued with childe, but it misfortuned. |