| 释义 |
moribund, a. and n.|ˈmɒrɪbʌnd|
[a. L. moribund-us, f. mor-ī to die. Cf. F. moribond (from 16th c.), Sp. moribundo, It. moribondo.]
A. adj. At the point of death; in a dying state.
1721in Bailey. 1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 801/1 The state of the respiration in a moribund person is extremely various. 1875H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 354 Cases..of persons apparently moribund who have been aroused by the inhalation of nitrite. 1886E. L. Bynner A. Surriage xvi. 174 A tangle of brambles and moribund herbs.
b. fig. On the point of coming to an end.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. ii. viii, The wail of a moribund world. 1865Ld. Derby in Hansard Parl. Deb. Ser. iii. CLXXVII. 22 One of just such a character as might naturally have been expected to be addressed by an aged Minister to a moribund Parliament. 1889Spectator 9 Nov. 624/2 We all talk of the Turkish Empire as moribund.
B. n. A person in a dying state.
1835C. A. Bowles in Corr. w. Southey (1881) 328 Another person was mortally wounded and his death hourly expected... Every day the moribund's door was besieged by crowds of anxious inquirers. 1852Mundy Our Antipodes (1857) 205 There will be more lawyers than litigants, more medicos than moribunds. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right xxvii, ‘What's the odds?’ queried the persistent moribund wearily. |