| 释义 |
ominous, a.|ˈɒmɪnəs|
[ad. L. ōminōs-us portentous, f. ōmen, ōmin- omen: see -ous. Cf. mod.F. omineux (Littré).]
1. Of the nature of an omen, serving to foretell the future, presaging events to come, portentous.
1592Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xliii. (1612) 207 H the letter still Might be obserued ominous to Englands good or ill. 1646J. Gregory Notes & Obs. (1650) 29 'Twas a Rule..to undertake nothing..in-auspicato, without some ominous performance. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. ii, Nor can I here pass over an ominous circumstance that happened, the last time we played together. 1821Byron Heav. & Earth i. 15, I feel a thousand fears Which are not ominous of right.
b. Founded upon omens.
1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 137, I do not reckon much upon those ominous criticismes.
†2. Of good omen, auspicious; fortunate. Obs.
1597M. Bowman in A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. xij b, Whom I pray to give ominouse and fortunate event to your divine attemptes. 1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 175 This Medicine is..most ominous in all kind of Fluxes.
3. Of ill omen, foreboding evil, inauspicious.
1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1612) 151 If ought foresayd be ominous, should any feare, tis I. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. vi. 107 Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloster, For Glosters Dukedome is too ominous. 1666J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isls. 321 If..a dog, as one would say, did bark at them, thinking it ominous, they immediately return. 1769Junius Lett. xiv. 58 There is an ominous fatality in it, which even the spurious descendants of the family cannot escape. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. i. 6 The brightest and the fondest hopes we entertain..hang upon the auspicious or ominous aspect of English Christianity. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) iv. 100 An ominous shake of the head supplied the remainder of the sentence.
b. Marked or attended by evil omens, disastrous.
1634Heywood Maidenhead lost iii. Wks. 1874 IV. 140 O my ominous fate. 1669Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 289 It is the second fatall and ominous accident that hath faln out. 1671R. Bohun Wind 140 The E. Winds..being ominous to our Gardens and Fields, by blasting the corn and fruits.
c. Of doubtful or menacing aspect or appearance.
1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile xxi. 647 Columns of hieroglyphic text, interspersed with ominous shapes, half-deity, half-demon. 1884Ruskin Art. of Eng. ii. 66 In the dimness or coruscation of ominous light. |