| 释义 |
poorly, adv. and a.|ˈpʊəlɪ, ˈpɔəlɪ|
[f. poor a. + -ly2.]
In a poor manner or condition.
A. adv.
1. In a state of poverty or indigence; indigently, necessitously. Now somewhat rare.
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 157 Poureliche yfostred vp was she. 1483Caxton Cato D iij, Bycause that nature hath created the pourly & al naked. 1588Greene Perimedes 31 Poorely content is better then richlye couetous. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 121 The Banyans that live poorly and meanly. 1876S. C. J. Ingham White Cross xxxvii, I will use all these ill-gotten gains in doing good, while I live poorly myself.
2. With deficiency of supply, or of some desirable quality; scantily, inadequately, insufficiently, imperfectly, defectively; in mean style, in lowly guise, humbly; in an inferior way, not well, rather badly, with no great success; not highly, with low estimation.
c1300Havelok 323 And ther-hinne dede hire fede Pourelike in feble wede. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 554 Oonly a Squier..Which was disgised pourely as he was. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour H ij b, The poure wymmen that lay pourely in theyr childbedde. 1552Latimer Serm. Luke ii. 6–7 Rem. (Parker Soc.) 98 His first coming is but very poorly, without any jollity or pomp. 1626Bacon Sylva §669 If you sow one ground still with..the same kind of grain, as wheat, barley, &c. it will prosper but poorly. a1715Burnet Own Time iv. an. 1686 (1823) III. 98 Their books were poorly but insolently writ. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. iii. 320 They knew how poorly she was manned and provided for struggling with so tempestuous a gale. 1823Southey Hist. Penins. War I. 772 From the beginning Sir John Moore had thought..poorly of the Spaniards. 1883M. E. Mann Parish of Hilby xviii. 219 Even now the wives and children came but poorly off.
b. Often with ppl. adj. (to which, when used attrib., it is properly hyphened).
1840Dickens Barn. Rudge iii, Long lines of poorly-lighted streets. 1877Black Green Past. v, A spacious, poorly-furnished chamber. 1894Sir E. Sullivan Woman 19 Male births are more numerous than female births amongst the poorly-fed of the country. 1897Westm. Gaz. 10 Dec. 4/3 The best modes of dealing with poorly-gifted children.
†3. In a way unworthy of one's position; unhandsomely, meanly, shabbily. Obs.
13..St. Gregory (Vernon MS.) 579 Þe penaunt porliche he gret [Cotton MS. Gregori wiþ scorn he gret]. 1666Pepys Diary 6 Aug., They told me how poorly my Lord carried himself the other day to his kinswoman, Mrs. Howard, and was displeased because she called him uncle. 1676Dryden Aurengz. v. i, The Gods have poorly robb'd my Virgin Bloom. 1680Otway Orphan ii. vii. 738 'Twas poorly done, unworthy of your self. 1723Steele Consc. Lovers ii. i, A Man, who poorly left me, to marry an Estate.
4. Piteously, abjectly, humbly; despicably, contemptibly; mean-spiritedly, without courage.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cxiii. [cix.] 326 To put hym⁓selfe poorely, without any reseruacyon into his obeysaunce and commaundement. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 64 Out throw the thrang rycht puirlie he flaw. 1649Milton Eikon. xxviii, To set free the minds of Englishmen from longing to return poorly under that captivity of Kings. 1664Pepys Diary 24 Dec., He, instead of opposing..did poorly go on board himself, to ask what De Ruyter would have. a1811Leyden Lord Soulis Poet. Wks. (1875) 82 Young Branxholm peeped, and puirly spake, ‘Oh, sic a death is no for me!’
B. adj. Chiefly colloq. [app. evolved from the adv., through such a use as to look poorly: cf. to look ill.] In a poor state of health; somewhat ill; unwell, indisposed. (Always predicative.)
[1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 79 Some cattle waxe faint, and looke poorely and thin.] 1750B. Lynde Diary (1880) 171 All summer I complaining and poorly, and my eyes trouble⁓some. 1756W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans III. 201 This quotation caused even Mrs. Nightley to laugh, tho' she was but poorly. 1797J. Benson in Mem. (1822) 304, I have been rather poorly today. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 530 His wife had..been poorly.
Hence ˈpoorliness, the condition of being poorly; ˈpoorlyish a., somewhat poorly. Both rare.
1827J. J. Gurney in Braithwaite Mem. (1854) I. 323 Notwithstanding my poorliness. 1827Lamb Let. to Barton 28 Aug., I am but poorlyish, and feel myself writing a dull letter.
B. For ‘(Always predicative.)’ read: (Always predicative of persons, animals, etc.) and add: Also euphem., seriously ill, in a serious condition (esp. in hospital). (Later examples.)
1979Guardian 31 Jan. 4/4 Last night Adrian was said to be ‘poorly’ in the burns unit of a hospital. 1988Times 8 Jan. 2/7 Yesterday he was on oxygen and I was up with him all night. He hasn't needed oxygen today but he is still quite poorly. Ibid. 15 Nov. 3/6 Nine children were..still receiving hospital treatment... Two were in a ‘poorly condition’. |