释义 |
prudish, a.|ˈpruːdɪʃ| [f. prude + -ish1.] 1. Having the character of a prude; maintaining or affecting extreme propriety of behaviour.
1717Pope Challenge vii, Should you catch the prudish itch. 1766[Anstey] Bath Guide xv. 32 A prudish old Maid By Gaiety brought to Despair. 1801M. Edgeworth Pop. Tales, Contrast (1832) 109 Fanny was neither prudish nor censorious. 1880L. Stephen Pope ii. 38 We need not be prudish in our judgment of impassioned poetry. 2. fig. Of things: Extremely prim, formal, or rigid.
1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 8 Aug. Let. ii, The trees are planted in prudish rows. 1886Edin. Rev. CLXIII. 133 A verse, not fettered in its movements, or prudish in its expressions. 1888Lowell Fitz Adam's Story Poems (1891) 505/2 There was a parlour in the house, a room To make you shudder with its prudish gloom. Comb.1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 176 The window was..set full of nice, prudish-looking..quaker flowers. |