| 释义 |
bedevil, v.|bɪˈdɛv(ə)l|
Also 6 beedivel.
[f. be- 5, 6 + Devil.]
1. To treat diabolically, with diabolical violence, ribaldry, or abuse.
1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 34 He had been..be-devil'd..at every stage he had come at. 1809Byron Bards & Rev. (ed. 2) Postscr., My poor..Muse..they have..so be-deviled with their..ribaldry.
2. To ‘possess’ with, or as with, a devil.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. iii, One age, he is hagridden, bewitched; the next, priestridden, befooled; in all ages, bedevilled. 1862Thackeray Four Georges i. 45 People who have to deal with her are charmed, and fascinated, and bedeviled.
3. To drive frantic, to bewilder with worry; to torment, worry, ‘bother.’
1823T. Moore Fables, Holy Alliance Fab. 2. 107. 549 Satires at the Court they levelled..That soon, in short, they quite bedevilled Their Majesties and Royal Highnesses. 1878P. Bayne Pur. Rev. vi. 230 He did so dazzle and bewilder and bedevil the poor man.
4. To ‘play the devil with’; to transform mischievously or bewilderingly, to corrupt, spoil, confound, or muddle.
1800Edin. Rev. IX. 108 A room and furniture ‘bedeviled’ by taste. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i. 273 So bedevil a bottle of Geisenheim..you wouldn't know it from the greenest Tokay. 1844― Coningsby iv. v. 129 The country attorneys..had so bedevilled the registration. 1851Kingsley Yeast ix. 186 To bedevil, by the light of those very already dimmed eyes, the objects around.
5. To bring into the condition of a devil.
1862J. Brown Horae Subs. 219 [Art] cannot regenerate, neither can it..bedevil mankind.
6. To call devil, stigmatize as a devil. |