| 释义 |
seasonable, a.|ˈsiːz(ə)nəb(ə)l|
[f. season v. and n. + -able.]
1. a. Occurring at the right season, opportune.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 578 For-þi ne lakke þou not age at al; Whan youþe is past, is age sesonable. 1455Paston Lett. I. 349, I have written unto Yelverton, the justice, that he wol, at some sesonable tyme, common with Sir Thomas Tudenham. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. civ. xi, [All creatures] in seasonable tyde Their hungry eyes on thee their feeder throw. 1631Gouge God's Arrows Ded. (v), Are not these times seasonable..for such a Subject as is here handled? 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. i. 130 Here it will be seasonable to give in a List of Wicliffes Opinions. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 294, His Caution was so seasonable, and his Advice so good, that [etc.]. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 94 This is a very seasonable book.
b. Of weather, etc.: Suitable to the time of year.
1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 416 Heven lokes lesse to fruyt of þo erthe, monnes strength is lesse, here lyve is shortere, þo tyme is lesse sesounable, and charite withdrawen. 14..Tundale's Vis., etc. (1843) 155 Tho sesonabuldst wedur with⁓owton leyse That euer mon sawe dryvun tyl a nende. 1520Nisbet Epist. O.T. xxi. (S.T.S.) III. 284 As the flour of rosis in the dais of sesonnabile somer. a1603Bacon Maxims Com. Law Ep. Ded. 6 It is your Majesties reigne that hath beene as a goodly seasonable spring weather to the advancing of all excellent arts of peace. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §261 Though the weather was not favourable for delivering their cargoes, yet it being seasonable, I determined they should keep out. 1819Keats Ode to Nightingale v, Each sweet Wherewith the seasonable month endows The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild. 1843Dickens Christmas Carol iii. 90 His thread-bare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable.
†c. Enduring but for a season, temporary. Obs.
1549Latimer 1st Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 38 Not a seasonable fayeth, which shall laste but a whyle, but a fayeth, whiche is continuynge in God.
†d. ‘In season’, said of game at the time when proper to be hunted and killed. Obs. rare—1.
1596Harington Metam. Ajax 32 Doth not the keeper..shew you his femishing, that thereby you may iudge if he be a seasonable deare?
e. Belonging to one's season or prime.
1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. viii. 20 Thou poppy,..Why hangest thou down ere ripeness be begun, Ere yet be come thy seasonable hour?
†2. Capable of serving as seasoning; tasty, savoury. Obs. rare—1.
c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 28 Take brede..And drawȝhe hit þorowghe a clothe by kynde, With venegur gode and sesounabulle.
†3. Well seasoned, matured. Obs. rare.
1531–2Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 4 §2 Coupers..shall make the same vessels..of good and seasonable wodde.
¶4. erron. used for seasonal a. 2.
1923Glasgow Herald 20 Mar. 9 Persons engaged in seasonable trades in which the duration of seasonable employment is too short to enable them to qualify for benefit. [1980Listener 10 Jan. 51/3 Will the BBC please note that the word they want is ‘seasonable’, not ‘seasonal’. One has seasonable items like mince pies and carols; ‘seasonal’ is applied to rainfall and fluctuations in car sales, i.e., things that happen with the changing seasons.] |