| 释义 |
childlike, child-like, a. (adv.)|ˈtʃaɪldlaɪk|
[f. as prec. + like a. and adv.: a reconstruction of the same elements which appear in childly.]
A. adj.
1. Belonging to or becoming a child; filial.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1594) I. 264 This childlike feare, which is unseparablie joined with the true love we owe to our common Father. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 75, I thought the remnant of mine age Should haue beene cherish'd by her child-like dutie. a1600Hooker (J.), Who can owe no less than childlike obedience to her.
2. Like a child; (of qualities, actions, etc.) like those of a child, characteristic of a child. Almost always in a good sense, with reference to the innocence, meekness, etc., of children; opposed to childish, which is generally used in a bad sense.
1738Wesley Psalms xxxii. vii, I will instruct the childlike Heart. 1825Southey Paraguay i. 17 To place a child-like trust in Providence. 1840De Quincey Mod. Superstit. Wks. (1854) III. 295 In no subject is the difference between the childish and the childlike more touchingly brought forward. 1866R. Chambers Ess. ii. 194 Mr. Fox was marked by a childlike simplicity.
B. adv. Like a child; childishly.
1725Pope Odyss. xv. 489 Him, child-like wand'ring forth, I'll lead away. 1868Pall Mall G. 2 Dec. 11 The plot..is..simple as a nursery narrative, ‘childlike easy’. |