| 释义 |
shiftless, a.|ˈʃɪftlɪs|
[f. shift n. + -less.]
†1. Helpless for self-defence; void of cunning or artifice. Obs.
1562Bp. Pilkington Abdias Pref. Aa iv b, Wylde beastes be cruel, yet god defends the shiftles sheepe. 1577Kendall Flowers of Epigr., Trifles 24 b, I neuer would haue thought The selie simple shiftlesse Bee could haue suche mischief wrought. 1616R. Hill Pathw. Prayer, Direct. to live well 65 Because of my selfe I am shiftlesse to auoid them [occasions of sinne]. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 122 A Sea-Tortoise..being taken and turned on its back is shiftless.
2. Lacking in resource; incapable of shifting for oneself; hence, lazy, inefficient.
1584in Neal Hist. Purit. (1732) I. 407 Having been either popish Priests or shiftless men, thrust in upon the Ministry. a1697Aubrey Lives, Winceslaus Hollar (1813) II. 402 He was a very friendly good-natured man as could be, but shiftlesse as to the world, and dyed not rich. a1691Wood Fasti Oxon. I. 871 Joh. Pell..was a shiftless man as to worldly affairs. 17..E. Carter Lett. (1808) 118, I hope this shiftless friend of mine was not the very thief that stole your Tasso. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. iv, Poor M de Gouvion is shiftless in this extremity. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. x, Mr. Wrayburn..all idle and shiftless, stood by her bench looking on. 1891Hardy Tess iii, Going to hunt up her shiftless husband at the inn.
b. Of actions: Indicating shiftlessness; ineffective, futile.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage i. vi. (1614) 33 Forcing him to his manifold shifts, and shiftlesse remouings. 1678Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. iii. 65 How poor and shiftlesse this shift is we have already demonstrated. a1862Thoreau Yankee in Canada ii. (1866) 27 This looked very shiftless, especially in a country abounding in water-power.
†3. Not shifted or changed; unvarying. Obs.
1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. xci. (1612) 370 When Canons, Rubrick, Liturgie, and Discipline throughout One shiftlesse Practise had, not to Indifferencie a flout.
4. Without a shift or shirt. rare.
1680Otway Marius ii. ii, He threaten'd me to banish me his house, Naked and shiftless to the world. 1856Merivale Rom. Emp. xxxviii. (1865) IV. 336 Actaeon, who had startled the shiftless Diana.
Hence ˈshiftlessly adv., ˈshiftlessness.
1681J. Flavel Righteous Man's Ref. 265 The misery and shiftlessness of their condition. 1837Emerson Address, Amer. Schol. Wks. (Bohn) II. 183 In the long period of his [the scholar's] preparation, he must betray often an ignorance and shiftlessness in popular arts. 1847Webster, Shiftlessly. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. cxii. 608 The larger cities..where recent emigrants, with the shiftlessness of Europe still clinging round them, are huddled together in squalor. |