| 释义 |
shrewish, a.|ˈʃruːɪʃ|
[f. shrew n.2 + -ish.]
†1. Wicked, ill-disposed, malignant. Obs.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints iv. (Jacobus) 262 Þat name [sc. lupa] gaynyt hyr til, for scho wes schrewis, feloun & Il. 1481Caxton Myrr. i. xiv. d j b, That one shal happen to be wyse and discrete & that other folissh or shrewyssh. 1481― Reynard (Arb.) 23 Thowgh my eme were twyes so bad and shrewessh.
2. Of a woman: Pertaining to or resembling a shrew; having the character or disposition of a shrew; given to or characterized by scolding.
1565J. Phillip Patient Grissell 1619 Therbe a nomber liuinge that Grissills haue to name, But yet very shrewishe by naturall dispocisyon. 1577Grange Golden Aphrod. etc. R iij, A shrewishe tongue. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe G 4, Shee was a shrewish snappish bawd, that wold bite off a mans nose with an answere. 1603Dekker Batch. Banquet iv. Wks. (Grosart) I. 195 Not caring to prouide ought for his supper, but contrariwise taunts him with sharp and shrewish speeches. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 225 The Mistris is a good Huswife, but of shrewish condition. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. x, ‘Good woman’, said the magistrate to this shrewish supplicant,—‘tell us what it is you want, and do not interrupt the court.’ 1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 42 My wife became more and more shrewish and tormenting the more I wanted comfort. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge vii, Slender and shrewish,..and though not absolutely ill-looking, of a sharp and acid visage. 1891Athenæum 3 Oct. 447/3 Her vigorous, if somewhat shrewish dismissal of the Council's envoys.
b. In wider sense: Ill-natured, ill-tempered; of a sharp or cross-grained nature.
1596Nashe Saffron Walden E 3, Scelarata sinapis, shrewish snappish mustard, as Plautus calls it.
1816Scott Antiq. xix, He threw his coral and bells at my head for refusing him a bit of sugar—and you have too much sense to mind such a shrewish boy. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 194 His little dog Viper,..sleek, sharp, and shrewish. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow i. i, Y'are the shrewishest old dolt in Tunstall Forest.
transf.1863R. F. Burton W. Africa I. 1 The shrewish gusts tore to pieces the very strongest showers. 1882Howells in Longman's Mag. I. 43 It was a shrewish afternoon late in April... The season was very dry.
Hence ˈshrewishly adv., ˈshrewishness.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 301, I was neuer curst: I haue no gift at all in shrewishnesse. 1602― Twel. N. i. v. 170 He is verie well-fauour'd, and he speakes verie shrewishly. a1661Fuller Worthies, Shropsh. (1662) 2 How much shrewishness may be allowed in a Wife? 1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 268 Elvira we chose for her especial gift in scolding, her natural shrewishness. 1855Motley Dutch Rep. vi. i. (1866) 779 These and similar sins of omission and commission were sharply and shrewishly set forth in the Queen's epistle. 1884H. S. Wilson Stud. Hist. 169 The hair red, the face rather pointedly oval, with an expression of some shrewishness. |