| 释义 |
sleeveless, a.|ˈsliːvlɪs|
[f. sleeve n. + -less.]
1. Of a coat, jacket, or other garment: Having no sleeves; made without sleeves.
c950Rule St. Benet (Schröer) lv. 89 Hæbban hy eac..scapulare, þæt is ᵹehwæde cuᵹelan and slyflease. c1000ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 151 Colobium, slefleas scrud. c1430Hoccleve New Cant. T. 56 Our lady clothid in a garnement Sleuelees, byfore him he sy appeere. 1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 13 To weare..in their dublettes and sleuelesse cotes, cloth of golde of tissue. 1562Richmond. Wills (Surtees) 166 One sleveles coote of frees. a1631Donne Sat. iv. (1633) 338 Sleevelesse his jerkin was, and it had beene Velvet. 1687Shadwell Tenth Sat. Juvenal 42 The Colour of the Mantle or Sleeveless Gown for the better sort was White. 1799Cowper The Salad 23 Then baring both his arms—a sleeveless coat He girds. 1857S. Osborn Quedah xxiv. 344 A red sleeveless waistcoat..hung slack round his person. 1880‘Ouida’ Moths I. 65 One of those sleeveless, legless, circus-rider's tunics.
2.
†a. Of words, tales, answers, etc.: Futile, feeble; giving no information or satisfaction; irrelevant, trifling. Obs.
Very common c 1570–1600, esp. in sleeveless answer.
1387–8T. Usk Test. of Love ii. viii. (Skeat) l. 77 A wyse man..loketh and mesureth his goodnesse, not by slevelesse wordes of the people, but by sothfastnesse of conscience. c1440Jacob's Well 181 For summe, in schryfte, schal tarye þe preest wyth sleueles talys, þat no-thyng longyth to schryfte. 1524in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1822) V. 342 His Majesties awnswer unto such a sleveless messeage was [etc.]. 1546St. Papers Hen. VIII, XI. 61 For youe knowe..how long youe laye there, and coulde have no answere butt a sleveles answere. 1579W. Fulke Conf. Sanders 706 Fie vppon this horrible idolatrie which is defended with such a sleueles excuse. 1600Look About You D ij b, You sent Iacke Daw your sonne..To tell a sleueles tale! 1650Milton Eikon. (ed. 2) vi. 54 With no more but No, a sleevless reason,..to be sent home frustrat and remediless. 1685Refl. Baxter Pref. A 3 b, He moving a many sleeveless Questions, unseasonably, to ensnare him, and entangle him. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Sleeveless story, a Tale of a Tub, or of a Cock and a Bull.
b. Of errands: Ending in, or leading to, nothing; having no adequate result or cause.
Very common c 1580–1700; sometimes used of pretended errands on which a person is sent merely to be out of the way for a time.
1546Heywood Prov. (1867) 14 And one mornyng tymely he tooke in hande, To make to my house, a sleeueles errande. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 284 So as all men might thinke that his prince made small account of him, to send him on such a slevelesse errand. 1603Dekker Batchelors Banquet Wks. (Grosart) I. 214 Shee..had of purpose sent them forth on sleeuelesse arrands. 1663J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 232 God never sent an Angel from Heaven upon a sleeveless errand. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 181 He was employ'd by Pope Alexander the third, upon a sleeveless Errand to convert the Sultan of Iconium. 1785G. A. Bellamy Apol. (ed. 3) II. 165 He might have conveyed it to me in a letter; and not have brought me to town upon such a sleeveless errand. 1790–in dial. glossaries (Westm., Yorks., Suffolk, etc.). 1860J. W. Warter Sea-board II. 306 His whole life is but a slieveless [sic], useless, errand! 1931L. Storm Dragon xvii. 293 I'd never have the courage like you..to venture forth on what might be a sleeveless errand. 1948Chambers's Jrnl. 320/2 And, as soon as they were settled in, he had McGilchrist ride openly away, putting it about he was satisfied all the talk of whisky-'stilling was a pack of lies by ill-doing ones willing to give the King's officer a sleeveless errand. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. iv. 58 In some [sc. schoolchildren's tricks] he [sc. the dupe] is sent on sleeveless errands.
c. In general use: Paltry, petty, frivolous; vain or unprofitable. Obs. exc. arch. or dial.
1550Bale Eng. Votaries ii. 106 Whan stryfes..were risen betwen monkes and their bishoppes for sleuelesse matters. 1657M. Hawke Killing is M. 18 If we examine his Characters, Marks, and Scutchion of a Tyrant, which he would fasten on his Highness sleeve, we shall find them sleeveless, and altogether impertinent. 1673Kirkman Unl. Citizen 208, I was arrested upon sleeveless and idle occasions, undeserved and unlookt for. 1809Malkin Gil Blas viii. xi. ⁋2 You may perceive, I have not entangled you in a sleeveless concern. 1821Scott Fam. Lett. (1894) II. xvii. 111 He..had no honourable mode of avoiding the sleeveless quarrel fixed on him. 1867Waugh Tattlin' Matty ii, He thinks o' nought i' th' world but race-runnin' an' wrostlin',..an' sich like sleeveless wark as that.
†d. Of a suit: Made in vain; futile. Obs.—1
1600S. Nicholson Acolastus ii. lxv, My suite was sleeueles, thy regard so colde, As if that I anothers tale had tolde.
3. dial. Of persons: Devoid of ability or character; shiftless, idle, incompetent.
1854–in dial. glossaries (Lanc., Yorks., Northampton).
Hence ˈsleevelessness.
1882Sat. Rev. 25 Nov. 687/1 The good-natured sleevelessness of Irish landlords. 1890Ibid. 5 July 3/2 His easy-going sleevelessness might have led to the ruin of the whole expedition. |