| 释义 |
soulless, a.|ˈsəʊllɪs|
[f. soul n. + -less. Cf. OE. sáwol-, sáwel-, sáwlléas, MDu. sielloos (Du. zielloos), MHG. sêl(e)lôs (G. seellos, seelenlos), Sw. själlös.]
1. Having no soul; from whom or which the soul has departed. Also fig.
1553Short Catech. in Lit. & Doc. Edw. VI (1844) 523 That this godly knowledge decay not in thee, nor lie soulless and dead, as it were, in a tomb. 1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 225 In sume their holinesse is the very outwerd work it selfe, being a brainlesse head and a soule-lesse body. 1652Bp. Hall Height of Eloquence p. xxv, Like soulelesse carkasses they fall down dead. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 215 He resolved that the Soul of the World..was not made by God..out of any thing Inanimate and Soulless Preexisting. c1801C. K. Sharpe in Allardyce Corr., etc. (1888) I. 25 Sage Paine,..Eager to prove..Mankind deluded fools and soulless beasts. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 137 Apollinarians..held the Godhead to have been united to a soulless, and so a brute, nature. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 178, I verily believe that if I were left alone long enough with such a scene as this..I should be found soulless and dead.
transf.1841Brewster Mart. Sci. ii. (1856) 24 A vast unblest desert senseless, voiceless and soulless. 1876‘Ouida’ Winter City vi, Monotonous parapets of cast-iron, the heaviest, most soulless thing that is manufactured.
2. Of persons: Destitute of or wanting in the noble qualities of the soul; lacking spirit, courage, or elevation of mind or feeling.
1587Montgomerie Sonn. xxiv. 3 A saulles suinger, seuintie tymes mensuorne. 1594Peele Battle of Alcazar ii. iii, He on whose glorie all thy ioy should stay, Is souleless, glorylesse, and desperate. 1613Marston Insat. C'tess iv. Wks. 1856 III. 163 That man is soulelesse that ne'er sinnes on earth. 1702De Foe Mock Mourners 13 Trembling, and Soul-less half the Nation stood. 1728Ramsay Last Sp. Miser xvi, They ca'd me slave to usury..And sauleless wretch. 1812Crabbe Tales vi. 263 Nor shall a formal, rigid, soul-less boy My manners alter. 1847C. Brontë J. Eyre xxiii, Do you think, because I am poor,..I am soulless and heartless? 1856Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1879) I. 25 They did not appear wicked,..but only soulless.
absol.1844Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile 1271 Sinning against the province of the Soul To rule the soulless.
b. Of the eyes: Lacking animation or expression; dull.
1835Browning Paracelsus iii. Poems (1905) 458 Having lain long with blank and soulless eyes, He sat up suddenly.
3. Of things, qualities, etc.: Characterized by a lack of animation, ardour, or vivacity; dull, insipid, uninteresting.
1632I. M. S. in Shaks. Sec. Folio, What story coldly tells,..and picture without braine Senselesse and soullesse showes. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. vii. 327 It was nothing else but a soulless and lifeless form of external performances. 1656W. Mountague Accompl. Woman 119 Modesty is a powerfull charme, without it beauty is soul-lesse. 1833H. Martineau Charmed Sea iii. 37, I see things as they are, bleak and bare, and soulless. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 555 Content with its outward soulless round of observances. 1870Mozley Univ. Serm. iii. (1877) 49 There is nothing which so little interests us as soulless earnestness, ardour without faith.
b. Of writings, art, etc.: Devoid of inspiration or feeling.
1856Smyth Roman Family Coins Introd. p. xxix, Too many of our best recent specimens of art are soulless. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 204 Giddy, thoughtless, heartless, soulless versifying. 1887St. James's Gaz. 10 Feb. 7/1 Students find its literature, and above all its poetry, soulless and uninspired.
Hence ˈsoullessly adv., ˈsoullessness.
1870Contemp. Rev. XIII. 12 A reference to the proverbial soullessness of boards. 1871Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 325 Those to whom religion means..religious feeling, may say..that I have written soullessly of the soul. 1891Athenæum 7 Nov. 614/1 Its characters exhibit..peculiar soullessness. |