| 释义 |
ˈspiritless, a.
[f. spirit n. + -less.]
1. Deprived of the spirit or animating principle; having or possessing no spirit; lifeless.
1570T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 160 His dead and spiritless body was laid in the grave. c1611Chapman Iliad xii. 163 The man..Fell now quite-spiritlesse to earth. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca v. i, 'Tis the Body Of the great Captain Penyus, by himself Made cold and spiritless. 1705Greenhill Embalming 5 Nature admonishes us that the spiritless Body should be restored to the Earth. 1852Bailey Festus (ed. 5) 346 A work or thought..may Be..like the air,..Sweeping miles broad o'er far western woods,..Or may be, nothing—bodiless, spiritless.
2. Devoid of lively or cheerful spirits; depressed, dejected, downcast, dull or melancholy.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 70 Euen such a man, so faint, so spiritlesse, So dull. c1620Fletcher & Mass. Double Marriage ii. i, Why are you still so sad?.. You make us dull, and spiritless. 1643Milton Divorce iv. Wks. 1851 IV. 29 Whereof who misses by chancing on a mute and spiritlesse mate, remaines more alone then before. 1726Leoni Alberti's Architecture III. 18/1 Those that grieve..seem fatigued and spiritless. 1778F. Burney Evelina lxxvi, I was totally spiritless and dejected. 1816C. Hutton Concl. Life W. Hutton 92, I..found my father thinner, weaker, and more spiritless than I left him. 1826Literary Souvenir 326 He sank spiritless, and almost lifeless, upon the gunwale of the vessel. 1876Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 189 The child, ceasing to play about, became spiritless.
transf.1778[W. H. Marshall] Minutes Agric., Observ. 67 The countenance of the Soil..is pallid and spiritless.
3. Destitute or devoid of spirit, animation, or courage; lacking ardour or boldness.
1628Feltham Resolves ii. 5, I wish no man so spiritlesse, as to let all abuses presse the dulnesse of a willing shoulder. 1651Biggs New Disp. ⁋100 We are uselesse and spiritlesse to our selves and the Common-Wealth. 1702Dennis Monument xiii, Their Soldiers and Commanders all grown faint, Dejected, spiritless with frequent Routs. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. viii. I. 214 The infantry was a half-armed spiritless crowd of peasants. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxi, You are a base and spiritless scoundrel! 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. xi. (1865) II. 21 Spiritless himself, he was incapable of infusing spirit. 1884Swinburne Midsummer Holiday, etc. 169 As a swordless and spiritless nation.
b. Destitute of energy or enterprise.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 71 About half a century ago,..the fields [were] uncultivated and the farmers spiritless and poor. c1825Ld. Cockburn Mem. (1856) 168 The publishers we had were too spiritless even for their position. 1861Smiles Engineers II. 49 The country was too poor or too spiritless to undertake their improvement on any comprehensive scale.
4. Marked or characterized by lack of animation, vivacity, or energy.
1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. (1739) p. ix, Both the Election of a King, and the Solemnization of such Election,..are spiritless motions without the presence of the people. 1712Steele Spect. No. 484 ⁋5 Men have indulged themselves in a spiritless Sheepishness. 1753Richardson Grandison (1766) V. 269 What a spiritless figure does he make! 1796F. Burney Camilla ii. 38 The evening was passed in spiritless conversation. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 133 That spiritless apathy with which the subjects of the Italian principalities submitted to the rule of their despotic masters. 1878T. Hardy Ret. Native iv. iv, The spiritless stir of the summer wind.
b. Of literary or artistic productions.
1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 12/2 A literal Translation of the Hebrew Code..must necessarily be,..at best, but flat, insipid, and spiritless. 1797T. Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. II. xlvi, These colours, when singly laid on, are entirely spiritless. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 198 It was her business to sketch designs,..but..the figures were awkward and spiritless.
†5. Lacking spiritual zeal; cold. Obs.—1
1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 37 And buy of Me white rayment, O Spiritless Laodicea, and desire to be cloathed with thy Spiritual Tabernacle from Heaven.
Hence ˈspiritlessly adv.
1669H. More Exp. 7 Epist. ix. 142 The same [formal profession] will this Church of Laodicea hold on spiritlessly and lazily, with little life or zeal. 1873R. Broughton Nancy III. 30 We part without a word, and I, spiritlessly, mount the staircase alone. 1879W. Collins Rogue's Life i, Her son..spiritlessly availed himself of the oleaginous refuse of the soap and candle trade. |