| 释义 |
▪ I. dearth, n.|dɜːθ|
Forms: 3–4 derþe, (4 dierþe), 4–5 derthe, 4–6 (7 Sc.) derth, 6 darth, deerth, 6– dearth.
[ME. derþe, not recorded in OE. (where the expected form would be díerðu, díerð, dýrð: cf. 14th c. dierþe in Ayenb.); but corresp. formally to ON. dýrð with sense ‘glory’, OS. diuriđa, OHG. tiurida, MHG. tiûrde, MG. tûrde glory, honour, value, costliness; abstr. n. f. WGer. diuri, OE. díere, déore, dear a.1: see -th1.
The form derke in Gen. & Exod. (bis) and Promp. Parv. seems to be a scribal error for derþe, derðe; but its repeated occurrence is remarkable.]
†1. Glory, splendour. Obs. rare. [= ON. dyrð.]
c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 99 Þe derþe þerof for to deuyse Nis no wyȝ worþe that tonge berez.
†2. Dearness, costliness, high price. Obs.
(This sense, though etymologically the source of those that follow, is not exemplified very early, and not frequent. In some of the following instances it is doubtful.)
[1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cii. 82 Ther felle grete derth and scarsyte of corne and other vytailles in that land. 1596Bp. Barlow Three Serm. i. 5 Dearth is that, when all those things which belong to the life of man..are rated at a high price.] 1632in Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 67 Compleining of..the dearthe of the pryce thairof. 1644R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) II. 175, I cannot help the extraordinarie dearth: they say the great soume the author putts on his copie, is the cause of it. 1793Bentham Emanc. Colonies Wks. 1843 IV. 413 When an article is dear, it is..made so by freedom or by force. Dearth which is natural is a misfortune: dearth which is created is a grievance.
fig.1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 123 His infusion of such dearth and rareness.
3. A condition in which food is scarce and dear; often, in earlier use, a time of scarcity with its accompanying privations, a famine; now mostly restricted to the condition, as in time of dearth.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2237 Wex derk [? derþe], ðis coren is gon. Ibid. 2345. a 1300 Cursor M. 4700 (Cott.) Sua bigan þe derth to grete. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 20 If any derth com in þe cuntree [quant il fait chier temps]. c1440Promp. Parv. 119 Derthe (P. or derke), cariscia. 1526Tindale Luke xv. 14 There rose a greate derth thorow out all that same londe. 1552Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, In the tyme of dearth and famine. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 27 Dainty they say maketh derth. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vii 22 They know..If dearth Or Foizon follow. 1625Bacon Ess. Seditions (Arb.) 403 The Causes and Motiues of Seditions are..Dearths: Disbanded Souldiers. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 80 The same causes which make Dearth in one place do often cause plenty in another. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. li. 217 The fertility of Egypt supplied the dearth of Arabia. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 361 Augustus in a dearth, gave freedom to twenty thousand slaves. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. (1857) II. iv. ii. 270 In modern times, therefore, there is only dearth, where there formerly would have been famine.
b. of († for) corn, victuals, etc.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 23 Þer falles oft sithes grete derth of corne [chier temps]. 1538Starkey England ii. i. 174 The darth of al such thyngys as for fode ys necessary. 1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 33 This yere [1527] was a gret derth in London for brede. Ibid. 45 This yere was a gret derth for wode and colles. 1720Gay Poems (1745) I. 139 At the dearth of coals the poor repine. 1721Swift Let. fr. Lady conc. Bank Wks. (1841) II. 67 The South-Sea had occasioned such a dearth of money in the kingdom.
4. fig. and transf. Scarcity of anything, material or immaterial; scanty supply; practical deficiency, want or lack of a quality, etc.
1340Ayenb. 256 Þe meste dierþe þet is aboute ham is of zoþnesse an of trewþe. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋340 Precious clothyng is cowpable for the derthe of it. c1477Caxton Jason 42 b, Ther is no grete derthe ne scarcete of women. 1596Drayton Legends iv. 45 A time when never lesse the Dearth Of happie Wits. 1667Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesie Wks. 1725 I. 55 That dearth of plot and narrowness of Imagination, which may be observed in all their Plays. 1671C. Hatton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 60 The absence of y⊇ Court occasions a great dirth of news here. 1754Richardson Grandison IV. xvii. 130 We live in an age in which there is a great dearth of good men. 1815Wordsw. White Doe ii. 8 Her last companion in a dearth Of love. 1875J. Curtis Hist. Eng. 151 The great pestilence of 1349 led to such a dearth of labourers.
▪ II. † dearth, v. Obs.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To make dear in price; to cause or produce a scarcity of or in anything; to beggar.
c1440Promp. Parv. 119 Derthyn or make dere, carisco, carioro. 1594Zepheria ii. in Arb. Garner V. 66 Thy Worth hath dearthed his Words, for thy true praise! 1743in Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 153 Thomas Murray having dearthed the flesh Mercat by buying up some pork.
Hence † ˈdearthing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 404 To susteane thowsandis of strangeris..to the derthing of all viweris [= vivres]. 1593Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 64 This huge word-dearthing taske. |