| 单词 | by starts |
| 释义 | > as lemmasby (formerly also †at) starts a. by (formerly also †at) starts: intermittently, not continuously or with sustained effort. Now somewhat rare.In the earliest examples start is perhaps to be understood in sense 1a. ΘΚΠ the world > time > frequency > infrequency > [adverb] > intermittently by (formerly also at) startsc1422 startmeal?c1422 off and on1535 every otherwhile1542 by, or in, snatches1577 by fits and turns1583 by halves and fits1583 one time with another1591 fit-meal1593 by fits and spurts1605 planetarily?1609 scatteredly1612 startinglya1616 by snaps1631 intermittingly1654 from space to space1658 on and off1668 at (by) intervals1744 cessantly1746 by spells1788 fitfully1792 by fits and spasms1797 everylikea1800 intermittently1800 intermittedly1829 interjectionally1837 jerkily1839 at seasons1850 sporadically1852 parenthetically1860 spasmodically1877 snatchily1880 variously1892 c1422 T. Hoccleve Dialogus (Durh.) l. 505 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 128 By stirtes, whan þat a fressh lust me takith, Wole I me bisye now and now a lyte. a1528 F. Poyntz tr. Table of Cebes (?1531) f. 14v Ye muste consydre these sayenges continually, and not by startis. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 858/1 At startes, par foys. 1557 P. Hoby in J. W. Burgon Life & Times Sir T. Gresham (1839) I. 225 But you come so by sterts, as to-night you are here, and tomorrowe you are gone. 1577 R. Stanyhurst Hist. Irelande iii. 78/1 in R. Holinshed Chron. I They [sc. the Irish]..performed by startes (as theyr manner is) the duetie of good subiects. 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 51 This little Treatise..being gathered and compiled by starts, as my leysure would serve. 1630 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. 53 So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious promises. 1681 J. Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 17 Was every thing by starts, and nothing long. 1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. (1890) 261 But I knew he had by starts great notions of generosity. 1799 H. Lee Canterbury Tales (ed. 2) I. 239 The letters he daily received..induced him, by starts, to betray [etc.]. 1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria II. xxii. 131 Let it likewise be shown how far the influence has acted; whether diffusively, or only by starts. 1900 Birmingham Med. Rev. Dec. 349 The patient only breathed by starts, his face was cyanotic, and his pulse was still distinctly palpable. 1911 Cosmopolitan Oct. 666/1 He seems moody, works by starts, then will neglect his work entirely. 1961 D. Madden Beautiful Greed ii. iii. 113 He slept by starts, dreamed fitfully. < as lemmas |
| 随便看 |
英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。