| 释义 |
▪ I. sneaking, vbl. n.|ˈsniːkɪŋ|
[f. sneak v.]
The action of the vb. in various senses. Also with preps. and advs.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cxliv, But sneaking smells of Peasant, though they weare Blue Ribbands. 1656North's Plutarch Add. Lives 43 He built a house without his Camp for all strangers.., whereby he prevented their sneaking into his Camp. 1706Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 217 By his Sneaking and Cringing. 1772T. Simpson Vermin-Killer 20 They appear shy, but that is from your sneaking after them. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 23 An assiduity..which sometimes almost verges towards sneaking. 1895Outing XXVI. 403/2 By hard sneaking it was possible to get within about two hundred and fifty yards.
▪ II. sneaking, ppl. a.|ˈsniːkɪŋ|
Also 7 sneeking.
[f. sneak v.]
1. That sneaks; moving, walking, acting, etc., in a furtive or slinking manner. Also transf.
1590Greene Never too late (1600) 98 Hee is such a sneaking fellowe, that..touch him and he will scrike. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. B iij, They will..call him a sneaking Eaues⁓dropper. 1659in Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 71 Where is then the anarchy, the sneaking oligarchy? 1673A. Walker Leez Lachrymans 26 He had a great mans mind, not a little sneeking, servile, narrow, soul. 1710Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 34 Authoriz'd to be printed by our sneaking Vicechanc[ellor]. 1726Dyer Country Walk 75 The sneaking tribe of Flattery. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 227 Lurking footpads and sneaking pickpockets. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. xiii, A nasty, ungrateful, pig-headed, brutish, obstinate, sneaking dog. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 99 Several of these sneaking beasts [coyotes] were prowling round.
Comb.1828Lights & Shades I. 292 The same sneaking⁓looking animal, whether you meet with it in a palace or a jail.
†b. sneaking-budge, one who steals or robs alone; also erron. (quots. 1743–51), stealing, pilfering. Obs.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. 1743Fielding J. Wild i. viii, Wild..looked upon borrowing to be as good a way of taking as any, and, as he called it, the genteelest kind of Sneaking-budge. 1751― Amelia i. iii, I find you are some sneaking-budge rascal.
†c. Niggardly, mean, near. Obs.
1696W. Mountagu Holland Pref. 2 We were not Sneaking..but thriftily Liberal. 1749Fielding Tom Jones x. iii, He had some few blemishes.., yet being a sneaking or a niggardly fellow, was not one of them. 1773Foote Bankrupt iii, No gentleman can accuse me of being sneaking. Dingey, give him six pence.
transf.1697Tryon Way to Health vi. 116 How many stingy sneaking Names will they call us?
2. Marked or characterized by, partaking or suggestive of, sneaking; hence, mean, contemptible.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 84 But Scylla in cabbans with sneaking treacherye lurcketh. 1648J. Beaumont Psyche xiii. xxiii, No Conventicle's sneaking Cloisters hid Those Doctrines. 1658Verney Mem. (1907) II. 73 He has an extraordinary sneaking countenance and way with him. 1724Welton Chr. Faith & Pract. 223 It was, methinks, as sneaking a submission..as it was a false assertion. 1770Foote Lame Lover i, An absolute monarch to sink into the sneaking state of being a slave to one of his subjects. 1845Ld. Campbell Chancellors lxxiii. (1857) III. 402 They, in a sneaking and paltry manner, pretended that they were not prepared. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, It's worthy of the sneaking spirit that robs a live man.
†3. Mean in appearance or amount; petty, paltry, contemptibly poor or small. Obs.
1703R. Neve City & C. Purchaser 87 Sometimes little sneaking ill-contrived Stair-cases are built in a good comely large Structure. 1733Fielding Quix. Eng. ii. i, For a sneaking fee he pleads the villain's cause. 1779F. Burney Diary 20 Oct., A meaner, more sneaking and pitiful wig..did I never see.
4. Of feelings, affection, etc.: Unavowedly cherished or entertained; not openly declared or shown; undemonstrative. Freq. in a sneaking kindness.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 303, I believe I have a sneaking kindness for the sneaking fellow. 1753–4― Grandison (1812) I. 290 (D.), You..shall reveal to me your sneaking passion, if you have one. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 244 Some sneaking virtue lurks in him, no doubt. 1842Thackeray Miss Tickletoby's Lect. vii, I can't help having a sneaking regard for him. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. ix. (1894) 204, I have a sneaking..belief in the virtues of the scrambling Briton. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 676, I have a sneaking sympathy with these good people. |
