| 释义 |
▪ I. linger, n.
[f. linger v.]
†1. Delay. Obs.
1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 34 Who but they cowld abyde such hunger and colde,..besydes the lynger of paye, sycknes and mortalitie?
2. U.S. (See quot.)
1895Nation (N.Y.) 9 May 358/3 The enervating influence of the climate, giving rise to that which in the south-western United States is called the ‘Texas lingers’.
▪ II. linger, v.|ˈlɪŋgə(r)|
Forms: 4, ? 6 lenger, (4 langer), 6 lyngar, -er, 6– linger.
[Northern ME. lenger, frequentative of leng v.: see -er5.]
†1. intr. To dwell, abide, stay (in a place). Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 604 Þer-for he gafe him to be-gin A luuesum land at lenger in. a1300Ibid. 1411 And leuer was [adam] siþen to lenger [Fairf. langer] in hell þan langer in þis liue to duell.
2. a. To stay behind, tarry, loiter on one's way; to stay on or hang about in a place beyond the proper or usual time, esp. from reluctance to leave it.
1530Palsgr. 612/1, I lyngar behynde my companye, I tarye behynde them, je targe. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 27 Leaste any linger behynde his companie. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 313 A number of the Souldyours..came home agayne unpayde and lyngered and still hanged vpon the prince. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 54 Then linger not, my Lord, away, take horse. 1594Spenser Amoretti lxxxviii, And, in her songs, sends many a wish⁓full vow For his returne that seemes to linger late. 1667Pepys Diary 30 June, They had no orders, and lay lingering upon the way. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 254 They pretending they had lost their Way, but more truly lingred, not having us to spur them on. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, In scenes like these she would often linger alone. 1816Shelley Alastor 98 He would linger long In lonesome vales, making the wild his home. 1838Lytton Alice 67 Evelyn could have lingered all day in the room. 1864D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stor. 245 The broken gentle⁓man lingers for hours beside the portraits of the old Count. 1874Green Short Hist. ii. §6. 94 The White Ship in which he had embarked lingered behind the rest of the royal fleet. 1893G. E. Matheson About Holland 22 The Dutch trains do perhaps seem to linger somewhat on the way.
b. To proceed at a slow pace; to go lingeringly (down, past).
1826M. W. Shelley Last Man II. 130 Soon the dim orb passed from over the sun, and lingered down the eastern heaven. 1836–9Dickens Sk. Boz, Scenes iii. (1892) 54 These men linger listlessly past. 1840― Barn. Rudge xvi, He was never lingering or loitering, but always walking swiftly. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 294 Lingering through one of the aisles.
c. fig. (with a prep. as on, over, round): To dwell upon, give protracted consideration to, be reluctant to quit (a subject).
1843Ruskin Mod. Paint. (1848) I. ii. ii. v. §8. 193 Every one of those broad spaces she would linger over in protracted delight. 1844Stanley Arnold (1858) I. iv. 168, I linger round a subject. 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxiv. 117 Yet, for again I come to the former story, beseems not Linger on all done there.
3. ‘To remain long in languor and pain’ (J.); to continue alive, though oppressed by sickness or other distress. (Cf. lingering ppl. a. b.)
1534[see lingering vbl. n.]. 1570Levins Manip. 78/23 To linger, languere. 1604Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 88, I would not haue thee linger in thy paine. 1607― Cor. iii. iii. 89 Pent to linger But with a graine a day. 1819Scott Prose Wks. IV. Biographies II. (1870) 320 He lingered a few days, possessed of his senses, reconciled to his fate. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 251 He lingered as a prisoner of the Inquisition for sixteen years. 1898Rider Haggard Dr. Therne 6 He lingered for nearly two years.
fig.1781Cowper Hope 723 When hope, long lingering, at last yields the ghost.
4. To be tardy in doing or beginning anything; to hesitate, delay; to dawdle. † Const. inf.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. iii. 7–10 As they yt make hast are pertakers of health, so they that linger are al pertakers of peril. 1586J. Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 16/1 The king..differed the time, and lingered to give any answer. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. ii. 58 We haue linger'd about a match betweene An Page, and my cozen Slender. 1611Bible 2 Pet. ii. 3 Whose iudgement now of a long time lingereth not [Gr. οὐκ ἀργεῖ]. 1692Dryden Cleomenes ii. ii. 17 And if my Eyes have pow'r, He should not sue In vain, nor linger with a long delay. 1812S. Rogers Columbus iv. 50 Oft the stern Catalan..Muttered dark threats, and linger'd to obey. 1851Grote Greece VIII. 420 His accuser denounces him as having..designedly lingered in the business, for the purpose of prolonging the period of remuneration. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 268 By no remonstrance..could he prevail on his allies to be early in the field... Every one of them lingered, and wondered why the rest were lingering. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 186 Either Malcolm lingered in his preparations, or [etc.].
5. fig., chiefly of immaterial things.
a. To remain, to be slow to pass away or disappear; to stay or persist, though tending to wane and dwindle. to linger on, to continue to linger.
1764Goldsm. Trav. 172 But winter lingering chills the lap of May. 1805Wordsw. Waggoner iv. 189 Nor could the waggon long survive, Which Benjamin had ceased to drive: It lingered on;—guide after guide Ambitiously the office tried. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 707 It is by no means improbable that this superstition..may still linger in a few obscure farm-houses. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxii. 483 When the Plague had departed from most parts of London, it often lingered in the Tower. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 110 But he has still a doubt lingering in his mind.
b. To be slow in coming or accruing.
1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 141 Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola I. Introd. (1880) 9 The wages of men's sins often linger in their payment. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xx. 593 When the sentence was once passed its execution did not linger.
c. Of actions or conditions: To be protracted (wearisomely or painfully), to drag on. (Cf. lingering ppl. a.)
[1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. i. 74 One would have lingring Warres, with little cost.] 1836Thirlwall Greece III. xvii. 8 As the siege of Ithome lingered, the Spartans called on their allies for aid.
6. quasi-trans.
a. with advb. compl. (forth, on, out): To draw out, prolong, protract by lingering, tarrying, or dallying. to linger away: to waste (time) by lingering.
1550Latimer Last Serm. bef. Edw. VI (1562) 137 It shal cause things to haue good successe, and that matters shal not be lingred forth from daye to daye. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 265, I can get no remedy against this Consumption of the purse. Borrowing only lingers, and lingers it out, but the disease is incurable. 1606― Tr. & Cr. v. x. 9 Let your briefe plagues be mercy, And linger not our sure destructions on. 1622Massinger Virg. Mart. ii. iii, I'll not insult on a base, humbled prey By lingering out thy terrors. 1695Dryden Death Mr. Purcell 29 Now live secure, and linger out your days. a1704T. Brown Praise Drunkenness Wks. 1730 I. 36 The first linger away their lives in perpetual drudgery. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 34 (1754) 179 To prevent the scholars from ling'ring away their time, and neglecting their studies. 1829Scott Diary 8 Mar. in Lockhart, Half measures do but linger out the feud. 1833Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Wedding, We all began to be afraid that a suit which as yet had abated none of its ardours, might at last be lingered on, till passion had time to cool. 1860Froude Hist. Eng. VI. 522 His policy, therefore, was for the present to linger out the negotiations. 1887Lowell Old Eng. Dram. (1892) 130 Ford lingers-out his heart-breaks too much.
b. To pass (life) sadly or wearily.
1725Pope Odyss. xiv. 411 Far from gay cities, and the ways of men, I linger life. a1774Goldsm. Hist. Greece II. 239 They..left him to linger in this manner, unattended, the remains of his wretched life.
7.
†a. trans. To cause to linger; to prolong, protract, draw out (the time, a business, etc.); also, to delay, put off, defer. Obs.
1543Grafton Cont. Harding 18 Edwarde..thoughte he wold not lynger his busines. 1556T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer A iij b, I forbare and lingered the time to see if any [etc.]. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 307 The Bread, that our Lord gaue to his Disciples, he lingred it not [tr. L. non distulit], nor bad it to be kept vntill the morning. a1568Coverdale Bk. Death ii. 7 That wee by no occasion should linger ye amendment of our liues vntill age. 1584Cogan Haven Health (1636) 215 Wherefore I advise all men not to linger the time long in eating and drinking superfluously. 1604Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 231 He goes into Mauritania..vnlesse his abode be lingred heere by some accident. 1604Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 59 To linger and detract the war. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iv. ii. §3. 175 The Leigers..could not be perswaded to linger the time and stay their aduantage. 1632Sanderson Serm. 301 Secure ones may linger their repentance till it be too late. 1633Ford Broken H. iv. iv, To linger Pain, which I strive to cure, were to be cruel.
†b. To keep waiting, put off (a person). Also with off. Obs.
1534More Let. to Marg. Roper Wks. 1429/1 They were not lingered nor made to daunce any long attendance..as sutours were sometime wont to be. 1543Grafton Contn. Harding 101 Then Henry spedely prepared him selfe because he would lynger his frendes no lenger. 1594West 2nd Pt. Symbol. §35 Least the parties should..be long lingered with vaine hope of an endlesse end. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxi. 80 Hee sollicited the Affricks and the King of Mauritane for supply, being lingred off with delayes.
c. Hort. To delay the blooming of (flowers) by artificial means.
1906Daily Chron. 12 Sept. 4/4 If you force, you exhaust the [rose-]tree; it languishes. I prefer to ‘linger’ it.
8. intr. To have a longing or craving, to hanker. Const. after; also (rarely) with infinitive.
1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 11 They [sc. tups] will beginne to linger after ewes and decline. a1649Winthrop New Eng. (1853) I. 54 Such as fell into discontent, and lingered after their former condition in England. 1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xxvii. (1739) 120 The Cardinal finding the King's mind to linger after another Bedfellow. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts 14 More remarkable it seems that they should extoll and linger after the Cucumbers and Leeks, Onions and Garlick in ægypt. 1718Motteux Quix. (1733) I. 255 Thou lingerest with Impatience to exercise thy talking Faculty. 1893Surrey Words (E.D.S.) s.v., Being used to hay makes them linger more after it. |
