| 释义 |
almighty, a.|ɔːlˈmaɪtɪ|
Forms: 1 ælmeahtiᵹ, ealmihtiᵹ, 2 ælmihti, almihtiȝ, 2–3 almihti(e, (3 allmahhtiȝ), 3–4 almiȝti, -myȝti, myhti, 4 almihty, allmyghty, 4–5 almyghty, -myȝty, 6 allmighty, 7 -ie, 6–7 almightie, 4– almighty.
[f. all adv. + mighty. OE. ælmeahtiᵹ = OS. alomahtig, OHG. alamahtic: see the by-forms almight, -in, -end.]
All-powerful, omnipotent.
1. a. Orig. and in the strict sense used as an attribute of the Deity, and joined to God or other title.
c890Cod. Dipl. 138 On Godes ealmihtiᵹes naman. a1000Psalm l. (Cotton) 85 ælmeahtiᵹ god. c1175Lamb. Hom. 7 Þenne wunet god almihti in us. Ibid. 97 Þe almihtiȝa godes sune. c1200Ormin 95 Biforenn Crist Allmahhtiȝ Godd. c1300Beket 1042 Ȝe honuryeth more an urthlich King than ȝe God almiȝti do. 1366Mandeville i. 6 In the Name of God Glorious and Allemyghty. 1418Abp. Chichele in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 2 I. 4 Blessud be Almyȝty God. 1535Coverdale Ecclus. l. 20 To geue thankes to Allmightie God. 1611Bible Gen. xvii. 1, I am the almightie God, walke before me. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 145 The first Almighty Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral Laws. 1864Tennyson En. Ard. 783 O God Almighty, Blessed Saviour.
b. absol. The Almighty; a title of God.
a1000Beowulf 184 Cwæþ þæt se ælmihtiᵹa eorþan worhte. 1382Wyclif Ruth i. 20 With bitternes mych the Almyȝti hath fulfillid me. 1535Coverdale Job vi. 4 The allmighty hath shott at me with his arowes. 1611Bible Job viii. 3 Doth the Almightie peruert iustice? 1667Milton P.L. iv. 566 To know More of th' Almighties works. 1718Pope Iliad vii. 215 Grant, thou Almighty! in whose hand is fate, A worthy champion. 1878E. White Life in Christ 108 The same words are used by the Almighty in threatening Abimelech. Mod. If it should please the Almighty to spare him for a few years longer.
c. rarely in superl.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. vii. (1641) 60/2 Man (but Image of th' Almightiest) Without these gifts is not a Man, but Beast.
2. All-powerful (in a general sense). spec. (chiefly U.S.) almighty dollar and similar phrases.
c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 62 O noble almighty Sampson. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 650 The Armipotent Mars, of Launces the almighty. 1606― Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 174 Constring'd in masse by the almighty Fenne [v.r. sunne]. 1782Cowper Hope 655 Insensible of Truth's almighty charms. 1836W. Irving in New Yorker 12 Nov. 115 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes I. iii. 63 The almighty dollar sinks into something comparatively insignificant. 1863W. Phillips Speeches iii. 45, I hail the almighty power of the tongue. 1891F. W. Bain Antichrist ii. 104 A mere conglomeration of fortune hunters, worshipping the Almighty Dollar. 1947Time 16 June 33/1 There is a limit to the sacrifices some Britons would make for the sake of the almighty greenback.
¶ slang. Mighty, great; exceedingly.
1824De Quincey Wks. (1871) XVI. 261 Such rubbish, such ‘almighty’ nonsense (to speak transatlanticè), no eye has ever beheld. 1833Marryat Pet. Simple (1863) 328 An almighty pretty French privateer lying in St. Pierre's. |
