| 释义 |
matchless, a.|ˈmætʃlɪs|
[f. match n.1 + -less.]
1. Having no match, without an equal, peerless.
1530Palsgr. 839/1 Matche lesse, non pareil. 1590Greene Never too late (1600) 68 Then should..the furrowes in my face be numberlesse, as the griefes of my hart are matchlesse. 1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §94. 360 They..plotted the matchlesse, mercilesse, devilish, and damnable gun⁓powder-treason. 1663Gerbier Counsel a 5, The matchlesse capacity of your Highnesse. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 166, I have also a matchless portrait of the king. 1871H. Ainsworth Tower Hill i. iii, There she stood before him, in all her matchless beauty. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §3. 374 Her matchless activity used the year to good purpose.
b. Used as adv.
1871Joaquin Miller Songs Italy (1878) 90 And men did turn and marvel so And men did say how matchless fair!
†2. That are not a match or pair. Obs.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. i. 28 With matchlesse eares deformed and distort.
†3. Unmarried. (In quot. punningly.) Obs.
a1652Brome Damoiselle i. i, A matchlesse Knight Indeed, and shall be matchlesse still for me.
Hence ˈmatchlessly adv., in a matchless manner or degree (Bailey, fol. 1736); ˈmatchlessness, the state of being matchless (Bailey vol. II. 1727).
1818J. Fernie Serm. 379 The matchlessly great and happy, holy and just God. 1884Cyclist's Tour. Cl. Monthly Gaz. Mar. 78/2 A castle so matchlessly situated. |
