| 释义 |
redoubtable, a. (and n.) Now rhet.|rɪˈdaʊtəb(ə)l|
Also 4 redowt-, 4–6 redout-.
[a. F. redoutable, † redoubt- (12–13th c.): see prec.]
1. To be feared or dreaded; formidable. † Also, of persons: To be reverenced or revered, commanding respect.
a. In predicative use.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. v. 102 (Camb. MS.) No wyse man hath leuere ben exiled, poore and nedy, and nameles, than for to..flowren of Rychesses, and be redowtable by honour [L. honore reverendus]. 1481Caxton Myrr. i. viii, For the evyll was helle maad..whiche is horryble stynking and redoubtable. 1530Palsgr. 383 He was wont to be so redoubtable to them. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III.) 108 In such equipage hee would be more ridiculous than redoubtable. 1685Gracian's Courtier's Orac. 53 By one word he rendred himself more redoubtable, than by all his power. 1787Burns Death Sir J. H. Blair vi, Revers'd [is] that spear, redoubtable in war. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (1818) II. 358 A spider-wasp..whose sting is redoubtable. 1889Spectator 14 Sept., As a fighting race, they will always be redoubtable.
b. In attributive use. (Chiefly of persons, and now freq. in humorous or ironical application.)
1421Sir H. Luttrell in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 84 Redoutabel and souveraine Lord. 1484Caxton Chivalry 4 He thought of the ryght redoubtable sentence of our lord. 1550Bale Eng. Votaries (title-p.), Dedicated to our most redoubtable soveraigne kynge Edward the syxte. 1621Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. v. xiv. 377 Ridiculous redoubtable rellicks which the ancient Pagans were wont to carrie. 1657Cromwell Sp. 23 Jan. in Carlyle, That you marry this redoubtable couple together—Righteousness and Peace. 1716Pope Let. to Earl of Burlington Wks. 1886 X. 205 The enterprising Mr. Lintot, the redoubtable rival of Mr. Tonson. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 163 A little to their left was a female.., a redoubtable speaker of the society. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xi. 270 They fell on the redoubtable Swiss, then ‘the finest infantry in the world’.
2. n. A formidable person.
1844Browning Colombe's Birthday iii, Had you sought the lady's court..Faced the redoubtables composing it [etc.].
Hence reˈdoubtableness.
1672Penn Spir. Truth Vind. 67 Behold then the redoubtableness of this Adversary.
Add: reˈdoubtably adv.
1895Funk's Stand. Dict., Redoubtably. 1979Washington Post 29 Apr. a3/4 A..redoubtably powerful woman who is a member of the state Executive Council. |
