peevish
形容词 adj.
副词 adv.
英 /ˈpiːvɪʃ/
美 /ˈpivɪʃ/
英文释义
形容词 adj.
-
Constantly complaining, especially in a childish way due to insignificant matters; fretful, whiny.
— Due to the long wait, there were several peevish patients in the doctor’s waiting room.
-
Quick to become bad-tempered or cross, especially due to insignificant matters; irritable, pettish, petulant.
— I would rather figure things out on my own than ask that peevish librarian for help.The foullest sloven under heaven, / Proud, peevish, lither, and lewd, / Malapert, meddler, nothing well thewed, […]
-
Of weather: blustery, windy; also, of wind: cold and strong; bitter, sharp.
— Serene he bears the peeviſh eaſtern blaſt, / And uninfected breaths the mortal South.
- Coy, modest.
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Foolish, silly.
— VVhy vvhat a peeuiſh Foole vvas that of Creet [i.e., Daedalus], / That taught his Sonne [Icarus] the office of a Fovvle, / And yet for all his vvings, the Foole vvas drovvn'd.
-
Harmful, injurious; also, mischievous; or malicious, spiteful.
— [The Scots] brent ſome of the English Shippes. With the which victory, they were ſo inflamed with pride, that in deriſion of the king, they made certaine peeuiſhe and mocking rymes vvhich I paſſe ouer.
-
Impulsive and unpredictable; capricious, fickle.
— [T]heſe women be all ſuche madde pieuiſhe elues / They will not be wonne except it pleaſe them ſelues.
-
Obstinately in the wrong; perverse, stubborn.
— But ſuche as will perſyſt ſtyll in theyr wylfulneſſe, I muſt nedes iudge not only foliſhe, froward and obstynate: but also peuiſhe, peruerſe and indurate.The Great Bible
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Out of one's mind; mad.
— The dredfull dinne droue all the rowte on a rowe; / Some tremblid, some girnid, some gaspid, some gasid, / As people halfe peuysshe, or men that were masyd.
-
Of a thing: evoking a feeling of distaste, horror, etc.
— The Lords Supper and your peeviſh, popiſh private maſſe doe agree together like God and the divell, Chriſt and Beliall, light and darkneſſe, truth and falſehood, […]
-
Clever, skilful.
— The word peeviſh among the vulgar of Scotland is uſed for niggardly, covetous; in the North of England, for vvitty, ſubtile.
副词 adv.
-
Synonym of peevishly (“in a peevish manner: whiningly; irritably, petulantly; etc.”).
— She was not halfe so wyse / As she was peuysshe nyse.
词汇关系
近义词
反义词
下位词
词源
词源 1
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English pievish, peuysche, pevish, pevysh (“capricious, wilful; perverse, wayward”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from one of the following:
* From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”.
* From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to hit, strike”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)).
The adverb is derived from the adjective.
* From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”.
* From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to hit, strike”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)).
The adverb is derived from the adjective.
词源 2
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English pievish, peuysche, pevish, pevysh (“capricious, wilful; perverse, wayward”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from one of the following:
* From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”.
* From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to hit, strike”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)).
The adverb is derived from the adjective.
* From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”.
* From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to hit, strike”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)).
The adverb is derived from the adjective.
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数据来源: Wiktionary