| 词汇 | generousness |
| 释义 | (redirected from generousness)be just before you're generousFulfill your duties before engaging in fun activities. This phrase is often used to refer to financial matters. Put some of your paycheck in savings right away—be just before you're generous. You need to clean your room before you go out with your friends. Be just before you're generous. to a faultTo an extreme to excessive degree; more than is usual or necessary. Jim is polite to a fault—it can actually be a little bit irritating sometimes. The police sergeant is honest to a fault, following every regulation and guideline without question. generous to a faultProne to generosity, perhaps excessively so. Of course you gave Sean money again—you're generous to a fault. Be just before you're generous.Prov. Do what you ought to do before you do things that you want to do; pay your debts before you give money away. Jill: It's payday! I can't wait to go out and buy my niece that nice toy train set for her birthday. Jane: But, Jill, we have bills to pay. Be just before you're generous. generous to a faultCliché too generous; overly generous. My favorite uncle is generous to a fault. Sally—always generous to a fault—gave away her lunch to a homeless man. to a faultExcessively, extremely, as in He was generous to a fault. This phrase, always qualifying an adjective, has been so used since the mid-1700s. Indeed, Oliver Goldsmith had this precise usage in The Life of Richard Nash (1762). to a faultCOMMON If someone has a good quality to a fault, they have more of this quality than is usual or necessary. She was generous to a fault and tried to see that we had everything we needed. He's honest to a fault, brave, dedicated, and fiercely proud of the New York Police Department. — to a fault(of someone or something displaying a particular commendable quality) to an extent verging on excess. 1995 Bill Bryson Notes from a Small Island Anyway, that's the kind of place Bournemouth is—genteel to a fault and proud of it. to a ˈfault(written) used to say that somebody has a lot, or even too much of a particular good quality: He was generous to a fault.to a fault To an excessive degree: generous to a fault. to a faultExcessively so. This locution, which is always applied to a quality that is inherently good but may not be so in excess—for example, “generous to a fault”—dates from the nineteenth century. The fault in question, of course, is that of excess. Robert Browning used it in The Ring and the Book (1868), “Faultless to a fault”—that is, too perfect. A similar phrase is to a fare-the-well, but it implies perfection and not necessarily excess. For example, “The table was decorated to a fare-the-well; nothing was lacking.” See also too much of a good thing. |
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