英和和英

語源

A variant of God’s send, from God +‎ -’s +‎ send (“(obsolete) act of sending”), in the sense of someone or something sent by God.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɡɒdsɛnd/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈɡɑdˌsɛnd/
• ハイフネーション: god‧send

名詞

godsend (plural godsends)

1. An instance of unexpected benefit or good fortune; a windfall.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Discovery”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 207:

     "You do, indeed, seem to take it to heart!" exclaimed the actress, an expression of jealous anger crossing her features; "why, it is quite a God-send for you! many a heart is caught in the rebound. […]"

   • 1843 November, Thomas De Quincey, “Ceylon”, in Speculations Literary and Philosophic: With German Tales and Other Narrative Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XII), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 27:

     [O]nce again, as in 1803, we were on the brink of being sacrificed to the very lunacies of retrenchment. By a mere god-send, more troops happened to arrive from the Indian continent.

   • 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VI, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, page 80:

     By this time my wife was in Barcelona and used to send me tea, chocolate, and even cigars when such things were procurable; but even in Barcelona everything was running short, especially tobacco. The tea was a godsend, though we had no milk and seldom any sugar.

   • 1949 November–December, O[swald] S[tevens] Nock, “Twenty-Four Hours at York—2”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 357–358:

     To the onlooker, and particularly to those whose memories go back to pre-grouping days, the modern cavalcade of "V2s" and "B1s" is apt to become a little monotonous; but to any running man the general utility characteristics of these two classes are a perfect godsend at times of exceptional pressure, when it is often a case of "first in—first out" with locomotive allocations at sheds.

   1. (specifically, UK, regional, archaic) The wreck of a ship which has washed up on shore, from which cargo, timber, etc., may be obtained.
      • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in The Pirate. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 183:

        Its seldom sic [such] rich Godsends come on our coast—no since the Jenny and James came ashore in King Charlie's time.

      • 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 528:

        But Biddy knew what's what, and she knew that Jack was the man for a woman who wished to be comfortable and happy; for, to say nothing of the fish, Jack had the supplying of half the gentlemen's houses of the country with the Godsends that came into the bay.

2. A person who provides greatly needed assistance.

別の表記

• God-send

関連する語

• godsent

参考

• serendipity
• manna

参照

Further reading

• “godsend, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.

アナグラム

• Dodgens, Goddens, dogends