mawkish: [17] The underlying meaning of mawkish is ‘maggotish’. It was derived from a now obsolete word mawk, which meant literally ‘maggot’ but was used figuratively (like maggot itself) for a ‘whim’ or ‘fastidious fancy’. Hence mawkish originally meant ‘nauseated, as if repelled by something one is too fastidious to eat’. In the 18th century the notion of ‘sickness’ or ‘sickliness’ produced the present-day sense ‘over-sentimental’. Mawk itself went back to a Middle English mathek ‘maggot’ (possible source of maggot [14]), which was borrowed from Old Norse mathkr. => maggot
mawkish (adj.)
1660s, "sickly, nauseated," from Middle English mawke "maggot" (see maggot). Sense of "sickly sentimental" is first recorded 1702. Related: Mawkishly; mawkishness.
实用例句
1. A sordid, sentimental plot unwinds, with an inevitable mawkish ending.
一段灰暗而感伤的情节慢慢展开，最后是一个不可避免的幼稚可笑的结局。
来自辞典例句
2. Such feelings infuse Ekhrajiha, which is nonetheless an odd mix of slapstick humour and mawkish sentimentality.
