| 释义 |
steepen, v.|ˈstiːp(ə)n|
[f. steep a. + -en5.]
1. intr. To become steep or steeper.
1847H. Miller First Impr. ix. 153 As the way steepened..I could detect..some traces of the old path. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. xxxi, But by little and little the hill began to steepen.
2. trans. fig. To increase, ‘pile on’, ‘heap up’; also with up.
1909Ld. Rosebery in Times 11 Sept. 7/5 These death duties..have been constantly steepened up. 1914Q. Rev. Apr. 458 The financial demands made upon under-writing members have been very much steepened of recent years.
Hence ˈsteepening vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1868Gladstone in Morley Life (1903) II. v. xvi. 256, I ascend a steepening path with a burden ever gathering weight. 1909Ld. Rosebery in Times 11 Sept. 7/5 An argument for the steepening of the death duties was that [etc.]. |