| 释义 |
desultory, a. (n.)|ˈdɛsəltərɪ|
[ad. L. dēsultōri-us of or belonging to a vaulter, superficial, desultory, f. dēsultor: see desultor.]
A. adj.
1. Skipping about, jumping or flitting from one thing to another; irregularly shifting, devious; wavering, unsteady. lit. and fig.
1581Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 220 Not resting vpon any one thing, but desultorie ouer all. 1594Bp. Andrewes Serm. II. 68 ‘Winter brooks’ as Job termeth flitting desultory Christians. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. ii. §31 The Crown, since the Conquest, never observed a regular, but an uncertain and desultory motion. 1699Bentley Phal. 86 Persons of a light and desultory temper, that skip about, and are blown with every wind, as Grass⁓hoppers are. 1699Burnet 39 Art. xx. (1700) 195 All men ought to avoid the Imputations of a desultory Levity. 1748J. Mason Elocut. 19 To cure an uneven, desultory Voice..do not begin your Periods..in too high or too low a Key. 1754Eeles in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 132 That desultory motion, by which it flies off from an electrified body. 1784H. Elliott in Dk. of Leeds's Pol. Mem. (1884) 259 There is also a peculiar desultory motion in His Royal Highnesses eye. 1789G. White Selborne xv. (1853) 63, I shot at it but it was so desultory that I missed my aim. 1825Southey Paraguay Proem., Ceasing here from desultory flight.
2. Pursuing a disconnected and irregular course of action; unmethodical.
1740Warburton Let. 2 Feb. (R.), This makes my reading wild and desultory. 1773Burke Corr. (1844) I. 427 Writing..not in a desultory and occasional manner, but systematically. 1779F. Burney Diary 14 June, She is a very desultory reader. 1827Hare Guesses (1859) 146 Desultory reading is indeed very mischievous, by fostering habits of loose, discontinuous thought. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IV. vii. i. 3 A desultory and intermitting warfare. 1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. xxix. (1873) 104 Guests whose desultory vivacity makes their presence a fatigue. 1876Stubbs Med. & Mod. Hist. ii. 41 The temptation to desultory research must in every case be very great, and desultory research, however it may amuse or benefit the investigator, seldom adds much to the real stock of human knowledge.
b. Of a single thing: Coming disconnectedly; random.
a1704R. L'Estrange (J.), 'Tis not for a desultory thought to attone for a lewd course of life. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. vi. (1869) 131 He no sooner meditates some desultory project, than [etc.].
c. Irregular and disconnected in form or appearance; motley. rare.
1842Alison Hist. Europe (1849–50) XIII. lxxxviii. §42. 148 They..shuddered when they gazed on the long and desultory array of Cossacks..sweeping by. 1866Howells Venet. Life ii. 19 A beggar in picturesque and desultory costume.
B. n. A horse trained for the ‘desultor’ in a circus. Obs. rare—1.
1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xxiii, These horses were called desultories. |