| 释义 |
strenuous, a.|ˈstrɛnjuːəs|
[f. L. strēnu-us brisk, active, vigorous (related to Gr. στρηνής strong, hard, rough, στρῆνος haughtiness, arrogance) + -ous. Cf. It. strenuo, Sp. estrénuo.
App. first used by Marston; one of the words ridiculed, as pedantic neologisms, by Ben Jonson in his attack on Marston in Poetaster (1601), where (v. iii. 302) Marston's line is almost literally quoted.]
1. Of persons or their dispositions: Vigorous in action, energetic; ‘brave, bold, active, valiant’ (J.). Now usually with stronger notion: Unremittingly and ardently laborious.
1599Marston Ant. Rev. v. i. (1602) I 2, The fist of strenuous vengeance is clutcht. c1611Chapman Iliad xvii. 495 He..tooke one Podes, that was heire, to old Eetion, A rich man, and a strenuous [Gr. ἀγαθός]. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 254 A strenuous and an expert Souldier. 1632Lithgow Trav. vii. 326 Our Ship..did carry..foure score strong and strenuous Saylers. 1656Blount Glossogr., Strenuous, valiant, stout, hardy, active. 1670Milton Hist. Brit. iv. 181 Offa the Mercian, a strenuous and suttle King. 1718Pope Iliad iii. 91 Like Steel, uplifted by some strenuous Swain. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 162 His attention had been confined to those studies which form strenuous and sagacious men of business. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xii. 301 Faith was more strenuous and robust in those days. 1899J. L. Williams Stolen Story, etc. 128 The city editor, who had his fingers on the pulse of the strenuous metropolis.
b. Zealous, earnest, ‘strong’ as a partisan or opponent. Obs. exc. as contextual use of sense 1.
1713Swift in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 359 Lord Hintchingbrook..is grown a strenuous Tory. 1735–6― Let. to Pope 7 Feb, I hear he resolves to be strenuous for taking off the Test. 1759Dilworth Pope 67 So strenuous a member of the Romish Church was Mr. Pope. 1774Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 92 A strenuous supporter of Mary Stuart. 1775Burke Corr. (1844) II. 26, I have been a strenuous advocate for the superiority of this country. 1792A. Young Trav. France 127 Mons. l'Abbé de ― was particularly strenuous for what is called the regeneration of the kingdom. 1822Hazlitt Men & Manners Ser. ii. iii. (1869) 75 He was as open to impressions as he was strenuous in maintaining them. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xvi. 312 The idea attached to Professor Forbes's words by some of his most strenuous supporters. 1892Lady F. Verney Verney Mem. I. 41 Sir Ralph was as strenuous as ever for Edward IV in the city.
2.
†a. Of inanimate things: Strong, powerful in operation; also, physically robust. Obs.
1632Quarles Div. Fancies ii. xxv. 66 The Sun shines alwaies strenuous and faire, But, ah, our sins, our Clouds benight the ayre. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. iii. 3. II. 1140 Heaven and earth are of a strenuous composition, compact together with more powerfull sinewes and ligaments.
b. Of voice, etc.: Powerful, loud. arch.
1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 181 He..pronounceth the sentence against the great Whore with a strong and strenuous voice. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. viii. 372 They expressed their approbation, according to naval custom, by three strenuous cheers. 1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiv. (1818) II. 379 The wasp and hornet also are strenuous hummers. 1850Grote Greece ii. lx. (1862) V. 292 He was seen..marshalling the troops,..and addressing them with a voice louder, more strenuous, and more commanding than was his wont. 1876Morris Sigurd iii. 180 Forth go their hearts before them to the blast of the strenuous horn.
3. Of action or effort: Vigorous, energetic; now with stronger sense, persistently and ardently laborious. Of conditions, periods, etc.: Characterized by strenuous exertion.
strenuous idleness (= L. strenua inertia, Hor. Ep. i. xi. 28): busy activity to no useful purpose.
1671Milton Samson 268 But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt,..Then to love Bondage more then Liberty; Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xxviii. 481 Languishing consumptive persons are very unfit to be employed in difficult and strenuous labours. a1700Evelyn Diary 14 Aug. 1654, Belvoir Castle..is famous for its strenuous resistance in the late civil warr. 1728Morgan Algiers II. iv. 265 One [galley] by mere Dint of strenuous Rowing..escaped. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 149 A soul immortal, spending all her fires, Wasting her strength in strenuous idleness. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 156 He..seized upon him with a strenuous embrace. 1785Cowper Task i. 388 Himself derives..From strenuous toil his hours of sweetest ease. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxiii, He..was conveyed to a place of confinement, whither the most strenuous inquiries of his friends had been unable to trace him. 1810Southey Kehama vi. iii, Soaring with strenuous flight above, He bears her to the blessed Grove. 1829Wordsw. ‘This Lawn, a carpet all alive’ 6 Worldlings revelling in the fields Of strenuous idleness. 1846Grote Greece I. i. vi. 153 He is one of the few Grecian princes who..is found in a strenuous and honoured old age in the midst of his children and subjects. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 10 But for their strenuous opposition to the Exclusion Bill he would have been a banished man. 1851Carlyle Sterling iii. iii. (1872) 186 On this Tragedy of Strafford..he expended many strenuous months. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) xiii. 321 The hours of labour, divided into minutes..of strenuous muscular exertion. 1899Roosevelt Sp. 10 Apr. in Strenuous Life (1902) 1, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife. |