| 释义 |
diffusive, a.|dɪˈfjuːsɪv|
Also 7 defusive.
[f. L. diffūs- ppl. stem of diffundĕre to diffuse + -ive. Cf. F. diffusif, -ive, found 15–16th c., but app. unused in 17–18th c. (Hatz.-Darm.)]
1. Having the quality of diffusing (trans.); dispensing or shedding widely or bountifully.
1614T. Adams in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxxiii. 2 Christ's grace is so diffusive of itself, that it conveys holiness to us. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. ii. (1851) 104 So diffusive of knowledge and charity. 1648Boyle Seraph. Love xiii. (1700) 77 It is his [the sun's] Nature to be diffusive of his Light. 1700Dryden Fables Ded., Diffusive of the goods which they enjoy'd. 1714Berkeley Serm. 1 Tim. i. 2 Wks. 1871 IV. 613 The most ardent and diffusive charity. 1742R. Blair Grave 611 The big-swoln inundation, Of mischief more diffusive. 1816Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 149 note, Matters diffusive of such an extent of moral good.
2. Having the quality of diffusing itself or of being diffused; tending to be widely dispersed or distributed; characterized by diffusion.
a. lit. of material things, or physical qualities, etc.; spec. in Physics (cf. diffusion 5).
a1631Donne in Select. (1840) 89 So are these spices, and incense, and spikenard, of a diffusive and spreading nature, and breathe even over the walls of the garden. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 187 Leaven hath..a diffusive faculty. 1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1856/5 Cherished..by the diffusive beams of the Sun. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 26 All liquid bodies are diffusive. 1712Addison Spect. No. 411 ⁋1 Our Sight..may be considered as a more delicate and diffusive kind of Touch. 1727Thomson Britannia 144 Far as the sun rolls the diffusive day. c1750Shenstone Ruin'd Abbey 197 His less'ning flock In snowy groups diffusive scud the vale. 1851Graham in Phil. Trans. CXLI. 483 The diffusive relation of the two bases. 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. 31 This important property is called the diffusive power of gases.
b. fig. of immaterial or abstract things.
1634Habington Castara (Arb.) 100 A common courtier..hath his love so diffusive among the beauties, that man is not considerable. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 190 Democratie hath a diffusive facultie, as it takes in the concernes and interests of each individual. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 43 The diffusive circle of his benevolence was circumscribed only by the limits of the human race. 1832Tennyson ‘You ask me why’ iv, The strength of some diffusive thought Hath time and space to work and spread. 1871Smiles Charac. iii. (1876) 71 The good character is diffusive in its influence.
†3. Of a body of people: As consisting of members in their individual capacity. The ‘diffusive body’ is contrasted, by the notion of individually diffused or distributed action, with the ‘collective body’, and, by that of universal participation, with a ‘representative body’. The action of the ‘diffusive body’ is that in which every member of the body shares directly. (Common in 17th c.) Obs.
1642Answ. to Printed Bk. 11 The election of the diffusive, not of any representative body. 1647Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. ix. 161 The incompetency of the Church in its diffusive Capacity to be Judge of Controversies. 1647Digges Unlawf. Taking Arms iii. 66 If actions of this nature were unwarrantable in the diffusive body, they are so in the representative. 1660Fuller Mixt Contempl. i. (1841) 259 The diffusive nation was never more careful in their elections. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. lxxxii, His Majesty and all his People, both representative and diffusive. a1694Tillotson Serm. (1743) I. 259 They are not agreed..where this infallibility is seated; whether in the pope..or a council..or in the diffusive body of Christians. 1718Hickes & Nelson J. Kettlewell iii. x. 212 That the Supreme Power was Fundamentally in the whole Body Diffusive of the People.
4. Prolix in diction or speech; = diffuse a. 3. (Sometimes in good sense: Copious, full.)
1699Burnet 39 Art. Pref. (1700) 2 The heaviness..of Stile, and the diffusive length of them, disgusted me. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VIII. xviii. viii. 57 Polybius..generally is diffusive enough. 1794Sullivan View Nat. V. 257, I have..been unavoidably, and I am afraid tiresomely, diffusive. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Lib. (1892) I. i. 34 He is less diffusive and more pointed than usual.
†5. Bot. = diffuse a. 2 c. Obs.
1756Watson in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 815 The rigid leaved Bell-flowers, with a diffusive panicle and patulous flowers.
†6. Difficult to understand, obscure: = diffuse a. 1. Obs.
1709Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxii. 266 Whereas Turcopolier was so diffusive a name as not worthy the pains of pronouncing. |