| 释义 |
dignity|ˈdɪgnɪtɪ|
Forms: 3–4 dignete, 3–6 -ite, 4 dyng-, dingnete, 4–5 dignitee, -ytee, 4–6 dy-, dignyte, 6–7 dignitie, 7– dignity.
[a. OF. digneté, F. dignité (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. dignitāt-em merit, worth, f. dignus worthy: see -ity. Cf. also dainty, a. OF. deintié, the inherited form of dignitātem.]
1. The quality of being worthy or honourable; worthiness, worth, nobleness, excellence.
a1225Ancr. R. 140 Nis nout eðcene of hwuche dignite heo [the soul] is, ne hu heih is hire cunde. c1230Hali Meid. 5 Of se muche dignete, and swuch wurðschipe. c1393Chaucer Gentilesse 5 For vn-to vertue longeth dignytee. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 18 A name of grete dignitee and of grete worschepe. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 20 Of the preeminens and excellent dignitiee of the Pater noster. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 48 From me, whose loue was of that dignity, That it went hand in hand even with the Vow I made to her in Marriage. 1657Austen Fruit Trees i. 11 The dignity and value of Fruit-trees. 1787T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 95, I recollect no work of any dignity which has been lately published. 1795Wordsw. Yew-tree Seat, True dignity abides with him alone Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself, In lowliness of heart. 1836Sir H. Taylor Statesman xv. 107 It is of the essence of real dignity to be self-sustained, and no man's dignity can be asserted without being impaired. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 75 The real dignity of a man lies not in what he has, but in what he is.
†b. The quality of being worthy of something; desert, merit. Obs. rare.
1548R. Hutten Sum of diuinitie E 5 a, Fayth leaneth onelye vpon mercy, not of our dygnytye. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 154 To suppose that God should fetch the commun rule of his giving or not giving grace, from mans dignitie or indignitie.
2. Honourable or high estate, position, or estimation; honour; degree of estimation, rank.
c1230Hali Meid. 15 Eadie meiden, understond in hu heh dignete þe mihte of meidenhad halt te. 1340Ayenb. 215 Þere ssolle þe greate lhordes and þe greate lheuedyes uoryete..hare dingnete, and hare heȝnesse. 1399Rolls Parl. III. 424/1 Ye renounsed and cessed of the State of Kyng, and of Lordeshipp and of all the Dignite and Wirsshipp that longed therto. c1400Rom. Rose 7682 I..have pouste To shryve folk of most dignyte. 1538Starkey England i. iv. 139 Gyuyng somewhat to the dygnyte of presthode. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. vi. (1611) 12 Stones, though in dignitie of nature inferior to plants. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 183 His Sonne, who ha's (His Dignitie, and Dutie both cast off) Fled from his Father, from his Hopes, and with A Shepheards Daughter. 1711Swift Lett. (1767) III. 177, I fear I shall be sometimes forced to stoop beneath my dignity, and send to the ale-house for a dinner. 1751Harris Hermes (1841) 119 There is no kind of subject, having its foundation in nature, that is below the dignity of a philosophical inquiry. 1786H. More Florio 78 Small habits well pursued betimes, May reach the dignity of crimes. 1891Law Times XCII. 124/1 The post of Irish Chancellor has increased rather than diminished in dignity since the Union.
fig.1541Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. H j b, May the herte..sustayne dysease longe? Answere. No, for his great dygnyte. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physick 215 Consider the dignity of the part affected, so that the heart must not be tryed by vehement remedies.
b. collect. Persons of high estate or rank (cf. the quality).
1548W. Patten Exped. Scotl. Pref. in Arb. Garner III. 73 My Lord's Grace, my Lord of Warwick, the other estates of the Council there, with the rest of the dignity of the army did..tarry.. at Berwick. 1793Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 149, I cannot see the dignity of a great kingdom, and, with its dignity, all its virtue, imprisoned or exiled, without great pain.
attrib.1833Marryat P. Simple xxxi, A dignity ball is a ball given by the most consequential of their coloured people [in Barbadoes].
3. An honourable office, rank, or title; a high official or titular position.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 72/54 Bischop him made..seint Edward þe king, And a-feng him in his dignete. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15112 Seint Gregore tok þe dignete, And was pope þrytty ȝer. 1520Caxton's Chron. Eng. ccxxxvi. 258 Tho that were chose to bisshoppes sees and dignytees. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 208 Edward duke of Yorke, whiche..had untrewly usurped the Croune and Imperial dignitie of this realme. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 123 He procured the Dignity of General to be taken away from the duke of Frithland. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 98 By a Dignity, we understand that Promotion or Preferment, to which any Jurisdiction is annex'd. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 231 He..distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers. 1844Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. i. 18 The dignity of Roman prefect. 1884L'pool Mercury 3 Mar. 5/1 Her Majesty has conferred the dignity of a viscountcy upon Sir Henry B. W. Brand.
b. transf. A person holding a high office or position; a dignitary.
c1450Holland Howlat 690 Denys and digniteis. 1598Florio Ep. Ded., That I..may..entertaine so high, if not deities yet dignities. 1611Bible Jude 8 These filthy dreamers..speake euill of dignities. 1656Heylin Surv. France 93 There is..in this Church a Dean 7 Dignities and 50 Canons. 1667Milton P.L. i. 359 Godlike shapes and forms..Princely Dignities, And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones. 1865Kingsley Herew. i, Thou art very like to lose thy tongue by talking such ribaldry of dignities.
4. Nobility or befitting elevation of aspect, manner, or style; becoming or fit stateliness, gravity. (Cf. dignified 2.)
1667Milton P.L. viii. 489 Grace was in all her steps..In every gesture dignitie and love. 1725Pope Odyss. vi. 73 A dignity of dress adorns the Great. 1752Fielding Amelia i. viii, He uttered this..with great majesty, or, as he called it, dignity. 1811Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 205/1 All establishments die of dignity. They are too proud to think themselves ill, and to take a little physic. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. ii. i. 248 He preserved in his domestic arrangements the dignity of a literary and public man. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxx. 557 He opposed the effect of these instructions with such silent dignity as to command general respect. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion ii. iv. 77 So much of dignity in ruin lives.
b. Rhet.
1828Webster, Dignity, in oratory, one of the three parts of elocution, consisting in the right use of tropes and figures.
5. Astrol. A situation of a planet in which its influence is heightened, either by its position in the zodiac, or by its aspects with other planets.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. Table of Contents, Tables of dignetes of planetes. Ibid. ii. §4 The lord of the assendent..whereas he is in his dignite and conforted with frendly aspectys of planetes. 1632Massinger City Madam ii. ii, Saturn out of all dignities..and Venus in the south angle elevated above him. 1647Lilly Chr. Astrol. vi. 49 Almuten, of any house is that Planet who hath most dignities in the Signe ascending or descending upon the Cusp of any house. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., In Astrology, Dignities are the Advantages a Planet has upon account of its being in a particular place of the Zodiack, or in such a Station with other Planets, etc. by which means its Influences and Virtue are encreas'd. 1839Bailey Festus (1872) 121 Ye planetary sons of light! Your aspects, dignities, ascendances.
†6. The term for a ‘company’ of canons. Obs.
1486Bk. St. Albans F vij a, A Dignyte of chanonys.
†7. Alg. = power. Obs.
1715Phil. Trans. XXIX. 211 Mr. Newton introduced..the Fract, Surd, Negative and Indefinitive Indices of Dignities.
¶8. [Erroneous or fantastic rendering of Gr. ἀξίωµα ‘honour, worth, dignity’, also ‘first principle, axiom’.] A self-evident theorem, an axiom.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vii. 25 These Sciences [mathematics], concluding from dignities and principles knowne by themselves, they receive not satisfaction from probable reasons, much lesse from bare and peremptory asseverations. |