| 释义 |
diminish, v.|dɪˈmɪnɪʃ|
Also 5–6 y for i, sshe for sh; 5–6 deminish(e, 6 Sc. dimimiss, dininuse.
[Formed under the joint influence of the earlier diminue, F. diminuer, L. dīminuĕre, and minish, earlier menusen, OF. menuiser, L. type *minūtiāre to cut small, having the prefix of the one with the suffix of the other. Ancient L. had dīminuĕre to break into small pieces, dash to pieces, and dēminuĕre to make smaller, lessen, reduce in size. In late L. and Romanic the di- derivative supplanted the dē- form; hence the modern derivatives of L. dēminuĕre all have dimin-]
I. trans.
1. To make (or cause to appear) less or smaller; to lessen; to reduce in magnitude or degree. (The opposite of enlarge, increase, augment, magnify.)
1417in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 61 Yf your forces be not here alwayes soe strongly mayntayned & continued without being deminished your Irish enimies..will rise agayne. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 4 Perauenture it diminysshed theyr payne in hell. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 162 It greatly deminisheth the substance of them. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 169 The whole towne is diminished into one streete. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. xxiv. (1627) 268 Whatsoever may diminish his estimation and authority. 1641Wilkins Math. Magick i. xii. (1648) 85 The weight must..be diminished in the same proportion. 1790Paley Horæ Paul. Rom. i. 12 What diminishes very much the suspicion of fraud. 1880Geikie Phys. Geog. ii. §8. 53 The ascent of warm air must necessarily diminish atmospheric pressure.
†b. To clip, sweat, etc. (coin). Obs.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 126 There should be no deceyt used by diminishing or clipping y⊇ same. 1698Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 350 A French man is committed to Newgate for diminishing our coin.
†2. To break in pieces, break small. Obs. rare. [class. L. dīminuĕre.]
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 491 In Rhetia..they hold betwixt the fighting of Rams a stick, or bat of Corn-tree, which in a bout or two they utterly diminish and bruise in pieces.
3. To lessen in importance, estimation, or power; to put down, degrade, humiliate; to detract from, disparage, belittle. arch. (See also diminished 2.)
1560Bible (Genev.) Ezek. xxix. 15, I wil diminish them, that they shal no more rule the nations. 1666Pepys Diary 24 June, He do plainly diminish the commanders put in by the Duke, and do lessen the miscarriages of any that have been removed by him. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 612 While impiously they thought Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw The number of thy worshippers. 1712Steele Spect. No. 348 ⁋ 2 This impertinent Humour of diminishing every one who is produced in Conversation. 1828Scott F.M. Perth viii, You would have accused me of diminishing your honour. 1880R. Broughton Sec. Th. i. vi, She..passes out, angered, humbled, diminished past compare.
†4. To take away (a part) from something, so as to make it less; hence gen. to take away, subtract, remove. Obs.
1504W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iv. ix, Take from our hertis..all that may..dimynyshe vs from thy eternall loue. a1533Frith Disput. Purgat. 181 Neither add any thing nor diminish. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 217 The..love betwene them, washed awaie and diminished all suspicion. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 24 Thus much was diminished from the state of the empyre. 1610Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 64 Your swords..may as well Wound the loud windes..as diminish One dowle that's in my plumbe. 1611Bible Deut. iv. 2 Ye shall not adde vnto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it. a1627Hayward (J.), Nothing was diminished from the safety of the king by the imprisonment of the duke.
†b. absol. To abate, subtract. Obs.
1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. vii. §6 That we should not add to nor diminish from Gods commands. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. cv, Nothing..should be admitted to diminish from the real majesty of the ceremony. 1826R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 74 His command..will no more diminish from the sum of our pleasures than [etc.].
†5. To deprive (a person) in part, to curtail of.
1559Bp. Cox in Strype Ann. Ref. I. vi. 98 If now then the builders..be diminished of their wages. 1609Bible (Douay) Ps. xxxiii. 11 They that seeke after our Lord shal not be diminished of any good. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. lii, The whole circle seemed diminished of their former importance.
6. Arch. To make (a thing) such that its successive parts in any direction are continuously less and less; to cause to taper or progressively decrease in size, as a tapering column: see diminution 9.
1624Wotton Archit. (1672) 22 They [pillars] are all diminished..from one third part of the whole Shaft. 1797Monthly Mag. III. 221 The sides form the arch joints of the bridge, and are diminished, so as to tend towards the centre of the circle.
7. Mus.
†a. To reduce in loudness, make gradually softer: cf. diminuendo. Obs.
b. To lessen (an interval) by a semitone: see diminished 4.
1674Playford Skill Mus. i. xi. 43 It will work a better effect to Tune the Voice diminishing it, rather than Increasing it.
II. intr.
8. To become less or smaller; to lessen, decrease.
1520Caxton's Chron. Eng. ii. 11/2 Kyng Goffars people encreased dayly and his dyminished. 1565Earl of Bedford in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 215 As their force dimenesshede so dyd her Grace increace. 1700Dryden Fables Pref. (Globe) 495 What judgment I had increases rather than diminishes. 1725Pope Odyss. xiv. 284 Crete's ample fields diminish to our eye. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 16 The sound..diminishes in intensity. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 78 The air diminished in bulk, while the quicksilver increased in weight.
b. Arch. To have its dimensions successively smaller in the same direction; to taper.
1715Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 12 In the diminishing of them it must be observ'd, that by how much longer they are, by so much the less they must diminish. |