| 释义 |
divers, a.|ˈdaɪvəz|
[ME. divers, diverse, a. OF. diviers, divers, fem. -erse (11th c. in Littré) different, odd, wicked, cruel, = It., Sp., Pg. diverso:—L. divers-us contrary, different, unlike, separate, orig. ‘turned different ways’, pa. pple. of dīvertĕre to divert. The spelling was in ME. indifferently divers and diverse. The stress was orig. as in OF. on the last syllable, but in conformity with English habits, was at a very early date shifted to the first, though, as with other words from French, both pronunciations long co-existed, esp. in verse. After ˈdivers became the established prose form, esp. in sense 3, in which the word is always plural, the final s came, as in plural nouns, to be pronounced as z, and the word to be identical in pronunciation with the plural of diver.]
†1. Different or not alike in character or quality; not of the same kind. Obs. in this form since c 1700, and now expressed by diverse a. 1. Obs.
c1250Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 35 So as we habeþ i-seid of diuers wordles..so we mowe sigge of þo elde of eueriche men. a1300Cursor M. 11054 (Cott.) Bot þat mensking þam bi-tuin, Was sum-quat diuers, als i wene. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 484 Bid him bring his clarioun That is ful dyvers of his soun. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 32 Also þese woundis han dyuers [MS. B. dyverse] cause. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 58 Dyvers men dyvers in lyvynge these be. 1568Bible (Bishops') Prov. xx. 23 Diuers weightes are an abomination vnto the Lord. 1625(title) Free Schoole of Warre, or a Treatise whether it be lawful to beare Arms for the Service of a Prince that is of divers Religion. 1691Ray Creation i. (1704) 67 The divers Figures of the minute Particles.
†b. Const. from: Different (in kind, etc.) from.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. x. 71 (Camb. MS.) But that it is diuers from hym by wenynge resoun. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 119 Brekynge of boonys in þe heed is dyuers in perels fro brekinge of oþere boonys. 1568Bible (Bishops') Esther iii. 8 Their lawes are diuers from al people. 1611Bible Esther i. 7 The vessels being diuers one from another. 1678Owen Mind of God viii. 247 Openly divers from that exhibited therein.
†2. Differing from or opposed to what is right, good, or profitable; perverse, evil, cruel; adverse, unfavourable. [Cf. OF. divers.] Obs.
1340Ayenb. 68 Wyþstondynge is a zenne þet comþ of þe herte þet is rebel and hard and rebours and dyuers. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 88 An euelle quene and diuers and to cruelle..Gesabelle. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. iv. 3 Ryght wyld and diuers of condicions. 1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliv. 156 Diuers in maners, vnhappy, fals, forlorne. [1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 18 New opinions, Diuers, and dangerous, which are Heresies.]
3. Various, sundry, several; more than one, some number of. Referring originally and in form to the variety of objects; but, as variety implies number, becoming an indefinite numeral word expressing multiplicity, without committing the speaker to ‘many’ or ‘few’. Now somewhat archaic, but well known in legal and scriptural phraseology.
a. with the notion of variety the more prominent: Different, various.
b. with that of indefinite number more prominent: Several, sundry. (In many cases both notions are equally present, and the word might be rendered ‘several different’. Cf. the sense-history of several, sundry, various, all of which have come to be vague numerals.)
a.1297[see diverse a. 5 a]. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3144 Alle þe fire þat es þar-in, Es bot a maner of fyre..And noght divers fires, les and mare. 1382Wyclif Mark i. 34 He helide many that weren trauelide with dyuers [ποικίλαις] soris. c1440Ipomydon 86 Of dukis, erlis and barons, Many there come frome dyvers townes. 1557N. T. (Genev.) Heb. i. 1 At sondrie tymes and in diuers maners. 1589Cogan Haven Health cxcviii. (1636) 186 Divers meates require divers sawces, and divers men have divers appetites. 1669Bunyan Holy Citie 204 The word Sun is in Scripture taken divers ways. 1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1552 Fish of divers sorts. 1845–6Trench Huls. Lect. i. vi. 98 We have the divers statements of St. Paul and St. James—divers but not diverse. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 408 This heavenly earth is of divers colours.
b.1393Gower Conf. III. 232 Thus to se Divers ensamples how they stonde. 1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 807 The Citizens..made divers dayes playes and Pagiaunts. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii. 5 Too whom..came running divers other Turkes to recover him. 1614Raleigh Hist. World i. (1634) 113 If Nimrod tooke divers yeeres to find Shinaar. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. lxvi, The old gentleman..made divers ineffectual efforts to get up. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 172 The two Chief Justices, the Chief Baron, and divers other Justices there present. 1827Jarman Powell's Devises II. 195 Seised in fee of divers freehold lands. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Witches' Frolic 449 Conspiring with folks to deponents unknown, With divers, that is to say, two thousand, people. 1860Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 36 There are directions to be given to divers workmen before I start.
c. absol., and with of: Several, many. arch.
c1450[see diverse a. 5 c]. 1526–34Tindale Mark viii. 3 Diuers of them came from farre. 1533Frith Answ. More (1829) 174 Such fantastical apparitions do appear to divers. a1618Raleigh Mahomet (1637) 86 Hope of gaine provoked divers to make search for him. 1628Hobbes Thucyd. i. xiii, He subdued divers of the islands. 1684Scanderbeg Rediv. iii. 38 The General..slew divers, and forced the rest to fly.
†4. as adv. = diversely. Cf. diverse a. 6.
1597Daniel Civ. Wars ii. lxiii, Divers-speaking zeele. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 234 The neather flood, Which..now divided..Runs divers. 1715–20Pope Iliad xvi. 347 His troops..Fly divers. |