| 释义 |
superfluous, a. (n.)|s(j)uːˈpɜːfluːəs|
Also 5–6 superfluouse, (6 -ose, Sc. -fluus, -fluis, -flowis, -flouis).
[f. L. superfluus: see superflue and -ous.]
1. That exceeds what is sufficient; of which there is more than enough; excessively abundant or numerous.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 459 We ȝiffe not attendaunce to superfluous meytes, wherefore we be not seke. 1483Caxton Cato C vj b, Thou oughtest not to stryue..wyth them that ben ful of superfluous wordes. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 54 We..sholde..dygge our vyne wele..& cutte away the superfluous braunches. 1540–1Elyot Image Gov. 72 For as muche as I suppose that ye call theym superfluouse humours, whiche are more than conuenient to the naturall proporcion and temperature of the body. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 158, I haue no superfluous leysure, my stay must be stolen out of other affaires. c1655Milton 1st Sonn. to Cyriack Skinner 13 Heav'n..disapproves that care,.. That with superfluous burden loads the day. 1764Museum Rust. IV. 22 To take off any superfluous or ill-placed shoots. 1772Junius Lett. lxviii. (1788) 347, I shall state..the several statutes..omitting superfluous words. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. iii. 28 Divesting myself of all superfluous clothes. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 224 Lake Tanganika discharges its superfluous waters into the southern branch of the Congo.
2. a. That is not needed or required; unnecessary, needless, uncalled-for.
c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxi. 101 What art þou made wery wiþ superfluous cures? 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1281/1 To long for y⊇ knowledge of lesse necessarye learning, or delite in debating of sundrye superfluous problemes. 1581in D. Digges Compleat Ambass. (1655) 420 Your abode there is but superfluous, and more chargeable..then serviceable. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., Seeing therefore further discourse wil be superfluous, I wil heere make an ende. 1639J. Saltmarsh Policy 96 If you have beene neglected by any, and thought superfluous. 1736Butler Anal. ii. i. Wks. 1874 I. 152 To say revelation is a thing superfluous..is, I think, to talk quite wildly. 1775Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 13 July, Your anxiety about your other babies is, I hope, superfluous. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. i. vi. 80 The forms and ceremonies of marriage began to be considered superfluous bonds. 1855Prescott Philip II ii. xiv. I. 299 After the oath of allegiance he had once taken a new one seemed superfluous. 1898F. D. How Life Bp. W. How xviii. 253 This warning was not superfluous.
absol.1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. vii, A State of Nature, affecting by its singularity, and Old-Roman contempt of the superfluous.
b. Often in impers. phr. with inf.
1530Palsgr. 27, I thinke it but superfluous to kepe suche ordre in all other consonantes. 1559in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. x. 439 It is a superfluous thinge..to call into judgment againe matters which have ben tried. 1656Cowley Misc. Pref., Some of them made when I was very young, which it is perhaps superfluous to tell the Reader. 1713Berkeley Hylas & Phil. i. Wks. 1871 I. 282 It is therefore superfluous to inquire particularly concerning each of them. 1831Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Ellistoniana, To descant upon his merits as a Comedian would be superfluous. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life x. vii. 370 It is superfluous to recommend idleness to the unintellectual, but the intellectual too often undervalue it.
c. transf. Of a person: Doing more than is necessary. rare.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 12, I see no reason, why thou shouldest bee so superfluous, to demaund the time of the day. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 832 If ye know, Why ask ye, and superfluous begin Your message, like to end as much in vain? 1880Daily News 3 Jan. 2/2 We will not be so superfluous as to criticise this amusing drawing.
†d. Of no account or effect; unprofitable, vain. Obs. rare.
a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) R iv, Damsels..thinketh all their tyme lost, and superfluous vnto the day of theyr mariage. 1609Bible (Douay) Wisd. xi. 16 Some erring did worshippe dumme serpents, and superfluous beastes. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. viii. (1661) 241 This challenge of infallibility diminisheth their authority, discrediteth their definitions, and maketh them to be superfluous things.
†3.
a. Exceeding what is right, desirable, normal, or usual; immoderate, inordinate. Obs.
c1450Mankind 232 in Macro Plays 9 Be-ware of excesse! Þe superfluouse gyse I wyll þat ȝe refuse. 1533Gau Richt Vay 95 Al inordinat and superfluis desiris in meittis and drinkkis and slepinge. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 36 His stalke or bodie..is somewhat grosse or superfluous. 1575in Maitl. Club Misc. I. 114 The pompious convoy and supperflouis banketting to Margerat Denelstoun the day of hir mariage. 1611Bible Lev. xxi. 18 A blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 99 A proper Title of a Peace, and purchas'd At a superfluous rate.
†b. Mus. = augmented ppl. a. 2 b. Obs.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Superfluous interval, in music, is one that exceeds a true diatonic interval by a semitone minor. Thus the Superfluous second, or tone, contains a semitone minor more than a tone, or greater second. 1864Engel Mus. Anc. Nat. 361 A superfluous second may, in sound at least, be taken as identical with a minor third. 1866[see prime n.2 4 b].
†4. Having, consuming, or expending more than enough; superabundantly supplied; extravagant in expenditure. Const. in, with. Obs.
1535Coverdale Isa. v. 11 Wo be vnto them that ryse vp early to vse them selues in dronkynnes, and yet at night are more superfluous with wyne. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xi. 90 b, The dressing of their meat..differeth from ours, being so superfluous, curious, and delicate,..whereas..theirs is scant, bare, and grosse. 1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 268 Our basest Beggers Are in the poorest thing superfluous. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 27 Reasoning I oft admire, How Nature wise and frugal could commit Such disproportions, with superfluous hand So many nobler Bodies to create, Greater so manifold to this one use. 1711J. Greenwood Engl. Gram. 233 Our Alphabet is deficient in some respects, and superfluous in others.
5. Special collocations: superfluous hair, bodily hair considered to be unattractive in women, esp. on the face; superfluous woman, a woman unlikely to marry, because of a surplus of women over men in the population; also superfluous girl.
1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. iii. xxi. 49 The sad faces of the four superfluous girls, each, poor thing..having her peculiar world which was of no importance to any one else.
1800in C. W. Cunnington Feminine Attitudes (1935) ii. 44, I shall sell a compound to take off all superfluous hair. 1873Young Englishwoman Aug. 414/1 Will you kindly tell us..whether you know of any depilatory that may be safely used for the removal of superfluous hair? 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise iv. 69 Do you suffer from superfluous hair? 1976Cadogan & Craig You're a Brick, Angela! v. 74 Superfluous hair, poor complexions and excessive perspiration preoccupied many readers.
1886L. M. Alcott Jo's Boys i. 22 There is a plenty for the ‘superfluous women’ to do... I..am very glad..that my profession will make me a useful..spinster. 1911G. B. Shaw Getting Married Pref. 140 In our population there are about a million monogamically superfluous women, yet it is quite impossible to say of any given unmarried woman that she is one of the superfluous. 1978Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First vii. 133 The 1921 census showed a 1,700,000 surplus of women over men as a result of the slaughter of the war years..the so-called superfluous woman. |