| 释义 |
ductile, a.|ˈdʌktɪl, -aɪl|
Also 7 -il.
[a. F. auctile (13–14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. ductilis that may be led or drawn, f. dūcĕre to lead.]
1. Of metal:
a. That may be hammered out thin; malleable; flexible, pliable, not brittle. Still frequent in literary use: for technical use, see b.
a1340Hampole Psalter xcvii. 6 Syngis til oure God..in trumpys ductils [Vulg. in tubis ductilibus]. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 10 It [gold] is more ductile and easie to be brought to what poynt you will then any of the other. 1601Holland Pliny II. 505 The other sort of copper..yeeldeth to the hammer and will be drawne out, whereupon some there be who call it Ductile, i. battable. 1676Hobbes Iliad (1677) 290 Pieces for his legs of ductile tin. 1869M. Somerville Molec. Sc. i. i. 4 Calcium is a bright ductile metal of a bronze colour. 1870Bryant Iliad II. xviii. 229 Greaves of ductile tin.
b. Capable of being drawn out into wire or thread, tough. (The current technical use.)
1626Bacon Sylva §845 All Bodies Ductile (as Metals that will be drawne into Wire). 1796Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 430 The best English copper is accounted less tough and ductile than Swedish copper. 1826Henry Elem. Chem. I. 479 All the metals, that have been described as malleable (with the exception, perhaps, of nickel) are also ductile, or may be formed into wire. 1875Emerson Misc., Parnassus Wks. (Bohn) III. 359 A firm ductile thread of gold.
2. Of matter generally: Flexible, pliant; capable of being moulded or shaped; plastic.
1659H. More Immort. Soul (1662) 175 The moist and ductil matter in the Womb. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. ii. 303 The Waters were..a more ductile, and possibly a more fertil Body than the Earth. 1725Pope Odyss. xii. 208 The ductile wax with busy hands I mold. 1735Somerville Chase iv. 162 Potters form Their soft and ductile Clay to various Shapes. 1869Phillips Vesuv. viii. 209 The level interior is full of ductile sulphur.
b. fig. Of things immaterial.
1684T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 187 The first principles of life must be tender and ductile, that they may yield to all the motions and gentle touches of nature. 1788Reid Aristotle's Log. iv. §3. 77 To show of what ductile materials syllogisms are made. 1842H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. 46 There never was a man under whose hands language was more plastic and ductile. 1864Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 239 The Roman law..has proved extremely ductile and accommodating.
3. Of persons, their dispositions, etc.: Susceptible of being led or drawn; yielding readily to persuasion or instruction; tractable, pliable, pliant.
1622Donne Serm. 15 Sept. 21 A good, and tractable, and ductile disposition. 1650J. Dury Just Re-prop. 16 Men of ductile spirits unto evill. 1765Johnson Obs. Shaks. Plays, Rom. & Jul., Whose genius was not very..ductile to humour, but acute, argumentative, comprehensive, and sublime. 1835Lytton Rienzi iii. ii, The ductile temper of Adeline yielded easily. 1894Mrs. H. Ward Marcella II. 310 The man..was in truth childishly soft and ductile.
4. Of water: Conducted or capable of being made to flow through channels.
[a1637B. Jonson's Fall of Mortimer Wks. (Rtldg.) 503/2, I felt it ductile [1640 Dactile: see dactile] through my blood. ]1728Pope Dunc. i. 62 Ductile dulness new meanders takes. 1737Savage Of Public Spirit 16 Lo! ductile riv'lets visit distant towns! 1834Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 177 The ductile streams, after performing their fertilizing office, bound over the rocks.
Hence ˈductilely adv.; ˈductileness (rare).
a1612Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 155 Gold..by reason of a faithfull tenacity and ductilenesse, will be brought to cover 10000 times as much of any other Mettall. 1618― Serm. lii. 524 Which shewes the Ductilenesse, the Appliablenesse of Gods Mercy. 1629Ibid. cxxxvi. 439, I come into the hands of my God as pliably, as ductilely, as that first clod of Earth of which he made me in Adam. |