| 释义 |
elegance|ˈɛlɪgəns|
[a. Fr. élégance, ad. L. ēlegāntia, f. ēlegānt-em: see elegant.]
The quality or state of being elegant.
1. Refined grace of form and movement, tastefulness of adornment, refined luxury, etc. See elegant 1, 2, 3.
1797T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. Introd. 7 The..elegance discoverable in their outward appearance. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 140 With untutored elegance she dressed. 1821Craig Lect. Drawing iv. 224 Elegance, I take to signify that intricate combination and contrast of lines in the form of a figure which constitute an essential part of beauty. 1880Mrs. Forrester Roy & Viola I. 1 Nowhere else in the world could you see such a display of luxury and elegance.
2. Of spoken or written compositions, literary style, etc.: Tasteful correctness, harmonious simplicity, in the choice and arrangement of words. See elegant 4.
c1510Barclay Mirr. Good Mann. (1570) G. vj, In eligance of meter and speeche. 1589Nashe Pref. Greene's Menaph. (Arb.) 10 Sir Thomas Eliots elegance did seuer it selfe from all equales. 1616Pasquil & Kath. iv. 270, I..Detest thy purest elegance of speech. 1751Johnson Rambl. No. 157 ⁋11 Nothing to say of elegance..equal to my wishes. 1824Landor Imag. Conv. xxvii. Wks. 1846 I. 165 Elegance, by which I always mean precision and correctness. 1882Hinsdale Garfield & Educ. ii. 402 The elegance of her translations.
3. a. Of scientific processes, demonstrations, inventions, etc.: ‘Neatness’, ingenious simplicity, convenience, and effectiveness; so of a prescription, etc. See elegant 5. b. Roman Law: transl. L. elegantia juris: see quot. 1864.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 285, I doubt not but they might be used, with as much elegance, in emulsions. 1812Woodhouse Astron. xi. 84 This formula, undoubtedly of great elegance, probably was not derived by a direct mathematical process. 1864Maine Anc. Law iv. (1876) 79 To this sense of simplicity and harmony..significantly termed ‘elegance’..the Roman jurisconsults..surrendered themselves. 1965Encounter Aug. 57/1 The elegance of the solution and the economy of the thought and work that went into it are qualities scientists give some weight to.
4.
†a. Correctness of taste: cf. elegant 6. Obs.
1660Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 116/1 ælian argued the Elegance of the Person, in choosing such things as were fair.
b. Of manners, etc.: Refined propriety.
1816Jane Austen Emma i. xvi. 114 With all the gentleness of his address, true elegance was sometimes wanting.
5. concr. Something which is elegant; a particular instance or kind of elegance.
1676Evelyn Diary (1827) II. 417 A nice contriver of all elegances. 1779Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 126 He has left in his Homer a treasure of poetical elegances to posterity. 1824–9Landor Imag. Conv. (1846) 88 What your father and grandfather used as an elegance in conversation is now abandoned to the populace. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. xxvi. 396 The measure of this world's elegances. 1863Emerson Thoreau Wks. (Bohn) III. 337 He had many elegances of his own. |