| 释义 |
eloquent, a.|ˈɛləkwənt|
[a. Fr. éloquent, ad. L. ēloquent-em, pr. pple., f. ēloqui to speak out.]
1. a. Of persons: Possessing or exercising the power of fluent, forcible, and appropriate expression.
1393Gower Conf. II. 288 In his speche Of wordes he was eloquent. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxvii. 261 A wyse knyȝt and a trewe and an eloquent man. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1589) 249 The eloquentest orator in the world. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. xi. 49 Eloquent speakers are enclined to Ambition. a1714Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 172 The eloquentest man of that time. 1874Morley Compromise (1886) 48 The school of which M. Renan is the most eloquent representative.
b. transf. and fig.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 37 Turne the Sands into eloquent tongues. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lxx. 774 His pen was not less eloquent than his tongue. 1814S. Rogers Jacquel. i. 81 Her dark eyes—how eloquent! 1862Trollope Orley F. xxxix, There is a silence which may be more eloquent than the sounds which it follows.
2. Of utterances or style: Characterized by forcible and appropriate expression.
1393Gower Conf. III. 85 Rhetorique, whose facounde Above all other is eloquent. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xviii. xxi, Your payne and wordes eloquent. a1593H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 79 To the godly it seemeth the wisest, and eloquentest, and sweetest, and easiest book of all others. 1627Donne Serm. 49 As powerfull as the Eloquentest Sermon. 1806Med. Jrnl. XV. 81 The author of this eloquent little pamphlet. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 105 Well-shaped, and of eloquent speech.
†3. humorously. That inspires eloquence.
1599Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (1841) 22 You have the most eloquenst ale in all the world.
4. fig. Effectively expressive of.
1870Rossetti Poems 191 Close kissed and eloquent of still replies. 1873R. A. Proctor Expanse of Heaven xi. 123 To the Almighty every atom in infinite space is eloquent of the universe itself. 1885A. Forbes Souvenirs of some Continents ix. 208 His whole attitude eloquent of discouragement. |