| 释义 |
emphasis|ˈɛmfəsɪs|
Pl. emphases.
[a. L. emphasis, a. Gr. ἔµϕασις (in senses 1 and 7 below), f. ἐµϕα(ν-, ἐµϕαίνειν, mid. voice ἐµϕαίνεσθαι, f. ἐν in + ϕαίν-ειν to show, ϕαίνεσθαι to appear.]
I. The rhetorical sense, and senses derived from it.
†1. (The Gr. and Lat. sense.) The use of language in such a way as to imply more than is actually said; a meaning not inherent in the words used, but conveyed by implication. Obs.[Quintilian illustrates the meaning of ‘emphasis’ by the manner in which Virgil indicates the vast size of the Cyclops by saying that he ‘lay along the cavern’.] 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 194 [Side-note, Emphasis, or the Renforcer] To inforce the sence of anything by a word of more than ordinary efficacie..[the meaning of which] is not apparant, but, as it were, secretly conveyed. 1659Pearson Creed (1839) 215 The Lord of that Temple in the emphasis of an Hebrew article was Christ. 1764Harmer Observ. iii. 8 There might be an emphasis in those words of Moses, which has not of late been at all understood.
b. Special or important significance in a word or phrase (cf. 4).
1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. 213 Let them also be taught..in what word the Emphasis lyeth.
2. Vigour or intensity of statement or expression. Now felt as transf. from 4.
1573G. Harvey Lett.-Bk. (1884) 32 The veri causis..he knew fully as wel as mi self, with a good larg emphasis, I warrant you. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xii. (1622) 335 To expresse, with a greater Emphasis, the incredible power of Musick. 1685Stillingfl. Orig. Brit. ii. 51 Tertullian doth add the greater Emphasis to his Argument. 1839De Quincey Recoll. Lakes Wks. II. 9 She ceased to challenge notice by the emphasis of her solicitations. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 122 He is the most trenchant writer in the world, yet there is not a sentence of strained emphasis or overwrought antithesis.
†b. concr. An emphatic expression. Obs. rare—1.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. v. 67 Be choak'd with such another Emphasis.
3. Intensity or force of feeling, action, etc.
1602Shakes. Ham. v. i. 278 What is he, whose griefes Beares such an Emphasis? a1667Cowley Oliver Cromwell (1710) II. 655 It is only an Emphasis and Exaggeration of their Wickedness. 1670D. Lloyd State Worthies 23 It's the emphasis of misery, to be too soon happy. 1784Cowper Task v. 7 Are they not..by an emphasis of int'rest his? 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. I. x. 181 His..figure.. was all the worse for its apparent emphasis of intention.
4. Stress of voice laid on a word or phrase to indicate that it implies something more than, or different from, what it normally expresses, or simply to mark its importance. (Cf. quot. 1612 in 1 b.)
1613R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Emphasis, a forcible expressing. 1748J. Mason Elocut. 26 When we..distinguish any particular Word in a Sentence, it is called Emphasis. 1775T. Sheridan Lect. Art Reading i. §3 Mark the pauses and emphases by the new signs. 1849Dickens Dav. Copp. iii, Peggotty said, with greater emphasis than usual, that, etc. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 15 The emphasis is wrongly placed.
b. Manner of placing the ‘emphasis’ in speaking or reading.
1725Bp. Derry in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 450 IV. 338 Upon the Delivery of the enclosed speech from the Throne (which was done with as graceful an emphasis as I ever heard).
5. transf. ‘Stress’ laid upon, importance assigned to, a particular fact or idea.
1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 37 A Flower not to be pass'd over without an Emphasis. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 61 My laying emphasis on the previous effect of the vaccine inoculation. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Goethe Wks. (Bohn) I. 384 The emphasis of conversation, and of public opinion, commends the practical man. 1870― Soc. & Solit. Wks. (Bohn) III. 49 Let not the emphasis of hospitality lie in these things. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola (1880) I. i. xvi. 222 A slight matter, not worth dwelling on with any emphasis.
6. Prominency, sharpness of contour.
1872Blackie Lays Highl. Introd. 22 You never saw a Ben rising bolt upright with a more distinct emphasis. 1877― Lang. & Lit. Scot. Highl. The bones which mark the features..lose their emphasis. 1885Harper's Mag. Mar. 526/2 An..oriel-window, the base of which is formed by a gradual emphasis of the brick wall.
† II. 7. An optical illusion, mere appearance. Obs. rare—1.
1653Wharton Disc. Comets Wks. (1683) 156 Some think Comets..a meer Emphasis or Apparency. |