释义 |
epicurean, a. and n.|ˌɛpɪkjʊˈriːən| Also in 6 epicureane, 7 epicurian. [f. L. epicūrē-us, late L. epicūrius (ad. Gr. ἐπικούρειος, f. Ἐπίκουρος Epicurus) + -an. Cf. Fr. Épicurien.] A. adj. 1. (With capital initial.) Of or pertaining to Epicurus, or to the ethical and physical system of philosophy taught by him.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1584) 442 Fortune being an Epicurian worde, rather than an Heathenish. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. iii. (1676) 205/2 It was no Epicurean speech of an Epicure. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. ii. §11 The Atomical or Epicurean Hypothesis. 1741Middleton Cicero III. xii. (1742) 378 That chief good of an Epicurean life, his private ease and safety. 1861Mill Utilit. ii. 11 There is no known Epicurean theory of life which does not assign to the pleasures of the intellect..a much higher value as pleasures than to those of mere sensation. 2. Devoted to the pursuit of pleasure; hence, luxurious, sensual, gluttonous. Now chiefly: Devoted to refined and tasteful sensuous enjoyment.
1641Milton Ch. Discip. ii. (1851) 66 Warming their Palace Kitchins, and from thence their unctuous, and epicurean paunches. 1656Cowley Poems, Grasshopper, Voluptuous, and Wise withal, Epicurean Animal! 1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. vi. (1872) 192 No longer an earnest Nation, but a light epicurean one. 1868Tennyson Lucretius 215 Nothing to mar the sober majesties Of settled, sweet, Epicurean life. b. Suited to the taste of an epicure.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. i. 24 Epicurean Cookes, Sharpen with cloylesse sawce his Appetite. B. n. (With capital initial.) 1. A disciple of Epicurus; one who holds views similar to his.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiv. §9 Velleius the Epicurian needed not to have asked, why God should have adorned the heavens with stars. 1698Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 101 He may think with the Epicurean, that God is an idle, unactive Being. 1732Berkeley Alciph. iv. §16 The very Epicureans allowed the being of gods. 1856R. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 60 The Epicureans and the Stoics..came forward to supply that moral want. 2. One who makes pleasure the chief object of his life.
a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. (1846) I. 236 Symon Preastoun..a right Epicureane. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. 25 Those poor brutish Epicureans have nothing but the mere husks of fleshly pleasure to feed themselues with. 1825Scott Talism. x, He was a voluptuary and an epicurean. 1866Motley Dutch Rep. ii. i. 131 A horde of lazy epicureans, telling beads and indulging themselves in luxurious vice. |