| 释义 |
▪ I. tenable, a.
(ˈtɛnəb(ə)l, † ˈtiːn-)
Also 7 teneable.
[a. F. tenable (12th c. in Godef.), f. ten-ir to hold + -able: see -ble, and cf. tenible.]
1. Capable of being held (in various senses of hold v.); that may be kept, kept in, kept back, retained, restrained, or held in control. Now rare.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 248 (Qo.) If you have hitherto concealed this sight Let it be tenable [Fol.1 treble] in your silence still. 1649Heylin Relat. & Observ. ii. 1 That Party..being..tenable by no Oaths, Principles Promises, Declarations. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. xii. §14 Others tottering and crumbling away from time to time, until the cliff had got in some degree settled into a tenable form.
2. Capable of being held against attack; that may be successfully defended.
1579Fenton Guicciard. xv. (1599) 693 The City being not tenable..it yeelded. 1673S'too him Bayes 105 Except you..thrust your self in at every place that is not teneable. 1793Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 297, I do not think the position taken at Louvain is tenable. 1855Prescott Philip II, I. iv. iii. 421 They might retire from a post that was no longer tenable.
b. fig. Of statements, opinions, etc.: Capable of being maintained or defended against attack or objection.
1711Addison Spect. No. 186 ⁋5 The Atheist has not found his Post tenable, and is therefore retired into Deism. 1796Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 67 The Tartarian doctrine is the most tenable opinion. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 286 The letter of their theories is no longer tenable.
3. Capable of being held, occupied, possessed, or enjoyed.
1840Thirlwall Greece VII. lvi. 142 The office was tenable for four years. 1883L'pool Courier 5 Oct. 4/9 The scholarships..are tenable for three years.
▪ II. tenable, -s
corruption of tenebres. |