| 释义 |
gigantic, a.|dʒaɪˈgæntɪk|
[f. L. gigant-, gigās (see giant) + -ic. (Gr. had γιγαντικός of equivalent formation.)]
†1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, a giant or giants. Obs.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. i. 10 Thou Genius of the place..Which liued'st long before the All-earth-drowning Flood, Whilst yet the world did swarme with her Gigantick brood. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 659 On each hand slaughter and gigantic deeds. a1677Barrow Serm. (1686) III. 472 There are some persons of that wicked and Gigantick disposition..that..would be ready to say with Polyphemus in Homer [etc.]. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. II. 178 He was the son of Uricus, and of the gigantic race.
2. Of persons or their stature: Having the proportions of a giant; resembling a giant in size, etc.
1651Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvii. 386 The Fairies..have their enchanted Castles, and..Gigantique Ghosts. 1762H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1765) II. i. 10 Jeffery..had many squabbles with the King's gigantic porter. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 172 The gigantic bones found in many burial places here, give room to believe, that the former inhabitants were of larger size than the present. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xi, One who had never seen the Black Douglas, must have known him by his swart complexion, his gigantic frame [etc.].
3. Hence of things material or immaterial, actions, etc.: Greatly exceeding ordinary dimensions; huge, enormous.
1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xiii, Vivaldi pointed out to Ellena the gigantic Velino in the north. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. Introd. 45 The evils complained of by these writers..have in the present day attained to a gigantic stature. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 293 The Gigantic Crane is an inhabitant of Bengal and Calcutta. 1812–16J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 494 Facing this gigantic telescope. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 315 The ancestors of the gigantic quadrupeds, which all foreigners now class among the chief wonders of London, were brought from the marshes of Walcheren. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 42 The gigantic spirit of enterprise which was kindled in England and Spain. 1878E. White Life in Christ v. xxviii. (ed. 3) 468 The hell believed in is thought too dreadful for all except gigantic offenders.
Hence giˈganticness.
1727in Bailey vol. II; and in mod. Dicts. |