| 释义 |
▪ I. gnomic, a. and n.|ˈnəʊmɪk|
[ad. Gr. γνωµικός dealing in maxims, sententious, f. γνώµη gnome1; cf. F. gnomique.]
A. adj.
a. Of the nature of, or consisting of, gnomes or general maxims. Also spec. with reference to Old English verse. gnomic poet, a composer of gnomic verses.
1815J. Jebb Corr. (1834) II. 257 Some gnomic verses from Bishop Ken. 1826W. D. Conybeare in J. J. Conybeare Illustr. Anglo-Saxon Poetry 205 Another gnomic poem..concludes by tracing the origin of discord to the homicide of Cain. 1838Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 130 In Aeschylus, the poetical faculty developed itself in grandeur;..in Euripides, in gnomic wisdom, sententious philosophy. 1842B. Thorpe Codex Exoniensis p. viii, The ‘Gnomic Verses’ are, as their title imports, a string of proverbial sentences. 1847Grote Greece ii. xxix. IV. 110 Amidst the multifarious veins in which Archilochus displayed his genius, moralising or gnomic poetry is not wanting. 1871H. Sweet in W. C. Hazlitt Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry II. 18 The curious poem, Salomon and Saturn, consists also of a variety of gnomic sentences, mixed..with a variety of other matter. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 65 Gnomic poets are simply those who embody γνῶµαι or sententious maxims on life and morals in their verse. 1882A. W. Ward Dickens ii. 25 The fashion of Sam's gnomic philosophy is at least as old as Theocritus. 1914B. C. Williams Gnomic Poetry Anglo-Saxon 6 Anglo-Saxon verse is gnomic so far as the presence of gnomic lines here and there adds sententiousness. 1948K. Malone in A. C. Baugh Lit. Hist. Eng. i. i. iii. 26 One might have expected to find end-stopping used a good deal in the gnomic verses.
b. Gram. gnomic aorist (see quots.).
1867Farrar Grk. Syntax §154 The aorist is used in proverbs, &c. (gnomic aorist) to express what once happened, and has thereby established a precedent for all time. 1884Hadley Grk. Gram. §840 Gnomic Aorist.—General truths are often expressed by the aorist indicative, as having proved true in past instances.
B. n. pl. the gnomics (= F. les gnomiques), the older Greek gnomic poets.
1821Campbell in New Monthly Mag. II. 238 In the days of Solon and Theognis, we find the observations of the gnomics on the oeconomy of life pretty various.
▪ II. gnomic, a.2|ˈnəʊmɪk|
[f. gnome n.2 + -ic.]
= gnomish a.; also occas., being a gnome, dwarf-like.
1845de Chatelain & Hazlitt tr. Musäus's Legends of Rubezahl 68 He saw through the trees..a girl, lovely and fine-formed as Venus... This vision had such an effect upon his gnomic Majesty, that he well nigh forgot his spiritual nature. 1966P. Scott Jewel in Crown i. 10 It was the senior chaplain, an elderly man with..a fringe of distinguishing white hair surrounding his gnomic head. 1972M. Shadbolt Strangers & Journeys iii. 41 A thin wizened little man, quite gnomic, who looked entirely at ease. 1982Times Lit. Suppl. 16 July 763/3 Louis Howe, a fellow-journalist who became a political craftsman, was untidy and often looked like an ash-tray. His gnomic frame was racked by asthma. |