| 释义 |
unˈseen, ppl. a. and n.
[un-1 8 b, 12. Cf. OE. unᵹesewen, MDu. ongesien (Du. ongezien), OHG. ungesëhan (MHG. ungesëhen, G. -gesehen), NFris. unseen; ON. and Icel. úsénn, ósénn.]
1. Not seen; not apprehended by sight; unperceived, invisible.
αa1225Leg. Kath. 1784 For he halt in his hond..alle ischepene þing, sehene & unsehene. a1225Ancr. R. 312 Þet wit & wereð us euer wið þe unseiene [v.r. unsehene] gostes. c1375Cursor M. 566 (Fairf.), Saule..has vnderstandynge clene of þinge sayde and vnseyne. 1390Gower Conf. II. 247 If a man wol ben unsein, Withinne his hond hold clos the Ston, And he mai invisible gon. c1440Jacob's Well 263 No counseyl may be hyd in þe vnseyn & vnknowyn.
βa1300Cursor M. 566 Saul..has als vnderstanding clene O thing it seis and of vnsene. 1387–8T. Usk Test Love i. Prol. (Skeat) l. 57 Wherthrough..arn the unsene privitees of god made to us sightful and knowing. c1470Henry Wallace x. 626 Off the out watch thus chapyt thai wnseyn. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 39 Haile, schene, vnseyne with carnale eyne! 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 1 Himselfe he frees by secret meanes vnseene. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies xix. §8 When by meanes of an vnseene haire, they [sc. jugglers] draw light bodies to them. 1681Cotton Wond. Peak 59 When a..Ship..Suddenly strikes upon some unseen Rock. 1750Gray Elegy 55 Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. 1798S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. II. 27 [He] saw her there, and was not himself unseen. 1855Tennyson Maud i. iv. v, Do we move ourselves, or are moved by an unseen hand..? 1867H. Macmillan Bible Teach. Pref. p. xii, The work of the world is carried on by the unseen force of steam.
absol.1829Carlyle Misc. (1840) II. 226 The veil and mysterious Garment of the Unseen. 1841Myers Cath. Th. iii. xxxiv. 125 Concerning the Unseen..no device..can preclude the possibility of Doubt.
b. Const. of (= by). Also absol.
a1586Sidney De Mornay Wks. 1923 III. 305 Looke up to that same only King..Who,..unseene of any mortall wight, Beholdeth all things. 1623Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xviii. iv, What an idleness it is for foolish hypocrites to hope they can dance in a net, unseen of heaven! c1800R. Cumberland John De Lancaster (1809) II. 161 Davis..had entered the room, unseen of young Owen. 1802J. Baillie 1st Pt. Ethwald iv. iii, Through the dank and through the dry, Through th' unseen of mortal eye.
2. Not seen previously or hitherto; esp. † unfamiliar, strange, unknown.
a1200St. Marher. 10 Þa seh ha hwer set an unsehen unwiht,..blaccre þen euer eni blamon. a1300Cursor M. 5946 Þe frosse deid all vp be-dene, Þe hepes o þam war gret vnsene Þat men gadird on þe grund. Ibid. 9091 Þat scrift was soruful and vn-sene,..þat salamon yod vnder. a1400–50Alexander 2536 Be þis ser Philip son..of feȝtand folk Had semblid ane vnsene sowme. 1435Misyn Fire of Love 69 Bot in treuth in me is cunne an vnsein Ioy. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Rom. 25 If it be an vnsene and a hiddeous presumpcion, that the clay should with the potter pratle. 1592R. D. Hypnerotomachia 55 A Diamond..of a huge and unseene bignes. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. xxiii. 565 A bird as bigge as a Crane,.. but of a strange and vnseene form. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 361 A Starr Unseen before in Heav'n. 1725Berkeley Proposal, etc. Wks. 1871 III. 230 Unseen countries and after ages may feel the effects of his bounty.
b. Of passages for translation: Not previously read. Hence as n., an unprepared passage.
1879C. S. Jerram Anglice Reddenda Pref., An exercise book in ‘unseen’, that is, unprepared translations. 1882Athenæum 30 Dec. 897/2 A proposal..to substitute ‘unseens’ for ‘set books’ in..examinations. 1892J. Edgar (title), Latin Unseens. Ibid. 23 A specimen unseen from Livy. 1897E. S. Smith (title), Greek Unseens in Prose and Verse.
†3. Unskilled, inexperienced. Obs.
1606Holland Sueton. 254 Neither was he unseene in Musick. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 279 Somewhat difficult to those who are as yet altogether unseen therein. 1682T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 63 (1713) II. 142 For any Man now to wonder at it, would but shew him very much unseen in the English History. |