| 释义 |
unˈutterable, a. and n.
[un-1 7 b, 5 b.]
A. adj.
1. a. Transcending utterance; inexpressible, ineffable; = unspeakable a. 1.
a1586Sidney De Mornay (1587) 33 The vnvtterable cause which Plato teacheth vs vnder two names. 1621Fletcher Thierry & Theod. ii. i, He is, Sir, The most unutterable coward that e'er nature Blest with hard shoulders. 1652Benlowes Theoph. v. lxxviii, That most unutterable blaze Of Heav'n's all-luminating rays. 1746Hervey Refl. Flower Garden 115 One transient Glimpse of those unutterable Beatitudes would captivate our souls. 1771Beattie Minstrel i. xliv, Hags, that suckle an infernal brood, And ply in caves th' unutterable trade. 1806J. Beresford Miseries Human Life iv. xxxii, A barrow of cat's meat, the un⁓utterable contents of which employ your eyes and nose. 1831James Phil. Augustus I. vi, The unutterable multitude of weathercocks, with which every pinnacle of the castle was adorned. 1873Proctor Expanse Heav. 304 By unutterable pace the light swept to them.
absol.1896Edin. Rev. Oct. 302 The vision of the utterable passes into the vision of the unutterable.
b. Of sorrow, anger, or other emotion.
1658T. Wall Charact. Enemies Ch. 9 The carnal delights which he has promised you will turn to unutterable dolours of soul. 1697Congreve Mourn. Bride iv. vii, What means these Tears, but Grief unutterable? 1707E. Smith Phædra & Hipp. iv. 50 How it wounds my Soul! To think of your unutterable Sorrows! 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xxix, Our bliss shall be unutterable. 1832Coleridge Lett. (1895) 762 Yours, with unutterable and unuttered love and regard. 1880‘Ouida’ Moths II. vi. 185 She turned her face with un⁓utterable scorn..on it.
c. In the phr. unutterable things.
a1711Ken Psyche Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 299 Bless'd Paul..was..heav'nly things unutterable taught. [Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 4.] 1727Thomson Summer 848 They..talked the flowing Heart, Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable Things! 1791W. Maxwell in Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 381 Jacob Behmen, whom Law alleged..to have seen unutterable things. 1818Byron Juan i. xc, Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks, Thinking unutterable things. 1873Black Pr. Thule ii, Sheila..rarely speaks, but looks unutterable things with her soft..eyes.
2. a. That may not be uttered or spoken.
1656Cowley Davideis iv. 260 Witness th' unutterable Name, there's nought Of private ends into this question brought. 1708Watts Horæ Lyricæ (1727) 161 My Tongue..with a noble Aim Attempts th' unutterable Name, But faints. 1883Whitelaw Sophocles, Ajax 773 Dread words, unutterable, back he flung.
b. Incapable of being uttered; unpronounceable.
1849Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. I. 423 The endless, and to a European, unutterable jargons of the other class. 1852Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. (1854) III. 271 The peculiarly harsh, deep-toned guttural, unknown and unutterable to the European. 1867Whitney Lang. iii. 95 Sounds..in the alphabet of one tongue which are unutterable by the speakers of another.
B. n.
1. An unutterable thing.
1788J. Newton in W. Roberts H. More (1835) II. 126 The Apostle Paul..was rapt into the third heavens, saw invisibles, and heard unutterables. 1797A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl II. 51 Rosa did not faint or betray any of the unutterables some of our young readers may expect.
2. pl. Trousers. (Cf. unmentionable n.)
1843I. F. Romer Rhone, Darro, etc. I. 322 His..short unutterables, garnished down the seams with silver buttons. 1860Slang Dict. 242.
Hence unˈutterableness.
1681H. More Exp. Dan. iii. 75 The ineffableness and unutterableness of the admirable union..of the Humane nature with the Divine. 1890J. Pulsford Loyalty to Christ I. 162 With what unutterableness of meaning, we breathe the prayer! |