| 释义 |
▪ I. ignoble, a. (n.)|ɪgˈnəʊb(ə)l|
Also 5 innoble.
[a. F. ignoble (14–15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) = It. ignobile, Sp. innoble, ad. L. ignōbilis, f. i-2 = in- not + gnōbilis, nōbilis noble.]
1. Not noble in respect of birth, position, or reputation; of low birth or humble station.
a. Of persons, their birth, family, condition, etc.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 335 All must pay hym [death] dette, Noble and innoble. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 192 Of all men, as well noble as ignoble, as well of riche as of poore. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. i. 70 You must all confesse, That I was not ignoble of Descent. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 133 The Gentlemen doe not meddle with trafficke..they thinke such trafficke ignoble and base. 1683Brit. Spec. 191 To be ranked among the Peasantry and the Ignoble. 1738Wesley Ps. xlv. xiv, Daughter of Heaven, tho born on Earth..Forget the first ignoble Birth. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xi. 59 A West-Saxon house which, two generations back, had been undistinguished, perhaps ignoble. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 313 No man..will be allowed to exercise any ignoble occupation.
b. Of animals, compared with each other or with man.
In Ornith. applied to those birds of prey, such as the kites and buzzards, which are not used in falconry. In Falconry applied to the short-winged hawks, such as the goshawk and sparrow-hawk, which chase or rake after the quarry, in contradistinction to the noble or long-winged falcons, which stoop to the quarry at a single swoop.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 234 Peacock-fish..Is an insipid and ignoble fish. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 38 This more ignoble creature [the great Black Snail] hath also a circulation of its nutritive humour. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 129 The more ignoble race of birds make up by cunning and assiduity what these claim by force and celerity. 1829Lytton Devereux i. ii, As the human eye is supposed to awe into impotence the malignant intentions of the ignobler animals. 1833R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 79 The old division of noble and ignoble hawks,..so well understood, when falconry was a general field sport.
c. Of things, places, etc. (Often passing into 2.)
1611Coryat Crudities (1776) I. 23 This Clermont is a meane and ignoble place, having no memorable thing therein, worthy the obseruation. 1635–56Cowley Davideis iv. 351 Like some fair Pine o'relooking all th' ignobler Wood. 1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. (1667) 41 Some..maintain it to be possible to transmute the ignobler Metals into Gold. 1713Young Last Day iii. 234 My strength exhausted, fainting I descend, And chuse a less, but no ignoble, theme.
2. Not noble in disposition, nature, or quality; mean, base, sordid; dishonourable. Of persons, their actions, aims, desires, etc.
1592Nashe P. Penilesse (ed. 2) 19 a, His beggerly parsimony and ignoble illiberaltie. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. v. 22 Here is the Head of that ignoble Traytor, The dangerous and vnsuspected Hastings. 1660Milton Free Commw. Wks. (1847) 449/1 The worst and ignoblest sort of men. 1667― P.L. ii. 227 Thus Belial..Counsel'd ignoble ease, and peaceful sloath. 1695Addison Poems, King, His Toils for no Ignoble ends designed. 1703Pope Thebais 233 With scandal arm'd, th' ignoble mind's delight. 1851Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. Pref. to ed. 2. 32 Every kind of knowledge may be sought from ignoble motives, and for ignoble ends. 1871Dixon Tower IV. x. 96 The most ignoble year in an ignoble reign.
B. as n. chiefly in pl. ignobles, persons not of noble rank; commoners. (In quot. 1808, used as = persons of ignoble character.)
c1610Sylvester Honour's Fare-well 42 A holy Mirrour, Reducing Nobles, from Ignobles' Errour. a1761Law tr. Behmen's Myst. Magnum xxii. (1772) 98 Be it either by Nobles or Ignobles, none excepted. 1808E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 19 note, The Reader may..think that ignobles would be a more proper term [than nobles].
▪ II. ignoble, v. rare.|ɪgˈnəʊb(ə)l|
[f. prec. adj., as the opposite of ennoble.]
trans. To make ignoble or infamous; fig. to make of bad repute.
1590–2Bacon Disc. Praise Q. Eliz. in Spedding Lett. & Life (1861) I. 142 The Invincible Navy..ignobling many shores and points of land by shipwreck. a1614Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 80 By confiscation, and by condemning the memory of the delinquent, and ignobling his race. 1628Gaule Pract. The. (1629) 105 The Person dignifies the Place, the Place ignobles not the Person. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 188 Early sorrow had prevented or ignobled much that was good in him. |