| 释义 |
impalpable, a.|ɪmˈpælpəb(ə)l|
Also 6 in-.
[a. F. impalpable (1517 in Hatz.-Darm.) or med.L. impalpābilis: see im-2 and palpable.]
1. Incapable of being felt by the organs of touch; imperceptible to the touch; intangible. Said of things immaterial; also, of very fine powder, in which no grit is perceptible when it is rubbed between the fingers.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxiii. (Percy Soc.) 106 Though that aungell be invysyble, Inpalpable, and also celestiall. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 88 So subtiliated..as that it becam almost an impalpable powder. 1662Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass lxxvi, Grind it to an impalpable powder. 1791Cowper Odyss. ix. 609 A thing impalpable, A shadow. 1873W. Lees Acoustics iii. iv. 100 Watery vapour, existing as an impalpable transparent gas.
2. fig. Incapable of being (readily) grasped or apprehended by the mind; producing no definite mental impression; ‘intangible’.
1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry xlvii. (1840) III. 174 His own religion from its simple and impalpable form was much less exposed to the ridicule of scenic exhibition. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. Introd. 89 The almost impalpable beauties of style and expression. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 298 The impalpable and incognisable character of the subjects treated. |