| 释义 |
impassive, a.|ɪmˈpæsɪv|
[f. im-2 + passive.]
1. Having the quality of not feeling pain; not subject or liable to suffering: = impassible 1.
1667Milton P.L. vi. 455 Too unequal work we find Against unequal armes to fight in paine, Against unpaind, impassive. 1708Rowe Royal Convert v. i, The free, impassive Soul mounts on the Wing, Beyond the reach of Racks, and tort'ring Flames. a1791Wesley Serm. lxv, While he was innocent, he was impassive, incapable of suffering. 1821Shelley Hellas 680 O Slavery!..the free heart, the impassive soul, Scorn thy control!
2. Naturally without sensation; inanimate; not susceptible of physical impression or injury, invulnerable.
a1687Cotton On Sleep (R.), The lover meets the willing fair, And fondly grasps impassive air. 1711Pope Temp. Fame 56 On the impassive Ice the light'nings play. 1780Burke Sp. Econ. Reform Wks. 1842 I. 243 Death..domineers over every thing, but the forms of the exchequer... They are impassive and immortal. 1876Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 35 Thou, like the thin impassive air, Dost cheat the grasp of subtlest-thoughted sage.
b. Deprived of feeling or sensation; insensible, unconscious.
1848Dickens Dombey i, The two medical attendants seemed to look on the impassive form with so much compassion and so little hope. 1871Alabaster Wheel of Law 194 The impassive state is only transient.
3. Deficient in, or void of, mental feeling or emotion; not susceptible to mental impressions; unimpressionable, apathetic; also, in good sense, not liable to be disturbed by passion, serene.
1699Garth Dispens. i. 4 To find How body acts upon impassive mind. 1725Pope Odyss. iv. 313 Impassive and serene, The man entranc'd would view the deathful scene. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. v. 399 Clement..had maintained an attitude of impassive reserve. 1871H. Ainsworth Tower Hill i. i, He looked hard at Sir Anthony, but could read nothing in the knight's impassive countenance. 1874Green Short Hist. x. §1. 727 Even the impassive Chesterfield cried in despair, ‘We are no longer a nation’.
4. Unendurable, intolerable: = impassible 4. rare.
1828W. Irving Columbus (1848) I. 38 A torrid zone..separating the hemispheres by a region of impassive heat. |