| 释义 |
inexpressible, a. and n.|ɪnɛkˈsprɛsɪb(ə)l|
[in-3.]
A. adj. That cannot be expressed in words; unutterable, unspeakable, indescribable. (Often as an emotional intensive: cf. ineffable.)
1625Donne Serm. iii. 22 Thou shalt feele the Ioy of his third birth in thy soul most inexpressible this day. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 113 Ere mid-day arriv'd In Eden, distance inexpressible By Numbers that have name. 1711Addison Spect. No. 159 ⁋8, I gazed with inexpressible Pleasure on these happy Islands. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 224–5 It is with inexpressible concern, that I find myself called upon..to be the accuser of such a man. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxiii. 166 Its seclusion gives it an inexpressible charm.
B. n.
1. Something inexpressible. (In quot. 1846 with punning allusion to next sense.)
1652Benlowes Theoph. ii. vi. 24 Praise best doth Inexpressibles expresse. 1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 73 A pair of standard footmen seems to be the real pair of inexpressibles.
2. pl. (colloq.) Breeches or trousers. (Orig. euphemistic: cf. ineffables, inexplicables, unmentionables.)
1790Wolcott (P. Pindar) Rowland for Oliver Wks. 1795 II. 154 (Farmer) I've heard, that breeches, petticoats, and smock, Give to thy modest mind a grievous shock, And that thy brain (so lucky its device) Christ'neth them inexpressibles, so nice. 1793Gibbon Let. 11 Nov. 1800Helen Bedingfeld in Jerningham Lett. (1896) I. 196 A pair of old inexpressibles..contained seven thousand Guineas!..deposited in so vulgar a Garment. 1809Farmers' Mag. X. 500 A fine lady can talk about her lover's inexpressibles, when she would faint to hear of his breeches. 1875Spectator (Melbourne) 12 June 64/1 The episcopal inexpressibles..for obvious reasons will be unsuited to lay legs.
Hence inexpressiˈbility, inexˈpressibleness, the quality of being inexpressible.
1727Bailey vol. II, Inexpressibleness. 1826–7De Quincey Lessing Wks. 1859 XIII. 249, I do not admit the inexpressibility of paternal grief. 1869Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxi. 1 Our joy should have some sort of inexpressibleness in it. |