| 释义 |
ingenuous, a.|ɪnˈdʒɛnjuːəs|
[f. L. ingenu-us native, inborn, free-born, having the qualities of a freeman, noble, frank (f. in- (in-2) + gen-, stem of gignĕre to beget) + -ous. Cf. F. ingénu (13th c. in Godef.).]
1. Of free or honourable birth; free-born. (Chiefly in references to Roman History.)
1638F. Junius Paint. of Ancients 160 It seemeth moreover to have been a priviledge of the ingenuous or free⁓borne lads onely. 1783Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. vi. 192 Caracalla bestowed the rights of citizenship on all Roman subjects who were of ingenuous birth. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) V. xl. 57 Augustus allowed the Roman citizens..to intermarry with freedwomen..because the females of ingenuous birth were not numerous enough to mate them.
2. Noble in nature, character, or disposition; generous, high-minded. (Of persons, or their dispositions, actions, etc.) Obs. or arch.
1599Marston Sco. Villanie i. Proem., Thou nursing Mother of faire wisdomes lore, Ingenuous Melancholy. 1616Bullokar, Ingenuous, gentleman-like. 1631Denison Heav. Banq. 182 They scoffe him; an iniury hardly indured by any ingenuous man. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 276 His having a prince's mind imprisoned in a poor man's purse rendered him to the contempt of such who were not ingenuous. 1691Ray Creation Ded. 3 To ingenuous Natures, true Honor..is not the meanest [consideration]. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xlvii. 353 Shame is no punishment except upon persons of ingenuous dispositions.
†b. Of animals or things: Of high or excellent quality or character; ‘noble’. Obs.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 101 These [harts] are above all other four-footed Beasts both ingenuous and fearful. 1658Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 257 Pruning off the new setts, and sparing the old, as the most ingenuous and fruitful. 1664― Sylva (1679) 5 Planted in a more open, free, and ingenuous soil.
†3. Befitting a free-born person, or one of honourable station; liberal, high-class. Obs.
1611Coryat Crudities Ep. Ded., These courtly Gentlemen, whose noble parentage, ingenuous education, and vertuous conuersation haue made worthy to be admitted into your Highnesse Court. 1638F. Junius Paint. of Ancients 188 In old time, when naked vertue was yet in esteem..all kinde of ingenuous arts did flourish. a1716Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 333 A Person, who..seems to have good natural Parts, and to have had ingenuous Education. 1757Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. iii. ix. Wks. 1842 II. 592 Improved and exalted by..that great opener of the mind, ingenuous science.
4. Honourably straightforward; open, frank, candid. (The current sense.)
1598[implied in ingenuously 1]. 1610Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists in Recoll. Treat. (1614) 755 You begin to be ingenuous; while you confesse a reformation in the Church of England. 1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 21 Yf he wyll make an ingenuous confession. 1649Milton Eikon. xxi, The Damsell of Burgundie, at sight of her own letter, was soon blank, and more ingenuous then to stand outfacing. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty 5, I will be ingenuous enough to confess something of this may be true. 1794E. Hector Let. to Boswell 9 Jan. in Boswell Johnson an. 1734 note, Surely it would be more ingenuous to acknowledge than to persevere. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 260 The language which he held..was well weighed and well guarded, but clear and ingenuous.
b. Innocently frank or open; guileless, innocent; artless. (= F. ingénu, -ue.)
1673Heylin's Cosmogr. iv. 142 The People generally of a modest and ingenuous [1652 ingenious] countenance. 1750Gray Elegy xviii, To quench the blushes of ingenuous Shame. 1781W. Blane Ess. Hunt. Pref. (1788) 10 Stories of the young and ingenuous Peasant torn from his weeping Parents, and..banished. 1877Black Green Past. ii, These were fine notions to have got into the head of an ingenuous country maiden. 1887Poor Nellie (1888) 139 His ingenuous eyes opened widely.
†5. Native, natural. (nonce-use, repr. L. ingenuus.) Obs.
1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. xiv. (1858) 460 Before the ‘ingenuous rock’ had been ‘violated by the marble’ of Constantine.
¶6. In 17th c. frequently misused for ingenious: see ingenious 1–3. Obs.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 80 If their Sonnes be ingennous [Qo. 1 ingenous, Qo. 2, Fo. 3 & 4 ingenuous], they shall want no instruction. Ibid. i. ii. 29. 1611 ― Cymb. iv. ii. 186 My ingenuous Instrument, (Hearke Polidore) it sounds. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Vandal Wars i. 15 John the Cappadocian, a bad man, was ingenuous to find projects for money to the treasury, with the ruine of men. 1663Hegg Leg. St. Cuthbert 42 The art [of illumination of MSS.], I confess, is both ingenuous, and commendable. 1795Fate of Sedley II. 151 A sterile effort of folly and of ingenuous cunning. |