| 释义 |
inquisitive, a. (n.)|ɪnˈkwɪzɪtɪv|
Forms: 4–6 inquisitif, etc. (with usual interchange of i and y, f, fe, ff, and ve), 5 enquesitif, inquizitif, 6– inquisitive.
[a. OF. inquisitif, -ive (Godef.), ad. late L. inquīsītīvus (Boethius), f. L. inquīsīt-, ppl. stem of inquīrĕre to inquire: see -ive. Cf. It. inquisitivo (Florio).]
Given to inquiry, questioning, or research; of an inquiring turn of mind; desirous of or eager for knowledge; curious. (Of persons, their dispositions, actions, etc.)
c1450Merlin 292 Ewein white honde, that was more enquesitif, asked of whens thei were. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. (1557) 640/1, I purpose not..to be so curiouse and inquisitive as to enquire whyther [etc.]. 1570Dee Math. Pref. 22 As an Oxe..no furder carefull or inquisitiue. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §11 A natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite. 1654Jer. Taylor Real Pres. Ep. Ded., To make us humble, apt to learn, inquisitive, and charitable. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 47 The inquisitive and better Part of Mankind. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §8 So many learned, wise and inquisitive men. a1751Langley Builder's Jewel (1757) 26 It will not be in the Power of the most inquisitive Eye to discover the Difference. 1865Grote Plato Pref. (1875) 7 The number of intellects, independent, inquisitive, and acute is always rare.
b. Often (now usually) in an unfavourable sense: Unduly or impertinently curious; prying.
1529More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 243/1 The lesse witte the more inquisitife. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. Ded. §2 Beholding you not with the inquisitive eye of presumption. a1716South Twelve Serm. (1717) IV. 70 Inquisitive Persons..who have a Mind to pry into the Thoughts and Actions of their Neighbour. 1787A. Hamilton in Federalist No. 12 The genius of our people will ill brook the inquisitive and peremptory spirit of Excise laws. 1832G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 181 This was the most inquisitive old fellow I have ever seen.
fig.c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. v. 7, I pray be cautious of your carriage under that meridian, it is a searching (Inquisitive) air. 1884Mag. of Art VII. 163 A girl in a white figured gown at work,..white window curtains about her, and the inquisitive light streaming around her.
c. Const. of, after, about, for, into, † upon (the thing which one seeks to know), or with inf., or subordinate interrogative clause.
c1386Chaucer Miller's Prol. 56 An housbonde shal nat been Inquisityf Of goddes pryuetee nor of his wyf. c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 1772 heading, How a kyng shulde be inquisitiff to knowe diuers Oppynyouns. 1474Sir J. Paston in P. Lett. No. 745 III. 114 He was passyng inquisytyff howe that I was purveyd for recompensyng off Towneshend. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 62 Be not inquisitif vpon other folkis lest they be inquisitif vpon the. 1520Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 3 b, He is euer inquisytyue of suche maters. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 178, I would have been inquisitive after things more commendable. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 149 Not very inquisitive about forreigne affaires. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. iii. §1 Foraigners there being very inquisitive of them, to be satisfied in the particulars of his devotion. 1676tr. Guillatiere's Voy. Athens 117 We were all of us inquisitive after the famous Temples of Jupiter, Minerva, and Venus. 1693Dryden Juvenal xvi. (1697) 390 Inquisitive of Fights, and longs in vain To find him in the Number of the slain. 1699Bentley Phal. 246 He was curious and inquisitive into the History of Poetry and the Stage. 1711Addison Spect. No. 50 ⁋2 The Upholsterer finding my Friend very inquisitive about these his Lodgers. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. i. xi. §4 Lot's wife being too nicely inquisitive what would become of it. 1753Hogarth Anat. Beauty 4 Gentlemen, who have been inquisitive after knowledge in pictures. 1820Lamb Elia Ser. i. South Sea Ho., Some curious finger..inquisitive to explore the mode of book keeping in Queen Anne's reign.
B. n. An inquisitive person. (By Puttenham applied to the rhetorical figure erotesis.)
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 220 A kinde of figuratiue speach when we aske many questions and looke for none answere, speaking indeed by interrogation, which we might as well say by affirmation. This figure I call the Questioner or inquisitiue. 1685Temple Ess., Poetry Wks. 1731 I. 248 There are no where so many curious Inquisitives, so many Pretenders to Business and State-Imployments. |