| 释义 |
voluble, a.|ˈvɒljʊb(ə)l|
Also 7 volubil.
[a. older F. voluble (= Sp. voluble, Pg. voluvel, It. volubile) or ad. L. volūbilis, f. volū-, volvĕre to turn: see -ble.
In some instances the use of the word echoes Horace Ep. i. ii. 43 (Amnis) in omne volubilis ævum.]
I.
1. Liable to change; inconstant, variable, mutable. Now rare.
1575Fenton Gold. Epist. (1582) 21 As of all voluble things there is nothyng more light than renown. 1578Wotton Courtlie Controuersie 29 Poets, and Painters..testifye the loue of men to be voluble and vnconstant lyke a birde. 1604T. Wright Passions vi. 339 Perceive how vain fancies, and voluble crosses vanish away as little cloudes before the northerne winds. 1647J. Carter Nail & Wheel 71 Nothing abides at a stay; all things are unstable, and voluble. 1652N. Culverwel Lt. Nat. i. xii. (1661) 104 The noblest Perfections..are but voluble, and uncertain. 1678Alsop Melius Inq. ii. v. 243 The Lot, wherein the..Alruling God Controuls the Contingency of the voluble Creature. 1898Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 28 He waves, and the voluble scene is a quagmire shifting block.
2. Capable of ready rotation on a centre or axis; apt to revolve or roll in this manner. Now rare.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. (Arb.) 111 He [the round or sphere] is euen and smooth, without any angle, or interruption, most voluble and apt to turne, and to continue motion. 1609Bible (Douay) Ezek. x. 13 And these wheeles he called voluble, my self hearing it. 1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. A ij b, Like Diogenes turning about the mouth of his voluble hoggeshead. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 594 Or this less volubil Earth By shorter flight to th' East had left him there. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. III. 2/1 A Sphere is..a round body voluble on every side. 1784Cowper Task iii. 490 Thrice must the voluble and restless earth Spin round upon her axle. 1812Cary Dante, Purg. xxii. 41, I had met The fierce encounter of the voluble rock. 1822Hazlitt Table-T. Ser. ii. xvii. 397 Go thy ways old world, swing round in blue ether, voluble to every age; you and I shall no more jostle!
fig.1598Dallington Meth. Trav. B j b, His imagination shall be carried in the voluble Sphere of diuers mens discourses. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxiii. §33 Nothing is more politique then to make the wheels of our mind concentrique and voluble with the wheel of fortune. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 106 Fortune (Sister) is unstable, and her wheele voluble.
†b. Of the eye: Moving readily. Obs.—1
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 91 He hath..high eye⁓browes, eyes not very voluble or prominent.
c. Capable of being rolled up.
1662Evelyn Chalcogr. 19 Which from the German Bucher..were called Books, to whatever voluble or folding matter applyed.
3. Moving rapidly and easily, esp. with a gliding or undulating movement.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. iv. (Arb.) 156 A broad and voluble tong, thinne and mouable lippes, teeth euen and not shagged. 1608Topsell Serpents 11 The Tongue of a Serpent..is also thinne, long, and black of colour, voluble; neither is there any beast that moueth the tongue so speedily. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 436 Neerer he drew, and many a walk travers'd Of stateliest Covert, Cedar, Pine, or Palme, Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iii. 131 The parts of it [sc. water] being very voluble and lubricous, as well as fine and small, it easily..distends the Tubes and Vessels of Vegetables. 1856Bryant Summer Air 25 Why so slow, Gentle and voluble spirit of the air?
fig.1862Thackeray Philip xvii, Would you like to hear yesterday's sermon over and over again—eternally voluble?
4. Bot. Twining, twisting. Cf. volubile a.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Stalk, Voluble stalk, that which twists round other things. 1789E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. (1791) 108 note, Some of the plants with voluble stems ascend other plants spirally, east—south—west. 1835Kirby Power, Wisd. & Goodn. God II. 247 Some with a climbing or voluble stem, constantly turn one way, and some as constantly turn another. 1857A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 37 Twining, or voluble, when stems rise by coiling themselves spirally around other stems or supports. [Also in later botanical works.]
II.
5. Characterized by fluency or glibness of utterance; rapid and ready of speech; fluent: a. Of persons.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 69 A most acute Iuuenall, voluble and free of grace. 1604― Oth. ii. i. 242 A knaue very voluble... A slipper, and subtle knaue, a finder of occasion. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 14 There be found men aboue a hundred yeares old, that are very voluble and fluent in talke and discourse. [1704Steele Lying Lover v. i, Oh this unhappy Tongue of mine! Thou lawless voluble destroying Foe.] 1726Pope Odyss. xxii. 319 There end thy pompous vaunts and high disdain; Oh sharp in scandal, voluble and vain! 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 158 Fierce in his air, and voluble of tongue. 1840Thirlwall Greece lvi. VII. 138 A school of oratory, which produced a long series of voluble sophists. 1890M. Williams Leaves of Life II. xvii. 150 Of all the voluble men I have encountered in the course of my career, he is the most voluble.
absol.1762Foote Orator ii. Wks. 1799 I. 219 You will have at one view, the choleric, the placid, the voluble,..and the clamorous.
b. Of the tongue.
1608Middleton Trick to catch Old One i. ii, 'Tis a fine little voluble toung mine Hoste, that wins a widdow. 1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars iii. 63 A man naturally eloquent, of a voluble fluent tongue. 1699Burnet 39 Art. xxiii. 257 Hot-headed Men of warm Fancies, and voluble Tongues..would be apt to thrust themselves on to the Teaching and Governing others. 1720Prior Truth & Falsehood 45 Her tongue, so voluble and kind, It always runs before her mind. 1791Cowper Iliad xx. 309 The tongue of man is voluble, hath words For every theme. 1817Chalmers Life Churchyard 8 Churchyard was, plainly, a plausible man, who had many tales to tell, with a voluble tongue.
Comb.1604Dekker Honest Wh. v, A notable-voluble tongde villaine.
transf.1820Keats Eve St. Agnes xxiii, But to her heart, her heart was voluble, Paining with eloquence her balmy side.
6. Of discourse, words, etc.: Characterized by great fluency or readiness of utterance.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 76 Aged eares play treuant at his tales..So sweet and voluble is his discourse. 1590― Com. Err. ii. i. 92 If voluble and sharpe discourse be mar'd, Vnkindnesse blunts it more then marble. 1649Milton Eikon. 32 A discours, voluble anough, and full of sentence. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2612/4 One John Waterhouse of full middle Stature,..and of a large Voice, and voluble Speech. 1782J. Warton Ess. Pope II. xiv. 473 note, The style of which is certainly not so melodious and voluble as that of Dryden's enchanting prose. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1750, His periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. 1849Robertson Serm. Ser. i. ii. (1855) 25 In such persons words are ever at command—voluble and impassioned words. 1870L'Estrange Life Miss Mitford I. vi. 170 At length ‘madame’ began a very voluble oration, intended to express the extent of our delinquency.
transf.a1721Prior Dial. betw. Locke & Montaigne ⁋5, I find the same strain run with a most voluble impetuosity almost thro every Chapter of your Book. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forester, Catastrophe, The joy of the poor dancing-master..was rapturous and voluble. 1849Miss Mulock The Ogilvies xvi, The good woman went on in her voluble grief. 1871Macduff Mem. Patmos xxii. 308 Oh, the jarring discord of voluble sympathy!
†b. (See quot.) Obs.—1
1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 243 They [the Chinese] have contrived a fourth Kind of Writing, the Strokes whereof..are made with more Ease and Expedition; on which Account they are called Voluble Letters.
Hence ˈvolubleness, the quality or character of being voluble.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xxii. 168 Such Reptiles as hauing no feet doe with a kind of volublenesse make their way in the waters with many intricate doublings. 1727Bailey (vol. II), Volubleness, an Aptness to roll; also a round Delivery or Utterance, an easy Pronunciation. 1895Advance (Chicago) 10 Oct. 517/3 In general there is..a certain volubleness among the ministers, and forgetfulness..to give the laymen a chance [to speak]. |