| 释义 |
insensible, a. (n.)|ɪnˈsɛnsɪb(ə)l|
Also (erron.) 5–6 incens-, incenc-, -yble, 6–7 insencible.
[ad. L. insensibil-is, f. in- (in-3) + sensibilis sensible, f. sentīre, sens- to feel. Cf. F. insensible (13th c. in Littré).]
I. Passively: Incapable of being perceived.
1. a. Naturally incapable of being perceived by the bodily senses (= imperceptible a); non-material. Now rare.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 469Bileue is insensible & more trewe þan siche signes; as þis treuþe is insensible þat two & þre maken fyue, & ȝit it is more certeyn þan ony sensible þing heere. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxiii. (Percy Soc.) 106 For though that aungell[s] be invysyble, Inpalpable, and also celestiall, Wythouten substaunce as incencyble. 1581E. Campion in Confer. iii. (1584) Z ij, His body may be insensible to vs if he will. 1608–33Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows (1851) 98 Let my soul..be raised up to enjoy the insensible society of thy blessed angels. 1851Mansel Proleg. Log. v. (1860) 167–8 Locke has laid some stress on the fact, that the names which stand for insensible actions and notions, are derived from sensible objects.
b. So small, slight, gradual, or hidden, as not to be perceived by the senses, or by the mind (= imperceptible b); inappreciable. (The prevailing sense.)
1584Cogan Haven Health ccxvii. (1636) 240 It avoids red choler by urine, and other insensible evacuations. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. ii. (1635) 37 This Inequality, how great soeuer it seeme to the sight is altogether insensible, and bearing no proportion with the huge vastnesse of the Earth. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 29 Exhaled by insensible Transpiration. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 326 Carthage..grew larger by insensible degrees. 1836J. M. Gully Magendie's Formul. 214 The temperature of the skin is moderately elevated, and the insensible perspiration increased. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §9 (1875) 28 There is an insensible transition. Mod. Passing by insensible gradations into the next sense.
†2. Incapable of being understood; unintelligible; without sense or meaning. (Chiefly in legal use.) Obs.
1538Coverdale Ded. Transl. N. Test., In many places both base, insensible, and clean contrary, not only to the phrase of our language, but also from the understanding of the text in Latin. 1657–8Burton's Diary (1828) II. 411 The words are insensible and uncertain words. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. xx. 340 If the condition of a bond be impossible..or be uncertain, or insensible, the condition alone is void, and the bond shall stand single, and unconditional. 1775T. Hutchinson Diary 13 Mar. I. 405 Pointed out several inaccuracies and insensible expressions in the New England Bill. 1884Law Times LXXVI. 315/2 The words..would be insensible, or at any rate superfluous.
II. Actively: Incapable of perceiving.
3. a. Naturally incapable of physical feeling; not having the faculty of sensation. Now rare.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 24 Þerfore þe ligament is..incensible, for if þat it hadde be censible, þei myȝten nouȝt han I-susteyned þe traueile and þe meuynge of þe ioyntis. 1581W. Fulke in Confer. iii. (1584) Q b, I meane by insensible, voyde of life or sense. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xii. §3 (1622) 340 Fire, Haile, and Snow, meere insensible things. 1725Sloane Jamaica II. 310 The stomach of this bird is very muscular, having a thin separable and insensible membrane. 1831Brewster Nat. Magic ii. (1833) 13 The insensible spot on the retina is stimulated by a borrowed light.
b. Deprived of sensation; unconscious.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. (E.E.T.S.) 9925 Thy body that lyth now blynd & deff, Doom also, and insensyble. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 361 b/2 She knewe not what was sayd ne done aboute her but as unmeuable or as all insensible..she held her eyen fixed in one place. 1552Huloet, Insensible, or hauynge no sence or fealynge, as beynge numbe, lyke a dead membre. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, By this staircase the villains conveyed the insensible Prince to the lowest dungeon of the castle. a1859Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxv. V. 287 He fell down in a fit, and remained long insensible.
c. Incapable of physically feeling or perceiving (something specified). Const. of, to.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 61 After the commaundement of our lorde we must be blynde, defe, & dumme, lame & incensyble to all suche thynges. 1640tr. Verdere's Romant of Rom. I. 61 Rendering him insensible of all pain. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 169 The manner of his death was easy, without the least pang or convulsion..Swift was totally insensible of happiness or pain. 1796Pegge Anonym. (1809) 444 A dog's nose is insensible of cold. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola v, The martial fury by which men became insensible to wounds.
4. a. Incapable of mentally feeling, perceiving, or being affected by (something specified); unaware, unconscious; not susceptible, unaffected, unmoved, indifferent. Const. of, to, subord. clause.
1612–15Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. x. i, Should I only be insensible of his and the common happiness? 1712Budgell Spect. No. 283 ⁋2 Insensible of that Weight and Dignity which a moderate share of Wealth adds to their Characters. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. ix. 66 Insensible of your kindness. 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. vi. 277 Their great leader was not insensible how much he owed to their faithful services. 1882A. W. Ward Dickens v. 135 Even Circumlocution Offices are not insensible to the acetous force of satire.
b. Incapable or destitute of feeling or emotion; emotionless, callous, apathetic.
1617Moryson Itin. i. 236 My conscience was not..so insensible, as it could have passed over the..denying of my faith. a1621Beaum. & Fl. Thierry & Theod. iv. ii, Art thou grown Insensible in ill, that thou goest on Without the least compunction? 1683D. A. Art Converse 113 The Phlegmaticks are those the French call properly Des Apathicks, without passion or insensible. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ix. vi. ⁋13 The cold, relentless, insensible, was kindled into the warmest of love's votaries. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 404 He filled the most insensible with terror.
†5. Destitute of sense or intelligence; irrational.
a1533Frith Answ. Rastel. Wks. (1573) 27 Are ye so childish and insensible to imagine that ye must yet go through Purgatory, sith ye are already without faulte in his sight. 1598R. C. Godly Form Hovseh. Govt. Ep. Ded. 4 Dumbe & insencible beasts. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 75 His feare and amazement became greater, and insensible how to qualifie these bloudie stirrings. 1693Humours Town 15 In the Conversation of Brutes, and the Prospect of insensible Animals. 1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xi. 486 People stupid and insensible, illiterate and incapable of learning.
†B. n. (absol. uses of the adj.) Obs.
1. (from A. I.)
a. Something that cannot be perceived by the senses; a non-material thing.
b. Something too small or slight to be perceived; something imperceptible or inappreciable.
1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 159/2 To Insensibles nothing can be added, nothing taken away. This is the nature of Eternal Beings, the like and same ever. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 128 By reason of the swarms of insensibles, drilling through their pores or spungholes.
2. (from A. II.)
a. A thing or person incapable of feeling; an inanimate thing; an apathetic person.
b. A person destitute of sense, a fool.
a1618Sylvester Tobacco Battered 470 As of all Insensibles, hath none More Melancholy and Adustion, Then Chimnies have. 1692Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 336 The wise Man of the Stoicks is a vertuous insensible. 1754Richardson Grandison (1812) VI. 405 (D.) What an insensible must have been my cousin, had she not been proud of being Lady Grandison. 1785Cowper Let. to Newton Wks. 1837 XV. 159 Of all the insensibles he ever saw, poor Geary is the most completely stupid. 1802tr. A. La Fontaine's Reprobate II. 198 [Not] a word in favour of that insensible, that savage. |