| 释义 |
inspiration|ɪnspɪˈreɪʃən|
Also 4 yn-, 6 en-.
[a. OF. en-, inspiration, -cion (12–13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. inspīrātiōn-em, n. of action from inspīrāre to inspire.]
I. Literal (physical) senses.
†1. The action of blowing on or into. Obs. rare.
1513Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 75 The sulȝe spred hyr braid bosum on breid, Zephyrus comfortabill inspiratioun For till ressaue. 1710Shaftesbury Charac., Enthus. (1737) I. 28 Their strange voices..are admirably well acted, by the..Inspiration of Pipes.
2. The action, or an act, of breathing in or inhaling; the drawing in of the breath into the lungs in respiration. (Opp. to expiration 2.)
1564W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 37 This is a dispersed Pestilence by the inspiration of ayre. 1607E. Grimstone tr. Goulart's Mem. Hist. 440 That a Priest at Rome lived fortie yeares with the onely inspiration of the aire. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 79 The Nostrils serve for expiration and inspiration. 1753N. Torriano Gangr. Sore Throat 124 A sore Throat, which she received by Inspiration of foul Air. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 59 Upon going down he [the diver] takes in a very long inspiration. 1849–52Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 1086/2 In Inspiration the lungs are passive. 1872Darwin Emotions xii. 284 We can draw a full and deep inspiration much more easily through the widely open mouth than through the nostrils.
b. transf. A drawing in of air; the absorption of air in the ‘respiration’ of plants.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 613 Regular inspirations and expirations of air, by caverns and fissures. 1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 1001 Plants will not live without this nightly inspiration, even though supplied with carbonic acid, provided the oxygen formed by them during the day be constantly withdrawn at the approach of night.
II. Figurative senses.
3. The action of inspiring; the fact or condition of being inspired (in sense 4 or 5 of inspire v.); a breathing or infusion into the mind or soul.
a. spec. (Theol., etc.) A special immediate action or influence of the Spirit of God (or of some divinity or supernatural being) upon the human mind or soul; said esp. of that divine influence under which the books of Scripture are held to have been written.
Various views have been held as to the inspiration of Scripture, such as those of verbal inspiration, according to which every word written was dictated by the Spirit of God; plenary inspiration, according to which the inspiration of the writers extends to all subjects treated of, so that all their statements are to be received as infallibly true; moral inspiration, according to which the inspiration is confined to the moral and religious teaching imparted; dynamical inspiration, mechanical inspiration (see dynamical 3).
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 7746 Þurghe grete þan ynspyracyun, He þoghte so on hys [Christ's] passyun. a1340Hampole Psalter xliv. 2 [xlv. 1] comm., Þe vertu of godis inspiracioun. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. i. (Skeat) l. 13, I thinke to performe this worke..as my thinne witte, wyth inspyracyon of him that hildeth all grace, woll suffre. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 173 He sente the holy goste on Penthecoste sondaye to enspyracyon of hys dyscyples. 1494Fabyan Chron. v. cxix. 96 Seynt Augustyne..warnyd them by maner of inspyracion, yt sene they wolde not receyue peace of theyr bretherne, they shuld of other receyue warre and wreche. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 144 b, The inspiracyons of the holy goost. 1526Tindale 2 Tim. iii. 16 All scripture geven by inspiracion of god is proffitable to teache, to improve, to informe, and to instruct in rightewesnes. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 3 The Prophets, who teach us by diuine inspiration. 1692South 12 Serm. (1697) I, The..Principle.. was certainly first..fetched up from the very bottom of Hell and utter'd..by particular and immediate inspiration of the Devil. 1793R. Hawker (title) Evidence of a Plenary Inspiration; a Letter to Mr. T. Porter, in Reply to his Defence of Unitarianism. 1841Penny Cycl. XIX. 429/2 Theologians who hold the theory of plenary but not verbal inspiration. 1860Westcott Introd. Study Gosp. App. B. (ed. 5) 451 The early Fathers teach us that Inspiration is an operation of the Holy Spirit acting through men, according to the laws of their constitution. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ix. 272 The noblest souls of whatever creed..have insisted on the necessity of an inspiration, a living emotion to make moral action pefect. 1896Duke of Argyll Philos. Belief 370 They warn us that there may be inspirations from below, as well as from above.
b. gen. A breathing in or infusion of some idea, purpose, etc. into the mind; the suggestion, awakening, or creation of some feeling or impulse, esp. of an exalted kind.
1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 169 Why any man should take the law of his country rather than his own Inspiration, for the rule of his action. 1692Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 206 There are some Men, jealous of the Honour of their motions, who refuse all things at the Inspirations of others. 1769Junius Lett. vii. 30 The melancholy madness of poetry, without the inspiration. 1805Foster Ess. i. ii. 27 A mind adapted and habituated to converse with the inspirations of nature. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Love Wks. (Bohn) I. 75 Men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under any other circumstances. 1858Hogg Life Shelley II. 416 Inspired with the soft inspiration of strong, sound ale. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. v. (1877) 108 There is inspiration in numbers, in men acting at once and together.
c. The suggestion or prompting (from some influential quarter) of the utterance or publication of particular views or information on some public matter. (Cf. inspire 7, inspired 5.)
1880Chr. World No. 1195. 137 Correspondents..write in the interest, if not at the inspiration of the authorities. 1897Daily News 13 Mar. 3/1 Mr. Goschen said it was not due to inspiration..No idea had been given to the journal.
4. transf.
a. Something inspired or infused into the mind; an inspired utterance or product.
1819Byron Proph. Dante iv. 2 Many are poets who have never penn'd Their inspiration. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 321 They..Pour'd grave inspiration, a prophet chant to the future. 1879Sala in Daily Tel. 8 May, Mr. G. F. Boughton's charming figure of ‘Priscilla’, an inspiration from Longfellow's ‘Miles Standish’.
b. An inspiring principle.
1865Mozley Mirac. vii. 146 To say that the inspiration of the missionary cause has been the belief in Christian doctrine is almost superfluous. 1869Baldw. Brown Misread Passages ix. 125 Christian charity, charity which has Christ for its model and inspiration. 1873Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap iv. 682 Whatever motive your own souls supply As inspiration.
5. Comb.
1894Nation (N.Y.) 23 Aug. 144/3 Inspiration-like insight. |