| 释义 |
invincible, a. (n.)|ɪnˈvɪnsɪb(ə)l|
Also 6 invinceable, -sible, Sc. -sable, inwynciabill, 7 invintiable.
[a. F. invincible, ad. L. invincibilis, f. in- (in-3) + vincibilis conquerable, f. vincĕre to conquer.]
1. That cannot be vanquished, overcome, or subdued; unconquerable.
a. Of combatants, fortresses, etc. Invincible Armada: see armada 2.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy (1555) iii. xxii. (MS. Digby 232) lf. 80 b/2 Of knyhthod ground of strengþe hardynesse Þe verray stook, and þerto invyncyble. 1490Caxton Eneydos viii. 36 As longe as cartage sholde abyde inuyncyble. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxvi. 22 Our wicht invinsable Sampson sprang the fra. 1563in Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxxiv. 344 Taking up armes against the invinceable God and Christ. 1578T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 45 Thinking the Christians to be invinsible. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 8 The Spanish..invincible Navy, sent to invade England, in the yeere 1588, being dispersed, and proving nothing lesse then invincible. 1679Season. Adv. Protest. 6 She found out a way to batter these invincible Bulwarks. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VI. xv. xvi. 263 Who was invincible by the rest of the world. 1781Cowper Expost. 569 When presumptuous Spain Baptized her fleet invincible in vain. 1832Macaulay Armada 3 When that great fleet invincible against her bore in vain The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. x. 420 They deemed themselves invincible by any force which the Moslems could bring against them. 1894J. K. Laughton Span. Armada Introd. 29 The name ‘Invincible’, so commonly given to this fleet, was not official..By all the contemporary chroniclers the fleet is spoken of as the Grand Fleet.
b. transf. and fig. (a) of persons in spiritual or mental warfare, argument, etc.; (b) of material or immaterial things, obstacles, habits, conditions, attributes, arguments, etc.: That cannot be overcome, unsurmountable, insuperable.
1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 72 Thys vyse was to her inuyncyble by cause of her imperfeccyon. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 241 The inuincible charite, the vnsuperable loue and goodnes of god. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 33 An invincible reason and an argument infallible. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 2 Whether Luther be so invincible that he can not be confuted or vanquished. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 460 The iudgement of Paule in this matter remaineth firme and inuincible. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 146 Jewes..subject to all wrongs and contumelies, which they support with an invincible patience. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xvi, I had an invincible Impression upon my Thoughts, that my Deliverance was at Hand. 1811Pinkerton Petral. II. 72 A distance surely not invincible for sledges or other conveyances. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Europe x. (1894) 244, I have suffered from an invincible love of short cuts.
c. invincible ignorance [Schol.L. ignorantia invincibilis (Thomas Aquinas Summa Theol. lxxvi. §2)]: an ignorance the means of overcoming or removing which are not possessed by the ignorant person himself.
1612J. Taylor Comm. Titus iii. 3 How farre better were it with vs, to haue been heathen or infidels, and neuer haue heard of Iesus Christ, that our ignorance had beene simple and invincible. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. i. iii. §2 Dark Corners..where Prophaneness lives quietly with invincible Ignorance. 1699Burnet 39 Art. viii. (1700) 107 God only knows..how far our Ignorance is affected or invincible. 1721St. German's Doctor & Stud. 603 Ignorance of the Law (though it be invincible) doth not excuse. 1885Cath. Dict. (ed. 3) 424/2 With regard to the guilt of sins ignorantly committed, invincible ignorance altogether excuses from sin.
†2. That cannot be ‘beaten’ or excelled; unsurpassable. Obs.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xliii. (Percy Soc.) 211 His most hie actes so moche invyncible. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 73 Titus Livy of Paduva..by whose penne truely invincible, the Acts of the invincible Roman people should be written. Ibid. iii. 86 Germans..practising night and day the faculty of drinking, become strong and invincible professors therein.
3. Of or pertaining to the Invincibles: see B. b.
1885in Cassell's Encycl. Dict.
¶ Catachr., or error for invisible.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 337 He was so forlorne, that his Dimensions (to any thicke sight) were inuincible [altered by Rowe to invisible].
B. n. One who is invincible.
1640tr. Verdere's Romant of Rom. iii. 183 Desiring to appeare invincibles, they made no shew of discontent. 1815Southey in Q. Rev. XIII. 236 The reputation of his armies was wounded, the invincibles had been put to shame.
b. A member of an Irish assassination society so called, developed from the Fenians about 1881–82.
1883Illustr. Lond. News 24 Feb. 186/3 The Irish Invincibles—the ‘Assassination Circle’—organised by one Walsh from the North of England, was formed to ‘make history’ by the ‘removal of tyrants’. Ibid. 193/2 Carey..says that he was one of the ‘Directory’ of an association called ‘the Irish Invincibles’ organized in November 1881. 1887Dict. Nat. Biog. IX. 72/2 The object of the Invincibles was ‘to remove all tyrants from the country’, and several attempts, but without success, were made to assassinate Earl Cowper and Mr. W. E. Forster. |