| 释义 |
weighty, a.|ˈweɪtɪ|
Forms: 5 wehty, 6 Sc. wegh-, vech-, vych-, wych-, waich-, waychtie, 6–7 Sc. wechtie, 7 Sc. weychtie, 6, 9 Sc. wechty; 6 weyghty(e, 6–7 weightie, 5– weighty; 6 wayghty, wai(h)ti, wayt(t)y, 6–7 waighty, -ie.
[f. weight n.1 + -y1.]
I.
1. Of a considerable or appreciable weight; that weighs a good deal, heavy.
1500Ortus Vocab., Onerosus, heuy or wehty. 1535Coverdale Prov. xxvii. 3 The stone is heuy and the sonde weightie: but a fooles wrath is heuyer then they both. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 24 b, The best seede also is that which is waightiest. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 351 A very great Frost..had covered with Ice, both the Marshes and Rivers, that they would bear the greatest and most weighty Carriages. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. i. §4 Let all the Hasle Rods be..no weightier than you can easily manage with one Hand. 1697Dryden æneis xii. 1284 Now stern æneas waves his weighty Spear Against his Foe. 1711Pope Temple Fame 429 As weighty bodies to the centre tend. 1852Malpas Builder's Pocketbk. 43 Many ceilings..have heavy cornices, pendants, and other weighty matters attached to them. 1879J. C. Cox Ch. of Derbysh. IV. 141 He..lies buried under a weighty uninscribed tomb.
fig.1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 63 By that path, their Crowne of glory had neither been so certaine, nor so soone, nor so waighty.
b. Of persons or animals: Of more than the usual size, large or bulky of body, corpulent. † Of soldiers: Heavily armed or equipped.
1581A. Hall Iliad ii. Catal. Princes 39 And Iton breeder good Of waightie felterd felled sheepe. 1590R. Ferris Dang. Adventure B 2, We recouered him and got him vp againe (although he were a verie waightie man). 1670Milton Hist. Brit. ii. 59 Ostorius..could hardly stay thir flight; till the waighty Legions coming on, at first poys'd the Battel, at length turn'd the Scale. a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 124 Upon the bough there sits a good weighty Fellow, to press it down to the bottom [of the water]. 1819W. Tennant Papistry storm'd (1827) 49 Auld Saunders Clerk, a man o' echty, Though eild-encumber't now and wechty.
c. Of great weight in proportion to its bulk, of high specific gravity.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 403/1 Argentum graue,..weightie siluer, or siluer in bulleon, as they call it. a1700Evelyn Diary 22 June 1664, It look'd like a fungus, but was weighty like metall. 1748J. Hill Hist. Fossils 13 Friable, weighty, fine red Bole. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 138 Baroselenite..Rough and harsh, but appears weighty. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 816 The successive percussions that it receives, determine the weightier matters, and consequently those richest in metal, to accumulate towards its upper end.
†d. Of coin: Of full weight, of the standard or legal weight. Obs.
1617Moryson Itin. i. 294 He that brings a weighty French crowne In specie to the Gold-smyths, they will give him six shilling six pence for it. 1691Locke Consid. Lower. Interest (1692) 156 He will..contract to be paid in weighty Money. 1730Conduitt Observ. Coins (1774) 52 If foreigners, who take our money in large parcels only by weight, are suffered to pour in light money upon us, at the same rate as if it were weighty.
2. Bearing down heavily as if weighted or of great weight; falling with force or violence.
1583tr. Maison Neuve's Gerileon i. 61 b, If he had not by his agillitie and nimblenesse, eschewed the weightie blowes of the Giaunte. 1605R. F. Dedekind's Sch. Slovenrie (1904) 101 Another must both brawling words and weightie blows abide. 1725Pope Odyss. x. 198 Then leaning on the spear with both my hands, [I] Up-bore my load, and prest the sinking sands With weighty steps. 1738Wesley Ps. xxxii. viii, Whoe'er like Horse and Mule withstand,..I bruise beneath my weighty Hand.
II.
3. a. Of great gravity or significance; requiring earnest thought, consideration, or application; highly important, serious, grave, momentous.
1489Earl of Northumberland in Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 61 For right weighty consideration me moving concerning the pleasure of the Kings highnes. 1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 28 Preamble, Great and weyghtye maters concernyng the comen weale of this lande. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 163 My lordes, we haue perceiued the kyng your masters requests, which be greate and of a waightie Importaunce. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. i. 62 This was your default, That being Captaine of the Watch to Night, Did looke no better to that weightie Charge. 1606Stock tr. Whitaker's Answ. Campian 95 A waighty question..concerning lawfull ceremonies. 1646Hamilton Papers (Camden) 129 You may judge how gladly I would impart things of waightier and more pleasing consequence. 1693W. Freke Sel. Ess. xxvi. 154 By Dissimulation and Trifles, sometimes the Weightiest Matters haue been discouered. 1718Free-thinker No. 65. 71 What weighty Negociations did He bring to a Conclusion! 1737Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 379 Or choose at least some Minister of Grace, Fit to bestow the Laureate's weighty place. 1769Burke Observ. Late St. Nation Wks. 1842 I. 80 The questions of war and peace, the most weighty of all questions. 1809Coleridge Friend No. 7. 109 There are three weighty motives for a distinct exposition of this Theory. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. iv, And now I am going seriously to tell you..four secrets. Mind! Serious, grave, weighty secrets.
b. Of a substantial or solid nature; ranking high in respect of importance or value.
In quot. 1744 employed sarcastically with allusion to sense 1.
1558Bp. Watson Seven Sacram. xxx. 193 To exchaunge the short and light affections of thys tyme, wyth the eternall and weyghty ioyes in the Kyngdome of heauen. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. (1595) 49 The authority of Example is also very weighty. 1596Nashe Saffron-Walden S 2, Were they weightie Treatises? 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 110 You are to know that a more weighty planet, or that which is superiour cannot apply unto the lighter or inferiour, except when he is retrograde. 1744Def. People title-p., Full Confutation of the Pretended Facts, advanc'd in a late Huge, Angry Pamphlet... In a Letter to the Author of that weighty Performance. 1816Singer Playing Cards 165 Mr. Dibdin whose authority on the subject is the weightiest that could be possibly adduced. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 41 In these days, when the most weighty books may be had cheaply, in the lightest form. 1877Huxley Techn. Educ. Sci. & Cult. (1881) 84 Steps which will have a weighty and a lasting influence on the growth and spread of sound and thorough teaching.
4. a. Of an argument, utterance, etc.: Producing a powerful effect; adapted to influence or convince; forcible, telling, potent.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 114 With moste weightie wordes. 1573G. Harvey Letter Bk. (Camden) 12 Your wurship hath harde what forcible and waiti reasons M. Nevil hath usid against me. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 148 Lyes well steel'd with weighty Arguments. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 133 A speech..so gnomicall and waighty, that S. Augustin highly commends it. 1717Prior Alma iii. 44 No fool Pythagoras was thought; Whilst he his weighty doctrines taught. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. I. iv. 264 But on the other hand several weighty objections had to be urged. 1856Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. ix. 331 Reflections very wise and weighty indeed. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. ix. 334 Few and weighty were the words which the great Earl spoke that day. 1890Law Times Rep. LXIII. 684/1, I must adopt the evidence on the other side, which I think is more weighty.
b. Of persons: Having great authority or influence; important or impressive in respect of position, views, or utterance.
1662Howell New Engl. Gram. To Rdr. 4 Mr. Ben Johnson a Weighty man and one who was as patient as hee was painfull in all his composures. 1666–7Pepys Diary 17 Feb., A mighty quick, ready man, but not so weighty as he should be. 1709Swift T. Tub Author's Apol. ⁋6 Since the weightiest men in the weightiest Stations are pleased to think it a more dangerous point to laugh at those corruptions in religion. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 49 There is not any necessity that men should aim at being important and weighty in every sentence they speak. 1853Lytton My Novel xi. v, The great commoner, the weighty speaker, the expert man of business. 1860Emerson Cond. Life v. (1861) 112 The argument is scouted, until by-and-bye it gets into the mind of some weighty person; then it begins to tell on the community. 1879Huxley Sensation Sci. & Cult. (1881) 246 We sometimes hear it [this maxim] enunciated by weighty authorities, as if its natural consequence..had the force of a moral obligation.
5. Hard to bear or endure without failing or giving way; oppressive, burdensome, grievous.
1540Palsgr. Acolastus v. iv. Z ij b, I am tourmented withinforthe..with so weighty a charge of conscience. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 653 Like a wise prince, he alleged his insufficiencie for so great a rome and weyghty a burden. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage i. xvi. 73 He was beholden to the Romanes, that eased him of so weighty a burthen, and lessened his cares of gouernement. 1712Steele Spect. No. 308 ⁋1 The weighty Cares which you have thought fit to undergo for the publick Good. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxii, I have lived ill, and the world has been too weighty with me. 1849Lever Con Cregan xviii, There are hundreds, here, whose weightiest evil would be that they awoke an hour earlier than their wont.
†b. Rigorous, severe. Obs. rare.
1607Shakes. Timon iii. v. 102 We banish thee for euer.., If after two days shine, Athens containe thee, Attend our waightier Iudgement.
†6. Serious, grave; expressing seriousness or gravity, earnest, solemn. Obs.
1599Marston Antonio's Rev. Prol., If any spirit breathes within this round, Vncapable of waightie passion. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, Prol. i. 2, I come no more to make you laugh, Things now, That beare a Weighty, and a serious Brow,..We now present. 1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Sir Greg. Nonsense Wks. (1630) ii. 3/1 With that the smug-fac'd Pluto shook his vestment, Deepe ruminating what the weighty Iest ment. 1677Penn Trav. Holland etc. (1694) 212 The Countess..lookt upon me with a weighty countenance, and fetcht a deep sigh, crying out, O the cumber and entanglements of this vain World!
7. = heavy a. 20.
1828W. Irving Life & Lett. (1864) II. 337 My chief fear of the work is that..it may prove..in some parts heavy. I shall work it up, however, as much as possible, and endeavor to lighten it where it is weighty. |