| 释义 |
jejune, a.|dʒiːˈdʒuːn|
[ad. L. jējūn-us fasting.]
†1. Without food, fasting; hungry. Obs.
a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. ii. §2 (1622) 199 When their Bellies are distended, and full; yet their appetites are ieiune, and emptie. 1670J. Beale in Phil. Trans. V. 1162 Poor and jejune people, who are accustomed to drinks almost as weak as water. a1754J. McLaurin Serm. & Ess. (1755) 156 That cold, jejune, lifeless frame.
2. Deficient in nourishing or substantial (physical) qualities; thin, attenuated, scanty; meagre, unsatisfying; (of land) poor, barren.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxi. 162 Jejune or limpid water, and nearer the simplicity of its Element. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. v. 146 Those jejune and insipid morsels. 1696Whiston The. Earth iv. (1722) 352 They might never see such a Poor, Jejune, and Degenerate State of the Vegetable Kingdom. 1708J. Philips Cyder i. 54 Not from the sable ground expect success, Nor from cretaceous, stubborn and jejune. 1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 5 That they [fish] are best pleased with such jejune diet may easily be confuted.
3. a. Unsatisfying to the mind or soul; dull, flat, insipid, bald, dry, uninteresting; meagre, scanty, thin, poor; wanting in substance or solidity. Said of thought, feeling, action, etc., and esp. of speech or writing; also transf. of the speaker or writer. (The prevailing sense.)
1615[implied in jejunely]. 1647H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. i. xiii, Jejune exilities. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. ii. 41 A forced and jejune devotion, void of inward life and love. 1656–63Bullokar Eng. Expos. s.v., When we say of an Oration, Sermon, or any Discourse, that it is Jejune, we mean Sorry, paltry, and very dangerous stuff. 1671R. Bohun Wind 49 Have employed so much time in such empty and jejune speculations. c1705Berkeley Comm.-pl. Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 478 The short jejune way in mathematiques will not do in metaphysiques. 1758Blackstone in Comm. I. 16 He gives what seems..a very jejune and unsatisfactory reason. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages iii. i. (1872) I. 395 The chroniclers of those times are few and jejune.
b. Puerile, childish; also, naïve.
¶ This use may owe its origin to the mistaken belief that the word is connected with L. juvenis young (comp. junior), or F. jeune young.
1898G. B. Shaw Arms & Man ii. 29 His jejune credulity as to the absolute value of his concepts. 1975Economist 22 Nov. 14/1 Is anybody..now so jejune as not to realise that the state ownership of the deadweight of present nationalised industries must prevent Labour governments from being able to follow..their social policies. 1982N.Y. Times Mag. 8 Aug. 10 Other people..write in to correct you if you define the word..‘jejune’ as ‘childish’. 1982M. Howard Eppie (1983) xxxiii. 271 Mother seemed jejune, at times, with her enthusiasms and her sense of mission.
†4. jejune gut: = jejunum. Obs.
1696Phillips (ed. 5), Jejune Gut, the second of the small Guts, so called, because it is frequently empty. |