| 释义 |
▪ I. lax, n.1 Obs. (revived as an alien word.)|læks|
In 1 leax, laex, lex, 7 lauxe, lask, (pl.) lack(e)s.
[OE. leax = OHG., MHG. lahs (mod.G. lachs), Du., ON., Sw., Da. lax:—OTeut. *lahs- (cons.-stem); cognate and synonymous forms are Lith. laszisza, Lettish lasis, Russian losos′, Polish łosoš.]
A salmon; in later use some particular kind of salmon (see quots.).
In the 17th c. the word seems to have been obsolete exc. in the north; southern writers merely guess at the meaning; Minsheu 1617 (followed by Phillips) app. connected the word with lax a. In recent examples it represents the Sw. or Norwegian word, as applied to the salmon of those countries.
c725Corpus Gloss. E 315 Essox, laex. a1000Boeth. Metr. xix. 12 Hwy ᵹe nu ne settan on sume dune fiscnet eowru, þonne eow fon lysteð leax oððe cyperan? c1050Suppl. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 180/33 Esocius, uel salmo, lex. c1300Havelok 754 He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual, And þe turbut and lax with-al. Ibid. 896 He bar up wel a carte lode Of segges, laxes, of playces brode. c1320Pol. Songs (Camden) 151 Thenne mot ych habbe hennen a-rost, Feyr on fyhshe day launprey ant lax. 1488Acta Dom. Conc. 89/1 Extending ȝerely to ixxx of salmond laxis takin vp be him. 1589Rider Eng.-Lat. Dict. 1721 A Laxe, a fish so called, exos, esox. 1601Holland Pliny I. 242 The Lax, in the Rhene. 1617Minsheu Ductor, Lax, a fish so called, a fish which hath no bones. 1621Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 165 One great lauxe, iiijs. Ibid. 84 Lask. 1656W. D. tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §154 The pointed Sturgeon, and gristly Lax, greatning to the length of fowr and twentie feet. 1677Johnson in Ray's Corr. (1848) 127 In the mouth of Eden, in Cumberland, the fishers have four distinctions of yearly growth..before they come to be lackes;..the Lacks, or overgrown salmon. 1882Mrs. H. Reeve Cookery & Housek. xiv. 104 Norwegian Lax (Salmon). 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 68 Tunny, Char, Lax, Cod, Haddock, Herring, Oysters, &c.
b. Comb., as lax-fisher; † lax-pink, ? a salmon at a certain stage of growth (cf. laspring).
1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 7 The yonge frye spaune or broode of any kynde of Salmon called lakspynkes smowtis or salmon pele. 1543Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 187, I and Johnn Freser, laxfyschar. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Club) I. 305 The masters and lax-fishers of Dee and Don. 1875New Hist. Aberdeensh. I. 99 A very pleasant footpath for the lax fishers.
▪ II. lax, n.2
Also 6–7 laxe.
[? f. lax v.]
†1. A laxative medicine, an aperient. Obs.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 171 Pocyons, laxes,..and other medecynes. 1544T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1553) E j b, It is good to take an infusion or laxe of rubarbe.
2. Looseness of the bowels, diarrhœa (in men and cattle); = lask n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
1540R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) Q ij, Often changing his sheets and his clouts, because he had an exceeding laxe. 1542Boorde Dyetary xxii. (1870) 286 Maces..is good for the blody flyxe and laxes. 1573Tusser Husb. xix. (1878) 53 Which so, if ye giue, with the water and chalke, thou makest the laxe fro thy cow away walke. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 298 The lax or bloudy flix. 1610Markham Masterp. i. lxx. 147 Of the Laxe, or too much scouring of Horses. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 216 If the Lax or Scouring continues too long upon him. 1770Hanly in Phil. Trans. LXI. 133 She was seized with a smart lax. 1876in Whitby Gloss. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Lax, a looseness of the bowels. See Lask.
transf.1577Fulke Two Treat. agst. Papists ii. 366 Being trobled with a sore laxe of the tongue, which I take to be a like disease in y⊇ mouth that it is in y⊇ wombe.
3. ? Relief, release. rare—1.
a1800Bonny Baby Livingston xviii. in Child Ballads (1890) IV. 233/2 O wherefore should I tell my grief, Since lax I canna find?
▪ III. lax, n.3|læks|
Colloq. abbrev. of lacrosse.
1951E. Taylor Game of Hide-and-Seek ii. i. 128 One late afternoon after lax-practice. 1966J. Gardner Amber Nine xii. 203 A far cry from the hockey and lax sticks of Roedean or Vassar. 1968‘P. Hobson’ Titty's Dead viii. 86 Thank goodness Mummy doesn't know anything about LaX.
▪ IV. lax, a.|læks|
[ad. L. lax-us loose; cogn. w. languēre to languish, and prob. also with Teut. *slako- slack a.]
1. Of the bowels: Acting easily, loose. † Of a person: Having the bowels unduly relaxed.
c1400Mandeville (1839) xiv. 152 Men putten it [manna] in Medicynes for riche men, to make the Wombe lax, and to purge evylle Blode. 1530Palsgr. 317/1 Laxe as one that hath the flyxe or squyrte, foyreux. a1776R. James Diss. Fevers (1778) 110, I do not neglect on these occasions, proper evacuations by bleeding, and keeping the body somewhat lax. 1804Abernethy Surg. Obs. 188 The bowels lax. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 37 A moderately lax state of the bowels lessens the risk of worse consequences from dentition.
2. a. Slack; not tense, rigid, or tight. Hence of bodily constitution or mental powers: Wanting in ‘tone’ or tension. Now somewhat rare.
1660tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. ii. i. 154 The springs are some too stiffe, and others too laxe. 1669Holder Elem. Speech 129 Though their outward Ear be stopt by the Laxe Membrane to all Sounds that come that way. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 409 Especially Mothers of a weak lax Constitution. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 85 ⁋7 That neither the Faculties of the one [the mind] nor of the other [the body] be suffered to grow lax or torpid for Want of Use. 1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 339 When it attacks the tender and delicate, or persons of weak lax fibre. 1842Abdy Water Cure (1843) 64 Abdomen soft, lax, and without inequalities.
b. Of the limbs, attitude: Relaxed, without muscular tension. rare.
1832L. Hunt Hero & Leander ii. 89 His tossing hands are lax. 1887D. C. Murray & Herman One Trav. Returns vi. 91 He fell back in his chair and lay lax with closed eyes.
c. Of attachment or connexion of any kind: Weak in force, easily dissolved.
1782Kirwan in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 216 Nitrous air where the union of phlogiston to the acid is of the laxest kind.
3. a. Of organic tissue, stone, soils, etc.: Loose in texture; loosely cohering or compacted; porous.
1615Crooke Body of Man 206 That it may firme, stay, and as it were knit together his soft and laxe flesh. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. i. xi. (1712) 34 This lax pith or marrow in Man's head. 1691Ray Creation ii. (1692) 127 The flesh of this sort of Fish being lax and spungy, and nothing so firm, solid and weighty as that of the bony Fishes. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth ii. (1723) 77 Not only in the more lax, Chalk, Clay, and Marle, but even in the most solid, Stone. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. 62 Some [delight] in a lax or sandy, some a heavy or clayie Soil. 1746Simon in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 314 Wood, Vegetables, or any other lax Bodies..whose Pores, being open [etc.]. 1811Pinkerton Petral. I. 295 note, Da Costa..mentions the whet-stone of Derbyshire as of a lax texture, easily pervaded by water. 1835–6Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 11/1 The psoas muscle is covered with a lax..cellular tissue. 1873T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. (ed. 2) 191 Those organs which possess a lax structure..as the lungs. 1875Lyell's Princ. Geol. I. i. ii. 225 Their stems had also a lax tissue.
b. Bot. ‘Said of parts which are distant from each other, with an open arrangement, such as the panicle among the kinds of inflorescence’ (Treas. Bot. 1866).
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 294 [Equisetum palustre] Sheaths larger and more lax than those of E. arvense. 1837Macgillivray Withering's Brit. Pl. (ed. 4) 18 The Panicle..presents the following varieties: Loose or Lax, when the stalks are distant. 1845Lindley Sch. Bot. iv. (1858) 32 Racemes lax when in fruit. 1846Dana Zooph. (1848) 591 Pinnules oblique, arcuate, lax. 1877–84F. E. Hulme Wild Fl. p. viii, Flowers in a lax spike, purple, at times fragrant.
4. Of clothes: Loose-fitting, worn loosely. Of persons: Negligent in attire and deportment. Of handwriting: Not compact; also, careless, not precise. nonce-uses.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iii. iii. (1651) 474 They..hurt and crucifie themselves, sometimes in laxe clothes, an hundred yards I think in a gown, a sleeve. 1783Cowper Let. 7 Mar., Life & Wks. (1836) II. 120 Your manuscript indeed is close, and I do not reckon mine very lax. 1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Theatre 71 Lax in their gaiters, laxer in their gait. 1885W. M. Rossetti in Athenæum 6 May 641/3 The German character for str..would be considerably like that for w..; in rapid or lax handwriting the two might be almost identical.
5. a. Of rules, discipline, conduct, observance: Loose, slack, not strict or severe. Of ideas, interpretation, etc.: Loose, vague, not precise or exact. Said also of the agent (in both uses).
c1450tr. De Imitatione i. xxv. 37 He þat euermore sekiþ þo þinges þat are most laxe and most remisse, shal euer be in anguissh. c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 187 If the Queen..can be moved..to take vow of chastity, or enter in laxe religion. 1671True Nonconf. 115 As for this your Laxe acceptation of a professed indifferency in externals. 1736Butler Anal. i. vi. Wks. 1874 I. 113 In a lax way of speaking. 1755Jortin Diss. vi. 260 The word æternus itself is sometimes of a lax signification. 1770Burke Pres. Discont. Wks. 1842 I. 146 Under the lax and indeterminate idea of the honour of the crown. 1803R. Hall Wks. (1833) I. 160 A lax theology is the natural parent of a lax morality. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. Imperfect Sympathies, The custom of resorting to an oath..is apt..to introduce into the laxer sort of minds the notion of two kinds of truth. 1840Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1851) II. 136 To this enthusiastic neophyte their discipline seemed lax and their movements sluggish. 1854Thackeray Newcomes I. 43, I was a lax and negligent attendant. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 570 The oath of allegiance, the Whigs said, was drawn in terms far too lax. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 86 The execution of justice was as lax in practice as it was severe in theory. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. iv. 68 Writers possessing extremely lax notions of the laws of evidence. 1874Green Short Hist. viii. §10. 581 Richard [Cromwell] was known to be lax and godless in his conduct. 1884Manch. Exam. 18 June 4/7 They were lax in their attendance, losing perhaps one or two days..per week. 1884Ld. Coleridge in Law Rep. 12 Q. Bench Div. 327 Towards the close of his life the practice of the Court became somewhat easier and laxer.
b. said of versification.
1749Power Pros. Numbers 47 If the antient Poetry was too lax in its Numbers, the modern is certainly too strict. 1817Moore Lalla R. (1824) 161 The lax and easy kind of metre in which it was written. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. II. viii. 145 The lax metre and versification resembling those of the second order of French tales in verse.
c. Phonetics. Of a speech-sound, esp. a vowel: produced with the speech organs relaxed.
1909D. Jones Pronunc. of Eng. i. iii. 12 The difference in quality between a tense vowel and the corresponding lax vowel..is sometimes very considerable, especially in the case of closed vowels. 1933Westermann & Ward Pract. Phonetics for Students Afr. Lang. vi. 36 These two sounds occur in Bari as the ‘lax’ forms of i and u. 1949R.-M. S. Heffner Gen. Phonetics v. 96 Later scholars have substituted the terms tense and lax for narrow and wide. 1964Jakobson & Halle in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 97 A peculiar interplay of the lax-tense and compact-diffuse features underlies the vowel harmony. 1973Amer. Speech 1969 XLIV. 199 The diphthongizing of lax vowels..can be analyzed.
6. quasi-adv. So as to have ample room. [A Latinism: cf. laxity 4.]
1667Milton P.L. vii. 162 Mean while inhabit laxe, ye Powers of Heav'n. [Cf. Cicero De domo sua xliv. 115 Habitare laxe et magnifice voluit.]
7. Comb., as lax-fibred, lax-flowered adjs.
1761Pulteney in Phil. Trans. LII. 353 Women, children, and weakly men..are lax-fibred. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 210 Lax-flowered Orchis. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 356 Aceras anthropophora,..Spike lax-flowered.
▪ V. † lax, v. Obs.
[ad. L. laxāre, f. lax-us lax a.]
trans. To make lax; to loosen, relax; to purge. Also absol.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xxi. (1495) 210 Hote water clensyth and laxyth and pourgyth the wombe. Ibid. xvii. lv. 635 The whyte rote of Eleborus laxyth both vpwarde and dounwarde. 1528Paynel tr. Reg. Salerni (1535) 60 a, Butter..laxethe the bealye out of measure, and prouoketh one to vomyte. 1540T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 15 b, Yf the woman..haue been longe sycke before her labor, yf she haue ben sore laxed [ed. 1552 lasked]. 1627–77Feltham Resolves ii. l. 259 That we should laxe our selves in all the corrupt..pleasures of life. 1675Evelyn Terra (1676) 57 Laxing the parts, and giving easy deliverance to its off⁓spring. 1685Cotton tr. Montaigne i. liv. (1711) 470 An extream Fear, and an extream Ardour of Courage, do equally trouble and lax the Belly.
Hence laxed ppl. a., made loose or slack, relaxed. ˈlaxing vbl. n., loosening.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 268 For brekyng of þe siphac & of his laxyng. 1623Cockeram ii, Released, Laxed, Relaxed. 1679Evelyn Sylva xxx. (ed. 3) 176 Those laxed parts, and Vessels by which the humour did ascend, grow dry and close. 1718Prior Solomon iii. 162 When the lax'd Sinews of the weaken'd Eye In wat'ry Damps or dim Suffusion lye.
Restrict † Obs. to sense in Dict. and add: b. spec. in Phonetics, to produce (a vowel sound) with the speech organs relaxed.
1968Chomsky & Halle Sound Pattern Eng. 333 Both of these rules decreased by one the number of consonants that must follow the vowel to be laxed. 1975Language LI. 889 A special, morphologically conditioned rule laxes the vowels in the nouns. 1989Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics XXXIV. 455 They tend to use standard variants: their high vowels are not laxed as often. |