| 释义 |
lenitive, a. and n.|ˈlɛnɪtɪv|
Also 7 lenative, lenetive; also corruptly lenety, lenity.
[ad. med.L. lēnītīv-us (cf. F. lénitif), f. L. lēnīre to soften, assuage, soothe. In sense 2, taken as if f. lenity + -ive.]
A. adj.
1. Of medicines and medical appliances: Tending to allay or soften; mitigating, soothing; gently laxative; esp. in lenitive electuary.
1543Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. 100 b/2 Lenitiue clysters & suppositories. 1562W. Turner Bathes 10 Cassia fistula or suche lykewise lenitiue or gentell purger. 1610Markham Masterp. i. xcii. 179 This [glister] is lenitiue and a great easer of paine. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. ii. (1651) 237 Where nature is defective, art must supply, by those lenitive electuaries [etc.]. c1623Lodge Poore Mans Talentt (1881) 43 A Clister lenety made of the decoction of malloweis [etc.]. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xix. 436 As if she meant to cure a gangren'd arm with a lenitive plaister. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. iii. 52 Lenitive Purgers should be made use of. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet i. 246 Apples are likewise pectoral, cooling, and lenitive. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 192 The pulp of Cassia, alone or in the compound of lenitive electuary.
†2. Of persons, their dispositions, etc.: Displaying leniency, gentle. Obs.
1620Swetnam Arraign'd (1880) 78 Old Iago is a froward Lord, Honest but lenatiue. 1625Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1848 Taking some advantage of the lenative and tractable disposition of the Emperour. a1652Brome Love-sick Crt. i. i, He has been Too long too lenetive. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. x. Ded., Such Writers..use the most lenitive language in expressing distastfull matter.
B. n.
1. A lenitive medicine or appliance. Also fig.
1563T. Gale Enchirid. 14 (Stanf.) Suppositorie, clyster or ientle lenytiue. 1593Queen Elizabeth Boeth. i. pr. vi. 18, I will assay a while therfore with lenitiues, & meane fomentations. 1641Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres iv. 87 The gangren'd sores of their soules were not to be cured by Lenities. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 926 But Lenitives fomented the Disease. c1720W. Gibson Farrier's Dispens. v. iii. (1734) 137 It is so gentle a Lenitive, that three times the Quantity they usually give, will hardly move any Horse. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 74 The gentle lenitives of virtue..might have proved healing ingredients to so deep..a wound. 1788New Lond. Mag. 429 He demanded a lenitive which would put fire into the wound. 1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Praise Chimneysw., Nature..caused to grow out of the earth her sassafras for a sweet lenitive. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) II. xv. 240 Festering wounds had more need of corrosives than lenitives.
2. Anything that softens or soothes; a palliative.
1614A. Jackson (title) Sorrow's Lenitive. 1640Howell Dodona's G. (1645) 72 Soul-solacing Lenitives of the Gospel. 1677Hale Contempl. ii. 179 He hath under his greatest Misery the Lenitive of Hope. 1715tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Wks. 161 If such an enormous Crime can admit of any Lenitive. 1743Fielding Journey i. xxi, It wants the lenitive which palliates and softens every other calamity. 1781F. Burney Let. to Mrs. Thrale 12 Nov., This consanguineous fondness..I consider..one of the lenitives of life. 1825R. Hall Wks. (1833) I. 376 Friendship..the lenitive of our Sorrows and the multiplier of our joys. 1878Dowden Stud. Lit. 412 Against the artificial he used the artificial as a lenitive. 1891Shorthouse Blanche Lady F. 205 Mundane prosperity, which is a wonderful lenitive to some natures.
Hence ˈlenitively adv., ˈlenitiveness.
a1627Middleton Anything for Quiet L. i. i, Yet should these waste you but lenatively. 1726Penn Life Wks. I. 37 All Laws are to be considered Strictly and Literally, or more Explanatorily and Lenitively. 1727Bailey vol. II, Lenitiveness, softening or assuaging Quality. |