| 释义 |
▪ I. levin, n. arch.|ˈlɛvɪn|
Forms: 3–5 levene, 4 leyven, leivin, 5 levyn, 5–6 lewyn(e, 6 leav'n, 3–7, 9 leven, levin.
[ME. leven(e, of obscure origin.
By some conjectured to represent an unrecorded ON. or OE. cognate of ON. leiptr fem., lightning; but this is very doubtful. Phonetic laws as known at present do not allow of connecting ME. levene with MSw. ljugn-elder (mod.Sw. ljung-), lyghna, Da. lyn-ild, lightning, Da. lyne, to lighten; these words are cogn. w. OE. líᵹ leye, and ultimately with light n.]
Lightning; a flash of lightning; also, any bright light or flame.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3265 Ðhunder, and leuene..God sente on ðat hird. a1300Cursor M. 22477 Þe sterns wit þair leman [Gött. lemand] leuen. c1300Havelok 2690 And forth rith al so leuin fares. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 277 With wilde thonder dynt and firy leuene Moote thy welked nekke be to-broke. 1390Gower Conf. III. 77 The thonder with his fyri levene So cruel was upon the hevene. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ii, Out of whose mouthe, leuen and wylde fyre, Lyke a flawme euer blased out. c1460Towneley Myst. xiii. 650 All the wod on a leuyn me thoght that he gard Appere. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxvii. 255 Out of the east parte appered a great leuyn or beam of bryghtnes. 1513Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 10 All thocht he be the hart and lamp of hevin, Forfeblit wolx his lemand giltly lewyne, Throw the declyning of his large round speir. 1594Carew Tasso (1881) 109 Mars he resembles thee, when from fift heau'n Thou comst down guirt with ire and ghastly leau'n. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. vi. 40 As when the flashing Levin haps to light Vppon two stubborne oakes. 1647H. More Song of Soul ii. i. i. xxii, Swift as the levin from the sneezing skie. 1808Scott Marm. i. xxiii, The Mount, where Israel heard the law, 'Mid thunder-dint, and flashing levin, And shadows, mists, and darkness, given. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. v. At Sea, See! from its summit the lurid levin Flashes downward. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 348, I would that..the almighty sire Would hurl me with his leven to the shades. 1880Swinburne Songs Springtides, Gard. Cymodoce 90 The leaping of the lamping levin afar.
b. attrib. and Comb., as levin-bolt, levin-brand († levin brond), levin-fire, levin-flame; levin-darting adj.
1820Scott Monast. ii, ‘God-a-mercy, my little *levin-bolt,’ said Stawarth. 1864Conington æneid vi. (1873) 200 The levin-bolt's authentic fire.
a1599Spenser F.Q. vii. vi. 30 And eft his burning *levin-brond in hand he tooke. 1805Scott Last Minstr. vi. xxv, Resistless flash'd the levin-brand. 1847C. Brontë J. Eyre Pref. (2nd ed.), Some of those..over whom he flashes the levin-brand of his denunciation.
1805Scott Last Minstr. iv. xviii, They were not arm'd like England's sons, But bore the *levin-darting guns.
1820― Ivanhoe xxxii, Crash after crash, as with wild thunder-dints and *levin-fire.
1813― Rokeby v. xxxiii, Like wolves before the *levin flame. 1866J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Met. 229 The leven flame Forth from his eyes, forth from his nostrils came.
▪ II. † ˈlevin, v. Obs.
[f. levin n.]
intr. To lighten, emit flashes of light or lightning. Also trans. with cognate object.
13..E.E. Psalter cxliii. 7 Leuen brightnesses [Vulg. fulgura coruscationem]. c1400Destr. Troy 7723 His Ene leuenaund with light as a low fyn. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 665/7 Fulgurat, lewnes. c1440Promp. Parv. 304/1 Lyghtenyn, or leuenyn, coruscat, fulmino. 1483[see levining vbl. n.]. 1530Palsgr. 609/2 It leveneth, as the lygtenyng dothe... Dyd you nat se it leven right nowe?
Hence † ˈlevining ppl. a.
a1340Hampole Psalter Cant. 510 In shynynge of þi leuenand spere. c1400Destr. Troy 1988 With a leuenyng light as a low fyre. |