| 释义 |
literally, adv.|ˈlɪtərəlɪ|
[f. literal + -ly2.]
†1. nonce-uses.
a. By the letters (of a name).
b. In letters or literature. Obs.
1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xvi. iii. (1886) 399 One T. of Canterburie, whose name I will not litterallie discover. 1593R. Harvey Philad. 7 And yet I tell you me-thinkes you are very bookishly and literally wise.
2. a. With reference to a report, translation, etc.: In the very words, word for word.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xvi. 145 Which are literally thus translated. 1712Steele Spect. No. 521 ⁋5 Others repeat only what they hear from others as literally as their parts or zeal will permit. a1753R. Newton Theophrastus' Char. (1754) p. viii, I would..advise every Scholar..to translate his Author thus literally, word for word. 1843Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 238 Every word of this is literally as the men spoke it.
b. transf. With exact fidelity of representation.
1816Byron (title) Churchill's Grave, a fact literally rendered.
3. a. In the literal sense.
1533Frith Answ. More's Let. C 3 b, Allthough it were literalye fulfillyd in the childern of Israell..yet was yt allso ment & verified in Christ hym sellfe. 1579Fulke Heskin's Parl. 105 They interprete literally, which the doctors did write figuratively. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq., Apol. 481 All those Passages are not to be Literally understood. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. xiv. (1840) 286 This was a china warehouse indeed, truly and literally to be called so. 1783Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. iv. 78 note, It may be doubted, whether this was ever literally true. 1876E. Mellor Priesth. iv. 161 Literally speaking, ‘this cup’ could never be ‘a new covenant’. 1895Sir A. Kekewich in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 663/1 It is found that the Act does not mean literally what it says.
b. Used to indicate that the following word or phrase must be taken in its literal sense.
Now often improperly used to indicate that some conventional metaphorical or hyperbolical phrase is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense. (So, e.g., in quot. 1863.)
1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 107 My daily bread is litt'rally implor'd. 1708Pope Let. to H. Cromwell 18 Mar., Euery day with me is literally another yesterday for it is exactly the same. 1761–2Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxxi. 341 He had the singular fate of dying literally of hunger. 1769Junius Lett. xxx. 137 What punishment has he suffered? Literally none. 1839Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. vii. 100 At the last I was incapable of correcting the proofs, literally fainting on the ground. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 105 For the last four years..I literally coined money. 1887I. R. Lady's Ranche Life Montana 76 The air is literally scented with them all. 1902Daily Chron. 10 Dec. 7/2 A contemporary states that Kubelik has been ‘literally coining money’ in England. 1906Westm. Gaz. 15 Nov. 2/1 Mr. Chamberlain literally bubbled over with gratitude. 1922R. Macaulay Mystery at Geneva xiv. 72 The things ‘they’ say! They even say..that ‘literally’ bears the same meaning as ‘metaphorically’ (‘she was literally a mother to him,’ they will say). 1960V. Nabokov Invitation to Beheading iii. 31 And with his eyes he literally scoured the corners of the cell. 1973Good Food Guide 176 ‘Crabs and lobsters are literally to be found crawling round the floor waiting for an order,’ reports an early nominator. |