| 释义 |
lowness|ˈləʊnɪs|
[f. low a. + -ness.]
1. The quality or condition of being low.
a. In physical applications: Smallness of elevation from the ground or of prominence from a surface; situation at a low level; † shortness of stature.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xxxi. (1495) 245 Amonge the tokens of Tysyk ben..lowenesse of the roundenesse of eyen. c1440Promp. Parv. 314/2 Lownesse, or depnesse, profunditas. Lownesse, ny the grounde, bassitas. 1442Rolls of Parlt. V. 44/1 By cause of the lowenes and straitenes of the said Brigge. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vii. 22. 1626 Bacon Sylva §32 The Lownesse of the Bough..maketh the Fruit greater, and to ripen better. a1637B. Jonson Underwoods (1640) 181 Can I discerne how shadowes are decreast, Or growne; by height or lownesse of the Sunne? 1638F. Junius Paint. Ancients 256 Augustus..was of a low stature,..but..his lownesse was hid by the fitnesse and equalitie of his members. 1781Hist. Eur. in Ann. Reg. 7/2 Their own lowness..preserved them..from the fire of the batteries. 1836Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xxi. 298 The island of Tortuga remarkable for its lowness and want of vegetation.
b. Low or depressed condition with regard to station, rank, fortune, or estimation; † degradation, abasement.
a1225Ancr. R. 278 Edmodnesse is..luue of lute here⁓word & of louhnesse. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 8500 Þus salle þai haf gret powere, And heghnes, for þair awen gret lawnes here. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 18 That al here lyf leden in lowenesse and in pouerte. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xvi. 20–23 But no man can truely glory in him, but he whiche is not offended with hys humilitie and lownes. 1598Dallington Meth. Trav. G iij b, He raysed the afflicted lownesse of the desolate King. c1655A. Sidney in 19th Cent. (1884) Jan. 63 The lownesse and meannesse of my fortune and person forbids me to hope. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Prior, The lowness of his original. 1886Book-lore Feb. 58 After disposing of the charge of lowness of birth.
†c. Humility, lowliness, meekness. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8765 And ȝit wyþ gret lownesse of hert, þat pruyde turne hit nought ouerthwert. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 133 Loue and leaute and louhnesse of herte. c1430Lydg. Reas. & Sens. 1501 She the proude kan enclyne To lownesse and humilyte. c1440Promp. Parv. 314/2 Lownesse, or mekenesse, humilitas. Lownesse, and goodnesse in speche, affabilitas.
d. Low degree of any quality; low pitch (of a note); smallness of amount, price, temperature, etc.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 3 A Cliefe is a character..shewing the heigth and lownes of euery note standing on the same Verse. 1690Child Disc. Trade (ed. 4) 31 The lowness of interest of money in Holland..proceeds only from their abundance of coin. 1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 18 They have not the Benefit of the lowness of Price as at the Pits. 1797–8Wellington in Owen Desp. 779 Measures having lowness of freight and freedom of trade in view may be adopted upon two principles. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xx. 336 This lowness of temperature.
†e. Want of elevation in literary style; an instance of this. Obs.
1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode Ded., If there be any thing in this Play wherein I have rais'd my self beyond the ordinary Lowness of my Comedies. 1725Pope Postscr. to Odyssey (1726) V. 299 The more he was forc'd upon figures and metaphors to avoid that lowness. Ibid. 306 He, who ventur'd..to imitate Homer's Lownesses in the Narrative. 1728Dr. Herring in J. Duncombe Lett. (1773) I. 287 The inaccuracies of style, the lownesses of expression,..in this translation.
f. Want of elevation in character; meanness, baseness.
1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. ii. §8 Who could but imagine a strange lowness of spirit in those who could fall down and worship the basest..of creatures? 1884Lady Verney in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 554 Wickedness and lowness are necessary to show forth the good and the high.
g. Mental or nervous depression. Now only explicitly lowness of spirits.
1739Wesley Jrnl. 12 July (1830) I. 210, I went to a gentleman who is much troubled with what they call lowness of spirits. 1782J. C. Smyth in Med. Comm. I. 72 note 2 She had..a small quick pulse, with great lowness. c1815Jane Austen Persuasion (1833) I. xi. 300 She had to struggle against a great tendency to lowness. 1822Good Study Med. II. 437 Great languor, lowness and oppression at the præcordia. 1843A. Bethune Sc. Peasant. 45 He felt occasionally that lowness of spirits from which, when their prospects are clouded,..few are wholly exempted.
2. As a mock title of dignity.
1771P. Parsons Newmarket I. 1 Such a salutation would affront their Highnesses and Lownesses. 1790H. Walpole Let. to Miss Berrys 8 Nov., His turbulent Lowness of Brabant. 1860Russell Diary India II. 235 There sat his Highness the Rajah, and here stood his lowness the correspondent.
†3. concr. The low part of a country. Obs.
c1400Mandeville (1839) v. 46 In Egipt there ben 2 parties; the Heghte, that is toward Ethiope; and the Lowenesse, that is towardes Arabye. |