| 释义 |
▪ I. meanness1|ˈmiːnnɪs|
[f. mean a.1 + -ness.]
1. The condition of being mean; lowness or humbleness of rank, birth, etc.; lowliness; insignificance.
1583Golding Calvin on Deut. cxcvii. 1226 Let vs learne to acknowledge our meanesse with all humilitie. 1653Milton Hirelings (1659) 97 Without soaring above the meannes wherein they were born. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F xiii. I. 358 The rusticity of his appearance and manners still betrayed in the most elevated fortune the meanness of his extraction. 1886Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxxvi. 170 Reaching downward even to beasts and reptiles, it is, indeed, a boundless mercy, which knows no limit because of the meanness of its object. 1900H. W. C. Davis in Eng. Hist. Rev. July 561 The meanness of his birth.
2. Weakness, deficiency, inferiority; slightness, scantness. Of physical things: Littleness, smallness. Also pl.
1556Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 19 To the meanesse of whose learning I thoughte it my part to submit my stile. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxi. §3 The Ministers greatnes or meannesse of knowledge to do other things. 1682Norris Hierocles 28 Nor to scoff at the meanness of his understanding. a1716South Serm. (1744) II. 82 The great purpose that brought Christ out of his Father's bosom, and clothed him with the infirmities and meannesses of our nature. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 64 We suffer greater injuries from the contemptible meanness of the one [the mouse], than the formidable invasions of the other [the elephant]. 1833Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Product. Mod. Art, The large eye of genius saw in the meanness of present objects their capabilities of treatment. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. I. 84 The associations of moral sublimity and beauty seem to throw a veil over the physical meannesses.
3. Want of mental or moral elevation or dignity; littleness of character or mind; baseness.
1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 263 This doth not proceed from any abject baseness or meanness of spirit. 1718Pope Iliad xiv. 103 Lives there a Man so dead to Fame, who dares To think such Meanness? 1878M. C. Jackson Chaperon's Cares II. viii. 91 His dastardly soul would stoop to the lowest depths of meanness.
b. In pl. Instances of this; mean acts.
1726De Foe Hist. Devil i. iv, To descend to the meannesses of frightening children and old women. 1879E. Garrett House by Works I. 23 The little one never told him about sharp words and petty meannesses.
4. Poorness of appearance or equipment. Of literary or artistic production: Poverty of style, execution, or design; want of grandeur, nobility, etc.
a1656Bp. Hall Anthem Christmas Day Rem. Wks. (1660) 436 The King of Gods in meanness drest. 1672Dryden Def. Epil. Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 173 [Jonson] when he trusted himself alone, often fell into meanness of expression. 1705Addison Italy 419 (Florence), I doubt however whether this Figure be not of a later Date..by the Meanness of the Workmanship. 1816J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 104, I found their students..assiduously copying the hard atrocities and cold meannesses of their own David. 1832G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 155 Richtenschwyl and its precincts are very pretty, notwithstanding the meanness of most of the houses. 1852Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 285 Its intrinsic meanness as a composition.
5. Sordid illiberality; niggardliness, stinginess.
1755in Johnson. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old & New Schoolm., All this [is] performed with a careful economy, that never descends to meanness. 1822J. MacDonald Mem. J. Benson 520 He carefully shunned both meanness and imprudent expenditure.
▪ II. † ˈmeanness2 Obs.
[f. mean a.2 + -ness.]
The condition of being between two extremes; moderateness in size or other qualities.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. ii. (1495) 861 Yf the matere of clerenesse is meane it chaungeth somtyme to thyknesse and drynesse of erthe: soo that it passe not and gooth not beyonde meanesse of erthe. c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2555 Visage rounde boody hool and right, With meenesse of the heed is good in ech wyght. 1598Florio, Tepidezza, luke warmth,..meannes, between hot and cold. |