| 释义 |
minify, v.|ˈmɪnɪfaɪ|
[Incorrectly f. L. minor less, minimus least, after magnify.]
1. trans. To diminish in estimated size or importance; to regard or represent (something) as smaller than it really is.
1676Doctrine of Devils Ep. Rdr., Their magnifying his body into an immensity sometimes; and then again at the same time minifying him in the smallest atomes of a wafer⁓cake. 1834–43Southey Doctor cxcvii. (1862) 524 Is man magnified or minified by considering himself as under the influence of the heavenly bodies? 1892T. R. Lounsbury Stud. Chaucer II. v. 304 The achievements of these celebrated men were minified rather than magnified.
2. To reduce in actual size or importance; to lessen.
1866Contemp. Rev. I. 91 These are powerless,—we will not say altogether to repress and eradicate these evils, but to minify them.
Hence ˈminified ppl. a., ˈminifying vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1837J. Dixon M'Nicoll's Wks. Mem. D. M'Nicoll 20 It [Divine truth] is crude or well-digested,..minified or sublime, just in proportion to the qualities of his [the instructor's] mind. 1850T. Parker Wks. (1863) IV. 205, I have not seen anything very great in General Taylor, though I have diligently put my eye to the magnifying glasses of his political partizans; neither have I seen anything uncommonly mean and little in him, though I have also looked through the minifying glasses of his foes. 1906J. Orr Problem O.T. viii. 266 On these [phenomena] the minifying end of the critical telescope is persistently turned. |