| 释义 |
multitude|ˈmʌltɪtjuːd|
[a. F. multitude (13th c.), or ad. L. multitūdo, -tūdin-, f. multus much, many: see -tude.]
1. The character, quality, or condition of being many; numerousness; great number. Also, number whether great or small.
In the common biblical (Hebraistic) phrase the multitude of = ‘the many, the numerous’, the meaning of the n. varies between senses 1 and 2.
a1325Prose Psalter li. 7 He hoped in þe multitude of his riches. 1375Barbour Bruce ii. 330 For multitud mais na victory. c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xxiii. 93 Be þou blessed, þat hast done þys godenes wiþ þi seruaunt after þe multitude of þi mercy. c1460G. Ashby Dicta Philos. 8 Truste nat oonly in men is multitude. 1560Bible (Geneva) Ps. xxxvii. 11 Meeke men..shall haue their delite in the multitude of peace. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 8 Riches are not to be measured by their multitude. 1611Bible Josh. xi. 4 Euen as the sand that is vpon the Sea-shore in multitude. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 230 That which fails in magnitude is called smal; as that which in multitude, few. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. IV. 208 Valour and not multitude determines the success of arms. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry Diss. ii. k 2 William the conqueror permitted great numbers of Jews..to settle in England... Their multitude soon encreased. 1868Tennyson Lucretius 168 Or do they fly..like the flakes In a fall of snow, and so press in, perforce, Of multitude? 1869Ruskin Q. of Air §121 The strength of the nation is in its multitude, not in its territory.
2. A great number, a host, a ‘crowd’ (of persons or things). Freq. qualified by great. Often ellipt. = multitude of men, etc. in question.
a. sing.
The sing. was formerly often used (without article) where the pl. is now idiomatic, esp. in great multitude.
a1340Hampole Psalter xxiii. 6 Swilk is the getynge [L. generacio], that is, multitud of tha that sekis him. 1340― Pr. Consc. 5113 And with him grete multitude sal come Of angels. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xi. (Symon & Judas) 299 Of serpentis a multytude. 1390Gower Conf. I. 220 This Perseüs..With al his multitude rod. 1470–85Malory Arthur i. xvi. 58 It was pyte on to behold that multitude of the people that fledde. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 73 To manifest my makdome to multitude of pepill. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 34 Having..heaped on thy head a multitude of favours. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. ii. 50 A multitude of actions done by a multitude of men. 1667Milton P.L. x. 554 Imagining For one forbidden Tree a multitude Now ris'n. 1703Maundrell Journ. to Euphrates (1732) 2 Here are a multitude of Subterraneous Aqueducts. 1778F. Burney Evelina xxiv. (1791) II. 150 She asked Mr. Lovel a multitude of questions. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 5 It was he who conveyed to his generation in a multitude of forms the consciousness..of..the rights of human intelligence.
b. pl. Great numbers, hosts, ‘crowds’.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 143 For euery Honor sitting on his Helme, Would they were multitudes. 1683Salmon Doron Med. i. 333 Multitudes of words bring much error. 1781Cowper Retirem. 158 The waves o'ertake them in their serious play, And ev'ry hour sweeps multitudes away. 1860Tyndall Glaciers ii. xxiv. 357 Multitudes of such little explosions must be heard upon a glacier. 1875C. F. Wood Yachting Cruise vi. 143 Multitudes of barnacles.
†c. A great quantity (of something). Obs.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 98 If þat greet multitude of blood lettiþ. a1400–50Alexander 69 Slik was þe multitude of mast so mekil & so thike, Þat [etc.]. 1529S. Fish Supplic. Beggers (1871) 2 What a multitude of money gather the pardoners in a yere? 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xvii. 175 The multitude of waters that runne into it, quench this smoake and fire. 1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 134 Here is cheap Corn, good Corn, and a multitude of it. 1777Chatham Sp. on Address 18 Nov., All this disgraceful danger, this multitude of misery.
3. A large gathering of people; a mass of people collected in one place; a throng.
1382Wyclif Ezek. xvi. 40 And thei shulen lede to vpon thee a multitude [Vulg. multitudinem], and thei shulen stoone thee. 1390Gower Conf. III. 217 The nyht suiende he schop to gon This multitude to assaile. a1400–50Alexander 104 Emang þe multitude of men quare mane ere togeder. 1538Starkey England i. ii. 51 To the intent that thys multytude of pepul and hole commynalty,..may..relygyously worschype God. 1581Lambarde Eiren. i. xvii. 133 Three or more in one companie (which the lawe properly calleth a multitude). 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 94 Thou are not King: Not fit to gouerne and rule multitudes. 1682Dryden & Lef Dk. Guise iv. i. (1683) 39 A Multitude's a Bulky Coward. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 355 Our horses would scarcely, in this manner,..continue their speed, without a rider, through the midst of a multitude. 1784Cowper Task vi. 100 Books are..spells, By which the magic art of shrewder wits Holds an unthinking multitude enthrall'd. 1828Whately Rhet. in Encycl. Metrop. I. 300/1 A skilful orator's being able to rouse..the passions of a multitude. 1862Bp. Wordsworth Hymn, ‘Hark, the sound of holy voices’ i, Multitude, which none can number, Like the stars, in glory stands.
4. With the: ‘The many’, the populace, the common people.
1535Coverdale Ps. xxx. 13, I haue herde the blasphemy of the multitude: euery man abhorreth me. a1586[see many-headed]. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 95 In the posteriors of this day, which the rude multitude call the after-noone. 1607― Cor. ii. iii. 18 1. Cit... He himselfe stucke not to call vs the many-headed Multitude. a1637B. Jonson Discoveries (1640) 130 Jests that are true and naturall, seldome raise laughter with the beast, the multitude. 1671Milton Samson 696 The unjust tribunals,..condemnation of the ingrateful multitude. 1708Shaftesbury Charac. (1727) I. 76 To affect a superiority over the Vulgar, and to despise the Multitude. 1769Junius Lett. i. 2 The multitude, in all countries, are patient to a certain point. 1843Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. 2 note, The multitude is the only proper judge of those arts whose end is to move the multitude. |