| 释义 |
mundane, a. (n.)|ˈmʌndeɪn, mʌnˈdeɪn|
Forms: 5 mondeyne, 5–6 mondayn(e, mundayne, 6 mondain, mundain(e, 7 mundan, 6– mundane.
[a. F. mondain (12–13th c.), ad. L. mundān-us, f. mundus world.]
1. Belonging to this world (i.e. the earth as contrasted with heaven); worldly; earthly.
In early use (till 1550) often following its n., and sometimes taking s in the pl.
1475Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 70 He saide that fortune and felicite mondeyne was joyned and knyt withe his vertue and noblesse roiall. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys 67 b, Alas oft goddes goodes..Of suche folys is wastyd..In great folyes mundaynes and outrage. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. 21 Entangled with the birdlime of fleshly passions and mundane vanity. a1720Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. ii. 146 By a singular and very strange turn of mundane affairs. 1869Mozley Univ. Serm. ii. (1876) 50 Not like the goodness which feeds upon mundane motives and is weak and sickly.
b. Belonging to the ‘world’ as distinguished from the church. Of literature: Secular. rare.
1848W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 532 It [Talleyrand's reconciliation to the church] was matter of inexpressible surprise and pain to the more mundane portion of the prince's intimate acquaintances. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vi. (1875) 245 The beginnings of the mundane poetry of the Italians are in Sicily.
c. Belonging to the world of fashion. [= F. mondain.]
1904Edin. Rev. Oct. 298 The Athénée and the Nouveautés..the favourite resorts of ‘mundane’ pleasure-seekers.
2. Pertaining to the cosmos or universe; cosmic.
mundane soul, spirit: the anima mundi of the Platonists (ἡ τοῦ κόσµου ψυχή, ἡ κοσµικὴ ψυχή in Proclus).
1642H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. i. 18 We have the sight Of what the Mundane spirit suffereth By colours, figures, or inherent light. 1665Glanvill Scepsis Sci. xxiv. 147 The Platonicall Hypothesis of a Mundane Soul. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. (1693) 7 The Atoms or Particles which now constitute Heaven and Earth, being once separate and diffused in the Mundane Space, like the supposed Chaos, could never [etc.]. 1872Mozley Mirac. (ed. 3) Pref. 24 The idea of God as the Supreme Mundane Being.
b. mundane egg: in Indian and other cosmogonies, a primordial egg from which the world was hatched.
1684,1789[see Orphic 1 b]. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. i. iv. 75 From this seed sprung the mundane egg, in which the Supreme Being was himself born in the form of Brahmá.
c. mundane era, an era reckoned from the time of the creation of the world.
1892E. M. Thompson Gr. & Lat. Palæogr. Add. 323 To reduce the Mundane era of Constantinople to the Christian era.
3. Astrol. Pertaining to the horizon and not to the ecliptic or zodiac; chiefly in mundane aspect, mundane parallel.
1687J. Bishop Marrow Astrol. ii. 33 At which time the {moonfq} was directed to a mundane parallel of {male}. Ibid. 76 Narrowly observe all the Aspects, as well those in the World, as those in the Zodiack, for many times a Zodiacal Aspect may promise good in the Business, when there may be a Mundane Aspect will frustrate the good promised by the other. 1819J. Wilson Dict. Astrol. 295 Mundane Aspects, distances in the world measured by the semiarc wholly independent of the zodiac.
4. Nat. Hist. Used by Darwin for: Found in all parts of the world, widely distributed.
1844Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 25 The Owl is mundane, and many of the species have very wide ranges.
†5. n. A dweller in this world. Obs. rare—1.
1517H. Watson Ship of Fools Prol. A ij b, By the shyppe we maye vnderstande y⊇ folyes and erroures that the mondaynes are in, by the se this present worlde.
Hence munˈdanely adv., munˈdaneness.
1727Bailey vol. II, Mundaneness, worldliness. 1824Landor Imag. Conv. ii. Wks. 1846 I. 46 The greatest of stakes, mundanely speaking, is the stake of reputation. 1886Myers in Gurney, etc. Phantasms of Living II. 294 This very mundaneness of the apparition is precisely what was to be expected.
Add:[1.] d. In weakened use: everyday, ordinary, commonplace; hence, banal, prosaic, dull; routine, trite.
1898Westm. Gaz. 28 July 2/3 To consider..more mundane matters, such as the number and characters of transmigrating households. 1938R. Narayan Dark Room iii. 29 The whole picture swept her mind clear of mundane debris. 1965A. J. P. Taylor Eng. Hist. 1914–1945 x. 322 There were also more mundane calculations. The Conservatives were confident they could win an election on the National cry. 1976G. Gordon 100 Scenes from Married Life 118 Inject a spot of excitement into our mundane and self-satisfied lives. 1986P. Reading Essential Reading 85 At least this would avoid your having to employ your pen on such mundane matters when it could be used to such good effect elsewhere! |