| 释义 |
myriad, n. and a.|ˈmɪrɪəd|
Also 6–7 -ade, 7 miriad(e, myrriad.
[ad. med.L. myriad-, myrias, a. Gr. µῡριαδ-, µῡριάς, f. µῡρίος countless, µῡρίοι ten thousand. Cf. F. myriade.]
A. n.
1. a. As a numeral: Ten thousand.
(Chiefly in translations from Greek or Latin, or in reference to the Greek numeral system.)
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 159 marg., One myriade is ten thousande. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. iii. (1651) 326 Rome..vaunted her self of two myriades of inhabitants. 1663Hanmer's Anc. Eccl. Hist. 39 When the Historiographer had collected the number of them that perished by sword and famine, he reporteth that it mounted to a hundred and ten Myriads [edd. 1577, 1585 myllions, millions]. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. iii. 159 One single myriad of talents of silver is worth 30,000,000 of French money. 1836Thirlwall Greece II. 289 That 4000 men from Peloponnesus had fought at Thermopylæ with 300 myriads. 1881N. T. Acts xxi. 20 How many thousands [marg. Gr. myriads].
†b. ellipt. for: A myriad of coins of some understood value. Obs.
1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 74 [They] pay little lesse then two myriades and a half of ordinary reuenue. 1632Massinger City Madam iv. i, Make it up a thousand, And I will fit him with such tools as shall Bring in a miriad.
2. transf.
a. (pl.) Countless numbers, hosts (of).
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 159 It is a miserable thynge to hear how many myriades of men these..devourers of mans flesshe haue consumed. 1570Dee Math. Pref. *iij, Who can Imagine the Myriades of sundry Cases..tried and concluded by the forenamed Rules, onely? 1660Evelyn Diary 29 May, Myriads of people flocking [to London], even so far as from Rochester. 1762Falconer Shipwr. i. 66 Where winged deaths in dreadful myriads fly. 1803Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1835) II. 251, I hope to be able to strike a blow against their myriads of horse in a few days. 1875Helps Soc. Press. iii. 50 Amidst the myriads of planets with which the universe is probably peopled.
b. sing. in same sense.
1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. x. 124 A myriad of different universes. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 436 That codeless myriad of precedent. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts III. 324 Like a myriad of tubes.
3. absol.
a. Countless numbers of men, animals, or inanimate things (to be inferred from the context).
1559J. Aylmer Harborowe B 3 b, A sclender pollycie to make so many Myriades to flee. 1667Milton P.L. i. 87 Who..Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst outshine Myriads though bright. 1727–46Thomson Summer 1030 Where putrefaction into life ferments, And breathes destructive myriads. 1784Cowper Task v. 77 How find the myriads that in summer cheer The hills and vallies with their ceaseless songs, Due sustenance? 1842Borrow Bible in Sp. xxx, This now desolate bay had once resounded with the voices of myriads. 1877C. Geikie Christ II. xlix. 279 He might..repair this error..if He went up now and showed His power before the assembled myriads of Israel.
b. sing. in same sense.
a1718T. Parnell Solomon Posth. Wks. (1858) 161 His lofty stature, where a Myriad shine, O'ertops, and speaks a majesty divine. 1724Gay Captives v. (1772) 64 The silver moon, And all the starry myriad that attend her.
B. adj.
1. a. Existing in myriads; of indefinitely great number; countless, innumerable. Chiefly poet.
a1800Coleridge Hymn to Earth 28 Myriad myriads of lives teem'd forth from the mighty embracement. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam v. 1725 The City's moonlit spires and myriad lamps. 1830Tennyson Ode to Memory iv, Thou of the many tongues, the myriad eyes! 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. i. (1872) 5 Myriad, countless curses. 1886W. W. Story Fiammetta 189 The crickets were trilling a myriad infinitesimal bells in the grasses.
b. with sing. n.: Consisting of myriads. Also, having a myriad phases or aspects.
[1817: see 3.] a1854H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets v. (1857) 187 The myriad mind of Shakspeare. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets ix. 281 Prometheus when he described the myriad laughter of the dimpling waves [etc.]. 1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece ix. 289 The myriad life of the Peiræus. 1876Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. iii. 67 A home for itself and its myriad progeny.
2. As a numeral (cf. A. 1). rare.
1875Merivale Gen. Hist. Rome lxii. (1877) 504 A capital sum of four myriad millions of sesterces.
3. Comb.: chiefly parasynthetic, as myriad-accomplished, myriad-handed, myriad-islanded myriad-jewelled, myriad-limbed, myriad-minded, myriad-mirrored, myriad-voiced, myriad-wrinkled etc.; also advb., as myriad-flaking, myriad-murmuring, myriad-times, myriad-tinkling, myriad-wise etc.
1909‘Mark Twain’ Is Shakes. Dead? 67 The man who wrote the plays was not merely myriad-minded, but also myriad-accomplished.
1957R. Campbell Coll. Poems II. 106 The Heliades, The myriad-flaking snowstorm of whose boughs Is never still.
1872Symonds Introd. Study Dante viii. 255 A myriad-handed foe.
1922Joyce Ulysses 48 Tides, myriadislanded, within her.
1909E. Pound Personae 43 Unless it were to make the halo round each one Appear more myriad-jewelled marvellous.
1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 41 Nude fig-tree... Rather like an octopus, but strange and sweet-myriad-limbed octopus.
1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. xv, Our myriad-minded Shakespeare [note, ἀνὴρ µυριόνους]. 1916Blunden Harbingers 12 And wed me with the myriad-minded man. 1968Jrnl. Mus. Acad. Madras XXXIX. 9 Tyagaraja can truly be said to be myriad-minded.
1921W. de la Mare Veil 52 Their myriad-mirrored eyes Great day reflect.
1872Symonds Introd. Study Dante vii. 231 Homer, large, liberal, and myriad-murmuring as the sea.
1860Farrar Orig. Lang. (1865) 65 The myriad-ravelled intricacy of sensuous impressions.
1864Tennyson Boadicea 42 The myriad-rolling ocean.
1879Farrar St. Paul I. 10 A myriad-sided character.
1944Blunden Shells by Stream 26 We may glide Over a myriad-times extended sea And land of life abundant.
a1918W. Owen Coll. Poems (1963) 127 The myriad-tinkling flocks.
1883J. G. Whittier What Traveller Said in Bay of Seven Islands 48, I dread the myriad-voiced strain.
1859M. Howitt Marion's Pilgr. v. iv, Traffic, myriad-wheeled.
1917D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 120 Its oneness veers Out myriad-wise.
1859Tennyson Idylls, Elaine 156 Then came an old, dumb, myriad-wrinkled man. 1942W. Faulkner Go down, Moses iii. 75 Then he saw the myriad-wrinkled face. |