| 释义 |
▪ I. nonplus, n. and a.|ˈnɒnplʌs|
Also 8 corruptly -plush.
[f. L. phr. nōn plūs not more, no further. Cf. obs. F. (17th c.) mettre à nonplus to nonplus.]
A. n.
1. A state in which no more can be said or done; inability to proceed in speech or action; a state of perplexity or puzzle. Almost always in phr. to be at (rarely in) a nonplus = to be nonplussed; to put, bring, drive, reduce to a nonplus, † to set at a nonplus, also occas. † to set a nonplus on, † to give nonplus to: = nonplus v.
1582R. Parsons Def. of Cens. Ep. to Charke 8 Beynge now brought to a non plus in argueing. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 5 If you be not set at a flat non plus, and quite ouerthrowen. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon (1630) E 3, I haue giuen non-plus to the Paduans. 1602W. Fulbecke 2nd Pt. Parall. 74 Though I bee in questioning at a nonplus. 1614Beaum. & Fl. Wit at Sev. Weapons i. ii, Gentlemen, I have done! any man, that can, go further! I confess myself at a non-plus. 1621Quarles Div. Poems, Esther (1638) 94 Whose even poys'd valour..Had set a Non-plus on their doubtfull tongues. a1626Bacon Civil Convers. Mor. & Hist. Wks. (Bohn) 198 Hasty speech..oftentimes..drives a man either to a nonplus or unseemly stammering. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes 85 Their often failings had put them to often stops and nonplusses in the work. 1692South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 50 The Nonplus of my Reason will yield a fairer opportunity to my Faith. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. i. App. (1852) 96 The people found themselves plunged into a sad non-plus what way to take for a subsistence. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 143 The Mortality..put our scheming Doctor to a sad Nonplus. 1775S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. liv. (1783) II. 151 You put me quite to a nonplush, I am quite out of cash. 1811W. Irving Life & Lett. (1864) I. 262 Here was a non-plus enough to startle any man of less enterprising spirit. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xv. 378 The manner of York reveals the old man in a nonplus and perturbation. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars vii. 325 Prophets are never at a nonplus, and never surprised by a question.
¶b. at a nonplus: unprepared, unawares.
1803M. Edgeworth To-morrow ii, He can never find our larder at a nonplus. 1811Ora & Juliet I. 9, I did think it was but a frugal sort of a dinner,..but as I took you at a non-plus, it did very well.
†2. Short for non plus ultra. Obs.
1670R. Lassels Italy II. 178 A world of such rich work, which makes this bedstead the nonplus of art and magnificence.
†B. adj. [app. a shortening of at a nonplus.] At a nonplus; perplexed, embarrassed. Obs.
1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. 132 Soone his wits were Non plus, for his wooing could but spell. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon (1630) C, Set him but non-plus in his magicke spels, And make him yeeld in Mathematicke rules. 1600Holland Livy xliv. xxvi. 1187 When he could make no answere thereto, but was set nonplus. 1631R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature xvi. 289 Apollonius Rhodius imposed voluntary Exile on himselfe,..because he was Nonplus in one of his Poems.
▪ II. ˈnonplus, v.
[f. nonplus n.]
trans. To bring to a nonplus or standstill; to perplex.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 9 Mans Reason nonplust in some Accidents. 1598Ibid. ii. ii. i. 290 Now nonplust, if to re-inforce thy Camp, Thou fly for succour to thine Ayrie Damp. 1639Fuller Holy War v. x. (1840) 261, I know it will nonplus his power to work a true miracle. 1649Roberts Clavis Bibl. 506 Expounding Nebuchadnezzars dreams, and Belshazzars vision, when all the wise men in Chaldea were non-plus'd with them. 1678Butler Hud. iii. ii. 442 In which [sc. wrangling] his Parts were so accomplisht, That right, or wrong, he ne'r was non-plust. 1712Addison Spect. No. 476 ⁋5 He has been non-plus'd on a sudden by Mr. Dry's desiring him to tell the Company what it was that he endeavoured to prove. 1738tr. Guazzo's Art Conversation 11 At first,..I must own, I was a little nonplushed. 1840E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 58, I wrote a good bit of a letter to you three weeks ago: but, being non-plussed suddenly, tore it up. 1894J. Knight Garrick vii. 115 A continued struggle for supremacy in which the audience found itself nonplussed to decide.
b. With a thing as obj.: To render ineffective or inoperative.
1640J. Gower Ovid's Festivalls iii. 64 Winds non-plus art [orig. Vincitur ars vento]. 1674R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 83 The Remedies being thus non-plust [etc.]. 1681News fr. Doctor's Commons 5 It non-plust all reply. 1891Pall Mall G. 7 Dec. 5/2 Such behaviour quite nonplusses measures of repression. |