| 释义 |
ˈnothingness
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
1. Non-existence; that which is non-existent.
a1631Donne Nocturnall Poems (1654) 36 His art did expresse A quintessence even from nothingnesse. 1690Baxter Kingd. Christ ii. (1691) 30 Here we have Anihilation and Nothingness in themselves. 1797Lamb Let. to Coleridge 10 Jan., My letter is full of nothingness. I talk of nothing. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. i, The immeasurable circumambient realm of Nothingness and Night! 1866Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iv. 251 He sees man suspended between the two abysses of infinity and nothingness. 188419th Cent. Mar. 500 Its sole dogma is the infinity of Nothingness.
b. The condition of being non-existent.
Common in 19th cent., esp. in phrases to sink, fade, etc., into nothingness.
1809Irving Knickerb. vii. xiii. (1849) 449 Each has returned to its primeval nothingness. 1875McLaren Serm. 2nd Ser. i. 18 It must..be done by Faith, whose rod disenchants them into their native nothingness, and then it is blessed. 1894Jessopp Rand. Roam. i. 3 How beautiful plans do fade into nothingness.
c. Cessation of consciousness or of life.
1813Byron Giaour iii, The first dark day of nothingness. 1816― Let. to Murray 30 Sept., A sort of grey giddiness first, then nothingness. 1818Shelley Rosal. & Helen 403 They themselves were weaned each one..even from the thirst Of death, and nothingness, and rest.
2. The worthlessness or vanity of something.
1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 150 By the foolishnesse, that is, by the Nothingnesse, of Preaching hee saves them that beleeve. 1693G. Firmin Rev. Davis's Vind. i. 10 Why should a Man look after anothers Righteousness, till he see the nothingness of his own? 1724Lond. Gaz. No. 6240/3 Sensible..of the Nothingness of this World and the Vanity of its Grandeurs. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. II. ii. 14 June, A sarment upon the nothingness of good works..was preached. 1822Byron Juan vii. vi, Must I restrain me, through the fear of strife, From holding up the nothingness of life? 1867Lewes Hist. Philos. (ed. 3) I. 43 Which first called men's attention to the nothingness of knowledge. 1884W. S. Lilly in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 257 This self-renunciation..founded itself upon the vanity and nothingness of what was given up.
b. That which has no value; the condition of being worthless.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 251 A whole Dictionary where⁓of would hold forth but Muchnesse of Nothingnesse. 1743H. Walpole Lett. (1903) I. 376 My letters are now at their ne plus ultra of nothingness. 1800Coleridge Piccolom. i. iv, Mere bustling nothingness, where the soul is not. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1877) II. vi. 54 The political conversation between the booted Czar and the men of peace was sheer nothingness. 1880‘Ouida’ Moths II. 384 What a confession of internal nothingness.
3. Utter insignificance or unimportance.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. (1821) 419 Triumphing in nothing more than in his own nothingness, and in the allness of the Divinity. a1672Sterry Freed. Will (1675) 142 The nothingness of the Creature prevailing in the absence of the Divine beams. 1721R. Keith tr. T. à Kempis, Solil. Soul xxii. 291 Accept however the Sacrifice of my Humility, my Poverty, and my Nothingness. 1749G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists (1820) 51 She sunk down to the centre of her own nothingness. 1821–30Ld. Cockburn Mem. 80, I entered the Faculty of Advocates; and with a feeling of nothingness paced the Outer House. 1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. i. 9 Many..have found a deep peace in the sense of their own nothingness.
4. A non-existent thing; a state of non-existence or worthlessness; a thing of no value, etc.
1652Benlowes Theoph. ii. vi, Soul, Th' Architect of Wonders blesse Whose All-creating Word embirth'd a Nothingnesse. 1660tr. Paracelsus' Archidoxis i. vii. 110 A Specifical Corrosive..wholly Consumes Metals even to a nothingness. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. iv. §3. 460 They..afterwards fix a positive Nothingness and Worthlessness upon them. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. xxxix, A nothingness of conversation which he could never attain. 1884Lotze's Metaph. 235 Just as little could that which separates them and makes them diverge be a mere nothingness when compared to the space..itself.
pl.1680Refl. on Late Libel 33 Though he..speak hard Words, and new Words, or..cries Incomes, Outgoings, &c. which are indeed Nothingnesses. 1826Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 1 The follies and impertinencies and nothingnesses with which I am pestered. 1879Baring-Gould Germany I. 324 The professors..do not waste the hour of lecture with verbose nothingnesses. |