| 释义 |
otiose, a.|ˈəʊʃɪˌəʊs, ˈəʊtɪ-|
[ad. L. ōtiōsus at leisure, unemployed, f. ōtium leisure. Cf. F. oiseux, OF. ocieux, ocios, Sp. ocioso, It. otioso.]
1. At leisure or at rest; unemployed, idle; inactive, indolent, lazy.
1850Tait's Mag. XVII. 732/2 A malcontent by necessity, because otiose and resourceless. 1865Sat. Rev. 7 Jan. 24 Our policy in Turkey has now dwindled into an otiose support of the Government. 1885F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 198 An otiose God..surveying unmoved ‘this dusty fuliginous chaos’.
2. That is unattended by action; having no practical result; unfruitful, sterile; nugatory, futile.
1794Paley Evid. I. ii. i. (1827) 354 Such stories..as require, on the part of the hearer, nothing more than an otiose assent. 1844W. G. Ward Ideal Chr. Ch. (ed. 2) 93 We must learn to dismiss all otiose and unfruitful contemplation of external models. 1853Hardwick Chr. Ch. Mid. Age (1861) 292 Reposing with a vague and otiose belief on the traditionary doctrines as they had been logically systematized by John of Damascus. 1875W. Jackson Doctr. Retribution 49 The ‘why’ of moral duty is not an otiose but a fruitful principle.
b. Having no practical function; idle, superfluous, useless.
1866Sat. Rev. 14 July 54/2 The number of otiose lines and sprawling irrelevant points which swell the piece out. 1878Gladstone Prim. Homer xiii. 146, I doubt the opinion sometimes held, that there abound in Homer idle or ‘otiose’ epithets. 1880Sayce in Nature XXI. 406 An alphabet which..possesses otiose and needless letters. |