| 释义 |
pensile, a.|ˈpɛnsɪl, -saɪl|
Also 7 pensil(l.
[ad. L. pensil-is hanging down, pendent, f. pendēre, pens- to hang: see -ile.]
1. Suspended from above, hanging down, pendent, pendulous.
1603B. Jonson Coronat. Entertainm., Ouer her state two crowns hanging, with pensile shields thorow them. 1626Bacon Sylva §364 It is report of some good credit, that in Deepe Caues, there are Pensile Crystall, and Degrees of Crystall that drop from Above. 1666J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 310 Those pensile Beds which they call Amacs. 1771H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. IV. ii. 41 Gothic architecture, with all its airy embroidery and pensile vaults. 1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. I. ii. 39 The pensile nests of the weaver bird were abundant.
b. Steeply overhanging; ‘hanging’ or situated on a steep declivity.
c1750Shenstone Ruined Abbey 6 His azure stream, with pensile woods enclos'd. c1750― Elegies xxi. 11 Or pensile grove or airy cliff ascend. 1832J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 69 No pensile wood that on thy hills recline.
2. Hanging in the air or in space; suspended on arches, with void space beneath; vaulted.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 56, I might here also tell of those Pensile gardens, borne vp on arches, foure square, each square contayning foure hundred foote. 1703Univ. Dict. s.v. Babylon, Babylon..was then the wonder of the world for its walls and pensile gardens. 1718Prior Solomon i. 256 How the pensile ball Should never strive to rise, nor fear to fall. 1830W. Phillips Mt. Sinai i. 678 Pensile upon space Hang countless planets.
3. That constructs a pensile nest.
1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 187 The Pensile Warbler is nearly five inches long. 1868Wood Homes without H. x. 194 Pensile Mammalia. There are not many mammalia which make pensile nests. 1901Daily News 19 Feb. 4/7 Another pensile bird, the Baya sparrow of India.
Hence ˈpensileness, penˈsility, the quality or state of being pensile. rare.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §10 In that excellent Booke of Iob, wherein the pensilenesse of the earth,..and the..conuexitie of Heaven are manifestly touched. 1727Bailey vol. II, Pensilness, hanging Quality. 1640G. Watts tr. Bacon's Adv. Learn. iv. i. 183 The fluctuation or pensility of the Bowells. |