| 释义 |
pertness|ˈpɜːtnɪs|
[f. pert a. + -ness.]
The quality of being pert.
†1. Smartness or elegance of person; beauty.
c1400Destr. Troy 9205 On what wise in this world wilne shuld I hir..Of Rent, & of Riches, rankir þan I, And passes of pertnes pure wemen all?
2. Briskness, liveliness, sprightliness, confidence.
1560Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 30 Ane spark of peirtnes in his breist than grew. 1616Rollock's Lect. Passion Ep. Ded., He was dumb before the earthly judge that thou might have boldness and peartnesse in thy prayers. 1741Watts Improv. Mind i. v, There is indeed amongst them a lively pertness, a parade of literature.
U.S. dial.1885C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 224 ‘That kinder tuck the peartness aout of us, so to speak’.
3. Forward boldness in behaviour or speech; sauciness; smartness bordering upon impudence: esp. in inferiors or young people.
1573Twyne æneid xii. Mm j, This peartnes Phegeus might not bide, nor pride of stomack bold. a1658J. Durham Exp. Rev. ii. iii. (1680) 67 A symptom of that peartnesse and impudencie. 1741Richardson Pamela xxiv, Provided she humble herself,..and is sorry for her pertness. 1773Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) II. viii. 103 Nothing is so disgusting in youth as pertness and self-conceit. 1881Ruskin Love's Meinie I. iii. §82. 86 [The parrot] is mostly gay in plumage, often to vulgarity, and always to pertness.
†4. Pungency of taste. Obs.
1756Gentl. Mag. 572 The Holy Well [at Malvern] drank on the spot leaves a pertness in the throat approaching the taste of brass or allum. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iii. iii, Spa-water..has all the pertness and flatulency of champagne, without its spirit. |