| 释义 |
restive, a.|ˈrɛstɪv|
[Later form of restiff, assimilated to adjectives in -ive.]
1. Inclined to rest or remain still; inactive, inert. Now rare or Obs.
1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 35 What great imployment with stirring and mettald spirits, what perpetuall quiet with heavie and restive bodies. 1620B. Jonson News fr. New World, [He] went to Edenburgh o' foot, and came backe: marry he has been restive..ever since for we have had nothing from him. 1699L. Wafer Voy. (1729) 347 Notwithstanding their being thus sluggish, and dull, and restive in the day-time, yet when moon-shiny nights come, they are all life and activity. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. viii, That positive, confident, restive Temper, which Virtue infused into Man, was a perpetual Clog to Publick Business. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) II. 179 The imagination is extremely quick and agile; but the passions, in comparison, are slow and restive. 1833Lamb Let. to Talfourd in Final Mem. viii. 273 Of my old friends, I have lived to see two knighted, one made a judge, another in a fair way to it. Why am I restive?
†2. Persistent, obstinate, settled or fixed, in an opinion or course of action. Obs.
1633Certaine Learned & Elegant Wks. 286 (Cent.), Be not restive in their weake stubburnness that will either keepe or lose all. 1660Waterhouse Arms & Arm. 56 Every one being restive in his opinion, there can nothing infallibly, as to the time, be concluded. a1782Sir J. Reynolds Lit. Writ. III. 102 He will fall into the habit of acquiescing in the partial opinions of a few; he will grow restive in his own. 1826E. Irving Babylon vi. II. 69 The world is so restive in its evil conditions, and ill-disposed towards the..ministers of reformation.
3. Of horses: Refusing to go forward; stubbornly standing still; obstinately moving backwards or to the side when being driven or ridden; hence, resisting control, intractable, refractory.
1656Blount Glossogr., Restive or Resty.., stubborn, drawing backwards, that will not go forward. 1676Hobbes Iliad 66 The horses us'd thereto will you obey: To me, it may be, they will restive stand. 1727–38Chambers Cycl. s.v., A restive horse is a rebellious, refractory, ill-broken horse, which only goes where it will, and when it will. 1756World No. 207. 293 I fear he has not been accustomed to drive a set so restive as mine are, especially in bad roads. 1804–6Syd. Smith Mor. Philos. (1850) 279 The mind advances in its train of thought, as a restive colt proceeds on the road in which you wish to guide him. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 647 The beasts which were to drag him to the gallows became restive and went back. 1896Law Times C. 508/1 His lordship's horse became restive, and attempted to throw its rider.
b. transf. of persons or things.
1687Death's Vision Pref., 'Tis true such Matter is Restive, Refractory and Unpolishable enough. 1693Dryden Disc. Satire Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 32 The arch-angel,..when Discord was restive,..has the whip-hand of her, drags her out with many stripes. 1785H. Cowley More Ways than One v, Nay, don't be restive, Miss. 1794Godwin Caleb Williams 15 He proved as ready a scholar as he had been indocile and restive to the pedant who held the office of his tutor. 1820Byron Juan iii. lix, It is a hard although a common case To find our children running restive. 1863‘Ouida’ Held in Bondage (1870) 6 He turned restive at the least attempt at coercion. 1873Hale In His Name viii. 69 The child was more restive, and her stomach seemed likely to reject the draught.
4. Of actions, etc.: Characterized by unwillingness or resistance to control.
1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life II. 233 At the time of leaving off fires, to which you have given a restive consent. 1826Scott Woodst. ix, The outward man yielded a reluctant and restive compliance. 1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 291 The hooks are liable to prick the lids..in the restive motions of some patients.
Hence ˈrestively adv., in a restive manner.
1866Howells Ven. Life xx. 329 Gentlemen restively imprisoned in dress coats and white gloves. 1874Ruskin Fors Clav. xliii. (1896) II. 153 [She] obeyed—not with her heart, but restively, like an ill-bred dog or mule. |