| 释义 |
ponderous, a.|ˈpɒndərəs|
Also 5–7 -owse, 6 -ouse, 7 pondrous.
[ad. F. pondéreux (c 1410 in Godef.), ad. L. ponderōsus: see prec. and -ous.]
1. Having great weight; heavy, weighty; massive; clumsy, unwieldy.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 88 Þe rotynes þat goiþ out þerof is greet in substaunce, ponderous [Add. MS. ponderose] & vneuene. 1486Bk. St. Albans D iij b, An Egle, a Vawtere, a Melowne..theis be not enlured, ne reclaymed, by cause that thay be so ponderowse to the perch portatiff. 1555Eden Decades 16 Clusters of grapes very ponderous. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 50 Why the Sepulcher..Hath op'd his ponderous and Marble iawes, To cast thee vp againe? 1725Pope Odyssey iv. 892 The pondrous engine raised to crush us all. 1805Scott Last Minstr. Introd. ii, Whose ponderous grate, and massy bar, Had oft rolled back the tide of war. 1861Thackeray Four Georges i. (1862) 38 The stout coachmen driving the ponderous gilt wagon.
b. fig. (Of things non-material.)
1605Shakes. Lear i. i. 80, I am sure my loue's More ponderous then my tongue. 1804J. Grahame Sabbath 771 Ponderous bequests of lands and goods. 1835Browning Paracelsus iv. 157 To sink beneath such ponderous shame.
†c. Having some weight; = ponderable. rare.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 196 After a draught of wine a man may seem lighter in himself.., although he be heavier in the balance, from a corporall and ponderous addition.
†d. Tending by its weight towards. Obs.
1792Sir W. Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 16 If it be founded on such a construction of the figure of the secondaries, as makes them more ponderous towards their primary planets.
2. Of great weight in proportion to bulk; of high specific gravity; = heavy a. 2. ponderous earth, ponderous spar: = heavy spar. ? Obs.
1531Elyot Gov. i. i, The erthe, which is of substance grosse and ponderous. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xix. 143 A Liquor so much less ponderous then Quick⁓silver, as Water is. 1669― Contn. New Exp. i. (1682) 37 One of the ponderousest Liquors I have prepared. 1726Swift Gulliver i. ii, Globes, or balls, of a most ponderous metal. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 187 It [barytes] was called Ponderous Earth, Ponderous Spar. 1800Vince Hydrostat. vii. (1806) 80 The condensed and ponderous air from the neighbourhood of the pole.
†3. fig. Of grave import; weighty, serious, important, profound. Obs.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 1328 The wordes of Andrewe beyn sadd & ponderose. 1602W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 73 That words be ponderous and emphaticall, where the matter seemeth to bleed. 1649Roberts Clavis Bibl. 179 Some of acute and ponderous Judgement. 1794Paley Evid. ii. ii. (1817) 50, I know nothing which would have so great force as strong ponderous maxims, frequently urged and frequently brought back to the thoughts of the hearers.
†4. Given to weighing, considering, or pondering matters; grave, deliberate. Obs.
1641Symonds Serm. bef. Ho. Comm. B j b, Take what I am saying into thy most ponderous thoughts. 1646Crashaw Steps to Temple (1857) 35 Both he lays Together: in his pond'rous mind both weighs. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler (1843) 3 The next perplexed Question with pious and ponderous men.
5. Of a literary or other task: Heavy, laborious. Of style: Laboured, lacking lightness of touch; gravely grandiloquent; dull, tedious.
a1704T. Brown 1st Sat. Persius Imit. Wks. 1730 I. 53 More pond'rous guess with lighter banter meets. 1791Boswell Johnson Introd., Sir John Hawkins's ponderous labours..exhibit a farrago. 1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece i. 3 The ponderous minuteness and luxury of citation in the works of the former. 1885J. Payn Talk of Town I. 20 ‘Your son has made a good choice of locality’, said Mr. Dennis, in his rather ponderous manner. |