| 释义 |
▪ I. atrophy, n.|ˈætrəfɪ|
[a. F. atrophie, ad. L. atrophia, Gr. ἀτροϕία, n. of state f. ἄτροϕος ill-fed, not nourished, f. ἀ priv. + τροϕή nourishment.]
1. A wasting away of the body, or any part of it, through imperfect nourishment: emaciation.
1620Venner Via Recta viii. 189 Which..bringeth the body into a deformed Atrophie or consumption. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 486 Moon-struck madness, pining atrophy. 1862Trench Mirac. xix. 323 A partial atrophy, showing itself in a gradual wasting of the size of the limb.
2. fig.
1653Jer. Taylor Serm. Year Ded., We..fear the people will fall to an Atrophy, then to a loathing of holy food. 1782J. Trumbull M'Fingal iv. (1795) 102 By fatal atrophy of purse. 1840Carlyle Heroes (1858) 315 For the Scepticism..is..a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul.
▪ II. atrophy, v.|ˈætrəfɪ|
[f. prec. n.]
lit. and fig.
1. trans. To affect with atrophy, to starve.
1865Mill in Westm. Rev. XXVIII. 9 Organs are strengthened by exercise and atrophied by disuse. 1876Hamerton Intell. Life ii. v. 428 A constant and close pressure atrophies the higher mind.
2. intr. To become atrophied or abortive.
1865Livingstone Zambesi xi. 222 The horns, mere stumps not a foot long, must have atrophied. 1883G. Allen Col. Clout's Gard. xxi. 121 As the fruit ripens, one of them [the seeds] almost always atrophies. |