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单词 provocative
释义 provocative, a. and n.|prəʊˈvɒkətɪv|
[As adj. a. obs. F. provocatif (1486 in Godef.), or ad. late L. prōvocātīv-us: see provocate ppl. a. and -ive; as n. ad. L. prōvocātīv-um neut. sing.]
A. adj.
1. Having the quality of provoking, calling forth, or giving rise to (const. of); spec. apt or tending to excite or enrage; stimulating, irritating.
1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemplar ii. Ad Sect. xii. 99 Not to be hasty, rash, provocative, or upbraiding in our language.1791Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 44 The people..accosted him with reviling and provocative language.1812L. Hunt in Examiner 7 Dec. 769/1 Hard of digestion or provocative of fever.1832tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. xv. 331 Pescara..determined on adopting the part of provocative agent instead of rebel.1868M. Pattison Academ. Org. v. 208 Rich endowments have not been found in practice invariably provocative of mental activity.
2. spec. Serving to excite appetite or lust. Now limited to sexual contexts.
1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 65 To seeke after meats and provocatiue drugs, to enflame and stirre vp their beastly lustes.1769E. Bancroft Guiana 381 Diseases..have been augmented by cookery, with its stimulating provocative arts.1933[see exotic A. 2 b].1960[see beehive 1 d].1980I. St. James Money Stones i. vii. 24 Her provocative teasing looks.
B. n.
1. That which provokes, excites, or draws forth; an incentive.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 118 The Pagans..made the fury and anger of the English meere provocatives of scorne and laughter.1711Addison Spect. No. 47 ⁋5 To examine into the several Provocatives of Laughter in Men of superior Sense and Knowledge.1874Blackie Self-Cult. 66 Vanity is another provocative of lies.
2. spec. Anything that excites appetite or lust; esp. an aphrodisiac. (The earliest sense.)
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1608 Þei receyuen eeke prouocatyues Tengendre hem luste.a1631Drayton David & Goliah 734 His locks of hayre,..Tost to and fro, did with such pleasure moue, As they had beene prouocatiues for loue.1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 127 Swallowing down repeated provocatives of cantharides.1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. 236 Men of palsied imaginations..greedy after vicious provocatives.
Hence proˈvocatively adv., in a provocative manner, provokingly; proˈvocativeness, provokingness.
1661H. D. Disc. Liturgies 59 To convince us, over whom he so provocatively insults.1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. II. 192 A red flower set provocatively in her corset.1682R. Burthogge Argt. Infants Bapt. (1684) 83 Sensible of the great Provokativeness, and of the as great Unfitness and Undecency of it.1881Ruskin in 19th Cent. Oct. 526 It is..only when he has lost his temper that the inherent provocativeness comes out.
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更新时间:2024/12/22 11:53:32