| 释义 |
beneath, adv. and prep.|bɪˈniːθ|
Forms: 1 beniþan, -neoðan, -nyðan, 2–3 bi-neoðen, -neoþen, -neðen, noþen, (Orm.) -neþenn, 3 bi-neoðe, -neoþe, -neðe, 3–4 bi-neþe(n, 4 -nethen, by-neþen, -neathe, be-nyþe, 4–5 by-nethen, -neþe, beneþe, 4–6 bynethe, 5 byneithe, bineth, 5–6 by-, beneth(e, 5– beneath; 8– 'neath.
[OE. bi-niðan, be-neoðan, f. bi- be- + niðan, neoðan ‘below, down,’ orig. ‘from below,’ earlier neoðane, neoðone, = OS. nithana, OHG. nidana, MHG. niden(e, mod.G. nieden, f. OTeut. niþar ‘lower, farther down, down’: see nether + advb. ending -ana, originally expressing motion ‘from.’ The be- gave or emphasized the notion of ‘where,’ excluding that of ‘whence’ pertaining to the simple niðan. The modern 'neath is abbreviated from beneath. Originally an adverb, but already in OE. construed with dative (of reference), as a prep.]
A. adv.
1. gen. In a low position relatively to some other place; in a lower position; low or lower down; downward; = below adv. 1.
c1205Lay. 25610 Ofte wes þe drake buuen: And eft seoððen bineoþen. a1225Ancr. R. 390 Brod ase scheld buuen..and neruh bineoðen. c1305St. Kenelm 127 in E.E.P. (1862) 51 On of his beste freond..In þe grounde stod byneþe. c1400Destr. Troy xiii. 5529 A mon fro þe myddell vp, And fro the nauyll by-neithe, vne an abill horse. 1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xxxiv. (1483) 82 As well of tho that ben bynethen as tho that ben aboue. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 78 And hears it [the sea] roar beneath. 1605― Lear iv. vi. 128 To the Girdle do the Gods inherit, beneath is all the Fiends. 1795Southey Joan of Arc iii. 298 Pure water in a font beneath reflects The many-colour'd rays.
†b. Lower on a written or printed page; = below adv. 1 b. Obs.
854Chart. æthelwulf in Cod. Dipl. V. 106 Ðara naman her beneoðan awritene standað. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xxvii. 64 Of which see other Anatomists..and my father Bartholinus beneath.
2. With reference to certain understood points:
†a. Beneath the skies; in the world, on the earth. Obs. or arch.; expressed by below adv. 2 a.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 9 Ðan sal him almightin luuen Her bineðen and..abuuen. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 5055 We synful..bynethe on þe erthe. 1382Wyclif Ex. xx. 4 In heuene aboue, and..in erthe benethe [so in 1611]. c1460Towneley Myst. 183 Say youre prayers here by nethe. 1526Tindale John viii. 23 Ye are from beneth; I am from above. [1875Browning Aristoph. Apol. 106 Our world beneath Shows..grimly gross.]
b. Beneath the earth; in Hades, in hell.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 5408 Helle bynethen..Sal þan be open. 1611Bible Isa. xiv. 9 Hell from beneath is mooued for thee. a1736Yalden (J.) The dread abyss beneath, Hell's horrid mansions.
3. Directly below; underneath.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 4082 Hise hore bi-neðe and him abuuen. a1300Cursor M. 1681 Þu sal bi-neþ en on þe side Mak a dor wit mesur wide. 1517R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 43 Whiche Ryft..appereth by nethe. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 186 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 43 High o'er the Gate..The Crowd shall Cæsar's Indian War behold; The Nile shall flow beneath. 1873Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 1639 Shaggy eyebrows elevate With twinkling apprehension in each orb Beneath.
b. Under some covering or surface, underneath; underground, under the earth.
1297R. Glouc. 131 Lat delue vnder þe fundement, & þou schalt bineþe fynde A waterpol. 1388Wyclif Job xviii. 16 The rootis of hym be maad drie bynethe. c1400Destr. Troy v. 1609 The water..clensit by ocurse all þe clene Cite Of filth and of feum, throughe fletyng by nethe. 1611Bible Jer. xxxi. 37 If..the foundations of the earth [can be] searched out beneath. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 466 Spread with Straw, the bedding of thy Fold; With Fern beneath.
4. Lower down on a slope, or in the course of a river. rare. Now below adv. 3.
1393Gower Conf. II. 161 On the mount of Parasie..And eke beneth in the valey. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. 62 The stopping of the waters [of Jordan] above must necessarily command their defection beneath.
5. Down or lower in fortune, station, dignity, rank, or quality. arch.
c1000ælfric Deut. xxviii. 13 Þu bist æfre bufan and na beniþan. c1205Lay. 9839 Ȝif mi cun clembeð & bineoðen þe ibringeð. 1297R. Glouc. 258 An batayle at Elendone hii smyte..Þe Kyng Bernulf was þere byneþe, & bynome al ys bost. c1400Apol. Loll. 53 Þe pope, cardinalis, bischopis, & oþer prelats be neþe, are disciplis of anticrist. 1535Coverdale Deut. xxviii. 13 Thou shalt be aboue onely, and not benethe [Wyclif, vndur; 1611 beneath]. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 131 That next [is disdain'd] by him beneath.
B. (with object expressed) prep.
The prepositional use of beneath seems originally to have been introduced to express the general notion of ‘lower than,’ as distinguished from the specific sense of under. But in process of time beneath was so largely used for under, that below was laid hold of to express the more general idea. In ordinary spoken English, under and below now cover the whole field (below tending naturally to overlap the territory of under), leaving beneath more or less as a literary and slightly archaic equivalent of both (in some senses), but especially of under. The only senses in which beneath is preferred are 7 (‘beneath contempt’), and fig. uses of 4 (e.g. ‘to fall beneath the assaults of temptation’).
†1. gen. In a position down from or lower than. Obs. or arch. Now expressed by below prep. 1. † beneath stair: = below stairs.
a900Pol. Laws ælfred §63 in Thorpe I. 96 Gif se sconca biþ þyrel beneoðan cnéowe. c1205Lay. 14985 Heo bar bineoðen hire titten ane guldene ampulle. c1305St. Edm. Conf. 164 in E.E.P. (1862) 75 He was byneþe his brech igurd faste ynouȝ. c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §25 By-nethe the Orisonte. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 27 For all beneath the Moone would I not leape upright. 1631T. Powell Tom All Trades 168 The chiefest hand in preferring to any office beneath stayer.
2. Directly down from, overhung or surmounted by; under, underneath.
a1200Moral Ode in Lamb. Hom. 87 He is buuen us and binoþen . biforen and bihinden. a1225Ancr. R. 304 Bineoðen us..þe wide þreote of helle. a1520Myrr. Our Ladye 119 Aboue vs, bynethe vs. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 180 You'le be found, Be you beneath the Sky. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 737 Lands that lye beneath another Sun. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 13 The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade. 1821Keats Isabel i, They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep. 1832Tennyson Audley Court 78 We..saunter'd home beneath a moon..In crescent.
b. At the base or foot of (a wall, cliff, etc.).
1387Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 209 Hercules, Italus his sone, bulde a citee..by neþe þe Capitol. 1535Coverdale Ex. xxxii. 19 [He] brake them beneth [Wyclif, at the rotes of] the mount. 1808Scott Marm. i. iii, Beneath the sable palisade..His bugle horn he blew. 1870R. Anderson Missions Amer. Bd. II. viii. 61 In a frail canoe beneath a tall cliff overhanging the sea.
3. Immediately under, in contact with the under side of; covered by; under, underneath.
1611Bible Deut. v. 8 The waters beneath the earth. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 60 In Chambers of their own, beneath the Ground. 1718Pope Iliad i. 651 One hand she placed Beneath his beard. a1744― Epitaph Rowe 3 Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies. 1726Dyer Grongar H. 22 So oft I have..Sat..With my hand beneath my head. 1831R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 309 The axilla is the angle or cavity that lies beneath the junction of the arm with the shoulder. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 275 The brown red grass Rustling beneath your feet. 1854A. Jameson Bk. of Th. (1877) 34 No wise man kicks the ladder from beneath him.
b. Hence: Farther from (the surface); covered or concealed by; inside of, behind. More commonly under.
1727Thomson Summer 753 Thou art no Ruffian, who beneath the mask Of social commerce comest to rob their wealth. 1863E. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 192 Beneath the movement of self-assertion appears the repose of self-government. 1871Haweis Mus. & Mor. (1874) 7 The Musician's art lies beneath the surface. 1882Stanley Chr. Instit. viii. 156 A woollen vest, which sometimes had beneath it another fitting close to the skin.
4. ‘Under, as overborne or overwhelmed by some pressure’ (J.); often fig. subject to, under subjection to, under the influence, action, or control of.
1297R. Glouc. 491 There he broȝte al binethe hom that were is fon. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 39 Our Country sinkes beneath the yoake. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 216/2 The comprehension made by the Senses..omits nothing that can fall beneath it. 1719Young Busiris i. i. (1757) 10 Elephants..Bending beneath a weight of luxury. 1792Munchausen's Trav., Thou shalt instant perish 'neath my potent arm. 1795Southey Joan of Arc iv. 402 Thou shouldst set forth Beneath another's guidance. 1800Bloomfield Farmer's B., Spring 221 Brisk goes the work beneath each busy hand. 1885W. C. Smith Kildrostan 43 The carved work mouldered fast 'Neath the suns, and the frosts.
†5. Lower on a slope, in a valley, etc., than; = below prep. 2. Obs.
1551Turner Herbal (1568) 53, I went by the Rhene side iiij miles beneth Bingen. 1667Milton P.L. i. 355 Her barbarous sons..spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 68 Obstructions in all Navigable Rivers beneath the first Bridges. 1704Hearne Duct. Hist. I. 430 A Quarter of a Mile beneath the Village..is the fallen Ruines of the Tower of Babel.
6. fig. Lower in the scale of being, station, rank, excellence, or dignity. Now commonly below.
a1000Metr. Boeth. xx. 444 Hio biþ swiðe fior hire selfre beneoðan. c1200Ormin 10729 To settenn þe Bineþenn þine lahȝhre. c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. v. 49 It is brouȝt byneþen all bestes. c1375Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. 1869 I. 15 Creatures bineþe men. 1611Shakes. Cymb. iv. i. 11 Not beneath him in Fortunes. 1667Milton P.L. i. 115 That were an ignominy..beneath This downfall. 1711Addison Spect. No. 162 ⁋4 Beings above and beneath us have probably no Opinions at all. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 421 Beneath them lay a large class which could not subsist without some aid from the parish.
7. Unbefitting the dignity of; unworthy of, unbeseeming, undeserving of; lowering to.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxvi. §5 Nis nán wuht benyðan him [i.e. beneath his notice]. c1380Wyclif Pseudo-Fr. vi. (1880) 310 Talis byneþe bileeue. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 332 So farre beneath your soft and tender breeding. 1712Steele Spect. No. 53 ⁋10 We do not esteem it beneath us to return you our Royal thanks. 1767Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. I. vi. 227 No woman..ought to think it beneath her to be an œconomist. 1871Haweis Mus. & Mor. 499 Beneath the attention of serious critics. 1883Times 23 Oct. 9 Thinking nothing beneath the notice of a man of business.
b. Lower than (any standard of quantity or quality). Better expressed by below.
1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps i. §10 We are none of us so good architects as to be able to work habitually beneath our strength. 1850McCosh Div. Govt. ii. i. (1874) 135 The copies ever fall beneath the original.
†C. quasi-adj. Obs. rare.
1607Shakes. Timon i. i. 43 A man Whom this beneath world doth embrace.
D. Comb. † beneath-forth, out from beneath; beneath. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xlvii. (1495) 259 A stronge colde in the mouthe of the stomak..is cause of out puttynge bineth forthe. c1410Love Bonavent. Mirr. xxvi. 56 Thyng þat longeth to þe worlde..here byneth forthe. c1467Ord. Worcester in E.E. Gilds 373 In one of the Chambers benethforth. |