| 释义 |
boldness|ˈbəʊldnɪs|
[f. bold a. + -ness.]
The quality of being bold.
1. Courage, daring, fearlessness.
c1400Destr. Troy 226 That the flese..Were brought throw þi boldness into þis big yle. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxv. 151 The rommayns yssued ayenst hym by grete boldnes. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 175 There is demaunded a boldnesse of stomacke to dare to doe the thing. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 134 You call honorable Boldnes, impudent Sawcinesse. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxiii. (1695) 156 Boldness is the Power to speak or do what we intend, before others, without fear or disorder. 1876Green Short Hist. v. §3 The boldness of his words sprang perhaps from a knowledge that his end was near.
†b. to take (a or the) boldness: to venture, to take the liberty (to do a thing). Obs. or dial.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 74 b, The serpent toke a boldnesse to tempte the woman. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. x. 211 The Amorites took the boldness to keep possession thereof. c1680Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 273 Who are we, that we should take the boldness to ask any thing of him? [1864dial. (Epsom, Surrey), ‘Father's boldness, Ma'am, and he've sent you a few flowers.’]
2. Impudence, shamelessness, presumption.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 386 Þe boldnesse of her synnes. c1440Promp. Parv. 43 Boldenesse or homelynesse, presumpcio. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 42 Vnmanner'd Dogge..Ile strike thee to my Foote, And spurne vpon thee Begger for thy boldnesse. 1601― All's Well ii. i. 174 A strumpets boldnesse. 1602Manningham Diary (1868) 10 Nov., I told her of her saucy boldness. 1850Tennyson In Mem. cxiii, Should licensed boldness gather force.
†3. Confidence, assurance, security. upon boldness of: in reliance on, on the security of. Obs.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 40 For boldenes he wild him bynd to som berde in boure. 1447–8J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 91 Upon boldenysse of the said nywe charter. a1535More Edw. V, in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 91 Unthrifts riot and run in debt upon boldness of these places. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 165 In the boldnes of my cunning, I will lay my selfe in hazard. a1656Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 28 Perfect righteousness shall give us perfect boldness both of sight and fruition. [1717De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. 6, I take upon me with Boldness to assure the World, it is not so.]
4. transf. Vigour or freedom of conception or execution; forcibleness.
a1700Dryden (J.) The boldness of the figures is to be hidden, sometimes by the address of the poet. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) II. 209 Rivalling the great masters..in boldness of design. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. vi. 345 Brilliancy of colouring and boldness of outline. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. iii. §20 There is as much difference between the boldness of the true and the false masters, as there is between the courage of a pure woman and the shamelessness of a lost one. |