| 释义 |
▪ I. brittle, a.|ˈbrɪt(ə)l|
Forms: 4 britul, -il, (bretil, brethil), 5 brityll, brittyll, (bretylle), bryttyl, 5–6 brytell, bryttel, 6 bri-, bryttell, britle, brittil, brytel, bryttle, 6–7 brittel, 6– brittle.
[ME. britul, britil, bretil:—OE. *brytel:—OTeut. *brutilo-, f. brut- pa. pple. stem of *breutan, OE. bréotan to break. See also brotel, brutel, and cf. brickle.]
1. a. Liable to break, easily broken; fragile, breakable; friable (obs.).
1382Wyclif Lev. vi. 22 The bretil vessel forsothe in the which it [the flesh] is sothun. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxxvi. (1495) 564 Bras that is fusile and molte is bryttel vnder the hamour. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 398/1 With betle browes & his britle spectacles of pride and malice. 1615Crooke Body of Man 33 Some are fragile or brittle..as Bones. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. iv. §1 (1681) 35 A brittle soil..Is best for Corn. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 159 The ice being brittle, cracks and snaps.
†b. Liable to destruction, perishable, mortal.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 258 Þei traveilen..to take britul crowne here, but men traveilen in Goddis cause to take a crown þat never may faile. 1509Fisher Wks. i. 176 These brytell bodyes of ours. 1622Fletcher Sea Voy. ii. ii, No goddess, friend, But made of that same brittle mould as you are. 1777Sir W. Jones Seven Fount. 55 How dim the rays that gild the brittle earth.
c. Metallurgy. Applied to a type of fracture of material (see quot. 1946).
1930Engineering 14 Feb. 231/1 A typical brittle-material fracture. 1946Gloss. Metallurg. Terms (Firth Brown) 27 In a brittle fracture, metal fails by cleavage because its cohesion is exceeded. 1965New Scientist 15 Apr. 173/1 The important characteristic of a brittle fracture is that a crack can propagate under a stress which is less than the design stress..and can cause complete failure of a structure.
†2. fig. That breaks faith; inconstant, fickle.
1521St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 73 Such brittle people as they [the Irish] bee, in whome is moche crafte, and litle or noo faithe. 1538Bale Thre Lawes 175 Hys bryttle nature, hys slyppernesse to waye. 1622T. Scott Belg. Pismire 15 Never did Age so abound with such brittle spirits as this.
3. fig. Frail, weak; insecure, unstable, transitory.
c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 202 Easy for the King to overthrow this brittle and frail clergy. 1559Mirr. Mag., Hen. VI, xviii. 4 To shew by patarne of a prince, how brittle honour is. 1657W. Fenner 2nd Pt. Christ's Alarm 25 Consider how brittle your hearts are. 1692Dryden Eleonora xiv. 6 A second Eve..As beauteous, not as brittle as the first. 1799Sheridan Pizarro iii. iii, The brittle tribute of his praise. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India I. iii. iv. 615 The brittle materials of an Indian army.
4. attrib. and Comb.: brittle-minded adj.; brittle heart (see quot. 1938); brittle silver ore, the mineral Stephanite; brittle-star, a name applied to several species of star-fish of the genus Ophiocoma; brittle-worts, Lindley's name for the Diatomaceæ.
1934Dadswell & Langlands in Jrnl. Council Sci. & Ind. Res., Australia VII. 190 (heading) *Brittle heart in Australian timbers. 1938― in Empire For. Jrnl. XVII. 58 Brittle heart has been defined as that central portion of the tree which is extremely brittle and of comparatively low strength.
1887W. James Let. 2 July in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. of W. J. (1935) I. 376 My narrow and *brittle-minded bachelor state.
1843Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 49, O. neglecta, Grey *Brittle Star. 1863G. Kearley Links in Chain vi. 119 The Brittle stars are extremely abundant around most parts of our coast.
1861H. Macmillan Footnotes Page Nat. 170 The diatoms or *brittle-worts..form a wonderful microcosm.
▪ II. † ˈbrittle, v.1 Obs.
Also 3 brutle, ? 6 britle, 7 bryttle.
[A freq. form from brit, britten v.]
trans. To cut to pieces; to cut up (a deer).
c1275O.E. Misc. 92 Seynt Thomas wes biscop, and barunes him quolde, Heo brutlede him. a1650Boy & Mantle in Child Coll. Ballads (1861) I. 15 He britled the bores head Wonderous weele. 1865S. Evans Bro. Fabian 58 The bravest man That ever brittled a deer.
▪ III. † ˈbrittle, v.2 Obs.
[f. brittle a.]
trans. To make brittle or friable.
1743Maxwell Sel. Trans. Soc. Agric. 109 (Jam.) The clay..which will be brittled by the winter frosts. |