| 释义 |
▪ I. searching, vbl. n.|ˈsɜːtʃɪŋ|
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb search in its various senses.
c1400Destr. Troy 9206 Hit semith me vnsertain, all serchyng of wayes Ys stokyn vp full stithly, shuld streche to my hele! 1501Reg. Privy Seal Scot. I. 88/1 A Letter..of serching and sichtyng of skinnys.. with[in] the burgh of Hadingtoun. 1639in Pettus Fodinæ Reg. (1670) 71 The searching in any Ship, Cellar, Warehouse, etc. 1750tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 155 It is sought for by mariners when they have no light, and from this searching it took the name of topaz. 1842J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 23 [The] laws applying to the stamping, stretching, and searching of woollen cloth in the West Riding of Yorkshire. 1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 322 A very difficult question rose in the American civil war with regard to the searching of mail bags.
¶b. Used for: Necessity of searching.
1527Prymer Title, This prymer of Salysbury vse is set out a long without ony serchyng.
c. searching of heart: inward self-scrutiny.
The reading of the Heb. text is uncertain, but the phrase has become proverbial in English.
1611Bible Judg. v. 16 For the diuisions of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. 1885Manch. Exam. 11 June 4/7 The deserters should not be left solely to the searchings of their own hearts.
d. attrib. and Comb., as searching-house; searching-candle = candle n. 4 b; † searching-instrument, † -iron, † -probe (in quot. fig.), † -tool Surg., a probe.
1672Wiseman Wounds i. viii. 66 The *searching Candle or Probe.
1858Chamb. Jrnl. 17 July 34/1, I accompanied her upon her way, in custody, to the *searching-house [at the custom-house]. I did not see her searched, but [etc.].
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Tienta, a *searching instrument, Specillum.
1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 6/4 Your finger is the best *searchinge iron. 1658A. Fox tr. Wurtz' Surg. i. vi. 22 Is it not enough, that one [Surgeon] with his searching iron shew his judgement and cruelty.
1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 220/2 The *searching⁓probe of free advice.
1591Percivall Bibl. Hisp., Calador, a *searching toole, Specillum.
▪ II. searching, ppl. a.|ˈsɜːtʃɪŋ|
[f. search v. + -ing2.]
That searches, in various senses of the verb.
1. Of observation or examination: Minute, rigorous. Of a look: Penetrating, keenly observant.
c1580Sidney Ps. xvii. iii, Where silent Night might seeme all faultes to hide, Then was I, by thy searching insight tride. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 37 The searching Eye of Heauen. 1627Abp. Abbot in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 438 King James..had..a searching Wit of his own to discover his Servants, whom he put in trust, whether they took any sinister courses, or no. 1837Dickens Pickw. ii, He felt quite calm under his searching glance. 1861Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. iii. 184 A spirit of inquiry was abroad, so general and so searching that no country could entirely escape from its action. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 295 By a searching inquisition every free-born citizen..had been swept into the ranks. 1884F. Temple Relat. Relig. & Sci. vii. (1885) 215 St. Paul's evidence..cannot now be put to the test of searching questions.
b. Of an impersonal agency (e.g. of liquids, wind, rain, etc., or of bodily diseases): That finds out weak points, keen, sharp, ‘piercing’. Also fig.
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 311 Bitter searching termes. 1597― 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 30 That's a maruellous searching Wine. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. ii, These vinegar tart spirits are too pearcing, Too searching in the unglewd joynts of shaken wits. 1634Wood New Eng. Prosp. i. ii. (1865), The searching sharpnes of that purer Climate,..caused death and sicknesse. 1746Hervey Medit. (1818) 147 Ere long, the searching beams will open these silken folds, and draw them into a graceful expansion. 1790Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 72 Even the Negroes in the West Indies, know nothing of so searching, so penetrating, so heart-breaking a slavery. 1851Carlyle Sterling xii, The rain was so searching, that she could not stay there long. 1873R. Broughton Nancy i, The searching wind blows in dry and biting. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 85 The residual phlegm dislodged by the searching cough is exceedingly offensive.
2. Engaged in or given to searching.
1626D'Ewes in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 216, I dare say he meant it plainlie, yet searching braines might picke much from it. 1710Norris Chr. Prud. iv. 153 The searching Bee wanders from Flower to Flower. 1841Helps Ess., On Pract. Wisd. (1842) 4 Many persons are considered speculative merely because they are of a searching nature. |