| 释义 |
seemliness|ˈsiːmlɪnɪs|
Forms: see the adj.
[f. seemly a. + -ness.]
†1. Pleasing appearance; elegance or handsomeness of form (of the body or its parts); gracefulness, attractiveness (of things, actions, etc.). Obs.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1041 If that god..Wolde han a loue for beute & goodnesse And womanhod & trouthe & semelynesse, Whom schulde he louyn but this lady swete? c1440Promp. Parv. 452/2 Semelynesse, yn syghte, decencia. Semelynesse, or comelynesse of schappe, elegancia. c1460J. Metham Wks. 155 He that ys born that day schuld be dysposyd..gretly to be louyd off women for semlynes off persone and beute off face. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 149 Therfore to drawe easely and vniformely,..vntil you come to the rige or shouldringe of ye head, is best both for profit and semelinesse. 1578T. Procter Gorg. Gallery G iv b, In boddy seemelynesse doth shew,..All partes of her doth prayse deserue. 1584B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 108 Yet for the sightly grace and seemelynesse of building, there is none comparable vnto it. c1595R. Carew Excell. Eng. Tongue in Camden's Rem. 43 When substantialnesse combineth with delightfulnesse,..seemelinesse with portlinesse, and currantnesse with stayednesse, how can the language..sound other then most full of sweetnes? 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. viii. ix, Strip thou their [sc. vices'] meretricious seemlinesse,..That we may loath their inward uglinesse.
2. Propriety, becomingness, fitness; decorum in behaviour or demeanour.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. iii. 13–15 Obseruing & marking a meruaylouse semelynes and honesty apperyng in his iyes, in all his countenaunce, & in his maner of going. c1550N. Smyth tr. Herodian vi. 66 But thadministracion of all affayres..appertained to the women: who endeuored to reduce all thinges to their pristinate seemelynes and modesty. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades ii. vii. 188/1 Which thinck..they may vtterly abolish good lawes, and liue against all lawe and seemelinesse [contra jus & decorum]. 1627P. Fletcher Locusts iii. xii, The second beast..Comes on the stage, and with great seemelinese Acts his first scenes. 1752Carte Hist. Eng. III. 95 The dispensation relating only to the affinity between the parties, and not to the publick honesty or seemliness of the marriage. 1803Wordsw. Mem. Tour Scot., To Highl. Girl 36 And seemliness complete, that sways Thy courtesies, about thee plays. a1806Horsley Serm. xxi. (1816) II. 189 The natural seemliness of one action and unseemliness of another. 1871Palgrave Lyr. Poems 24 But thou art ever equal to thy fate, Robed in all seemliness, lady complete. 1878Bayne Purit. Rev. iii. 86 He had in view chiefly the rational decoration and seemliness of worship.
†b. Something becoming to. Obs. rare—1.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 412/2 Of face..manlike,..in age bald, but so as it was rather a seemelinesse to those his ancient yeares than any disfiguring to his visage. |