| 释义 |
capricious, a.|kəˈprɪʃəs|
Also 7 -ichious, -itious.
[ad. F. capricieux, ad. It. capriccioso (= Sp. caprichoso): see above. The by-form caprichious belongs to the corresp. forms of the n.]
†1. Characterized by play of wit or fancy; humorous, fantastic, ‘conceited’. Obs.
1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits 153 (L.) The inventive wits are termed in the Tuscan tongue capricious (capriciuso) for the resemblance they bear to a goat, who takes no pleasure in the open and easy plains, but loves to caper along the hill-tops. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 8, I am heere with thee, and thy Goats, as the most capricious Poet honest Ouid was among the Gothes. 1710Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 142 The capricious Point, and Play of Words.
2. Full of, subject to, or characterized by caprice; guided by whim or fancy rather than by judgement or settled purpose; whimsical, humoursome.
1605Camden Rem. 57 A friend of his that knew him to be Caprichious. 1644Eng. Tears in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) V. 450 The monstrous exorbitant liberty, that almost every capricious mechanick takes to himself. 1753Johnson Adventurer No. 111 ⁋6 Our estimation of birth is arbitrary and capricious. 1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 49 We have known the salmon..so capricious as often to prefer a fancy fly. 1884Law Times Rep. 10 May 325/1 The defendants' refusal was not capricious, but a bonâ fide exercise of their judgment.
3. transf. Of things: Subject to change or irregularity, so as to appear ungoverned by law.
1823Lamb Elia Ser. ii. vii. (1865) 283 The capricious hues of the sea, shifting like the colours of a dying mullet. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) II. ii. xlix. 617 The capricious distribution of coral reefs. 1874Helps Soc. Press. vi. 75 The vicissitudes of a capricious climate. 1875Tait & Stewart Unseen Univ. iv. §118 To give to the atoms a perfectly arbitrary and capricious side movement. |