| 释义 |
quickness|ˈkwɪknɪs|
[f. quick a. + -ness.]
1. Life, vitality, vital principle. Now rare.
a1225Ancr. R. 150 Þe rinde..is þe treouwes warde, & wit [= keeps] hit ine strencðe & ine cwicnesse. c1440Promp. Parv. 421/1 Quyknesse, of lyve, vita. 1538Starkey Dialogue 87 In a goute the handys and fete..be as dede, wythout lyfe and quyknes to procure thyngys necessary for the body. 1545T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 139 The lyfe and quycknesse of the grayne is vtterly destroyed. 1613M. Ridley Magn. Bodies 63 As though they had a new life of quicknesse infused into them. 1655H. Vaughan Silex Scintill. ii. Quickness v, Life is..A quickness, which my God hath kist. 1883Pop. Sci. Monthly XXII. 168 All the energies seen in nature are..but manifestations of the essential life or quickness of matter.
†2. Animation, liveliness, briskness, vigour, freshness, etc. Obs.
1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 26 Defaulte of slepe, and hevynesse Hath sleyne my spirite of quyknesse. c1430Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 28 To grant it [a statue] lyfe and qwiknesse of langage. 1529More Dyaloge ii. Wks. 1557 1183/1 Make hym do al hys good woorkes wearyly, and withoute consolacion or quyckenes. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxvii. (Arb.) 69 That disticke of Virgil..I will recite for the breifnes and quicknes of it. 1656Artif. Handsom. 162 Adding a quicknesse of complexion to the face.
3. Liveliness, readiness, rapidity, or acuteness of feeling, perception or apprehension.
a. Physical; esp. of the eyes or sight.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxix. (1495) 140 For quyknes and lyfnes of the synewes..in the ouermest partyes of the fyngres. 1623Cockeram ii, Quicknesse of sight, perspicacitie. 1695Ld. Preston Boeth. i. 3 A Woman..with sparkling Eyes, which were of an extraordinary Force and Quickness. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 127 The astonishing quickness of sight of one of the hawks.
b. Mental; of the mind, etc.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 216 b, He hath this viuacite or quycknes of wytte. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 118 Our elderis, throuch quiknes of thair ingine perceiued perfytlie..the dissolute maneris of thair people. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 382 Whom he much resembled in quickness of parts. 1735Pope Ep. Lady 97 With too much Quickness ever to be taught. 1798Edgeworth Pract. Educ. (1822) I. 115 Attentive patience can do as much as quickness of intellect. 1884L. J. Jennings Croker Papers I. viii. 233 A man of great quickness of spirit and acuteness.
4. a. Speed, rapidity (of action, motion, etc.); sharpness (of a curve); hastiness (of temper).
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 60 Their quicknes and swiftnes did more preiudice to theyr enemyes. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxiii, As if they were darts thrown out with a kind of sudden quickness. 1698G. Thomas Pensilvania 41 The Water-Mills far exceed those in England..for quickness. 1729Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 366 His Horse was hurt through the quickness of the Journey. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 62 The quickness of vegetation..proceeds from the duration of the sun above the horizon. 1858Skyring's Builder's Prices (ed. 48) 57 The quickness of the curve and depth of the quirks make them difficult of access to work. 1863A. Blomfield Mem. Bp. Blomfield II. ix. 180 A quickness of temper which..marred the perfection of his character.
b. With a and pl.: A case or instance of this.
1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 218 The sum of all the several quicknesses or impetus. 1883Besant All in a Garden Fair (1886) 78 Little quicknesses of gesture.
†5. Sharpness, keenness; pungency or acidity of taste; sharpness of speech. Obs.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. i. i, To see my sword, and feel The quickness of the edge. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §83 Her Majesty answering with some quickness. 1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 29 Lemmons, Pomegranats, Citrons..much praised for their quickness of taste. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece i. i. 52 The Quickness of the Liquor, which may make him weep. 1748Richardson Clarissa I. xvii. (1811) 117 This quickness upon me..is not to be borne.
6. Mobility or plasticity (of soil).
1969Engin. Geol. III. 135 A series of experiments..was carried out with the purpose to investigate if quickness could be produced by leaching of a clay deposited in salt water. 1972Nature 28 Jan. 220/2 It may be the hitherto neglected non-clay mineral fraction which is responsible for quickness. |