| 释义 |
stagnant, a.|ˈstægnənt|
[ad. L. stagnant-em pres. pple. of stagnāre: see stagnate v. Cf. F. stagnant (1611 Cotgr.), It. stagnante.]
†1. Of a fluid: That is at rest in a vessel. Obs.
1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 32 A parcel of Stagnant Quicksilver. 1719F. Hauksbee Phys. Mech. Exper. v. (ed. 2) 101 The Orifice of that shorter Leg of such a Tube, must always be at least as far below the Surface of the stagnant Fluid, as that Height amounts to. 1721Phil. Trans. XXXI. 206 The Needle so touch'd, being laid gently on the Surface of a stagnant Water, floated.
2. a. Not flowing or running, of water, air, (the ice of) a glacier or ice sheet, etc.; without motion or current, as a pool. Often involving unwholesomeness.
1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 326 Oaken vessels..if the water..were stagnant, could not move thereon half so well. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. iii. 82 Alligators..remain here till the Water drains off from the Land; and then confine themselves to the stagnant Ponds. 1773Cook's 1st Voy. iii. xii. in Hawkesw. Voy. III. 723 All but Tupia fell a sacrifice to the unwholesome, stagnant, putrid air of the country. 1862M. E. Braddon Lady Audley i, The stagnant well. 1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 308 Experience teaches that in a small level the air and powder-smoke lie stagnant. 1880W. MacCormac Antiseptic Surg. 100 A stagnant and impure atmosphere and other such things were observed to influence their progress. 1902Geol. Survey New Jersey V. iii. 86 Such isolated bodies of ice doubtless preserved their motion..for a time. But when they became small, or when the local topography was unfavorable to motion, they became stagnant, and all the drift they held was let down on the surface as the ice melted. 1949Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CCXLVII. 291 The lower 9 miles of this glacier are stagnant, but the upper part and most of the tributary ice streams are active; some receding and some advancing. 1973R. J. Price Glacial & Fluvioglacial Landforms viii. 206 Examples of downwasting, stagnant valley glaciers are known to have existed in the Scandinavian mountains..during the last of the Pleistocene glaciations.
b. Applied to earth holding standing water.
1851Glenny Handbk. Fl. Gard. 10 These plants [Hepatica] require a well-drained border, and never succeed well in moist or stagnant earth.
3. fig. Void of activity, excitement, or interest.
1749Johnson Irene iii. viii, Immur'd, and buried in perpetual Sloth, That gloomy Slumber of the stagnant Soul. 1812Crabbe Tales xxi. 274 To me refer the choice [of books], and you shall find The light break in upon your stagnant mind! 1827Pollok Course of Time vi. 204 The stagnant, dull, predestinated fool. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. ii, Trade is stagnant. 1883Hardy Dorsetsh. Labourer in Longm. Mag. July 263 It is too much to expect them to remain stagnant and old-fashioned.
4. Comb.
1843Dickens Christmas Carol iii. 82 The very gold and silver fish..though members of a dull and stagnant-blooded race. 1857Grindon Life xx. (ed. 2) 250 New doctrines always displease the small and stagnant-souled.
Hence ˈstagnantly adv.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. i. ii, To pine stagnantly in thick obscuration, in squalid destitution and obstruction. 1847Webster, Stagnantly, in a still, motionless, inactive manner. |