| 释义 |
stamina|ˈstæmɪnə|
[a. L. stāmina, pl. of stāmen: see stamen 2. For stamina = stamens (Bot.) see stamen 3.
The senses explained below arise partly by direct metaphor from the original Latin sense ‘warp of cloth’, and partly from the frequent classical application of the word to the threads spun by the Fates (see stamen 2 a). In some examples the two notions appear to be blended.]
†1. (As pl.) The native or original (as distinguished from the adventitious) elements and constitution of anything; the nature, structure and qualities of an organism, as existing potentially in its nascent state; the rudiments or germs from which living beings or their organs are developed.
a1676Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 294 The greater and more comprehensive Rudiments and Stamina are laid..before the lesser and derivative parts are formed and compleated; as we shall have occasion to observe when we come to consider the processus generationis of Man and Brutes. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 191 Others have thought that the long lives of those men of the old world proceeded from the strength of their stamina, or first principles of their bodies. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. v. 20 They must have had some rude kind of Organical Bodies, some Stamina of Life, though never so clumsy. 1718Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. I. xvi. §10. 308 In almost all kinds of Plants and Living Creatures..the former have their Origin in a Seed, and the latter in Stamina. 1741A. Monro Anat. (ed. 3) 156 Different Stamina or Rudiments of Teeth are to be observed. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 68 Every third man a pigmy!—from the first rudiments and stamina of their existence, never meant to grow higher. 1772Fletcher Appeal Wks. 1795 I. 14 Original sin..is as old as the first stamina of our frame. 1774Cooper in Phil. Trans. LXV. 320 It..probably has its existence..originating,..in the first stamina of the embryo. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 568 The stamina of the teeth..are situated in the alveoli.
†b. transf. and fig. Obs.
1691Baxter Nat. Ch. Pref. A 2, They may yet become the Agents and stamina of a happy concordant Reformation. 1724Waterland Athan. Creed xi. 158 Some few of the main Stamina, or chief Lines, were taken care of from the first, and made up the first Creeds: particularly the Doctrine of the Trinity briefly hinted. 1741Warburton Div. Legat. II. 530 Job's whole dramatic life lies here in its Stamina. 1752Fielding Amelia ix. v, I am convinced there are good Stamina in the Nature of this very Man. 1779Johnson in Boswell (1791) II. 300 Pope may have had from Bolingbroke the philosophick stamina of his Essay. 1795Burke Reg. Peace iv. (1892) 333 Enmity to us..is wrought into the very stamina of its constitution. 1798Monthly Mag. June 430 One [charity]..whose growth, from its god-like stamina, has been gigantic... This is the orphan-house. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVII. 295 In this group we do not see any thing very good, except certain hints, happy passages, and the stamina of possibly better pictures. 1816J. Gilchrist Philos. Etym. 238 He had the stamina of a good writer as well as sound thinker.
†c. humorously. Obs.
1824Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Capt. Jackson, A bare scrag..carving could not lessen, nor helping diminish it—the stamina were left—the elemental bone still flourished.
†2. (As pl.; rarely as sing.) The congenital vital capacities of a person or animal, on which (other things being equal) the duration of life was supposed to depend; natural constitution as affecting the duration of life or the power of resisting debilitating influences. Obs.
In 1665 Dr. R. Willis, ‘being called to consult for one of his [the Duke of York's] sons, gave his opinion in these words, mala stamina vitæ, which gave such offence, that he was never called for afterwards’ (Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Time, ed. 1823 I. ii. 228). Cf. the following:—
1542Leland Naeniae A v b, Atropos has illi laudes inuidit acerba, Infestaque manu vitalia stamina rupit.
1701C. Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 60 Such as have the natural Stamina of a consumptive propagation in them. 1771Foote Maid of Bath iii. Wks. 1799 II. 230 Men have survived many years such disproportionate marriages as these... But then their stamina must be prodigiously strong. 1782H. Walpole Let. C'tess Ossory 11 July, Though the relapse will be much more dangerous to Mr. Fox than to Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose stamina are of stouter texture. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1770, I. 344 He said..it was the bad stamina of the mind, which, like those of the body, were never rectified. 1806Med. Jrnl. XV. 102 Persons with strong..constitutions..are much more slowly acted upon by medicine than those with weakly constitutions... This patient being of the former stamina, may [etc.]. 1823Gillies Aristotle's Rhet. i. v. 180 If the stamina are not sound, disease will soon ensue.
†b. transf. and fig. Obs.
1775A. Burnaby Trav. 91 The northern colonies are of a stronger stamina. 1812Ann. Reg., Gen. Hist. 107 Expressing his conviction that the stamina of the nation were still unimpaired. 1816J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) p. xxv, Here thrive, beyond parallel, by means solely of the popular stamina, institutions for..improving the condition of mankind. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. lxviii. (1865) VIII. 359 The stamina of ancient life were healthier and stronger.
3. (Orig. as pl.; now chiefly as sing.) Vigour of bodily constitution; power of sustaining fatigue or privation, of recovery from illness, and of resistance to debilitating influences; staying power.
1726Swift Let. Sheridan 27 July Wks. 1841 II. 588/1, I indeed think her stamina could not last much longer when I saw she could take no nourishment. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scandal i. i, Who avoid the least breath of air, and supply their want of stamina by care and circumspection. 1818Byron Juan i. cxxv, Some old lady or gentleman..Who've made ‘us youth’ wait..For an estate..Still breaking but with stamina so steady That all the Israelites are fit to mob its Next owner for their..post-obits. 1834M. Scott Cruise Midge viii, Why, Sir Oliver, the man is exceedingly willing,..but his stamina is gone entirely. 1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iv. xviii. (1876) 195 Those whose constitutions had less stamina than our own. 1865Dickens Dr. Marigold viii, Advising him to spend his legacy in getting up his stamina. 1880J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 181 Had he been possessed of less stamina and less vitality he must have succumbed. 1880W. Day Racehorse in Training 225 Has he deteriorated in speed, size, or stamina? 1884Times 28 Apr. 4/2 Lord Falmouth's horses seemed to possess more speed than stamina.
b. transf. and fig. In various applications: Intellectual or moral robustness and vigour; capacity for perseverance or endurance; also (of things, institutions, etc.) capacity for permanence.
1803Edin. Rev. Jan. 452 Productions, which have scarcely stamina to subsist until their fruitful parent has furnished us with a new litter. 1828Alford in Life (1873) 33, I have no stamina as yet of religious principle. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1230 The stamina of the soil..is..its power of endurance under any system of cropping. 1860W. Collins Wom. White, V. Gilmore iv. (1861) 121, I can't quarrel..I haven't stamina enough. 1861T. A. Trollope La Beata xix. II. 252 Not..calculated to encourage the growth of intellectual stamina. 1865Q. Rev. CXVII. 549 The British Constitution has considerable stamina. 1869Goulburn Purs. Holiness vii. 63 It requires some stamina of character to feel this moral esteem for anyone. 1895W. B. Thomson Remin. Med. Mission Work xvii. 157 The stamina of the people was tested by a persecution that lasted for thirty years.
†4. (As pl. and sing.) Source of strength, main support, ‘backbone’. Obs.
1779A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 577 The stamina of their military establishment are in this country. 1781E. Rutledge in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) III. 389 The Continentals, whom I consider as the stamina of the army. 1792M. Wollstonecraft Vind. Rights Wom. 110 The stamina of immortality, if I may be allowed the phrase, is the perfectibility of human reason. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 450 The soil is the public stock, the great capital, the stamina of the nation. |