| 释义 |
decency|ˈdiːsənsɪ|
[ad. L. decēntia, f. decēnt-em becoming, fitting, decent.]
The quality or fact of being decent.
†1. Appropriateness or fitness to the circumstances or requirements of the case; fitness, seemliness, propriety:
a. of speech, action, or behaviour.
1567Drant Horace, Arte of Poetrie (R.), Of sortes and ages thou must note the manner and the guyse, A decensie for stirring youth, for elder folke likewise. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 269 To πρεπον..we in our vulgar call it by a scholasticall terme [decencie] our owne Saxon English terme is [seemelynesse]. Ibid. 271 Your decencies are of sundrie sorts, according to the many circumstances accompanying our writing, speech or behauiour. 1636Healey Epictetus' Manuall lix. 79 Thou neglectest another [function] which thou mightest execute with full decency. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 33/1 The king was always the most punctual observer of all decency in his devotion. 1719Waterland Vind. Christ's Divinity 107 Why so concern'd about the fitness, and decency of his Interpretation? 1725Watts Logic ii. v. §4 The great Design of Prudence..is to determine and manage every Affair with Decency, and to the best Advantage. 1762Hume Hist. Eng. III. liv. 173 His discourse on the scaffold was full of decency and courage.
†b. What is appropriate to a person's rank or dignity. Obs.
1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 364 Reseruing two things, that is to say his conscience, and also the decencie of his state. 1649Milton Eikon. 17 With Scholastic flourishes, beneath the decencie of a king. 1661Morgan Sphere Gentry iv. v. 78 According to the Decency of the said Name of the Duke of Somerset and the nobility of his..estate.
†c. Fitness of form or proportion: Comeliness.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xiv. (1660) 170 Neither can Art forme a fashion of more stately decencie, than she hath done on the Stage. 1667Primatt City & C. Builder 80 For decency it will be requisite not to have the girders altogether so deep as ten inches in the second, third, and fourth Story.
†2. Decent or orderly condition of civil or social life. Obs.
1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. x. §1. 148 In [the state of civill Government there is] the Dominion of reason, peace, security, riches, decency, society, elegancy [etc.]. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 89 Decencie and order must presuppose laws and directions. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. II. 121 God, as he is a God of Decency and Order, and not of Anarchy and Confusion [etc.].
3. Propriety of behaviour or demeanour; due regard to what is becoming; conformity (in behaviour, speech, or action) to the standard of propriety or good taste.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 23/2 He [Wm. Earl of Pembroke]..lived towards the favourites with that decency, as would not suffer them to censure or reproach his master's judgment. 1682Norris Hierocles 39 To bear..the loss of our goods with mildness and decency. 1702Eng. Theophrastus 342 We do sometimes out of vanity or decency what we could do out of inclination and duty. 1732–3Swift Let. Mrs. Pilkington 1 Jan., I cannot with decency shew them, except to a very few. 1749Fielding Tom Jones x. viii, If I had not the patience of fifty Jobs, you would make me forget all decency and decorum. 1798Wordsw. Old Cumbrld. Beggar, Many, I believe, there are Who live a life of virtuous decency. 1855Ld. Houghton in Life (1891) I. xi. 516 As I have got two letters from you to-day, I must write in decency before I go to sleep. 1883Gladstone in Times 9 June, Less than that I cannot say in justice and in decency.
b. esp. Compliance with recognized notions of modesty or delicacy; freedom from impropriety.
1639tr. Du. Bosq's Compl. Woman F iv, Peradventure they would..accuse him for not writing, as decency obliged him therein..Is there one sole word in all this worke..to make one blush in reading it? 1684Earl Roscom. Ess. Transl. Verse, Immodest words admit of no defence; For want of decency is want of sense. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 137 Sir Elisha Leightoun..maintained an outward decency..yet he was a very vicious man. 1886H. H. Johnston Kilimanjaro Exp. ii. 28 The black glistening forms of the burly negroes on whom nakedness sits with decency. Ibid. xix. 433 Both sexes have little notion or conception of decency, the men especially seeming to be unconscious of any impropriety in nakedness.
c. Conformity to the standard of living becoming one's position; respectability.
1751Johnson Rambler No. 166 ⁋2 Those whom a very little assistance would enable to support themselves with decency. 1785Paley Mor. Philos. iii. ix, There is a certain appearance, attendance, establishment, and mode of living, which custom has annexed to the several ranks and orders of civil life (and which compose what is called decency).
4. pl. Decent or becoming acts or observances; the established observances of decent life or decorum; proprieties. (Rarely sing.)
1667Milton P.L. viii. 601 Those graceful acts, Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions mixed with love And sweet compliance. 1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode Ep. Ded., They have copied..the delicacies of expression, and the decencies of behaviour from your lordship. 1700― Sigismonda & G. 701 O ever faithful heart, I have perform'd the ceremonial part, The decencies of grief. 1723De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 204, I told her I thought it was a decency to the ladies. 1735Pope Ep. Lady 164 Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, Content to dwell in decencies for ever. 1827Macaulay Machiavelli Ess. (1854) 49/2 He became careless of the decencies which were expected from a man so highly distinguished in the literary and political world.
b. pl. The outward conditions or requirements of a decent life.
1798Malthus Popul. (1878) 375 He may be..better able to command the decencies..of life. 1832Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms xiii. 111 In this sense the poor are those who..severally enjoy a less quantity of decencies and necessaries. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xxiv. 213 The little man was buttoning on a pair of black gaiters, the only serviceable decency he had at his command. 1894H. Sidgwick in Times 13 Jan. 11/4 It was not easy to distinguish decencies and comforts on the one hand and luxuries on the other. |