| 释义 |
decumbent, a. (n.)|dɪˈkʌmbənt|
[ad. L. dēcumbent-em, pr. pple. of dēcumb-ĕre to lie down, f. de- I. 1 + -cumbĕre to lie.]
1. Lying down, reclining. Now rare or Obs.
1656Blount Glossogr., Decumbent, that lyes or sits down; or dyes. a1692Ashmole Antiq. Berksh. I. 2 (R.) The decumbent portraiture of a woman, resting on a death's head. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. i. 46 The decumbent Posture which is common to Animals in Sleep. 1798W. Yonge in Beddoes Contrib. Phys. Knowledge (1799) 303 The advantage of a decumbent posture.
†b. Lying in bed through illness. Obs.
1689G. Harvey Curing Dis. by Expect. xv. 114 An elder Brother decumbent of a Continual Fever. a1732Atterbury (T.), To deal with..decumbent dying sinners.
2. spec.
a. Bot. Lying or trailing upon the ground, but with the extremity ascending: applied to stems, branches, etc.
1791E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. 24 note, This species of Fern..with a decumbent root. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 83 Herbaceous plants, native of sandy plains..and usually decumbent. 1874M. C. Cooke Fungi 249 The fertile flocci were decumbent, probably from the weight of the spores.
b. Nat. Hist. Of hairs or bristles: Lying flat on the surface, instead of growing out at right angles.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxiv. 398 The covering of hairs is silky and decumbent. Ibid. III. 645 Short decumbent hairs or bristles.
†B. as n. One lying ill in bed: cf. 1 b. Obs.
1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 138 When the Christian decumbent growes near to the grave. 1699‘Misaurus’ Honour of Gout (1720) 10 He tells the Decumbent a long story of the..Misery of Life.
Hence deˈcumbently adv., in a decumbent manner.
In mod. Dicts. |