| 释义 |
diminutive, a. and n.|dɪˈmɪnjʊtɪv|
Also 4 diminitif (-yf, etc.), 6–7 diminitive, 6 demynutyve.
[a. F. diminutif, -ive (14th c. in Godef. Suppl.), ad. L. dī-, dēminūtīv-us, f. dī-, dēminūtus, pa. pple. of dī-, dēminuĕre to lessen. The n. use is found in Eng. earlier than the adj.]
A. adj.
1. Gram. Expressing diminution; denoting something little: usually applied to derivatives or affixes expressing something small of the kind denoted by the primitive word. (Opp. to augmentative.)
1580North Plutarch (1676) 5 Where they honoured this old woman [Hecale], calling her by a diminutive Name, Hecalena. 1659O. Walker Oratory 32 Verbal nouns..some of them being augmentative, some diminutive. 1755Johnson Pref. to Dict., Diminutive adjectives in -ish, as greenish. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iii. xiii, In most languages the objects of love are spoken of under diminutive epithets. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. §313 The diminutive sense easily passes into that of depreciation, as in worldling, groundling.
†2. Making less or smaller; tending to diminution. Obs.
1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 266 God..cannot fal under any mutation either..augmentative or diminutive. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. iii. ii. 175 Any thing diminutive either of their inward Freedom or national Liberty.
†3. Representing or describing something as less than it is; disparaging, depreciative. Obs.
1662Glanvill Lux Orient. ii. (1682) 9 A diminutive and disparaging apprehension of the infinite..Goodness of God. 1737Waterland Eucharist 443 The Death of Christ..a federal Rite..appears to be too low and too diminutive a Name for it. 1791Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 122 A scene so new..that the name of a Revolution is diminutive of its character, and it rises into a Regeneration of man.
4. Characterized by diminution; hence, of less size or degree than the ordinary; small, little. In later use, generally, a more forcible expression for ‘small’: = minute, tiny. (Usually in reference to physical size.)
1602Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 19 Balurdo cals for your diminutive attendance. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. ii. 10 The poore Wren (the most diminutiue of Birds). 1623Cockeram, Diminutiue, little. 1641R. Brathwait Eng. Intelligencer 11, Our Progenitours esteemed diminutive Cottages as Kingdomes. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 146 A diminutive Pine, which grows not above the Height of a Man. 1727Swift Gulliver i. i. 26, I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of those diminutive mortals. 1741Gray Let. Poems (1775) 108 Last post I received a very diminutive letter. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. viii. 283 The summer..passed in unavailing movements and diminutive attempts. 1851G. Brimley Ess. 120 (Wordsw.) We..know that children are not diminutive angels. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 24 Small, almost diminutive, in stature.
B. n.
1. Gram. A diminutive word or term (see A. 1); a derivative denoting something small of the kind.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcvi. (Tollem. MS.), Of ‘Lens, lentis,’ comeþ ‘Lenticula,’ þe diminityf þerof. 1530Palsgr. 303 Adjectyves whiche be demynutyves in signyfication. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict. B iij, Diminutiues end commonly in ito, illo. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 264 The word δαιµόνιον..is not a diminitive..but an adjective substantiv'd. 1709Steele Tatler No. 135 ⁋1 Cicero..calls those small Pretenders to Wisdom..certain Minute Philosophers, using a Diminutive even of the Word Little. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 539 In babyisms and dear diminutives Scatter'd all over the vocabulary Of such a love. 1894J. T. Fowler Adamnan Introd. 80 His name, Adamnan, is a diminutive of Adam.
2. Her. One of the smaller ordinaries corresponding in form and position to the larger, but of less width.
[1486Bk. St. Albans, Her. C iv b, This cros [croslet] is not so oft borne in armys by him selfe..neuer the lees mony tymys hit is borne in dimynutiuys, that is to say in littyll crossis crossit. ]1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 32 b, The Barrulet is a Diminutive thereof, and is but the fourth parte of the Barre. 1766Porny Her. iv. (1787) 60 The Pale..Its Diminutives are the Pallet, which is the half of the Pale, and the Endorse, which is the fourth part of a Pale. 1882Cussans Handbk. Her. iv. 57 The diminutives of the Bend are the Bendlet, or Garter, which is half the width of the Bend; the Cost, or Cotice, which is half the Bendlet; and the Riband, half of the Cost. Ibid. 72 All the Ordinaries (but not their diminutives) may be charged.
3. A diminutive thing or person.
a. A small variety or form of something; a ‘miniature’.
†b. Something very small (obs.).
†c. in diminutive: on a small scale, in miniature (obs.).
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 38 How the poore world is pestred with such water-flies, diminutiues of Nature. ― Ant. & Cl. iv. xii. 37 Most monster-like be shewne For poor'st Diminitiues, for Dolts. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. xxxiii. 57 All families are but diminutives of a Court. 1658Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, In what deminutives the plastick principle lodgeth is exemplified in seeds. a1687Cotton (J.) Sim..Was then a knave, but in diminutive. 1796Mod. Gulliver's Trav. 46 A reflection..which I often found myself justified in bringing home to these diminutives. 1842C. Whitehead R. Savage (1845) I. xi. 145 The diminutive tells me he believes he has wronged you. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xix. (1856) 150 A stimulus, acting constantly, like the diminutive of a strong cup of coffee.
†4. Something that diminishes or lessens; spec. in Med. A medicine that abates the violence of a disease. Obs.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. x. liv. (1612) 242 If his Fames Diminutiue in any thing we finde. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. v. i. vi, When you have used all good meanes and helpe of alteratives, averters, diminitives. |