| 释义 |
rapacious, a.|rəˈpeɪʃəs|
[f. L. rapāci-, rapax grasping (f. rapĕre: see rape v.2) + -ous.]
1. Giving to grasping or taking for oneself; inordinately greedy. Also const. of, and inf.
1651Jer. Taylor Serm. xxii. (1653) 287 We may be diligent in the conduct of souls though we be not rapacious of estates. 1663Cowley Ess., Liberty (1684) 80 Who more rapacious in robbing, who more profuse in giving? 1752Young Brothers iv. i, To keep rapacious Rome, from seizing Thrace. 1848Lytton Harold v. i, By the side of Harold stands Tostig, rapacious to grasp. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 37 Even this small fragment of former wealth came into the hands of the rapacious stranger.
b. transf. of things.
1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 13 But sometimes he meets with a gruff Subaltern, that snarls at his rapacious Stomach. 1776Seiferth tr. Gellert's Metall. Chym. 36 A rapacious-ore..in the fire destroys more or less of the metalline particles. 1818Keats Endym. ii. 332 Deliver me from this rapacious deep.
c. of qualities, modes of action, etc.
1663Cowley Ess., Avarice (1669) 127 The rapacious Appetite of Gain. 1727S. Switzer Pract. Gardiner i. v. 47 Vegetables of a more rapacious nature. 1769Robertson Chas. V, viii. Wks. 1813 III. 109 Heavy fines..which he levied with most rapacious exactness. 1847Mrs. A. Kerr Hist. Servia 201 Falling under the rapacious domination of the Fanariotes.
2. Of animals: Subsisting by the capture of living prey; raptorial.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., The nailes..of the rapacious [quadrupeds are] aduncate. 1726Gay Fables i. Introd. 12 Rapacious animals we hate: Kites, hawks, and wolves, deserve their fate. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 79 Of Rapacious Birds in General. 1874Coues Birds N.W. 330 Marsh Hawks..were the most abundant..of all the rapacious birds. |