| 释义 |
▪ I. sublime, a. and n.|səˈblaɪm|
[ad. L. sublīmis, prob. f. sub up to + līmen lintel. Cf. F., It., Sp., Pg. sublime.]
A. adj.
1. Set or raised aloft, high up. arch.
(a) in predicative use.
1604R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Sublime, set on high, lift vp. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 33 The element grew dreadfull,..the sea sublime and wrathfull. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 771 Hee on the wings of Cherub rode sublime On the Crystallin Skie. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 331 Two Poles turn round the Globe... The first sublime in Heav'n, the last is whirl'd Below the Regions of the nether World. 1725Pope Odyss. v. 212 Build the rising ship, Sublime to bear thee o'er the gloomy deep. 1784Cowper Task i. 203 Cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime In still repeated circles. 1842Tennyson Vision of Sin 103 To fly sublime Thro' the courts, the camps, the schools.
fig.1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. i, Not..to gape, or look upward with the eye, but to have his thoughts sublime. 1786Burns To J. S**** iv, My fancy yerket up sublime Wi' hasty summon.
(b) In attrib. use; † contextually = highest, top.
1612Woodall Surg. Mate (1639) 274 Sublimation is when that which is extracted is driven to the sublime part of the vessell. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 183 The sublime height did not disanimate us, as did the danger of descending. 1695Prior Ode to King xi. Let Thy sublime Meridian Course For Mary's setting Rays attone. 1784Cowper Task iii. 157 Travel nature up To the sharp peak of her sublimest height. 1873Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 239 A sublime spring from the balustrade About the tower.
b. Of the arms: Uplifted, upraised.
1754Gray Progr. Poesy 38 With arms sublime, that float upon the air.
c. Of flight; only in fig. context with implication of senses 4–7.
1684Burnet tr. More's Utopia Pref. A 4 We were beginning to fly into a sublime pitch, of a strong but false Rhetorick. 1838Emerson Addr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 193 In the sublimest flights of the soul, rectitude is never surmounted.
d. Anat. Of muscles: Lying near the surface, superficial. Also applied to the branch of anatomy treating of superficial muscles.
1855Dunglison Med. Lex. 1891Century Dict. s.v., The sublime flexor of the fingers (the flexor sublimis, a muscle).
2. Of buildings, etc.: Rising to a great height, lofty, towering. arch.
1635Heywood Hierarchy viii. 532 Thunders at the sublimest buildings aime. 1657N. Billingsley Brachy-Martyrol. xxviii. 102 He'd rost her quick, and after throw her down From the sublimest tower in the town. 1799in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. III. 322 Sublime their artless locks they wear. 1817Moore Lalla Rookh 209 Those towers sublime, That seem'd above the grasp of Time.
3. Of lofty bearing or aspect; in a bad sense, haughty, proud. Chiefly poet.
1596Spenser F.Q. v. viii. 30 The proud Souldan with presumpteous cheare, And countenance sublime and insolent. a1639Wotton in Reliq. (1651) 171 His Limbs rather sturdy then dainty: Sublime and almost Tumorous in His Looks and Gestures. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 300 His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar'd Absolute rule. Ibid. xi. 236 Not terrible,..nor sociably mild,..But solemn and sublime. 1759Johnson Rasselas xxxix, He was sublime without haughtiness, courteous without formality. 1844Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets c, There, Shakespeare, on whose forehead climb The crowns o' the world. Oh, eyes sublime, With tears and laughters for all time!
†b. Exalted in feeling, elated. Obs.
1667Milton P.L. x. 536 Sublime with expectation. 1671― Samson 1669 While thir hearts were jocund and sublime, Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine.
4. Of ideas, truths, subjects, etc.: Belonging to the highest regions of thought, reality, or human activity. † Also occas. said of the thinker.
1634Milton Comus 785 Thou hast nor Eare, nor Soul to apprehend The sublime notion, and high mystery. 1647H. More Song of Soul i. To Rdr. C 2 The contemplation of these things is very sublime and subtile. 1674Playford Skill Mus. (ed. 7) Pref. A 4 b, This [art] of Musick is the most sublime and excellent for its wonderfull Effects and Inventions. a1721J. Keill Maupertius' Diss. (1734) 11 Let us leave it to sublimer Philosophers to search into the Cause of this Tendency. 1724A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 233 They despised the literal sense of the Old Testament, and employed their invention to find out sublime senses thereof. 1781Cowper Conversat. 548 What are ages and the lapse of time, Match'd against truths, as lasting as sublime? 1819Keats Fall Hyperion i. 173 Whether his labours be sublime or low. 1848‘L. Mariotti’ Italy II. iii. 82 The sublimest theories of divine doctrine. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 412 The most sublime departments of natural philosophy. a1853Robertson Lect. (1858) 254 England's sublimer battle cry of ‘Duty’.
†b. Of geometry: see quots. Obs.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Geometry, The Higher, or Sublimer Geometry is that employ'd in the consideration of Curve Lines, Conic Sections, and Bodies form'd thereof. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 186/1 The term sublime geometry was technical, meaning the higher parts of geometry, in which the infinitesimal calculus or something equivalent was employed.
5. Of persons, their attributes, feelings, actions: Standing high above others by reason of nobility or grandeur of nature or character; of high intellectual, moral, or spiritual level. Passing into a term of high commendation: Supreme, perfect.
1643J. Burroughes Exp. 1st 3 ch. Hosea vii. 385 Others are of more sublime spirits naturally, as if they were borne for great things. 1663S. Patrick Parab. Pilgrim (1687) 218 Nor is there any delight so noble and sublime, so pure and refined. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 215 He..was a very perfect friend, and a most sublime Christian. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xv, Emily's eyes filled with tears of admiration and sublime devotion. 1821Shelley Adonais v, Others more sublime..Have sunk, extinct in their refulgent prime. 1838Longfellow Lt. Stars ix, Thou shalt know..how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 188/2 Lear, who appeals to the heavens, ‘for they are old’ like him, is sublime, from the very intensity of his sufferings and his passions. Lady Macbeth is sublime from the intensity of her will. 1852Tennyson Ode Wellington 34 And, as the greatest only are, In his simplicity sublime. 1872Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1886) III. 159 Mr. Lewes makes a martyr of himself in writing all my notes and business letters. Is not that being a sublime husband?
b. colloq. with ironical force.
Mod. He has a sublime sense of his own importance. This is a sublime piece of impertinence.
6. Of language, style, or a writer: Expressing lofty ideas in a grand and elevated manner.
1586A. Day Engl. Secretorie i. (1595) 10 We do find three sorts [sc. of the style of epistles]..to haue bene generally commended. Sublime, the highest and stateliest maner, and loftiest deliuerance of any thing that may be, expressing the heroicall and mighty actions of Kings [etc.]. 1690Temple Ess. ii. Poetry 19 It must be confessed, that Homer was..the vastest, the sublimest, and the most wonderful Genius. a1718Prior Better Answer vii, As He was a Poet sublimer than Me. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., The sublime Style necessarily requires big and magnificent Words; but the Sublime may be found in a single Thought, a single Figure, a single Turn of Words. 1756Warton Ess. Pope I. 18 Every excellence, more peculiarly appropriated to the sublimer ode. 1782V. Knox Ess. xv. (1819) I. 89 The Bible, the Iliad, and Shakspeare's works, are allowed to be the sublimest books that the world can exhibit. 1817Coleridge Biogr. Lit. xvi. (1907) II. 22 The sublime Dante. 1839De Quincey Milton Wks. 1857 VII. 319 Whether he can cite any other book than the ‘Paradise Lost’, as continuously sublime, or sublime even by its prevailing character.
7. Of things in nature and art: Affecting the mind with a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power; calculated to inspire awe, deep reverence, or lofty emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur.
a1700Evelyn Diary 12 Nov. 1644, Just before this portico stands a very sublime and stately Corinthian columne. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. iv. (1833) 110 Great and elevated objects considered with relation to the emotions produced by them, are termed grand and sublime. 1806Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 292 This fall of water..is indeed awful and sublime, but has too much of the terrible in its appearance. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 186/2 The stars are sublime, yet there is no terror in the emotion they excite. 1878Smiles Robt. Dick vii. 78 After the cultivated fields, come the moors—quiet, solitary, and sublime.
8. Of rank, status: Very high, exalted. arch.
1702Evelyn Let. to Pepys 20 Jan., Persons of the sublimest rank and office. a1718Prior Ode to Queen xix, Those Heights, where William's Virtue might have staid,..the Props and Steps were made, Sublimer yet to raise his Queen's Renown. 1769Gray Installat. Ode 25 Meek Newton's self bends from his state sublime.
b. As an honorific title of the Sultan of Turkey or other potentates; also transf. of their actions. Cf. Sublime Porte (see porte), and sublimity 2 d.
1820Byron Juan v. cxliv, Your slave brings tidings..Which your sublime attention may be worth. 1821Shelley Hellas 123 Your Sublime Highness Is strangely moved. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. vii. iii. (1864) IV. 113 Gregory assumed the lofty tone of arbiter and commanded them to..await his sublime award.
c. Refined: more recently used in trade names to designate the finest quality.
1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 299/2 It..will do that..which others more esteemed sublime Medicines will not do. 1884Health Exhib. Catal. 62/2 Jeyes' Sublime Disinfectant Toilet Soaps. 1897Daily News 1 Oct. 7/7 A bottle upon which was a label ‘Sublime Salad Oil’.
†9. Med. Of respiration: Of the highest degree.
1656Ridgley Pract. Physick 224 Difficulty of breath is greater then in a Pluresy, which Hippocrates calleth sublime. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. ii. iii. 92 The former Respiration Galen terms gentle or small,..the other strong,..a third sublime where the Diaphragma, intercostal..muscles, and muscles of the Chest do act all together.
B. n.
1. Now always with the: That which is sublime; the sublime part, character, property, or feature of. † Formerly with a and pl. and occas. without article, chiefly in contexts where sublimity would now be used.
a. in discourse or writing.
1679Shadwell True Widow i. 6 What is your opinion of the Play?.. There are a great many sublimes that are very Poetical. 1704Swift T. Tub Pref. 22 Whatever Word or Sentence is printed in a different Character, shall be judged to contain something extraordinary either of Wit or Sublime. 1727Warburton Tracts (1789) 115 With what a Sublime might that Flash of Lightning have been brought in. 1746Francis tr. Hor., Art of Poetry 561 Since I can write the true Sublime. 1749Fielding Tom Jones Contents iv. ii, A short hint of what we can do in the sublime, and a description of Miss Sophia Western. 1762Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) V. 277 That sublime which results from the choice and general disposition of a subject. 1785Cowper Let. to J. Newton 10 Dec., The sublime of Homer in the hands of Pope becomes bloated and tumid, and his description tawdry. 1847Tennyson Princess iv. 565 Feigning pique at what she call'd The raillery, or grotesque, or false sublime.
b. in nature and art.
1727Pope, etc. Art of Sinking iv, The Sublime of Nature is the Sky, the Sun, Moon, Stars, &c. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty x. 51 What I think the sublime in form, so remarkably display'd in the human body. 1784R. Bage Barham Downs II. 320 The awful, the sublime of this reverend pile. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 5 Never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 188/1 The material sublime—or the sublime of nature.
c. in human conduct, life, feeling, etc.
1749Warburton Let. to Hurd 13 June, His gravity and sublime of sentiment. 1756Burke Subl. & Beaut. i. vii. (1759) 58 Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible,..is a source of the sublime. 1789Burns To Dr. Blacklock ix, To make a happy fire-side clime To weans and wife, That's the true pathos and sublime Of human life. 1789A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 39 This was one of those strokes that denote superior genius, and constitute the sublime of war. 1804–6Syd. Smith Mor. Philos. (1850) 234 To harbour no mean thought in the midst of abject poverty, but..to found a spirit of modest independence upon the consciousness of having always acted well;—this is a sublime. 1847Prescott Peru (1850) II. 351 This was heroic, and wanted only a nobler motive for its object to constitute the true moral sublime. 1871Smiles Charac. v. (1876) 134 The patriot who fights an always-losing battle—the martyr who goes to death amidst the triumphant shouts of his enemies..are examples of the moral sublime.
2. With the: The highest degree or point, summit, or acme of. Now rare.
1813Byron Let. to Miss Milbanke 26 Sept. Wks. 1899 III. 403 The moral of Christianity is perfectly beautiful—and the very sublime of virtue. 1817― Beppo lxxiii, The sublime Of mediocrity, the furious tame. 1818― Juan i. cli, With that sublime of rascals your attorney. 1838De Quincey Shaks. Wks. 1890 IV. 61 This is the very sublime of folly, beyond which human dotage cannot advance.
▪ II. sublime, v.|səˈblaɪm|
[a. OF. sublimer, ad. L. sublīmāre, f. sublīmis sublime a.]
1. trans. To subject (a substance) to the action of heat in a vessel so as to convert it into vapour, which is carried off and on cooling is deposited in a solid form.
c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. T. Preamb. 51 The care and wo That we hadden in oure matires sublymyng. 1460–70Bk. Quinte Essence 4 By contynuel ascendynge and descendynge, by the which it is sublymed to so myche hiȝnes of glorificacioun. Ibid. 8 Take Mercurie þat is sublymed with vitriol, & comen salt, & sal armoniac .7. or .10. tymes sublymed. 1558Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. 102 b, To sublime Quicke Syluer, that is to saye, to make common sublyme. 1610B. Jonson Alch. ii. v, How doe you sublime him [mercury]? Fac. With the calce of egge-shels, White marble, talck. 1697J. Headrich Arcana Philos. 27 Put the Mixture into a Sublimatory; from which sublime it ten or twelve times. 1730Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. II. xviii. §9 Even a Metal..may be sublimed and mix'd with the Air by the Heat of Fire. 1774J. Hill Theophr. (ed. 2) 235 Our factitious Cinnabar, made only by subliming Mercury and Sulphur together. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. x. (1842) 262 It is easy to sublime and crystallize such bodies as camphor, iodine, naphthaline. 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. 214 Ammonium Chloride..is obtained..by subliming a mixture of the commercial sulphate of ammonium with common salt.
absol.1471Ripley Comp. Alch. viii. i. in Ashm. (1652) 171 We Sublyme not lyke as they do. 1596Forman Diary (Halliw.) 28 The 27 of Aprill in subliming, my pot and glasse brok, and all my labour was lost pro lapide. 1610B. Jonson Alch. ii. v, Can you sublime, and dulcefie? 1678R. Russell tr. Geber ii. i. iv. x. 108 This he well knows who hath sublimed in short Sublimatories.
2. trans. To cause to be given off by sublimation or an analogous process (e.g. volcanic heat); to carry over as vapour, which resolidifies on cooling; to extract by or as by sublimation.
1460–70Bk. Quinte Essence 5 Þe purete of þe quinte essencie schal be sublymed aboue. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. viii. ii. in Ashm. (1652) 171 Som do Mercury from Vitriall and Salt sublyme. 1605Timme Quersit. i. xvi. 83 Glasse may be made of antimonie and of lead..by subliming flowers out of them. 1640T. Carew Poems (1651) 156 No more than Chimists can sublime True Gold. 1674Grew Anat. Pl. (1682) 246 The saline Principle is altogether volatile, and sublimed away by the fire. 1791E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 94 note, This ponderous earth has been found..in a granite in Switzerland, and may have thus been sublimed from immense depths by great heat. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 419 Sulphur has been sublimed from it. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xxiv. (1842) 613 Put a portion of calomel into a Florence flask, and sublime it into the upper part by placing the bottom in sand. 1833Brewster Nat. Magic xii. 299 We may yet study the lava which they have melted, and the products which they have sublimed. 1869Phillips Vesuv. iv. 107 Chloride of lead was among the substances sublimed.
3. intr. († occas. refl.)
a. To undergo this process; to pass from the solid to the gaseous state without liquefaction.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 274 There remaineth a Paste..called the Almond Paste, which by a limbecke receiuing fire, causeth the Quickesiluer to subleme [sic]. 1651French Distill. vi. 192 It will presently sublime in a silver fume, into the recipient. 1682K. Digby Chym. Secr. 166 You shall see a little [Sal armoniac] sublime up to the discovered place of the Retort. 1683Pettus Fleta Min. i. 42 The Brimstone..doth roast away, and the Arsnick doth sublime it self with a strong heat. 1797Phil. Trans. LXXXVII. 388 The acid will not sublime from it, but is decomposed by heat. 1823Faraday Exp. Res. No. 18. 82 It will.. sublime from one part of the bottle to the other in the manner of camphor. 1841Brande Man. Chem. (ed. 5) 458 At higher temperatures it again liquifies, and at about 600° it boils, and sublimes in the form of an orange-coloured vapour. 1908Athenæum 28 Mar. 390/1 All the ‘non⁓valent’ elements..should sublime, or pass from the solid into the gaseous state without liquefaction.
b. To be deposited in a solid form from vapour produced by sublimation.
1682K. Digby Chym. Secr. 169 It will sublime with it in very red flowers. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 370 When the benjamin is heated the flowers will sublime. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 760 The arsenic sublimes..and adheres to the upper part of the vessel. 1856Miller Elem. Chem., Inorg. xvii. §1. 1016 Calomel sublimes in quadrilateral prisms.
4. trans. To raise to an elevated sphere or exalted state; to exalt or elevate to a high degree of purity of excellence; to make (esp. morally or spiritually) sublime.
1609G. Benson Serm. 7 May 93 Let your thoughts be sublimed by the spirit of God. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 4. 499 Persons so sublim'd, that what makes them everlastingly happy, shall never make them weary. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. 8 [Jesus] hallowed marriage..having new sublim'd it by making it a Sacramentall representment of the union of Christ and..the Church. a1711Ken Psyche Poet. Wks. IV. 253 As bless'd Elijah pray'd his Servants Eye Might be sublim'd the Angels to descry. 1729Savage Wanderer v. 521 No true benevolence his thought sublimes. 1765Goldsm. Ess., Metaphor Wks. (Globe) 331/1 A judicious use of metaphors wonderfully raises, sublimes, and adorns oratory or elocution. 1814Southey Roderick iii. 398 Call it not Revenge! thus sanctified and thus sublimed, 'Tis duty, 'tis devotion. 1819Byron Juan ii. clxxx, The blest sherbet, sublimed with snow. 1858Merivale Rom. Emp. liv. (1865) VI. 415 It sublimed every aspiration after the Good..by pronouncing it the instinct of divinity within us. 1861M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France 146 Morality—but dignified, but sublimed by being taught in connection with religious sentiment. 1873Pater Renaissance 176 The aspiring element, by force and spring of which Greek religion sublimes itself. 1880Hardy Trumpet-Major xxxiii, Bob's countenance was sublimed by his recent interview, like that of a priest just come from the penetralia of the temple.
b. above, beyond, or higher than a certain state or standard.
a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. ix. §2 (1622) 296 The very end of Geometrie is nothing else, but onely to sublime mens mindes aboue their senses,..to the contemplation of Gods æternall Nature. 1651Jer. Taylor Clerus Domini v. §7. 31 Who can make it (ministerially I mean) and consecrate or sublime it from common..bread, but a consecrate..person? 1657G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 15 [The Philosopher's] employment being sublimed a degree higher than Art, is ranked among the Liberal Sciences. 1820Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 57 A personification of the pride of will and eagerness of curiosity, sublimed beyond the reach of fear and remorse. 1866Whipple Char. & Charac. Men. 1 A soul sublimed by an idea above the region of vanity and conceit. 1871Alabaster Wheel of Law 18 The existence of a God sublimed above all human qualities.
c. into a state or to a degree of purity, etc.
1643J. M. Soveraigne Salve 35 That confirmation in grace by which free will is transfigured and sublimed into a state divine. 1651Jer. Taylor Clerus Domini iii. §11 An ordinary gift cannot sublime an ordinary person to a supernaturall imployment. 1774Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 5 Numbers of the discontented noblesse..resorted there,..sublimed the race into that degree of valour [etc.]. 1859D. Anderson Disc. (1860) 55 The death of Matthew Henry's two children was designed to sublime his piety into that excellence which it attained.
†d. To purify (from). Obs.
1630Lord Banians 52 The soule was impure..therefore it was needfull it should bee sublimed from this corruption. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 406 Would we could light on some nobler principles that might sublime us from these Rellolacean Principles.
†e. With material obj. Obs.
1654Jer. Taylor Real Pres. 98 It is made Sacramental and Eucharistical, and so it is sublimed to become the body of Christ. 1667Milton P.L. v. 483 Flours and thir fruit Mans nourishment, by gradual scale sublim'd To vital Spirits aspire. 1740Cheyne Regimen 35 That spiritual Substance was analogous to Matter infinitely rarefied, refin'd or sublim'd. 1772–84Cook's 3rd Voy. (1790) IV. 1254 The vines here being highly sublimed by the warmth of the sun and the dryness of the soil.
5. To transmute into something higher, nobler, or more excellent.
1695Dryden tr. Dufresnoy's Art Paint. 7 Art being strengthned by the knowledge of things, may..be sublim'd into a pure Genius. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., To Sublime one's Flesh into a Soul. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 229 Our clay-built tabernacles sublimed into fit tabernacles of the Holy Ghost. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 331 He, the œconomist,..subliming himself into an airy metaphysician. 1847Miller First Impr. Eng. xviii. (1857) 315 Those fictions of the classic mythology which the greater Greek and Roman writers have sublimed into poetry. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 193 His very selfishness therefore is sublimed into public spirit. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 36 F., whom whiskey sublimed into a poet.
b. intr. To become elevated, be transmuted into something higher.
1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 76 The blood..begins to sublime or distil into more pure refined spirits. a1711Ken Sion Poet. Wks. IV. 381, I feel my Faith subliming into Sight. 1874Sears Fourth Gospel 172 This new faith subliming into knowledge.
6. trans. To raise up or aloft, cause to ascend.
1632Massinger City Madam iii. iii, I am sublim'd! grosse earth Supports me not. I walk on ayr! c1650Denham Of Old Age iii. (1669) 34 Nor can thy head (not helpt) it self sublime. 1788F. Burney Diary IV. vii. 344 With arms yet more sublimed, he..advanced, in silence and dumb heroics. 1845Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 241 Thoughts rise from our souls, as from the sea The clouds sublimed in Heaven.
b. To cause (vapour, etc.) to ascend, as by the action of the sun's heat.
1633Fosbroke Chr. Race 10 As clouds..being elevated and sublimed towards the upper region of the aire, are rarefied. 1655Vaughan Euphrates 51 When the centrall Sun sublimes the Vapours. a1691Boyle Hist. Air (1692) 186 There were great Store of Pieces of Brimstone, which are guessed to be sublimed up from the internal Parts of the Hill. 1705J. Philips Blenheim 8 As when two adverse Winds, Sublim'd from dewy Vapours, in mid Sky Engage with horrid Shock. 1871C. Kingsley At Last vi, The malarious fog hung motionless.., waiting for the first blaze of sunrise to sublime it and its invisible poisons into the upper air.
†c. To cause (the juices of a plant, etc.) to rise, and thereby rarefy and purify them. Obs.
c1645Howell Lett. ii. liv. (1892) 450 Wine itself is but Water sublim'd, being nothing else but that moisture and sap which is caus'd..by rain..drawn up to the branches and berries by the virtual attractive heat of the Sun. 1655Vaughan Euphrates 46 There is a way made for the sperme to ascend more freely, which subliming upwards is attracted and intercepted by the vegetable Kingdom, whose imediat aliment it is. 1712Blackmore Creation ii. 234 Th' austere and ponderous Juices they sublime.
†7. To exalt (a person), raise to a high office or degree. Obs.
1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1619) 706/1 Mardocheous [was] placed in his roome, and greatly sublimed and exalted. 1610B. Jonson Alch. i. i, Haue I..Sublim'd thee, and exalted thee, and fix'd thee I'the third region, call'd our state of grace? 1638Mayne Lucian (1664) 212/3 Gloriously crown'd..and sublimed, like one drest for a triumph. |