| 释义 |
acridity|əˈkrɪdɪtɪ|
[f. acrid a. + -ity; cf. acid-ity. A formation, having no prototype in Fr. or L., which has superseded the more regular acritude and acrity, and to a great extent the literal use of acrimony. Not in Todd 1818; in the quot. from Boorde it is probably an error.]
1. The quality of being acrid; a combination of bitterness to the taste with irritancy or corrosion to the mucous membrane; pungent, inflammatory, or corrosive bitterness.
1547A. Boorde Breuiary cccxxxii. 107 b, This infirmitie [Strangury] may come thorowe acredite or sharpness of the water. 1803Edin. Rev. III. 13 An acid, when combined with an alkali..destroys the acridity of the alkali. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 7 Acridity, causticity, and poison, are the general characters of this suspicious order. 1876Bartholow Mat. Med. & Therap. (1879) 259 When swallowed it leaves a sense of constriction and acridity in the throat.
2. Irritant bitterness of speech or temper.
1859G. Meredith R. Feverel I. i. 17 The very acridity of the Aphorisms..sprang from wounded softness, not from hardness. 1861M. W. Freer Henry IV & M. de Med. II. 215 Madame La Marquise revelled in well-aimed acridity of speech, inexpressibly provoking. 1881N.Y. Nation XXXII. 367 The acridity which marks his speeches is quite absent from his private conversation. |