| 释义 |
▪ I. empty, a. and n.|ˈɛmptɪ|
Forms: 1 ǽmetiᵹ, ǽmtiᵹ, émtiᵹ, 3, 5 amti, -tie, 3–4 emti, empti, 4–7 emty, emptie, -ye, 4– empty.
[OE. ǽmetiᵹ, f. ǽmetta leisure + -iᵹ, -y.
The vowel of the middle syllable was dropped already in OE. The initial ǽ, being shortened, yielded as usual in ME. dialects the parallel forms ă and ĕ; hence the forms amti and emti; the former died out in 15th century; the latter (with the euphonic p normal between m and t) is represented by the mod. form.]
A. adj.
†1. Of persons: At leisure, not occupied or engaged. Also, unmarried. Only in OE.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. li. 401 Þæt hie ne wenen ðæt hie..ᵹemengan mæᵹen wið ða æmteᵹan wifmen. c1000ælfric Hom. (Th.) II. 441 Martha swanc, and Maria sæt æmtiᵹ.
2. a. Of a material receptacle: Containing nothing; opposed to full. Also fig. of anything that may be said to be ‘filled’.
971Blickl. Hom. 5 Heo [the Virgin Mary] wæs ‘ful’ cweden næs ‘æmetuᵹu’. c1300Beket 2178 The sculle al amti was: and no brayn therinne bilevede. c1386Chaucer Reeve's Prol. 40 Almost al empty is þe tonne. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (1847) 62 With empty belly and simple poore aray. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. iv. 73 The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. a1628Preston New Covt. (1634) 62 Nothing is said to be empty, but when you look for a fullnesse in it. 1673O. Walker Educ. (1677) 103 They bring forth yellow and emty eares, before the harvest. 1732Pope Ep. Bathurst 320 Which of these is worse, Want with a full or with an empty purse? 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 269 They might be taken in an empty Stomach. 1845Budd Dis. Liver 374 The gall⁓bladder and ducts are found empty. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. §11. 80, I now filled our empty wine-bottle with snow.
b. Void of certain specified contents; fig. devoid of certain specified qualities, etc. Const. † from, † in, of.
1483Caxton Cato G j, Empty of alle goodes and fylled of alle euyll. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 878 And I shal find you emptie of that fault. 1596― Merch. V. iv. i. 5 Empty From any dram of mercie. 1600― A.Y.L. ii. vii. 93 In ciuility thou seem'st so emptie. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts 97 We..are of ourselves emptie of all good. a1727Newton (J.), The heavens are much emptier of air than any vacuum we can make below. 1860Trench Mirac. xxxi. (1862) 444 The Gentiles were empty of all fruits of righteousness. 1865Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. 87 Metaphysical doctrines which..are empty of the smallest substance.
3. transf.
†a. Having one's purse, etc. empty; destitute of money. (Only contextual.) Obs.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 15 The Apostles..should wander through the whole world emptie of all worldly furniture. 1722De Foe Plague (1756) 173 Those that had Money..were able to subsist themselves; but those who were empty suffered..great Hardships. 1724― Mem. Cavalier (1840) 151 The king [was] quite empty of money.
b. Having an empty stomach; hungry. Now only colloq.
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 248 Wer't not all one, an emptie Eagle were set, To guard the Chicken from a hungry Kyte. 1620Shelton Don Quix. III. xxx. 209 And where there is plenty the Guests are not empty. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. viii. 182 I found myself empty.
†c. Of the body: Wanting fullness, shrunken, emaciated. Also of the pulse: Weak, ‘slender’.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. i. 4 Þe slak[e] skyn trembleþ vpon myn emty body. 1486Bk. St. Albans C j a, Sum put hawkys in mew..when they be Empty and lene. 1533Elyot Castel Helthe ii. (1541) 45 b, Where the body is long empty by longe syknesse or abstinence, slepe comforteth nature. 1707Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 412 An empty Pulse shews small Strength.
d. Of a cow or other farm animal: not pregnant. Cf. full a. 1 e.
1900in J. Wright Eng. Dial. Dict. II. 252/1. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 100/1 Many cows thought to be empty have proved to be in calf when slaughtered at the works. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 23 Feb. 80/3 Empty gilts shared in the general enthusiasm, averaging {pstlg}41 15s 2d.
4. a. Of space, a person's place, etc.: Vacant, unoccupied. Of a house, etc.: Devoid of furniture or inmates. Also fig. spec. Empty Quarter [rendering Arab. Ruba el-Khali], the great southern desert of Arabia (formerly identified with the Dahna); also fig.
971Blickl. Hom. 37 Þæt on us ne sy ᵹemeted næniᵹu stow æmetiᵹ gastlicra mæᵹena. c1000ælfric Gen. i. 2 Seo eorþe..wæs ydel ant æmtiᵹ. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 87 He..cumeð þerto and fint hit emti and mid beseme clene swopen. a1225Ancr. R. 156 Non empti stude iðe heorte to underuongen flesliche leihtren. 1297R. Glouc. 17 Amty place he made a boute, & folc fleu hym faste. c1385Chaucer L.G.W., 888 Tysbe..saw hire wympil & hise emty schede. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (1847) 6 One maye clerely the emty nestes se. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 4 And dead mens cries do fill the emptie aire. 1611Bible 1 Sam. xx. 25 Dauids place was emptie. 1627May Lucan xi. 503 With empty Standards reft of Companies. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 516 Two rising Heaps of liquid Crystal stand, And leave a Space betwixt, of empty Sand. 1709Steele Tatler No. 182 ⁋1 The Town grows so very empty. 1864Skeat Uhland's Poems 273 Every room seemed empty now.
[1875Encycl. Brit. II. 240/1 This greater desert, the ‘Roba El Khaliyeh’ or ‘Empty Space’ of geographers—the ‘Dahna’ or ‘Crimson’ of modern Arabs.] 1910Encycl. Brit. II. 260/1 The great desert known as the Dahna or the Rub‘a el Khali (‘the empty quarter’). 1913T. Houtsma et al. Encycl. Islam I. 370/2 Central Arabia... The desert has several names..generally it is called al-Dahnā’, ‘the red country’, after the colour of the sand. On the maps it is indicated al-Rub‘ al-Ḵẖālī, i.e. the empty quarter. 1929T. E. Lawrence Let. 12 July (1938) 663 They can pass over the Ruba el Khali, the so-called ‘Empty Quarter’ of Arabia. 1932B. Thomas (title) Arabia felix, across the Empty Quarter of Arabia. 1959Listener 19 Nov. 893/1 The Empty Quarter stretches for nine hundred miles across southern Arabia. 1963Guardian 5 July 8/3 One hails him as the Hakluyt of that empty quarter where the parched intellect croaks for a swig of feeling.
b. quasi-n. A void (space).
1535Coverdale Job xxvi. 7 He stretcheth out y⊇ north ouer the emptie.
5. Without anything to carry.
a. Of a carriage, ship, etc. (= sense 2). Hence transf. of a beast of burden: Without a load (rare in mod. use).
c1330King of Tars 201 And sadeles mony emptye. 1502Arnolde Chron. (1811) 197 Item an emty horse only i. d'. 1586Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. ii, Return our mules and empty camels back. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 244 When you have used him [the horse] to leap empty, likewise accustome him loaded. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 271 Persuade 'em first to lead an empty wheel. 1714Fr. Bk. of Rates 412 Vessels..empty, or loaded with Masts, Planks, and other Timber. 1796Log in Nicolas Disp. Nelson VII. p. lxv, A Ship and a Brig from Finale..proving..empty. 1884Sir W. McMurdo in Pall Mall G. 18 June 2/1 FitzGerald..started with the empty camels in a bee-line across the desert.
b. Of the hand: Not bringing or carrying any thing away. Hence of persons: = empty-handed; chiefly as predicative complement, e.g. to go, come away empty.
c1500New Notbr. Mayd in Anc. Poet. Tracts 45 The poure may stande, With empty hande. 1535Coverdale Ruth iii. 17 Thou shalt not come emptye vnto thy mother in lawe. 1607Shakes. Timon iii. vi. 40, I return'd you an empty Messenger. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xi. 119 The Custom, not to appear before great Men with an empty Hand.
fig.1751Jortin Serm. (1771) VI. 198 The prayers of the Penitent return not empty. 1850Tennyson In Mem. iii. iii, A hollow form with empty hands.
c. As a Biblical Hebraism, of a sword, to return empty.
1611Bible 2 Sam. i. 22. 1677 Hubbard Narrative 98 Whom [sixty of the enemy] they slew and took, so as their Sword returned not empty.
6. a. Of persons, their projects, etc.: Lacking knowledge and sense; frivolous, foolish.
1611Bible Pref. 8 This was iudged to be but a very poore and emptie shift. 1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. 18 Our best Philosophers will but prove empty Conjecturalists. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1704) III. xiii. 307 A very empty and unprepared design. 1696Tate & Brady Ps. cxliv. 4 His Thoughts but empty are and vain. 1707–8Let. in Hearne's Coll. II. 91 A silly, empty pretender to Greek. 1711Steele Spect. No. 75 ⁋6 The empty Coxcomb has no Regard to any thing..Sacred. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iv. (1840) 98 The meanest, emptiest, and most inconsistent project.
b. Of things: Wanting solidity and substance; unsatisfactory, vain, meaningless.
1340Ayenb. 143 Zuo emti to þe ziȝþe of þo greate blisse. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 2 Heauen hath my empty words. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 454 Find Fit retribution, emptie as thir deeds. 1674Brevint Saul at Endor 230 It is but an emty Phantome. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 710 All his Hopes exhal'd in empty Smoke. 1711Steele Spect. No. 79 ⁋9 All these Acts are but empty Shows. 1718Freethinker No. 60. 34 It is not an empty Title..but a Right. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 54 Weighs..solid pudding against empty praise. a1764Lloyd Whim Poet. Wks. 1774 II. 166 Wrangling wits..quarrel for an empty name. 1813Shelley Q. Mab iv, Words..Empty and vain as his own coreless heart. 1837Thirlwall Greece IV. xxxii. 229 Nor were these mere empty professions. 1884Sat. Rev. 14 June 766/1 Frightened by the emptiest of bugbears.
B. n. Comm. An empty truck or wagon; an empty box, cask, etc. which has contained goods; an empty cab or taxi; an empty house or premises; an empty bottle, container, etc. colloq.
1865Morn. Star 1 Feb., I was ordered..to..send the empties off first. 1879F. H. Grundy Pictures of Past vi. 166 ‘Well,’ says Leigh Hunt, ‘I found him [sc. a cabman] returning from Hammersmith, and he said as an empty he would take me for half-fare.’ 1881Daily News 22. Aug. 3/2 George Whitehead, a dealer in empties at Mile-end New-town. 1884Harper's Mag. May 874/2 They are..made into a long train in exchange for ‘empties’. 1905Westm. Gaz. 23 Aug. 8/2 Property owners throughout the various suburbs of London are making loud complaint of the steady increase in the proportion of ‘empties’. 1914Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 24 Feb. 4 Get as many ‘empties’ [= bottles] as possible. 1924Ladies' Home Jrnl. June 100 He delivers it by the case and calls for the empties. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock vii. i. 277 A cupboard stood open full of empties. 1961L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. v. 82 Some fuel-drums lay in a neat line..all empties.
C. attrib. and Comb. as (parasynthetic adjs.), empty-basketed, empty-bellied, empty-fisted, empty-headed, empty-hearted, empty-pannelled (in Falconry), empty-pated, empty-skulled, empty-stomached, empty-vaulted; also empty-handed. empty-cell used attrib. (see esp. quot. 1946); empty nester chiefly U.S., either member of a couple whose children have grown up and left home (freq. in pl.); hence empty nest, a household in which only the parents now remain; also applied attrib., as empty-nest syndrome, to depression allegedly affecting women whose children have left home; empty word Linguistics, a word which has no meaning in itself but serves a grammatical function, e.g. at, but, for, etc.
1883Harper's Mag. Apr. 702/2 Fisher people..coming back *empty-basketed.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph. Knights i. iii, You've cut *Empty-bellied to the Town⁓hall.
1917A. J. Wallis-Tayler Preservation of Wood vii. 199 This process [sc. the Rueping or Rüping Process] is on what is known as the *empty cell treatment. 1946Cartwright & Findlay Decay of Timber xiii. 260 It is usual to treat poles and timber for building use by the empty cell process, by means of which the walls of cells of the wood are left coated with a layer of preservative, but the cavities are empty. 1968W. E. Willis Timber iv. 86 The two empty cell methods are known as the Rueping and Lawry processes.
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xv. 52 Fear of the Saints displeasure, if they approach *empty-fisted.
1650B. Discollim. 17 *Empty-headed, Fiddle-brain'd Men. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 86 Trample on the empty-headed rabble.
1605Shakes. Lear i. i. 155 Nor are those *empty⁓hearted, whose low sounds Reuerbe no hollownesse. 1842Manning Serm. viii. (1848) I. 109 Empty-hearted followers of this vain-glorious world.
1962Economist 15 Dec. 1131/2 Couples in the 45–65 age bracket—the so-called ‘*empty nesters’, whose children have grown up and who have become bored with their large houses. 1972Ladies' Home Jrnl. Feb. 124/4 Even the ‘empty nest’ syndrome hasn't seemed to hit her. She seems genuinely delighted by both of her daughters' marriages. 1973N.Y. Times 21 Jan. x. 24/5 Not all empty-nest women have high-salaried husbands, but all feel less ‘squoze’ once their sons and daughters have addresses of their own. 1976Globe & Mail (Toronto) 27 Aug. 12/4 Therapists who deal with parents during this stage of life have come to view the trivial-sounding ‘empty nest’ as a family crisis potentially as profound as divorce. 1980Sunday Times 30 Mar. 50 Builders..have ignored an increasingly important category of housebuyer—the busy, well-off executive couple who either have no children or whose children have grown up and left. Americans call them ‘empty nesters’.
1575Turberv. Falconrie 313 Let hir stande *emptiepanneld upon the same untill night.
1820Scott Abbot xxxiii, There are *empty-pated coxcombs at each corner.
1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. vi. 159 Quackery may, and does succeed for a season..with the *empty-skulled.
1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters A ij, Them that be *empty-stomaked thrughe overmoche hete of the stomake. 1861P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. vi. 58 The only empty-stomached individual of the company.
1634Milton Comus 249 They float..through the *empty-vaulted night.
1892H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. I. 22. §58 When a form-word is entirely devoid of meaning, we may call it an *empty word, as opposed to full words such as earth and round. 1953W. J. Entwistle Aspects of Lang. x. 298 Chinese..makes considerable use of ‘empty words’, that is of auxiliaries in the broad sense of the term, which includes prepositions as well as subordinate members of the verbal complex. 1968P. Kratochvíl Chinese Lang. Today iv. 117 Traditional Chinese linguists considered practically all minimal forms, beside what would be called nouns, as ‘empty words’.
Add:[A.] [2.] c. Math. Of a set: containing no elements; = null a. 4 c. Also applied transf. to other entities, esp. in Computing. Opp. *non-empty a.
1937Jrnl. Symbolic Logic II. 67 A set or class is said to be empty if there is no element of it. 1946A. Weil Found. Algebraic Geom. iv. 84 The bunch of varieties defined by an empty set of varieties will be called empty. 1966[see injective a.]. 1981A. Chandor Penguin Dict. Microprocessors 130 Null string, a string with no characters. Also known as empty string.
▸ empty suit n. orig. and chiefly U.S. a person, esp. a wealthy, professional, or powerful man, perceived to lack substance, personality, intelligence, ability, etc.
1950N.Y. Times 31 Dec. 11/3 The opposite of the joiner is a species known as the big spender... He is a character completely devoid of personality... Two of the most colorless representatives of this group at present are known as ‘The *Empty Suit’ and ‘Harvey with Money’. 1999Washington Post 3 Dec. a9/1 Bush is a nice guy but an empty suit with no philosophical underpinning.
▪ II. empty, v.|ˈɛmptɪ|
Forms: [1 ᵹe-ǽmtiᵹian], 6–7 emptie, 6– empty.
[f. empty a.; the form with prefix ᵹe- appears in OE.; subsequently the word does not appear in our quots. before 16th c. Cf. empt.]
1. trans. To make empty; to pour out, draw off, or remove the contents of (anything); to clear (a house, etc.) of furniture or of inmates.
[c1000ælfric Hom. (Th.) I. 290 [Arius] wæs swa ᵹeæmtoᵹod on his innoðe swa swa he wæs ær on his ᵹeleafan. ]1555Eden Decades W. Ind. ii. i. (Arb.) 110 They had emptied theyr quyuers. 1602Carew Cornwall 20 b, An ill..saved Harvest soon emptieth their old store. 1623Conway in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 292 III. 157 Bleeding, [I will] emptie my vaynes. 1667Milton P.L. i. 633 These puissant Legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heav'n. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 493 Empty the woolly Rack, and fill the Reel. 1763J. Brown Poetry & Mus. iii. 31 The Kettle is in Part empty'd in the Morning. 1791Cowper Iliad xviii. 356 All our houses..Stand emptied of their hidden treasures. 1798Canning New Morality 40 in Anti-Jacobin 9 July (1852) 202 Empty all thy quiver on the foe.
b. To transfer the whole contents of (a vessel, etc.) to another receptacle. Const. † in, into, upon. Also fig.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 15 Empty it in the muddie ditch. 1833H. Martineau Cinnamon & Pearls v. 90 Markets into which we can empty our warehouses. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. I. 122 Bob carried..one of those iron models of sugar-loaf hats..into which he emptied the jug.
c. To drain away, pour off, clear out (the contents of anything). Also fig.
1578T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 31 That with two pumpes they might not emptie the water. 1823Lamb Elia, Ser. ii. xxiii. (1865) 396 To perceive all goodness emptied out of him.
2. To unburden, discharge, clear of (with obs.) certain specified contents. Chiefly transf. and fig.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 103 Pryde..fylleth a man or woman full of..vaynglory..but mekenes emptyeth them. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. Pref. (Arb.) 55 Whether the sandes of the ryuers..bee so emptied with golde. 1593Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. x. (1611) 147 Emptying the Church of euery such rite and ceremony. a1628Preston New Covt. (1634) 397 The spirit of bondage..empties a man of all righteousness. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 731 The neighbouring Moon With borrowd light her countenance triform Hence fills and empties. 1850Tennyson In Mem. viii. ii, And all The chambers emptied of delight. 1874Morley Compromise (1886) 140 Formularies, which he has first to empty of all definite..significance.
3. refl. Of persons: Chiefly said of Christ, after Gr. ἐκένωσε ἑαυτόν (A. V. ‘made himself of no reputation’) Phil. ii. 7. Formerly also, to exhaust all one's resources.
1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 114 He emptied himselfe..taking the shape of a seruant. 1651N. Bacon Hist. Disc. lvii. 170 But emptied themselves to the utmost for his delivery. 1658Whole Duty Man xvii. §11. 142 Christ emptied himself of all..glory and greatness. 1741Watts Improv. Mind (1801) 355 Jesus the mediator emptied himself for our sakes. 1882Farrar Early Chr. I. 380 He..emptied Himself of His glory..as the..co-equal Son.
4. refl. Of a river, etc.: To discharge itself into another river, the sea, etc.; said also of a blood-vessel.
1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 284 A branche of Nilus which emptieth it selfe in owre sea. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 173 The Veins..empty themselves into the Heart. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 306 A large river empties itself into this bay. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. 34 The river..empties itself into the lake.
b. intr. for refl. Now chiefly in U.S.
a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts 165 The Rivers Arnon, Cedron, Zaeth, which empty into this valley. 1692tr. Sallust 50 All these together empty'd into Rome as into the common sewer of all disorder. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 385 Sheepscot river..empties into the ocean. 1864G. P. Marsh Man & Nature 402 Until the year 1714, the Kander..emptied into the river Aar.
5. intr. for refl. To become empty.
1633B. Jonson Epithalamion Wks. (1838) 718 The chapel empties; and thou may'st be gone Now, Sun. 1654Gayton Festivous Notes 100 As his purse failed, or pockets emptied. 1850Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 109 Now that the town is emptying. 1885Manch. Exam. 5 May 5/5 The benches had almost emptied for the dinner hour. |