| 释义 |
tenacity|tɪˈnæsɪtɪ|
[ad. rare L. tenācitās, f. tenāx, tenāci- tenacious: see -acity. So F. tenacité (14th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
The quality or property of being tenacious.
1. Cohesiveness, toughness; viscosity, clamminess (of a liquid); also, adhesive quality, stickiness.
1555Eden Decades 145 A certeyne..iuise, whose substaunce is of suche tenacitie and clamminesse, that it wyll neuer weare awaye. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. ii. 41 Water, to which Sope has given a Tenacity. 1718Quincy Compl. Disp. 3 For the same reason..many light Substances have such strong Cohesions or Tenacities. 1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 261 By tenacity is understood..the different degrees of cohesion of the particles of minerals. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxi. 538 No doubt the bigness of the [plough-]shoe varied..with the lightness or tenacity of the soil.
2. The quality of retaining what is held, physically or mentally; firmness of hold or attachment; firmness of purpose, persistence, obstinacy.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 175 Some whose tenacite & hardnes is reproued in this peticyon. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. ii. §5 The tenacity of Prejudice and Prescription. 1794Paley Evid. i. i. (1817) 21 They clung to this hope..with more tenacity as their dangers or calamities increased. 1823Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1824) 492 They..began tugging him towards the door, he..clinging to every hold he made with astonishing tenacity. 1830J. W. Croker in C. Papers 14 May, That tenacity of life which his family have constitutionally. 1878Lecky Eng. in 18th C. I. iv. 552 The tenacity of the English bull-dog.
b. Retentiveness (of memory).
1814Scott Wav. iii, A memory of uncommon tenacity. 1871Blackie Four Phases i. 93 What animal when it has learned anything can retain the lesson with equal tenacity?
†3. Tendency to keep fast hold of money; miserliness, niggardliness, parsimony. Obs.
1586Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 32 Vnbridled lust, couetous tenacitie, prodigality, or detestable excesse. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 173 The passage of mony to the publique Treasure obstructed, by the tenacity of the people. 1656Blount Glossogr., Tenacity, fast-keeping, sure holding, niggardlinesse, misery. 1706in Phillips. |