| 释义 |
torrential, a.|tɒˈrɛnʃəl|
[f. L. torrēnt-em torrent + -ial: cf. tangential.]
1. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a torrent; produced by the action of a torrent.
torrential months, months characterized by torrents.
1861J. H. Bennet Winter Medit. i. i. (1875) 11 A series of hills..rent by numerous ravines and torrential valleys. 1873J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age xxvi. 362 The denuded and partially rearranged portions of old torrential gravel and sand. 1880V. Ball Jungle Life in India ii. 57 These rivers are..fed by thousands of torrential streams which, when there is no rain, completely dry up. 1892Daily Graphic 8 Jan. 7/3 The torrential months of January and February.
2. Like a torrent in rapidity or violence; torrent-like; rushing; falling in torrents, as rain.
1849Fraser's Mag. XL. 605 No eddying groups; no torrential processions. 1863Tyndall Heat 388 The condensation of the vapour, and its torrential descent to the earth. 1865Morn. Star 21 July, To the intense heat,..has succeeded torrential rain. 1894Scotsman 27 Aug. 7 A rain⁓storm which the newfangled appellation ‘torrential’ only feebly describes.
b. fig. As copious or impetuous as a torrent.
1877D. M. Wallace Russia xxv. 396 The poetasters poured forth their feelings with torrential recklessness. 1879G. Meredith Egoist III. xiv. 293 He could woo, he was a torrential wooer. 1897in Academy 13 Mar. 308/2 A man of torrential eloquence. 1909Blackw. Mag. Aug. 232/1 They broke and fled with the British in torrential pursuit.
Hence torrentiality |tɒˌrɛnʃɪˈælɪtɪ|, torrential character or condition; toˈrrentially adv., in a torrential way; in torrents, or like a torrent.
1882Proctor in Nat. Stud. (N.Y.) 52 Since the woods were cleared the rain falls more torrentially than before. 1891Cent. Dict., Torrentiality. 1901Daily Chron. 4 Nov. 5/7 To the stern, where sailors and marines rushed torrentially, called for ‘three cheers, and one cheer more’. |