| 释义 |
underˈgird, v.
[under-1 4 a. Cf. Flem. ondergorden ‘subcingere’ (Kilian).]
trans. To secure or fasten from the under-side, as by a rope or chain passed underneath. Freq. fig. (now the dominant use).
In actual use chiefly in renderings or echoes of Acts xxvii. 17 ὑποζωννύντες τὸ πλοῖον.
1526Tindale Acts xxvii. 17 We..had moche worke to come by a boote, which they toke vppe, and vsed helppe vndergerdynge the shippe. 1611Florio, Soccingere, to vnder-guirt, or guird. 1702Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 325 They undergirt the ship to secure it from splitting. 1857Dufferin Let. High Lat. 20 By undergirding the ship with chains, St. Paul fashion, the leaks were partially stopped.
fig.1848H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. vi. 292 The infirmity of human nature requires to be ‘undergirded’ by all sorts of supports. 1874Holland Mistr. Manse 3 Its fragments build and undergird The songs and stories we rehearse. 1973Times 30 July 20/6 It involves an understanding of the variety of sub-systems which undergird community life, health, education, welfare, [etc.]. 1975Church Times 15 Aug. 16/5 Dr. Taylor believes that such smaller groups as these are going to become the essential sub-structure of Church life that is needed to undergird the larger congregation in the parish church. 1981Dædalus Spring 19 ‘Why shouldn't people have these rights?’ was the question that undergirded these laws. 1983Salisbury Rev. Spring 18/1 The same instinct directing a man to preserve his life, undergirds his attachment to the institutions which inform his life as a participant in the historical stream of the national culture.
Hence underˈgirding vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1868H. Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. (1872) 218 That which is the undergirding import and reality of second death. 1895Advance (Chicago) 17 Oct. 546/2 The preacher himself needs them..for the undergirding of his own convictions. |