| 释义 |
profundity|prəˈfʌndɪtɪ|
Also 6 profoundyte, -itie, 7 -ity.
[ME. profundite, a. OF. profundite, mod.F. profondité, ad. late L. profunditās depth, immensity, f. profundus profound: see -ity.]
The quality of being profound; that which is profound.
1. Depth, in a physical sense.
†a. gen. as one of the three dimensions of bodies: Measurement or extension downwards: = depth 1.
1471Ripley Comp. Alch. ii. xi. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 137 Altytude, Latytude, and Profundyte. 1571Digges Pantom., Math. Disc. ii. Y iij b, A right angled Quadrangular direct Prisma, hauing for his longitude, latitude and profunditie these three lines. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vii. (1635) 104 The depth or profundity is the distance betwixt the Bottome and the Superficies of the Water. 1696J. Edwards Demonstr. Exist. & Prov. God ii. 122 Its longitude was..tenfold to its profundity.
b. The quality of being (very) deep; deepness; great or vast depth; extreme lowness (of a bow).
1604R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Profunditie,..deepness. 1615G. Sandys Trav. iv. 233 The ditch..of an incredible profunditie. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 33 How striking the profundity of the abysses! 1832Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 181 That there is life at much greater profundities in warmer regions may be confidently inferred. 1878Besant & Rice Celia's Arb. xvii, With another bow of greater profundity than would have become an Englishman.
c. concr. or quasi-concr. A very deep place; the very deep or deepest part of something; a (vast) depth, an abyss. Also fig.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 59 The wyndes respirenge and restenge in the profundite of hit. 1552Huloet, Profunditye, abissus. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 192 A great square profunditie, greene, and uneuen at the bottome, into which a barren spring doth drill. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 229 Through the vast profunditie obscure. 1851Nichol Archit. Heav. 17 A capability of sounding profundities.
2. Depth of intellect, insight, knowledge, learning, or thought; depth of meaning or content; abstruseness.
c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. lxiv. 149 Thou..art þe ende of all godes, þe hyenes of lif, þe profundite of scriptures. 1508Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 138 He is the profoundyte of thyn inenarrable wysdome. 1589Nashe Pref. Greene's Menaphon (Arb.) 14 Which lies couched most closely vnder darke fables profounditie. 1679C. Nesse Antichrist 134 It causeth me to admire the profoundity of the scripture. 1682Bunyan Holy War x. 278 To encourage you in the profundity of your craft. 1788R. Cumberland Observer No. 110. IV. 155 In one [Ben Jonson] we may respect the profundity of learning, in the other [Shakespeare] we must admire the sublimity of genius. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 198 The admiration which every student of Sophocles must feel for the profundity of his design.
b. pl. Depths of thought or meaning; ‘deep things’.
1582N. T. (Rhem.) 1 Cor. ii. 10 The Spirit searcheth al things, yea the profoundities of God. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iii. (1676) 163/2, I am..not able to dive into these profundities..not able to understand, much less to discuss.
3. Intensity, thoroughness, extremeness of degree.
1576Newton Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 92 In some persons it is not to be measured, so much by the number of houres, as by the soundnesse and profundity of sleeping. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 75 The profundity of our own ignorance. 1832L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 82 The profundity of his admiration. |