| 释义 |
vastitude|ˈvɑːstɪtjuːd, ˈvæs-|
[ad. L. vastitūdo, f. vastus vast a.]
†1. Devastation; laying waste. Obs.—1
1545Joye Exp. Dan. ix. 162 And aftir the bataill their shalbe an vtter perpetuall vastitude and destruccion of them.
2. The quality of being vast; immensity.
1623Cockeram i, Vastitude, greatness, exceeding largenesse. 1790H. Boyd Ruins Athens in Poet. Reg. (1806–7) 75 The woodland orator,.. Mute and benumb'd, a theatre surveys Whose vastitude appalls him. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. i, The vastitude of the multifarious objects by which she..is environed. 1844Mrs. Browning Crowned & Buried vii, The torrid vastitude Of India felt..That name.
b. Of immaterial things.
1805Foster Ess. i. iv, You adopted a certain vastitude of phrase, mistaking extravagance of expression for greatness of thought. 1833New Monthly Mag. XXXIX. 181 The Abbey performances gave this country a character no other has ever yet achieved for vastitude, precision, and excellence in the grander demonstrations of music. 1884Congregational Year Bk. 55 They could not see..the measure or the issues of their mission—or, perhaps, its very vastitude had paralysed their energies.
c. Unusual largeness.
1876Browning Shop 12 He who owns the wealth Which blocks the window's vastitude. 1886Dowden Shelley II. 210 If the vastitude of Mr. Gisborne's nose was, as Shelley says, Slawkenbergian.
3. A vast extent or space.
1841Hor. Smith Moneyed Man I. vi. 163 Sending up..spires, domes, and cupolas from a superincumbent vastitude of smoke. 1854S. Neil Elem. Rhet. 71 Onward through the immense vastitudes which the Almighty hand has sprinkled with suns and world-systems. 1883Liverpool Courier 25 Sept. 4/5 The enormous astral vastitudes were seen to be broken by the domain of another tenant. |