| 释义 |
impenetrable, a.|ɪmˈpɛnɪtrəb(ə)l|
Also 5 inp-, 6–7 impenitrable.
[a. F. impénétrable (14th c., J. de Vignay), ad. L. impenetrābilis, f. im- (im-2) + penetrābilis penetrable.]
Not penetrable.
1. That cannot be penetrated, pierced, or entered; impossible to get into or through. Const. to, by.
1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 133 The basnet was strong and inpenetrabel. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. iii. 115 b, They had on their heads bourgonets, strong and impenetrable. 1603Drayton Bar. Wars vi. lxx, Words..Able to wound the impenitrablest Eares. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1086 Woods impenetrable To Starr or Sun-light. 1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2251/4 His Hull..not being impenetrable to our great Shot. 1794S. Williams Vermont 98 Impenetrable to the rain. 1814Wordsw. Excurs. ii. ad fin., The hills Lay shrouded in impenetrable mist. 1836Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xxv. 383 A kind of clay impenetrable by the roots of herbaceous plants. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 229 One impenetrable forest.
2. transf. and fig. Whose nature, meaning, etc. cannot be penetrated or discerned; inscrutable; unfathomable.
a. Of things.
1531Elyot Gov. i. xxiii, Were the thing neuer so difficile (or as who saythe) impenitrable. 1692Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 285 Nothing is more impenetrable than its [the soul's] Nature, its Original, and its Duration. a1704T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1730 I. 93 The legerdemain must be clean and the Conveyance impenetrable to the eye of the people. 1823Lingard Hist. Eng. VI. 257 That the intention of proceeding to judgment might be kept an impenetrable secret. 1866R. W. Dale Disc. Spec. Occ. vi. 188 Every article of it ends in impenetrable mystery.
b. Of persons, their appearance, actions, etc.
1718Freethinker No. 75 ⁋5 A long impenetrable Dissimulation. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. II. 154 She watched his countenance whilst she spoke, but it was impenetrable. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xv. 127 He was..impenetrable on this subject. 1882Ouida Maremma I. 70 She being a close and resolute woman, was impenetrable to the curiosity of her neighbours.
absol. as n.1811Henry & Isabella II. 73, I hope you bring me some consolation from the fair impenetrable.
3. Impervious to intellectual or moral influences, impressions, or ideas.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iii. 18 It is the most impenetrable curre That euer kept with men. 1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. iv. 285 Looke, on my knees I creepe, Be not impenetrable, beautious youth! 1784Cowper Task vi. 505 ‘And dost thou dream’, the impenetrable man Exclaimed, ‘that me the lullabies of age..Can cheat?’ 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. v. (1875) 205 Aristocracies are, as such, naturally impenetrable by ideas.
4. Nat. Philos. Possessing the quality of impenetrability (see prec. 2).
1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. (1667) 2 Bodies, by which I mean a Substance extended, divisible and impenetrable. 1717S. Clarke Leibnitz's 5th Paper 207 Some have fancied, that Man..became Solid, Opake, and Impenetrable by his Fall. 1829Nat. Philos. I. Pneumatics ii. §7. 2 (U.K.S.) Air is impenetrable. |