| 释义 |
▪ I. impertinence, n.|ɪmˈpɜːtɪnəns|
[a. F. impertinence, f. impertinent impertinent: see -ence.]
The fact or quality of being impertinent; that which is impertinent.
1. The fact or character of not pertaining to the matter in hand; want of pertinence; irrelevance.
1626Massinger Rom. Actor iii. ii, To cut off All tedious impertinence [I] have contracted The tragedy into one continued scene. 1653Milton Hirelings Wks. (1851) 352 Of like impertinence is that Example of Jacob, Gen. 28 22., who of his free choice..vow'd the Tenth of all that God should give him. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil i. vii. (1840) 78 The impertinence of this account would hardly have given it a place here. 1848Wharton Law Lex., Impertinence, introducing into a pleading or an interrogatory to a witness in Chancery, long recitals, or unnecessary digressions.
b. (with pl.) An irrelevant fact or matter; an irrelevance.
1612[see impertinency 1 b]. 1675Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. i. 1 Let us spend no time on such Impertinences, but speak that to the Matter. 1705De Foe Mrs. Veal Wks. 1840 V. 342 By her going off from her discourse abruptly to some impertinence. 1876Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 131 To get a pack of impertinences on its shoulders.
2. The fact or character of being unsuitable, out of place, improper, or irrational; action or conduct of this character; inappropriateness, incongruity; triviality, trifling, folly, absurdity.
1629Massinger Picture iv. iii, Still tormented With thy impertinence! 1664–93South 12 Serm. (1697) II. 122 A Petition, fraught with Nonsense and Incoherence, Confusion and Impertinence. 1676Marvell Mr. Smirke 28 To have done otherwise would have been the greatest Impert[in]ence and Folly. 1706Phillips, Impertinence,..Extravagance, Silliness, Foolery, Nonsense. 1727Swift To a very Young Lady, The hurry and impertinence of receiving and paying visits on account of your marriage being now over. 1769Junius Lett. xxxv. ⁋1 Unacquainted with the vain impertinence of forms. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Pref., The impressions of infancy had burnt into him, and he resented the impertinence of manhood.
b. (with pl.) Something unsuitable, out of place, trivial, or irrational; an incongruity; a trifle, absurdity, piece of folly.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 54 Forced and foolish figures..and such like impertinences or defects. 1645Evelyn Mem. 27 Feb., We were taken up next morning in seeing the impertinences of the Carnival, when all the world are as mad at Rome as at other places. 1734Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. 475, I was not able to find one moment to write..from seven in the morning till eleven at night, I met with impertinences. 1869Goulburn Purs. Holiness xvii. 158 Any secular pursuit becomes an impertinence as regards the great end of our being.
3. Interference with what lies beyond one's province; unmannerly and offensive intrusion or taking of liberty; presumptuous or forward rudeness of behaviour or speech, esp. to a superior; insolence. (The chief current sense in colloq. use.)
1712Steele Spect. No. 410 ⁋1 Subjected to all the Impertinence she must meet with in that publick Place. 1773Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) II. 80 Masters and mistresses sometimes provoke impertinence from their servants. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 3 Impertinence is manifested by wilfully leaping over the boundaries of good manners. 1883C. J. Wills Mod. Persia 217 Being no archæologist, it would be impertinence were I to attempt a description.
b. (with pl.) An instance of this; an impertinent act; a piece of impertinence or rudeness.
1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. vi. (1869) 132 We resent wholesome counsel as an impertinence. 1877Sparrow Serm. xxi. 274 Social impertinences, involving more or less of disrespect.
c. An impertinent person.
1754J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 112 That little self-sufficient Impertinence, her Father. 1825Jamieson, Impertinence..2. An insolent person. Aberd.
▪ II. imˈpertinence, v. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To treat with impertinence.
1756H. Walpole Lett. to H. Mann (1834) III. 155, I do not wonder that you are impertinenced by Richcourt. |