释义 |
impervious, a.|ɪmˈpɜːvɪəs| [f. L. impervi-us, f. im- (im-2) + pervius pervious.] 1. Through which there is no way; not affording passage (to); not to be passed through or penetrated; impenetrable, impermeable, impassable.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 226 Any skin..which should make the Neck [of the womb] impervious. 1663Cowley Verses sev. Occas., Ode Harvey ii, A wall impervious between Divides the very Parts within. 1773–83Hoole Orl. Fur. xli. (R.), He wants no mail of proof whose skin was made Impervious to the javelin, dart, or blade. 1774Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772, 271 The western channel into it is impervious, by reason of rocks. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 490 Bricks and tiles should be impervious to water. 1813W. Taylor Eng. Synonyms (1856) 282 The river is impervious that cannot be forded, and impassable which cannot be crossed. 1858Buckle Civiliz. (1869) II. viii. 562 An impervious desert. 2. fig. That one cannot get through or penetrate; in mod. use chiefly of a person or his mind, Not affording passage or entrance to (argument, feeling, etc.); ‘impenetrable’.
1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres v. 137 What Councel-chamber can be impervious or inaccessible to royal bountie? 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 30 To render..that evident and clear, which would have otherwise been impervious. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 554 To reasons such as guide the conduct of statesmen and generals the minds of these zealots were absolutely impervious. 1857Buckle Civiliz. I. xiii. 745 He had to deal with men impervious to argument. |