| 释义 |
indescribable, a. (n.)|ɪndɪˈskraɪbəb(ə)l|
[in-3.]
1. That cannot be described; that does not admit of exact description; indefinite, vague.
1794W. Curtis Bot. Mag. No. 254 That indescribable something, called by Linnæus the Nectary. 1833H. Martineau Cinnamon & Pearls i 16 Various sacred indescribable articles were scattered around. 1862Mrs. Oliphant Last Mortimers i. xii, His voice..had..an occasional indescribable note which reminded me of some other voice.
2. That transcends description; too great, beautiful, etc. to be adequately described.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 613 The rapture of the spectator is really indescribable. 1817Cobbett Pol. Reg. XLII. 366 A Funding System has never existed in any country, without producing indescribable misery. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 240 Its waters break with indescribable fury.
B. n.
1. pl. Things of which no description can be given.
1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. I. 105 Pine-apples, boiled hams, pies, puddings, barley-sugar, and many other indescribables. 1890Boy's Own-Paper 1 Feb. 278/3, I had to fish out [from a bath] about twenty long-named indescribables that had committed suicide during the night.
2. humorous slang (orig. euphemism). Trousers (cf. inexpressibles, unmentionables).
1794Sporting Mag. III. 221 That hebdomodal display of Foppery, Frivolity, and Fashion, has already begun to sport its vernal variety of indescribables. 1837Dickens Pickw. xvi, Mr. Trotter..gave four distinct slaps on the pocket of his mulberry indescribables.
Hence indeˈscribableness, the quality of being indescribable. rare.
1880–1Cheyne Isaiah (1884) I. 92 His sense of their indescribableness. |