| 释义 |
indirectly, adv.|ɪndɪˈrɛktlɪ, -daɪˈrɛkt-|
Also 6 indyrectly.
[f. indirect + -ly2; in early use perh. f. in-3 + directly.]
In an indirect way or manner; not directly.
1. Not in a straight line or with a straight course; circuitously: obliquely. Now rare.
1474Caxton Chesse [lf. 67] The quene..[may go] on the right side tofore the alphyn & secondly on the lift syde where the knyght is & thirdly Indirectly vnto the black poynt tofore the phisicien [Cessoles (ed. 1505, h 1 b): Tercio indirectum: ad locum nigrum & uacuum ante medicum]. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. xiv. 6 Entrynge theyr houses of the .xii. synes Some indyrectly and some by dyrecte lynes. 1563W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 4 b, In places where the beames are cast indirectly and obliquely. 1596Edward III, i. i. 2 You are the lineal watchman of our peace, And John of Valois indirectly climbs. 1831Brewster Nat. Magic ii. (1833) 15 All objects seen indirectly are seen indistinctly.
†b. By crooked methods; wrongfully, unfairly, dishonestly. Obs.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Apposter, to suborne, to appointe some body to saye or doe indirectlye. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 94 He bids you then resigne Your Crowne and Kingdome, indirectly held From him. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 937 Unto whom this imputation was laid, that by corruption he had caried away the prize, and indirectly obteined the victorie.
†c. Not to the point, evasively. Obs.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 66 This bald, vnioynted Chat of his..Made me to answer indirectly. 1603― Meas. for M. iv. vi. 1 To speak so indirectly I am loath, I would say the truth, but to accuse him so That is your part. 1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i, You answer sawcily, and indirectly: What Interest can you pretend in her? 1712Addison Spect. No. 305 ⁋11 The other is to answer him indirectly, and, if possible, to turn off the Question.
2. By indirect action, means, connexion, agency, or instrumentality; through some intervening person or thing; mediately.
1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 56 The lyf Jugeth in⁓derectly amongis the dede. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 165 Eyther immediatly or mediatly, that is to say, without meane, or by some meane, directly or indirectly. 1590Swinburne Testaments 199 Whereof any person is not capable directly or by himselfe, he is not capable thereof, indirectly or by an other. 1655Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 172 Tell vs freely whether..Tom Chichly holds any correspondence directly or indirectly with Secretarie Nich. 1776Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. ii. (1869) II. 466 The state not knowing how to tax, directly and proportionably, the revenue of its subjects, endeavours to tax it indirectly by taxing their expense, which, it is supposed, will in most cases be nearly in proportion to their revenue. 1885Tait Prop. Matter iii. §34. 26 Its weight, except indirectly through friction, has nothing to do with it.
b. Not in express terms; by suggestion or implication.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 225 Whose hand soeuer lanch'd their tender hearts, Thy head (all indirectly) gaue direction. 1613Wither Abuses iv. in Juvenilia (1633) 26 If to the Father they dispraise the Sonne, It shall be slily indirectly done. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 230 The question..has been already asked and indirectly answered in the Meno. 1882Westcott St. John Introd. 5 What then is the evidence which the fourth Gospel itself bears to its authorship, first indirectly, and next directly?
3. Gram. In or by indirect or oblique oration (see indirect a. 3 b).
1877Moulton tr. Winer's N.T. Gram. iii. §60. 2 When a writer has begun by quoting words indirectly, he will frequently pass very quickly into the oratio directa. |