释义 |
virtuosity|vɜːtjuːˈɒsɪtɪ| Also 5 vertuosyte, 7 vertuositie. [In sense 1 ad. med.L. virtuōsitas, f. late L. virtuōsus virtuous a. In other senses f. virtuos-o + -ity: cf. F. virtuosité.] †1. a. Manly qualities or character. Obs.—1
a1470Harding Chron. lix. i, For his wyt and virtuosyte, Able he was, as Chronycles coulde fele, To haue ruled all the emperalyte. †b. Virtuousness. Obs. (Bailey, 1721). 2. The pursuits, interests, or temperament, characteristic of a virtuoso; interest or taste in the fine arts, esp. of a fastidious, finical, dilettante or trifling nature.
1673H. Stubbe Further Vind. Dutch War 82 We are regenerated from the School of Aristotle to that of Epicurus, from all Moral Gallantry and Virtue, to a most impertinent and effeminate Virtuosity. 1676Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 360 Edward Bendlowes,..a great poet..spent about 7 hundred a yeare in vertuositie and on flattering poets. 1823W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. LV. 408 Charles-Augustus had imbibed..a taste for merit, a virtuosity in human excellence, to employ his preceptor's phrase. 1840Blackw. Mag. XLVIII. 491 The Viennese, by their wise virtuosity, do the thing [sc. eating and drinking] gently, and like gentlemen. 1886Symonds Renaiss. It., Cath. React. (1898) VII. xii. 189 This..state of things..was due rather to the abuse of science and of virtuosity. b. spec. Excessive attention to technique, or to the production of special effects, in vocal or instrumental music (also transf. in art or literature).
1865Reader 18 Mar. 321/3 For this sentiment, this type of art, as applied to matters musical, there is a special name. It is called ‘virtuosity’. 1877E. Prout in Academy 17 Feb. 150 We have a short sketch of the history of piano virtuosity. 1884Haweis Musical Life II. 608 It is doubtful whether two such extraordinary personalities as those of Paganini and Liszt have ever appeared in the world of virtuosity. c. With a and pl. A special study or interest of the kind affected by virtuosi.
1883Century Mag. XXVI. 280 I've been cultivating some virtuosities, among other things. 3. Virtuosi collectively.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. iii, Where all the Virtuosity and nearly all the Intellect of the place assembled of an evening. |