| 释义 |
voluminous, a.|vəˈljuːmɪnəs|
Also 7 volluminous.
[ad. late L. volūminōsus (Sidonius), f. L. volūmin-, volūmen volume n. Cf. F. volumineux, It., Sp., Pg. voluminoso.]
1. Full of turnings or windings; containing or consisting of many coils or convolutions.
1611Coryat Crudities 501 The manifold turnings and windings of the way, like a company of voluminous meanders. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 652 Many a scaly fould Voluminous and vast, a Serpent arm'd With mortal sting. 1781Cowper Heroism 15 Dark and voluminous the vapours rise, And hang their horrors in the neighb'ring skies. 1792D. Lloyd Voy. Life iii. 46 When the serpents twain From Tenidos voluminous and vast, Him and his sons with poisonous jaws devour'd. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. 180 These voluminous bowels, this prolixity of gut, seems in no wise necessary. 1831R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 429 These lateral portions [of the cerebellum] are a little flattened, and more voluminous than the middle region.
2. Writing so much as to fill volumes; producing numerous or extensive literary works; writing or discoursing at great length.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. ix. §4. 73 Cæsar Baronius, that voluminous Historian. 1654‘Palæmon’ Friendship 30 If I were to recapitulate all the Motives..I should be Voluminous. 1656Cowley Misc., Chron. xiii, I more voluminous should grow..Than Holinshead or Stow. 1711Addison Spect. No. 124 ⁋1 The most severe Reader makes Allowances for many Rests and Nodding-places in a Voluminous Writer. 1782V. Knox Ess. lix. (1819) II. 10 For the very learned and voluminous Grotius was engaged in public life. 1822Scott Nigel Introd. Epist., It is some consolation to reflect, that the best authors in all countries have been the most voluminous. 1851Helps Comp. Solit. xi. 225 You should be good-natured and voluminous in your replies. 1907Verney Mem. I. 118 They were all..voluminous correspondents.
3. Forming a large volume; extending to, or consisting of, many volumes; extensive, copious.
1612Dekker Lond. Tri. Wks. 1873 III. 251 Erect thou then a serious eye, and looke What worthies fill vp Fames voluminous booke. 1665Boyle Occas. Ref. i. iii. ii. 34 Those Voluminous Romances that are too often the only Books which make up the Libraries of Gallants. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 1 Voluminous Works have but few Buyers, and much fewer Readers. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 331 Let the voluminous records of the numerous apothecaries' shops at Bath be examined. 1794R. J. Sulivan View Nat. II. 309 Why should we be so obstinately wedded to the infallible correctness of voluminous writings? 1840Hood Up Rhine 167 He will tell you that the folly of the day..is recorded in voluminous documents. 1865Kingsley Herew. viii, Questions which..produced a voluminous literature for several centuries. 1878Newcomb Pop. Astron. Index 54 A recent and complete edition of Kepler's voluminous writings.
fig.1671Milton P.R. iv. 384 By what the Stars Voluminous, or single characters, In thir conjunction met, give me to spell.
b. Containing many volumes. rare—1.
1690Temple Ess. Anc. & Mod. Learn. (1909) 5 The account of this Library at Alexandria, and others very Voluminous in the lesser Asia and Rome.
4. Of matter of discourse: Extremely full or copious; forming a large mass or collection.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. §108 They made great and voluminous expressions of their affection to the Kingdom and People of England. 1672Essex Papers (Camden) I. 45, I have now prepar'd Aunswers to the objections.., but they are so voluminous as they will require some time to transcribe. 1701Norris Ideal World i. iii. 162 Unless they [these passages] were less numerous and voluminous than they are. 1742Young Nt. Th. ix. 1628 One firmament, enough for man to read! O what voluminous instruction here! 1775Adair Amer. Ind. 434 It is difficult to impress them with a favourable opinion of the wisdom and justice of our voluminous laws. 1821Hazlitt Table-T. viii. ⁋1. 162 The impressions of real objects, stripped of the disguises of words and voluminous roundabout descriptions. 1821J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metric Syst. iii. (1871) 247 The assize of casks has been in Maryland,..a subject of frequent and voluminous legislation.
b. In general use: Extensive, vast.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. 14 Truth is not, I fear, so voluminous, nor swells into such a mighty bulk as our books do. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. Introd., Many have taken voluminous Pains to determine the State of the Soul upon Dis-union. 1870J. Bruce Life Gideon xiii. 239 These matters are too varied and too voluminous for any further notice here. 1899Times 31 Oct. 9/5 Not that..all our splendid English history [is] one voluminous mistake.
c. Expressing volumes. rare—1.
1804Something Odd III. 96 He..cast a most voluminous look on Clara.
5. Of great volume or size; massive, bulky, large, swelling.
The different groups of quotations illustrate some varieties of application.
(a)a1635Corbet Poems (1807) 11 When now Thy observations with thy brain ingendered, Have stuft thy massy and voluminous head. a1637B. Jonson Underwoods, Poet to Painter, I am not so voluminous, and vast, But there are lines, wherewith I might b' embrac'd. 1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. b 2 b, The larger and more voluminous sort of Animals, as Bulls, Bears, Tygers, &c. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 211 It swells up a great deal, and presents an exceedingly voluminous light mass. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 248 The most voluminous current of lava which has flowed from Etna within historical times, was that of 1669. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xxx. 397 That young lady with the voluminous light brown hair.
(b)a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 84 His Legs are stuck in his great voluminous Britches. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. 75 The voluminous skirts turned up at the corners. 1849C. Brontë Shirley vi, On no account would Mademoiselle have appeared in her own house without the thick handkerchief and the voluminous apron. 1883O'Donovan Merv xii. 134 The men, with their voluminous turbans. Ibid. xix. 218 A long, striped crimson tunic, girt with voluminous white sash.
(c)1836–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 386/2 In Phasianella the stomach is very voluminous and sacculated internally. 1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 386 When you fear wounding any rather voluminous vessel, arterial or venous, you may embrace it beyond the diseased parts in a ligature. 1881Mivart Cat 15 The neck is a little shorter and less voluminous than the head.
Comb.1872Calverley Fly Leaves (1903) 116 Now Law steps in, bigwigg'd, voluminous-jaw'd.
(d)1855Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §7 The thundery discharge, the howling winds, are voluminous sounds. 1873Black Pr. Thule xvi. 259 The voluminous noise of this opening passage. 1885Manch. Exam. 20 Feb. 5/7 Tory cheers, which from the first were more loud than voluminous, rather fell away.
b. Large in numbers; numerous. rare—1.
1650Fuller Pisgah ii. xiv. 303 Judas Maccabeus in that place got an eminent conquest, and defeated the voluminous army of Lysias.
c. Extensive in area or in time. rare.
a1661Fuller Worthies, Lincoln. ii. (1662) 144 [Lincolnshire] being too Volluminous to be managed entire is divided into three parts. 1662W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 17. ii. ii. (1669) 285/1 The Earth was thin sown with People, and the Age of man so voluminous as to contain many centuries of years. |