| 释义 |
insuperable, a. (n.)|ɪnˈsjuːpərəb(ə)l|
[ad. L. insuperābilis, f. in- (in-3) + superābilis, f. superāre to overcome, surmount. Cf. obs. F. insuperable (14th c. in Godef., and still in Cotgr. 1611), which was perh. in part the immediate source.]
†1. That cannot be overcome or vanquished; unconquerable, invincible. Obs. or merged in 3.
c1340Hampole Perfect Living viii. Wks. 1895 I. 31 Þi luf es Insuperabel, when na thyng þat es contrary til gods lufe ouercomes it. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xvii. (Tollem. MS.), Þis ston makeþ men insuperable, þat þey may not be ouercome [insuperabiles et invictos]. 1490Caxton Eneydos xii. 44 Folke insuperable..and inuyncible in armes. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 637 Three hundred thousand fighting men..all invincible soldiers, and appointed with armes insuperable. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §26. 444 To be able to effect..all those things..argues an insuperable Power. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. xi. iii. §3, Wine is the..most insuperable of all things. 1857H. H. Wilson tr. Rig-veda III. 26 Insuperable, foe-surpassing, give food to the institutor of this sacrifice.
2. That cannot be surmounted or passed over.
1660H. More Myst. Godl. iii. iii. 63 Whether we..admire the height of some insuperable and inaccessible Rock or Mountain. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 138 Over head up grew Insuperable highth of loftiest shade, Cedar, and Pine, and Firr, and branching Palm. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. I. i. 24 Such an insuperable barrier was placed between the two temperate regions. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. iv. 202 There is no insuperable gulf between themselves [Christians] and the rest of mankind. 1865Swinburne Poems & Ball., Anactoria 307 The insuperable sea.
3. fig. (from 1 and 2). Of difficulties, hindrances, etc.: That cannot be ‘got over’ or overcome; unconquerable, invincible; forming an impassable barrier to action, insurmountable.
1657Burton's Diary (1828) II. 199 Your debts are insuperable upon you. 1711Cotes in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) I. 262 The want of his sight is certainly an insuperable disadvantage to him in several respects. 1744Birch Life Boyle B.'s Wks. 1772 I. p. lxxiii, On account of his insuperable disinclination to entering into holy orders. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 51 An insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labour. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. iv. 129 Having been overcome by a sense of insuperable drowsiness. 1869Farrar Fam. Speech iv. (1873) 121 The difficulties of this kind are insuperable.
4. That cannot be surpassed, ‘beaten’, or excelled; unsurpassable.
1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps vi. §10. 172 The strength..which maintains its sculptured shapeliness for a time insuperable. 1856― Mod. Paint. III. iv. xii. §16 The perfection of both these passages, as far as regards truth and tenderness of imagination, is quite insuperable. 1878― Notes Turner 9 His most wonderful work in his own special manner,—in the perfect pieces of it insuperable.
B. as n. An insuperable hindrance. nonce-use.
1782Cowper Lett. Wks. 1837 XV. 118 All these are so many insuperables in the way.
Hence inˈsuperableness = insuperability.
1727Bailey vol. II, Insuperableness, invincibleness. |