| 释义 |
inwardness|ˈɪnwədnɪs|
[f. inward a. + -ness.]
†1. The inner part or region; pl. Inward parts, entrails (rendering L. viscera; in quots. only fig.: see bowel n.1 3). Obs.
1388Wyclif Luke i. 78 Bi the inwardnesse of the merci of oure God. ― 2 Cor. vi. 12 Ȝe ben not angwischid in vs, but ȝe ben anguischid in ȝoure inwardnessis [1382 entrailis]. ― Phil. ii. 1 If ony inwardnesse of merci.1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 158 Not faynedly only with tongue, but of all the inwardenesse of sowle.
2. The inward or intrinsic character or quality of a thing; the inner nature, essence, or meaning.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. iv. §4, I should without any difficulty pronounce that his fables had no such inwardnesse in his own meaning. 1647H. More Song of Soul i. i. xxviii, Sense cannot arrive to th' inwardnesse Of things. 1830Coleridge Grk. Poets (1834) 307 Perhaps Lord Bacon is right in thinking that there was but little of such inwardness in the poet's own meaning. 1869Lowell Fam. Ep. to Friend vii, Nor Nature fails my walks to bless With all her golden inwardness. 1877N. York Tribune Apr. (Cent. Dict.), The true inwardness of the late Southern policy of the Republican party. 1887Pall Mall G. 18 July 1/1 We have always contended that the true ‘inwardness’ of the Land Bill was not the wish to stop evictions, but the wish to stop the scandal of evictions. Ibid. 21 Nov. 5/1 How can we trust any book to show us the true inwardness of a man we never set eyes on? 1895Massingham in Contemp. Rev. Aug. 301 In another sense we have taken too little account of the inwardness of the lives of the poor.
3. The quality or condition of being inward or internal to something else (lit. or fig.).
1611Florio, Interiorita, inwardnesse. a1680Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 459 The apostle doth not say, by him, but in him, to show the inwardness of his presence. 1858Gladstone Homer II. 130 That inwardness and universality of function which belongs to Minerva. 1858Miss Mulock Th. Wom. 266 It must always be, from its very secretness and inwardness, the sharpest of all pangs.
†4. The fact of being intimately acquainted; intimacy, familiarity; close friendship. Obs.
1578in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) IV. 19, I fear that no great inwardness shall be found in them, when they find her majesty's liberality coming slowly to them. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 247 You know my inwardnesse and loue Is very much vnto the Prince and Claudio. 1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 41 Menas..by reason of his inwardness with his Master, knew most of his designs. 1668Pepys Diary 23 Aug., The Duke of York..did, with much inwardness, tell me what was doing. 1715Steele Town-talk No. 1 It probably dropt hastily in the..inwardness of conjugal confidence, from the pen of a fond husband writing to a young, gay, and beautiful wife.
5. a. Depth or intensity of feeling or thought; subjectivity.
1836Hare Guesses (1859) 72 That depth and inwardness of thought, which seems to belong to the Germanic mind. 1845P. Parley's Ann. VI. 106 The..blackcap..pours..his..love-song—scarcely inferior, in a certain plaintive inwardness, to the autumn song of the robin. 1871R. H. Hutton Ess. (1877) I. Pref. 27 The new inwardness with which men are conceiving their relation to each other.
b. Relation to or occupation with what is inward or concerns man's inner nature, as opposed to occupation with externalities; spirituality.
1859Jowett Ess. Interpr. Script. in Comm. Paul's Epist. (1894) 28 This inwardness of the words of Christ is what few are able to receive. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 100 Trying to identify the Messiah of popular hope..with an ideal of meekness, inwardness, patience, and self-denial. 1876C. D. Warner Wint. Nile x. 132 They sleep the sleep of ‘inwardness’ and peace. |