| 释义 |
▪ I. weakening, vbl. n.|ˈwiːk(ə)nɪŋ|
[-ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. weaken in various senses; an instance of this.
1548Elyot's Dict., Debilitatio, a weakenyng, or makyng faynte. c1550W. S. Disc. Comm. Weal Eng. (1893) 21 Yet youe knowe we labour with oure myndes, more to the weaknynge of the same then by anie other bodyly exercise we can doe. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 135 To the great weakening euen at this day of Christes Chirch in England. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. xii. 59 All which causes of the weakening of mens faith, do manifestly appear in the Examples following. 1674R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physick 72 What with the weakennings of this fit, twice bleeding an Issue, often vomitting, and oftner purging; I was every year as duly as autumn came, laid up with a continual Fever. 1748Anson's Voy. i. x. 100 The diminishing and weakening of our crew by deaths and sickness. 1869J. Peile Grk. & Lat. Etymol. 124 Here we have cases of pure weakening—the substitution of a weaker for a stronger sound. 1874A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. iv. 1270 Weakening consists, according to Grimm, in ‘an unaccountable diminishing of vowel content’. 1876Tait Rec. Adv. in Phys. Sci. iv. 86 The efficiency of the engine is directly proportional to the weakening of the current. 1886Jago Chem. Wheat etc. 315 The rate at which weakening goes on during panification. 1901Brit. Med. Jrnl. 2 Feb. 263/1 The opening can be enlarged and then resutured without causing any weakening in the lower part of the abdominal wall.
2. Something that weakens; a cause or source of weakness. Now rare or Obs.
1545Visct. Lisle in Hooker Life Sir P. Carew (1857) 130 Which wilbe a great weakening to the navye, yf any thing in the meane tyme shall happen. 1663Gerbier Counsel 18 If Doores and Windowes..were as wide as they are high; it must through necessity be a weakening to a Building. 1703R. Neve City & C. Purchaser 7 All Openings are Weaknings. 1744M. Bishop Life 208 This was a great weakening to us,..for we were environed round on all sides by our Enemies, [etc.].
▪ II. weakening, ppl. a.|ˈwiːk(ə)nɪŋ|
[-ing2.]
That weakens, in various senses of the vb.
a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. ix. (1912) I. 397 You see we both doo feele The weakning worke of Times for ever-whirling wheele. 1694tr. Milton's Lett. of State 240 To our great grief we have beheld the Protestant Princes..more and more at weakning variance among themselves. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Art of Poetry 558 The weakening Joys of Wine and Love. 1797Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xlvi, Marianne's illness, though weakening in its kind, had not been long enough to make her recovery slow. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xx. 230 All weakening measures were therefore contra-indicated. 1866Max Müller Skr. Gram. 290 Changed..before weakening terminations beginning with consonants. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 595 A diagnosis easily explained by the weakening influence of influenza. |