| 释义 |
itself, pron.|ɪtˈsɛlf|
Also 7–8 its (it's) self, 8–9 dial. itsel'.
[orig. two words, it pron. and self: see herself, himself. In 17–18th c. often treated as its + self; its is still used when an adj. intervenes, as in its very self, its own self; cf. himself IV.]
I.
1. Emphatic or limiting use. Usually in apposition with a n. in nom. or obj.: Very, the very, that very; alone (L. ipsum). Rarely alone as subject.
c1000Laws of ælfred Introd. c. 28 Gif hit þonne cucu feoh wære and he secgge þæt..hit self acwæle. 1382Wyclif Isa. lxiii. 5 Myn indignacioun itself halp to me. 1508Fisher Seven Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 197 It selfe erth sholde alway be bareyne & without fruyte yf it receyued no moysture & hete from heuen. 1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 777 The dealing it selfe made men to muse. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, Unto their luste serveth heaven and hell, the earth and tyme it selfe. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 29 Beauty itself doth of itself persuade. 1610― Temp. iv. i. 153 The solemne Temples, the great Globe it selfe, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolue. 1611― Cymb. iii. iv. 160 Feare and Nicenesse, The Handmaides of all Women, or more truely, Woman it pretty selfe. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. 19 As of Aristotle [we read] that he was wisdom itself in the abstract. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. Disc. Occas. Med. iii. v, Particulars, which are not necessary to the Meditation it self. 1728T. Sheridan Persius (1739) 19 Tho' the Poem it self be not well digested. 1793Burns Ld. Gregory iv, And my fond heart, itsel sae true, It ne'er mistrusted thine. a1822Shelley Chas. I, i. 177 Or joy itself Without the touch of sorrow. 1837–9Hallam Hist. Lit. (1855) IV. iv. vii. §1. 316 Slang; a word which, I use with some unwillingness, as itself belongs to the vocabulary it denotes. 1882S. Cox in Expositor IV. 197 The story of the creation told by Moses is simplicity and sobriety itself when compared with them.
b. Used alone in predicate, emphatically, as opposed to something else: cf. himself 3, 3 b.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxviii. 10 Without all ornament, itself and true. 1821Keats Isabella xxxiii, An eye all pale Striving to be itself. Mod. The dear old place looked just itself.
II. Reflexive use. = L. sibi, se; Ger. sich.
2. Accusative or direct object.
971Blickl. Hom. 187 Nu mæᵹ soþ hit sylf ᵹecyðan. a1300Cursor M. 19231 (Edin.) Ilke suike it selue bisuikis. 1388Wyclif 2 Cor. x. 5 And we distrien counsels, and alle hiȝnesse that hiȝeth it silf aȝens the science of God. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 298 As the heart doeth enlarge it selfe..so doeth it restraine and close vp it selfe. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 540 Th' offence pardons it selfe. 1610― Temp. iii. i. 80 All the more it seekes to hide it selfe The bigger bulke it shewes. 1638–1843 [see insinuate v. 3]. 1665Hooke Microgr. 16 [It] does immediately..disperse it self all over them. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 379 S. Marino hath maintained it self in the condition of a free State..for above 1000 years. 1793–1879 [see develop 8]. Mod. It is a fault that will cure itself in time.
3. Dative, and object of a preposition. (The latter was orig. acc. or dat. according to the prep.)
c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 17 ælc rice on hyt sylf to-dæled byð toworpen. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 384 Þe þinge in it sylfe beriþ witnesse. [1382― Gen. i. 11 Appletre makynge fruyt after his kynd, whos seed ben in hym silf [1611 it selfe] vpon the erthe. ]c1420Pallad. on Husb. ii. 148 Lond argillose, & not cley bi hit selue Is commodose. [1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 777 The sea..somtime swelleth of himselfe before a tempest. ] Ibid. 782 Of it selfe so long a processe.1532G. Hervet Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 20 Somme it bryngethe by hit selfe, and some it nourisheth. 1611Bible Ps. xli. 6 His heart gathereth iniquitie to it selfe. 1628Bp. Hall Old Relig. (1686) 46 That which is perfect in its self. 1655E. Terry Voy. E. India 13 Fragrant herbs (which the soyl produceth of its self). 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 17 No creature that dies of it self is good to eat. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xii, The Sun has..elevated this Water in the form of Vapours, and drawn it near it self. 1710Steele Tatler No. 164 ⁋6 This Letter..I intend to print..by it self very suddenly. 1870Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 2) I. App. 739 This story may be true in itself. Mod. The horse gave itself a knock on the head. That child will do itself a mischief.
†4. In genitive or possessive case: = its own.
a1300Cursor M. 9466 (Gött.) So hy na thing was neuer wroght, Þat thoru it seluen miss ne moght Fall dun into lauer state. |