释义 |
weightless, a.|ˈweɪtlɪs| [f. weight n.1 + -less.] a. Without weight, having comparatively little weight. Also (of a body having mass), not apparently acted on by gravity, either because the gravitational field is locally weak, or because both the body and its surroundings are freely and equally accelerating under the field (as in an orbiting satellite).
a1547Surrey æneid ii. 1054 But she was gone, And suttly fled into the weightlesse aire. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 33 Did hee suspire, that light and weightlesse dowlne Perforce must moue. 1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. x. (1626) 214 The Swans that drew Idalia's waightlesse charriot through the aire. 1652Benlowes Theophila iii. xxx, Those lights..Who would portray, as soon may find A way to paint the viewless, poise the weightless wind. 1860W. W. Reade Liberty Hall I. v. 77 The captain of the Liberty Hall boat..had long since observed young Saxon, his form slim therefore weightless. 1890K. Pearson in Messenger Math. XX. 28 Suppose the load at the free terminal not to be produced by a suspended load but by a weightless spring. 1929Science Wonder Q. Fall 55/2 Do you mean that..we will be weightless as soon as you..set the lever at zero? 1950Jrnl. Aviation Med. XXI. 396/2 A body is weightless as soon as it is allowed to move freely under the influence of gravity and of its own inertia. 1953A. C. Clarke Prelude to Space v. 28 The perfect [spaceship] pilot..must be capable of operating efficiently..when he was ‘weightless’. 1978Nature 20 July 236/1 We report here the results of an experiment in the weightless environment of space. 1983A. Mason Illusionist i. 15 A man who could command his body to float weightless through the air could not command the necessities of life. b. of immaterial things.
1608J. Robinson in Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists (1610) 3 margin, [They] are oft times emboldened to roule vpon them as from aloft very weake and weightlesse discourses. 1662Dryden To Ld. Chancellor 155 The glorious course you have begun..must both weightless and immortal prove. 1855Singleton Virgil vii. 814 For neither weightless was Amata's name. 1858W. Arnot Laws fr. Heaven for Life on Earth 2nd Ser. ii. 22 A voluble tongue..may..not add one grain to the stock of human wisdom by the imposing bulk of its weightless product. Hence ˈweightlessness.
1884E. Fawcett Rutherford xvii. 195 The hand which she gave him had wasted into almost utter weightlessness. 1929Science Wonder Q. Fall 58/2 If they had not already been accustomed to weightlessness, the first heedless step would have carried them far from the ship. 1932D. Lasser Conquest of Space xiii. 192 The terrors of weightlessness. 1959Observer 31 May 1/4 The two monkeys spent a number of minutes in a condition of weightlessness or zero G. 1974R. Adams Shardik x. 74 Her stance gave a curious impression of weightlessness, as though she might actually be about to float down into the hollow. 1983Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 Aug. 479/2 The most important vestibular disturbance encountered in weightlessness is motion sickness.
Add: ˈweightlessly adv.
1934Webster, Weightlessly. 1965English Studies XLVI. 379 [Cybele] ‘sails’ athwart as if moving..weightlessly. 1984‘C. Curzon’ Masks & Faces i. 6 An underwater illusion of being weightlessly afloat. |