| 释义 |
lowest, a. (n.) and adv.|ˈləʊɪst|
Forms: 3 Orm. laȝhesst, 4 lauest, louwest, 5 lagh-, lau-, law-, lowist, -yst, 5–6 lawest, Sc. -ast, 6 Sc. leuchest, 3– lowest.
[f. low a. + -est.]
A. adj.
1. a. The superlative of low a. in its various senses.
c1200Ormin 15276 Þiss follc iss laȝhesst. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2437 Þe mone lowest is. a1300–1400Cursor M. 357 (Gött.) Þe lauest [Cott. neþermast] þan es water and erde. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 115 Lucifer louwest liȝth of hem alle. 1435Misyn Fire of Love i. iv. 8 Slyke soþly ar moste haly, & ȝit of men ar haldyn laghyst. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 33 b, The lowest sorte of the vile and rusticall people. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 89, I sall mak..the hiest stone the leuchest. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 383 You would sound mee from my lowest Note to the top of my Compasse. 1681J. Flavel Right Man's Refuge 179 When things have been brought to the lowest ebb. 1780Cowper Table T. 419 Perjury..Sells oaths by tale and at the lowest price. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. iii. 247 The lowest atmospheric strata. 1862Building News 23 May 1/2 The Board do not bind themselves to accept the lowest or any Tender. 1900J. G. Frazer Pausanias, etc. 46 The lowest fetish-worshippers of Western Africa.
b. In partitive concord: The lowest part of. poet.
1596Spenser F.Q. v. v. 2 But, when she list, it raught Downe to her lowest heele. 1611Bible Ps. lxxxvi. 13. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 882 That the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus.
2. Comb. Forming superlatives to the combinations of low a.
a1640Earl Stirling Anacrisis in Wks. of Drumm. of Hawth. (1711) 160 In a more abject manner than the lowest minded man could have descended to conceive.
B. absol. or as n.
1. The lowest part, position or pitch. Obs. exc. with at.
a1225St. Marher. 14 Þe engles..þe seoð ham lihten swa lah of so swiðe heh, from þe heste in heouene to þe laheste in helle. 1388Wyclif Matt. xxvii. 51 And lo! the veil of the temple was to-rent in twey parties, fro the hiest to the lowest. c1450tr. De Imitatione ii. x. 53 Put þe euer atte lowist, and þe hyest shal be ȝoven to þe; for þe hiest may not stonde wiþoute þe lowist. 1640tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. III. xxxvii. 156 When a man thinks them at the lowest of the wheele, hee shall be sure to find them on the top. 1659Hammond On Ps. cvii. 39–41 Paraphr. 546 Just when they are brought to the lowest. 1860Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 140/1 Men who had been brought up to their duties, and had fulfilled them for many years, at lowest without disgrace. 1897C. Headlam Sel. Brit. Satirists 64 When taste was almost at its lowest in England.
2. He who or that which is lowest.
1785Cowper Task iv. 588 The rich, and they that have an arm to check The licence of the lowest in degree. 1830R. Hardie Hoyle made Familiar 62 [Cassino.] When three persons play..the two lowest subtract their points from the highest. 1843Pusey Serm. Holy Euch. 15 Lowest is joined on with highest, earth with heaven..man with God.
C. adv. The superlative of low adv. in its various senses; also in Comb.
1390Gower Conf. I. 65 Whanne he berth lowest the Seil, Thanne is he swiftest to beguile The womman. 1759Hume Hist. Eng. (1834) III. xxiii. 231 The period in which the people of Christendom were the lowest sunk in ignorance. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 725/1 In 1799 the salary of our lowest-paid Judges was {pstlg}1000. 1926Daily Chron. 13 May 1/7 Any such agreement should..not adversely affect in any way the wages of the lowest-paid men. 1974Guardian 24 Jan. 4/3 His scheme would help the lowest paid. 1975Times 8 Mar. 7/7 East..invited a switch to the lowest-ranking suit. |