| 释义 |
omnivorous, a.|ɒmˈnɪvərəs|
[f. L. omnivorus (f. omni- + -vorus devouring) + -ous. Cf. F. omnivore (Buffon 18th c.).]
All-devouring.
1. lit. That devours or feeds on all kinds of food. (Opposed to carnivorous, herbivorous, etc.)
1656Blount Glossogr., Omnivorous, that devours and eats all kind of things. 1819W. Lawrence Physiol. (1848) 143 In a similar way we conclude man to be naturally omnivorous. 1867F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 40 The Chub is rather an omnivorous fish. 1881Romanes in Nature No. 624. 554 Worms are omnivorous, dragging pieces of meat as well as leaves into their burrows for the purpose of eating them.
2. fig. (Cf. senses of devour v.)
1791Burke Let. to Member Nat. Assembly Wks. VI. 32 He has not observed on the nature of vanity, who does not know that it is omnivorous; that it has no choice in its food. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 183 An omnivorous appetite for everything strange and rare. 1877‘H. A. Page’ De Quincey I. ix. 186 Hamilton, darkly metaphysical, omnivorous of books.
So various nonce-words: omnivoˈracity [f. late L. omnivorāx (Eugenius 7th c.)], omnivoˈrosity [f. omnivorous: see -osity], omnivorousness; omˈnivorant a. [L. vorānt-em devouring], all-devouring, omnivorous; ˈomnivore [a. F., cf. carnivore, etc.], an omnivorous animal or person.
1889Spectator 14 Dec. 856 But for the ostrich-like *omnivoracity of the wealthy collector, the Literary Stock Exchange might any day be convulsed with an ubiquitously resonant smash.
1852C. W. H[oskins] Talpa 65 Everywhere ‘The Fly’ was omnipotent and *omnivorant.
1890Even. Post 8 Feb., Some of the interrogated were vegetarians, and some *omnivores.
1896Jessopp Frivola viii. 143 With the *omnivorosity (what a beautiful word!) of youth I eagerly devoured them. |