| 释义 |
ascetic, a. and n.|əˈsɛtɪk|
[ad. Gr. ἀσκητικός adj., f. ἀσκητής a monk or hermit, f. ἀσκέ-ειν to exercise: see -ic.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the Ascetics, or to the exercise of extremely rigorous self-discipline; severely abstinent, austere.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. viii. 126 This ascetic rule, which held that a saint was disgraced by the very society which his mild Master sought and loved. 1682― Chr. Morals (1756) 97 The old Ascetick christians found a paradise in a desert. 1757Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 276 A monastery which had acquired great renown for..the severity of its ascetick discipline. 1850Tennyson In Mem. cix, High nature amorous of the good, But touch'd with no ascetic gloom.
2. = ascetical 1.
1822Burrowes Cycl., Ascetic, the title of certain books on devout exercises. 1868Pattison Academ. Org. §5. 122 The knowledge to be cultivated is not ascetic divinity.
B. n.
1. Eccl. Hist. (Freq. with cap. initial.) One of those who in the early church retired into solitude, to exercise themselves in meditation and prayer, and in the practice of rigorous self-discipline by celibacy, fasting, and toil.
1673Cave Prim. Chr. iii. ii. 253 One of the primitive Asceticks. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxvii. (R.) The Ascetics, who obeyed and abused the rigid precepts of the gospel. 1861A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. v. 165 The deserts of the Thebaïd had been peopled by troops of sturdy and gaunt but God-fearing ascetics.
2. gen. One who is extremely rigorous in the practice of self-denial, whether by seclusion or by abstinence from creature comforts.
1660Jer. Taylor Ductor Dubit. ii. iii. 8. §4 The primitive Christians were generally such ascetics in this instance of fasting. 1862Stanley Jewish Ch. (1877) I. i. 17 He is not an ascetic..but full of the affections and interests of family and household.
3. pl. An ascetical treatise.
1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., Books of spiritual exercises. As the ascetics, or devout treatises of St. Basil. |