| 释义 |
austere, a. (n.)|ɔːˈstɪə(r)|
Forms: 4 auster, 7 -eer, 4– austere; also 4 austerene, awsterne (hausterne), 4–6 austerne, 6 austrun, astern.
[a. OF. austere (14th c. in Littré), ad. L. austērus, a. Gr. αὐστηρός making the tongue dry and rough, hence, harsh, severe, f. αὔειν to dry. The adscititious -n, common in 14–16th c., is perhaps due to contact of form and sense with stern adj.; cf. quot. 1388 in sense 3. The appearance of the senses in Eng. does not correspond to the logical development in Gr.]
A. adj.
1. Uniting astringency with sourness or bitterness; harsh in flavour, rough to the taste.
1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 H j b, I cal austere..a lytell adstryngent. 1601Holland Pliny Gloss., Austere, harsh or hard, as in fruits vnripe, and hard wines of hedge grapes. 1664Evelyn Pomona Advt. (1729) 78 Austere Fruit..no better than a sort of full succulent Crabs. 1784Cowper Task i. 122 The bramble, black as jet, or sloes austere. 1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. I. vi. 143 Both ripen austere and small fruits.
†2. Of colour: Dingy, sombre. (So in L.) Obs.
1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 227 A Chrysoprasus: a Gemm of an austere colour.
3. Harsh to the feelings generally; stern in manner or appearance; rigorous, judicially severe.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 54 Þei dred þe kyng folle sore, for he was fulle austere. 1382Wyclif Luke xix. 21, I dredde thee, for thou art an austerne [1388 a stern] man..I am an hausterne [ 1388a stern] man. c1425Wyntoun Cron. v. ix. 664 Persecutiowne, Ðat wes austere and fellowne. 1513Douglas æneis x. xii. 59 Wyth astern fyry ene. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 371 With drawin swordis and with austrun face. 1656Bp. Hall Breath. Devout Soul (1851) 192 O thou, who justly holdest thyself wronged with the style of an austere Master. 1873Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 248 They would be gentle, not austere.
b. Stern in warfare, grim.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 28 Werred on Athelstan with oste fulle austere. Ibid. 263 Þe folk..wer first auster and smerte. 1852C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) I. xxx. 250 Simon, Count de Montfort, an austere warrior.
†c. transf. Rugged, forbidding. Obs.
1686Cotton Montaigne (1877) I. 75 Difficulties.. render it austere and inaccessible.
4. Severe in self-discipline or self-restraint, stringently moral, strict, abstinent.
c1375Wyclif Serm. i. Sel. Wks. 1869 I. 1 An ypocrite þat shewide him to the world boþe austerne and clene. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 59 Which holy vndertaking with most austere sanctimonie, she accomplisht. 1772Priestley Nat. & Rev. Relig. (1782) I. 319 John..led a remarkably austere life. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 249 To these austere fanatics a holiday was an object of positive disgust.
5. Grave, sober, serious.
1667Milton P.L. ix. 272 Eve..With sweet austeer composure thus reply'd. 1858Longfellow M. Standish 31 Men in the middle of life, austere and grave in deportment.
6. Severely simple in style, unadorned; without any luxury.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. (1632) 390 This austere repast they took in the Euening. 1795Mason Ch. Mus. i. 47, I demand no austere solemnity of strain; but I would reject all levity of air. 1852Conybeare & H. St. Paul (1862) I. ix. 280 The austere comfort of an English jail.
B. as n. An austere substance.
1760Rutty Phil. Trans. LI. 471 Galls and other austeres. |