| 释义 |
avidity|əˈvɪdɪtɪ|
Also 5 avidite.
[a. F. avidité (16th c. in Littré), ad. L. aviditātem, n. of quality f. avidus avid: see -ity.]
1. Ardent desire, extreme eagerness, greediness.
c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xvii. 251 Deuocioun and avidite whiche men..hadden into goostli techingis. 1667Phil. Trans. II. 491 The dog..fell a gnawing of them with a strange avidity. 1785Reid Int. Powers ii. iv, Philosophers have an avidity to know how we perceive objects. 1833I. Taylor Fanat. vi. 175 The mere avidity of gold. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. II. ii. 11 Magazines, which I used to read with avidity when a boy.
b. transf. of things.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xvii. 149 The avidity of that part dilateth it selfe, and receiveth a second burden. 1854Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. Chem. 340 The avidity for oxygen manifested by sulphurous acid.
2. ellipt. Greediness of gain, graspingness, avarice.
1662J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 44 He shewed no small rapacity or (to give it a milder term) avidity. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 737 Nature never offered to the avidity of mankind..such rich mines as those of Potosi. 1884United Presb. Mag. Mar. 99 Raised at the same time the rents and the avidity of the landlords. |