释义 |
roughness|ˈrʌfnɪs| Forms: 4 rowȝnes, 6 rowghnes, 5–7 roughnesse, 6–7 -nes, 6– roughness; 6 rouf-, roff-, ruffenesse; Sc. 6 rowchnes, 9 ro(u)chness. [f. rough a. + -ness.] 1. a. The quality of being rough to the touch.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxvii. (Bodl. MS.), Þey be nought itaried and ilette, by meting and feling of rowȝnes. 1495Ibid. iv. iii. 82 Roughnesse is not elles but an vneuynnesse in an harde thynge. 1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 61 A beaste so called for the roughnesse and sharpenesse of his prickes. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 29 b, Cattell can not away with it, for the sharpenesse and ruffenesse of the eares. 1601Holland Pliny xiii. xii, The roughnesse of Paper is pollished and smoothed either with some tooth, or els with a Porcellane shell. 1648Milton Observ. Peace Ormond Wks. 1851 IV. 571 For that hairy roughness assum'd won Jacob the Birthright both Temporal and Eternal. 1700Dryden Ovid's Met. i. 545 While yet the roughness of the stone remains. 1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) III. 649 Teeth..long, expanding, sharp, and giving the plant its roughness to the touch. 1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 275 This roughness..answers the same as friction by relief. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 647 Roughness is hardness mingled with inequality. b. Ruggedness, brokenness (of ground).
1565Cooper, Loci iniqua asperitas, vneuen roughnesse. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xv. 16 By reason..of the roughnesse of the place being ful of rocks. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 341 By reason of the Roughness and Height of the Mountaines. 1781Cowper Conversat. 699 They..From such communion..Feel less the journey's roughness and its length. 1811Pinkerton Mod. Geogr. (ed. 3) 82 The rich roughness of an English prospect, diversified with an abundance of wood. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 45 If Roughness of the long rock-clamber lead not to the last of cliff. c. A rough part or place.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 151 Those thick roughnesses that sence beholds them with. 1747Gentl. Mag. 209 To call these scabbed roughnesses scales..is a great inaccuracy. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 192 The resined bow..being drawn along the string, its roughnesses catch the string at very small intervals. 1834–6Barlow in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 664/2 The threads..remove every roughness and inequality from the inside of the barrel. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. I. 242 Trees and shrubbery..mantle a host of rocky roughnesses, and make all look smooth. fig.1885Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. cxxxi. 2 The Psalmist..had smoothed down the roughnesses of his self-will. d. local (chiefly U.S.). Fodder, hay, corn-husks, etc., as used to feed cattle or horses, as opp. grain. Also transf.
1813J. Hartsell Jrnl. 29 Oct. in East Tennessee Hist. Soc. Publ. (1939) XI. 99 Did not draw aney rufness for our teeme. 1846Knickerbocker XXVIII. 313 The truck's all soaked, and there can't nobody stay here to save souls without some kind of roughness to keep up natur'. 1859W. Dickinson Gloss. Dial. Cumberland 93 Roughness,..grass left for winterage. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 536 Roughness in South Carolina denotes shucks or cornhusks, on account, probably, of the roughness of the serrated blades. 1888C. D. Warner On Horseback iv. 142 ‘Roughness’, we found out at the other house, meant hay in this region. 1938J. Stuart Beyond Dark Hills iv. 88 We don't feed the cattle anything but roughness. 1949Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xi. 10 Roughness,..fodder; roughage. 1966Ibid. 1964 xlii. 22 Roughness, roughage: fodder, corntops, coarse hay. e. Bacteriol. The quality of being rough in sense 1 e of the adj.
1929Topley & Wilson Princ. Bacteriol. & Immunity vii. 191 The property of colonial roughness is associated..with a characteristic change in the method of cell division. 1934Jrnl. Bacteriol. XXVII. 559 Roughness is a relative term when applied to colonial form for many rough colonies may have a smooth appearance on ordinary media. 1960L. Picken Organization of Cells iii. 63 The roughness expresses itself in the formation of dry, membranous, or brittle colonies, with irregular margins and corrugated surface, and a granular appearance under the microscope; in contrast to the colonies of the Smooth type which are creamy or butter-like in consistency, with even margins and homogeneous in texture. 2. Harshness, unpleasantness, crudeness (of sound, taste, colour); inelegance (of diction, etc.).
1495Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. xxiv. 134 Roughnesse of voyce comyth of dryenes of ayre. 1579E. K. Ded. Spenser's Sheph. Cal., Now,..for al the compasse of the speach, it is round without roughnesse, and learned without hardnes. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 338 Divers plants containe a gratefull sharpnesse.., or an austere and inconcocted roughnesse. 1675A. Browne App. Art of Limning 10 Let not the Roughness of the Colour discourage you from proceeding. 1697Dryden Ded. æneid Ess. (Ker) II. 215 Wherever that [the cæsura] is used, it gives a roughness to the verse; of which we can have little need in a language which is overstocked with consonants. 1730Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Wine, The coarse Wines..by reason of their great Austerity and Roughness. 1818Keats Endym. ii. 818 O dearth Of human words! roughness of mortal speech! 1884R. W. Church Bacon ix. 216 Their roughness gives a flavour which no elaboration could give. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 843 Roughness [of wines] is due to tannic acid. pl.1804W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. (1843) I. 513 Ease usually results from polishing away roughnesses. 1874H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. ii. 111 The grammatical roughnesses..favour the idea. 1883A. Roberts O.T. Revision xi. 232 Its provincial roughnesses were smoothed and softened. 3. Storminess, inclemency (of weather, etc.).
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 48 The..winter, for the roughnesse of it, is cleane taken away from shoting. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 28 Partly enforsed by roughnes of the sea. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 274 They made great reckoning of the roughnes of the sea. 1634W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. I. 351 The roughnesse of the season..makes mee over apprehensive to stirre out of my Chamber. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 3 The roughness of the Sea..was occasioned by the violence of the Wind. 4. Harshness of tone or manner; severity.
1530Palsgr. 264/1 Roughnesse, impetuosité, rudevr, rudesse. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xi. 50 b, They that be not moued with austeritie and roughnes, be wonte to bee wonne by fayre speakyng and gentilnes. a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 195 The hardis in Baptisme signifie the rowchnes of the law, and the oyle the softnes of Goddis mercy. 1649Nicholas Papers (Camden) 156 Sec. Nicholas..should come againe unto the King as before, but with much more roughnes and sharpnes. 1683Burnet tr. More's Utopia (1685) 92 Religion, notwithstanding its Severity and Roughness. 1741Richardson Pamela I. 55 Having been crying, at his Roughness in the Entry, I turn'd away my Face. 5. Rudeness or ruggedness of character or manners; lack of politeness or refinement.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 103 This is some Fellow, Who hauing beene prais'd for bluntnesse, doth affect A saucy roughnes. 1683D. A. Art Converse Pref., The Citizens of Edenborough have laid down the greatest part of their former Roughness. 1747Carte Hist. Eng. I. 14 He was..well qualified by these talents to polish the roughness of the people he was to govern. 1784Cowper Task v. 480 What were left of roughness in the grain Of British natures, wanting its excuse That it belongs to freemen, would disgust And shock me. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) II. 253 With all the national roughness and honesty. 1865Trollope Belton Est. iii, With something of the promised roughness of the farmer. 1886Tip Cat xv. 200 None of them noticed the roughness of the serving up. 6. Sc. and north. dial. Abundance or plenty in a rough kind of way.
1803Anderson's Cumb. Ball. 55 We've roughness amang hands, we've kye i' the byre. 1832–53Whistle-Binkie Ser. ii. 58 He said he was a lairdie, O' riggs and roughness plenty. 1880Antrim & Down Gloss. s.v., ‘There's a great roughness about his farm,’ i.e. great plenty. |