| 释义 |
puerile, a. (n.)|ˈpjuːəraɪl|
[ad. L. puerīl-is boyish, childish, f. puer a boy, child: see -ile. Cf. F. puéril, -ile (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), perh. the immediate source.]
A. adj.
1. Of, pertaining or proper to a boy or child; youthful, boyish, juvenile. Now rare exc. as in 2.
1661K. W. Conf. Charac. To Rdr. (1860) 13 Let the..reader mend what he sees amiss in these puerill exercises. a1695Wood Ath. Oxon. (1721) II. 602 [Franciscus Junius] was..educated in puerile Learning at Leyden in Holland. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 458 Our public hives of puerile resort. 1852Blackie Stud. Lang. 7 There is no subject of puerile inculcation that more imperatively calls for a good teacher.
b. Of respiration: Characterized by the louder pulmonary murmur found in children, which in adults is usually a sign of disease.
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 526 Distinguished by M. Laennec by the name of puerile or tracheal. 1834J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 289 Respiration was inaudible over the whole of the right side, but was puerile on the left. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 131 Should the opposite lung be healthy and free to act, puerile breathing will probably be heard on that side.
2. (Depreciative.) Merely boyish or childish, juvenile; immature, trivial.
1685Remonstr. to Parl. in Somers Tracts I. 211 Moved with an Itch of being in Print, they publish their own puerile Conceptions. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 78 They are trifling and I had almost said puerile. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 196 It is mere puerile declamation. 1868Farrar Seekers Concl. (1875) 332 The puerile ostentation, which we have had to point out in Seneca.
B. n. pl. (= L. puerīlia). Childish things, conditions, or productions.
1659Gauden Tears Ch. i. i. 27 Which seek..to reduce ancient Churches, of long growth, of tall and manly stature, to their pueriles, their long coats and cradles. [1899‘Anthony Hope’ King's Mirror ii, A man's puerilia are to himself not altogether puerile; they are parcel of the complex explanation of his existent self.]
Hence ˈpuerilely adv., in a puerile fashion; ˈpuerileness = puerility; ˈpuerilize v. trans., to make puerile.
1727Bailey vol. II, Puerilely..Puerileness. 1751Female Foundling I. p. v, A Narration of Events which are visibly fictitious,..or puerilely extravagant. 1791J. Learmont Poems 75 Puerileness of things And playful trifles held thee fast. 1887Harper's Mag. Jan. 322 Its long-puerilized fancy will bear an endless repetition of them. 1894Westm. Gaz. 22 Sept. 2/3 He..is puerilely grateful for the present of a wooden pipe. |