| 释义 |
▪ I. calm, n.1|kɑːm|
Forms: 4–7 calme, 6 cawme, 7– calm.
[ME. calme, a. F. calme (16th c. in Littré, in 15th c. carme) in same sense, ad. It. or Sp. (also Pg.) calma.
Since calma in OSp. and Pg. means also ‘heat of the day’, Diez, comparing mod.Pr. chaume ‘resting-time of the cattle’, and Rumansch calma, cauma ‘a shady resting-place for cattle’, thought calma possibly derived from late L. cauma (occurring in Vulg., Job xxx. 30), a. Gr. καῦµα ‘burning heat, fever heat, heat of the sun, heat of the day’, used also in med.L. of the burning heat of the sun. Taken in connexion with the senses of the Rumansch and Provençal words this gives the possible development of meaning ‘burning heat, heat of the day, rest during the heat of the day, quiet, stillness’; but it is notable that It. calma has no sense of ‘heat’, only ‘a calme, or quiet faire weather’ (Florio). As to the phonetic change of au to al, Diez suggested popular assoc. with calēre to be hot, calor heat, which Schuchardt also (Romania IV. 255) thinks probable; the latter has given other instances of the phonetic change in Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins I. 494–6 and III. 316.]
1. Stillness, quiet, tranquillity, serenity; freedom from agitation or disturbance.
a. lit. of the weather, air, or sea: opposed to storm; = calmness.
1393Gower Conf. III. 230 As the..rage Of windes maketh the see salvage And that was calme bringth into wawe. c1400Destr. Troy 13157 All the calme ouercast into kene stormes. c1450Chaucer's Dreme 1384 All was one, calme, or tempest. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 252 The colde, the hete, the cawme, the frost, y⊇ snowe. 1530Palsgr. 202/2 Calme, styll whether, carme. 1611Bible Matt. viii. 26 There was a great calme. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. i. 166 A Soule as euen as a Calme. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. iv. (1869) 85 Before and after earthquakes there is a calm in the air. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xi, Calm on the seas, and silver sleep. 1868J. E. H. Skinner Roughing it 253 By the rock of Pontiko there was a sheet of breathless calm.
b. Absolute want of wind: often in pl. calms.
region of calms, a belt of the ocean near the equator, lying between the regions of the north-east and south-east trade winds.
1517R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 57 We..fonde the wynde agens vs or ellys..calmys. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. x. 46 When there is not a breath of wind stirring, it is a calme or a starke calme. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4547/2 By reason of Calms he could not come up with them 'till the 6th. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 96 A calm prevailed, and the heat was extreme. 1812J. Wilson Isle of Palms iii. 923 Chain'd in tropic calms. 1857H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets II. xii. 113 The misery of a dead calm beneath a torrid sky.
c. fig. (to a and b) of social or political conditions and circumstances.
1547J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes 210 The stormes of this tempestious worlde, shall shortely come to a calme. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 100 The vnity and married calme of States. 1781Cowper Friendsh. xxiii, Religion should..make a calm of human life. a1850J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1874) IV. 24 Till our free and popular institutions are succeeded by the calm of despotism.
d. fig. of the mind, feelings, or demeanour; = calmness.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. i. 15 Our blouds are now in calme. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xiv. 236 All my calm of mind..seemed to be suspended. 1807Wordsw. Sonn. Lib., To Clarkson, A good man's calm, A great man's happiness. 1879Farrar St. Paul II. 376 In that desperate crisis one man retained his calm and courage.
2. attrib. and in comb.
1865Intell. Observ. No. 46. 253 The ‘calm belt’ of the equator. 1886Pall Mall G. 20 July, Now the birds are storm-makers, and in another moment they are calm-bringers.
▪ II. calm, n.2
Forms: 6 calme, cawm, 7 caulm, 8 calm, cam.
Cf. also came.
†1. Sc.
a. A mould in which metal objects are cast.
1535Sc. Acts Jas. V (1814) 346 Twa hagbutis..with powder and cawmys for furnessing of the samin. 1540Ibid. (1597) §94 Ane Hagbutte of Founde, called Hagbute of Crochert, with their Calmes, Bullettes and pellockes of leed or irone. 1599in Pitcairn Crimin. Trials II. 75 Prenting in calmis, maid of trie, fillit vp with calk, of fals adulterat money. c1725Orem Hist. Aberdeen in Bibl. Top. Brit. (1782) V. 152 Three hagbuts, with calms of stone. 1768Mauchline Less. Rec. in Old Ch. Life Scotl. (1885) 139 A set of Cams or moulds.
b. in the calms (fig.): in course of construction, in the state of preparation.
a1662Baillie Lett. (1775) II. 197 (Jam.) The matter of peace is now in the caulms.
2. An enclosing frame, as of a pane of glass.
1577Harrison England ii. xii. (1877) 236 Some..did make panels of horne in steed of glasse, and fix them in woodden calmes. 1885P. J. Davies Standard Pract. Plumbing 31 Put the sharpened end of the calme in between the cutters and turn the handle. 1885Spons' Mech. Own Bk. 630 The use of lead ‘calmes’ for fixing window panes is of venerable antiquity. 1955Antiquity XXIX. 217 No evidence was found of calms with horn panels. 1970H. Braun Parish Churches viii. 111 A network of delicate grooved strips..known as ‘calms’—pronounced ‘cames’.
3. The heddles of a loom. See caam.
▪ III. calm, a.|kɑːm|
Forms: 4–7 calme, 6 cawme, caulme, (? came), 7– calm.
[a. F. calme, in same sense (15th c. in Littré), f. calme n. The other langs. have not the adjective.]
1. Free from agitation or disturbance; quiet, still, tranquil, serene; without wind, not stormy.
a. lit. of the weather, air, or sea.
c1400Destr. Troy 2011 Stormes were stille..All calme it become. c1440Promp. Parv. 58 Calme-wedyr, malacia, calmacia. 1550Joye Exp. Dan. Ded. A ij, The same sea..wyl be so cawme and styll. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 125 Get home thy hawme, whilst weather is cawme. 1611Bible Jonah i. 12 So shall the sea be calme. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 63 The sea is much calmer..at the bottom, than in any part nearer its surface. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. xx. §6 The sea..is never calm, in the sense that a mountain lake can be calm. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 53 A calm atmosphere promotes the formation of dew.
b. spec. Absolutely without wind.
c1440Promp. Parv. 58 Calme or softe, wythe-owte wynde, calmus, tranquillus. 1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. i. (1870) 126 Although a man stande in neuer so came a place. 1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4906/2 It fell stark Calm.
c. transf. and fig. of sound, utterance, etc.; of the mind, feelings, demeanour, or actions.
1570R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 100 A..caulme kinde of speaking and writing. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 6 Sweet and calm and sociable manners and conversation. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 87 He could have no calm satisfaction. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. xiii, Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest! 1859Thackeray Virgin. xix. 147 He tried to keep his voice calm and without tremor. 1870E. Peacock R. Skirlaugh III. 146 The placid river whose calm murmur was distinctly audible.
d. fig. of conditions or circumstances.
1667Milton P.L. vi. 461 Live content, which is the calmest life. 1751Johnson Rambl. No. 185 ⁋4 The calmest moments of solitary meditation. 1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 352 In the calmer times which are to come. 1863Hawthorne Old Home, Lond. Suburb (1879) 244 A calm variety of incident.
2. Comb., as calm-minded, calm-mindedness.
1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 83 A calme-minded hearer. 1820Keats Lamia ii. 158 With calm-planted steps. ― Hyper. iii. 38 The thrush Began calm-throated. 1882Pall Mall G. 26 Oct. 1 Public opinion has been cursed..with an odious malady called calm-mindedness.
▪ IV. calm, v.|kɑːm|
Forms: 4–6 calme, 7– calm.
[f. calm a., or perh. a. F. calme-r, which however is only trans. Perh. the trans. sense was really the earlier in English, though evidence fails; the intrans. is not in Johnson.]
1. intr. Of the sea or wind: To become calm. Obs. exc. with down. Also fig.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeless iii. 366 Þan gan it to calme and clere all aboute. c1400Destr. Troy 4587 The course of the colde see calmyt. 1569W. Gibson in Farr S.P. (1845) II. 244 If God command the seas to calme. 1598W. Phillips Linschoten's Trav. in Arb. Garner III. 22 It..raineth, thundereth, and calmeth. 1599Shakes. Pass. Pilgr. 312 What though her frowning brows be bent, Her cloudy looks will calm ere night. 1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1982/2 The wind calming, they were forced to give over the pursuit. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xi. (1877) 265 The excited mass calmed down under this wonderful appeal.
2. trans. To make calm; to quiet, still, tranquillize, appease, pacify. lit. and fig.
1559Mirr. Mag., Dk. of York xxiv. 7 Right shall raigne, and quiet calme ech crime. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 38 Renowned Queene, With patience calme the Storme. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 594 Go, waken Eve; Her also I with gentle Dreams have calm'd. 1709Lady M. W. Montague Lett. lxv. 107 [She] can also..calm my passions. 1783Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 436 When..that inflammation is calmed. 1795Southey Joan of Arc i. 122 She calm'd herself. 1841–44Emerson Ess., Heroism Wks. (Bohn) I. 110 It may calm the apprehension of calamity.
†3. To delay (a ship) by a calm; to becalm.
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ix. 33 A ship that, having 'scaped a tempest, Is straightway calm'd [1623 calme]. 1604― Oth. i. i. 30, I..must be be-leed, and calm'd. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., It is not uncommon for the vessels to be calmed, or becalmed, as the sailors express it. |