| 释义 |
sensuous, a.|ˈsɛnʃuːəs, -sjuː-|
[f. L. sensu-s sense n. + -ous.
Apparently invented by Milton, to avoid certain associations of the existing word sensual, and from him adopted by Coleridge; evidence of its use in the intervening period is wanting. Coleridge seems to have been mistaken in saying that it occurs in ‘many others of our elder writers’.]
1. Of or pertaining to the senses; derived from, perceived by, or affecting the senses; concerned with sensation or sense-perception.
1641Milton Reform. i. 3 The Soule..finding the ease she had from her visible, and sensuous collegue the body in performance of Religious duties..shifted off from her selfe the labour of high soaring any more. 1644― Educ. 6 To which Poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed rather precedent, as being lesse suttle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate. 1814Coleridge Princ. Gen. Crit. iii. in Farley's Bristol Jrnl. Aug., Thus, to express in one word what belongs to the senses, or the recipient and more passive faculty of the soul, I have reintroduced the word sensuous, used, among many others of our elder writers, by Milton. 1842Emerson Lect., Transcend. Wks. (Bohn) II. 279 The idealist..does not deny the sensuous fact:..but he will not see that alone. 1850Grove Corr. Phys. Forces (ed. 2) 15 Here the phenomena of motion are not made evident by the ordinary sensuous perception. 1850Tennyson In Mem. l, Be near me when the sensuous frame Is rack'd with pangs that conquer trust. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 225 Such men live in the outside of themselves—in the sensuous or intellectual nature. 1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 154 The external or sensuous qualities of art.
absol.1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 96 The understanding, wherever it does not possess or use the reason, as another and inward eye, may be defined the conception of the sensuous.
b. Of words and their meanings, etc.: Relating to sensible objects. Of opinions, conceptions, etc.: Based on representations of sense, material.
1864Rawlinson Anc. Mon., Assyria viii. II. 277 Their religion..was of a sensuous character. 1869Lecky Europ. Mor. I. 142 The beginning of eloquence is pictorial sensuous and metaphorical. 1869Farrar Fam. Speech iv. (1873) 112 Languages very crude and sensuous in their character. 1871Blackie Four Phases Mor. i. 132 The familiar and sensuous theology of Homer. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. vi. 249 The oldest roots are of the most purely sensuous description.
c. Of pleasure: Received through the senses. Now often with some colouring from sense 3, implying a luxurious yielding up of oneself to passive enjoyment
1856G. Wilson Gateways Knowl. (1859) 48 To be awaked from sleep by splendid music is to me the highest conceivable sensuous pleasure. 1862M. E. Braddon Lady Audley vii, There is in the first taste of rustic life a kind of sensuous rapture scarcely to be described. 1877Black Green Past. xxxvii. (1878) 295 It was something to gaze on with a placid and sensuous satisfaction. 1909E. R. Tennant in Expositor Aug. 123 That sensuous pleasure is a possibility is..a thing to give God thanks for.
2. Devoted to the gratification of the senses. rare.
1859I. Taylor Logic in Theol. 309 A sensuous or a frivolous life.
3. Readily affected by the senses; keenly alive to the pleasures of sensation; occas. of a poet or artist, moved by or appealing to the sensuous imagination. Also of physiognomy, etc. indicating a sensuous temperament.
In early use with favourable sense; now often with some notion of self-indulgent yielding to impressions or of a tendency to the sensual in imagination.
1870Emerson Misc. Papers, Plutarch Wks. (Bohn) III. 342 A poet in verse or prose must have a sensuous eye, but an intellectual co-perception. 1875Lowell Spenser Wks. 1890 IV. 317 A poet is innocently sensuous when his mind permeates and illumines his senses; when they muddy the mind, he becomes sensual. a1876G. Dawson Lect. Hamlet (1888) 16 None can help having a certain admiration for sensuous nature when very beautiful... She [Ophelia] was the perfection of sensuousness. 1880M. Arnold Ess. Crit. Ser. ii. iv. (1895) 100 Keats as a poet is abundantly and enchantingly sensuous. 1895Rider Haggard Heart of World vii. (1899) 100 His mouth was cruel and sensuous. 1909E. Thomas Jefferies 122 His expression [was] sensuous, tender, ‘silent and aware’.
¶4. In recent use sometimes of climate, surroundings, etc.: Conducive to a vague sense of physical enjoyment.
1878Joaquin Miller Songs Italy 51 How sensuous the night! how soft was the sound Of her voice on the night. 1878H. S. Wilson Alpine Ascents 106 Their air and character [sc. those of the Italian lakes] are soft, sensuous, enervating. |