| 释义 |
▪ I. severe, a.|sɪˈvɪə(r)|
Also 6 sever, Sc. seveir(e, (7 seveere, seveare).
[a. F. sévère or ad. L. sevērus. Cf. It., Sp., Pg. severo.]
I. Rigorous in condemnation or punishment.
1. a. Of persons, their temper, disposition, etc.: Rigorous in one's treatment of, or attitude towards, offenders; unsparing in the exaction of penalty; not inclined to indulgence or leniency.
1548Elyot Dict., Asper,..rude, seuere, rigorous. Ibid., Austerus,..cruelle, austere, seuere. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. xv. 197 b, In a steade of a gentle and mercifull Prince, you shall haue a seuere executour of iustice. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 47 One of the greatest benefites, that euer God gaue me, is, that he sent me so sharpe and seuere Parentes, and so ientle a scholemaster. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 276 He who the sword of Heauen will beare, Should be as holy, as seueare. 1611Bible Wisd. v. 20 His seuere wrath shall he sharpen for a sword. 1611Heywood Golden Age i. i, Why should not I proue as seuere a mother As he a cruell father. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1169 And am I now upbraided, as the cause Of thy transgressing? not enough severe, It seems, in thy restraint. a1715Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 290 They were men of severe tempers, and kept good discipline. 1780Harris Philol. Enq. Wks. (1841) 463 [Athens] found the cruel Sylla her severest enemy. 1829Scott Anne of G. xiv, Charles of Burgundy deserved the character of a just though severe prince. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. viii. II. 342 The King's temper was arbitrary and severe. 1878Dale Lect. Preach. iii. 74 Nature is sometimes kindly if she is often severe.
absol.1817Shelley Rev. Islam ii. xxxiv, Nor are the strong and the severe to keep The empire of the world.
b. Const. to, with, against.
[1561: cf. 3.] 1648Hamilton Papers (Camden) 216 The Houses haue been of late very seuere against the poore Caualiers. a1699Stillingfl. (J.), What made the church of Alexandria be so severe with Origen for, but holding the incence in his hands..? yet for this he was cast out of the church. a1700Evelyn Diary 22 July 1674, A severe master to his servants. 1725Pope Odyss. ix. 132 Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care, Heedless of others, to his own severe. 1742Gray Adversity 31 Justice, to herself severe.
c. Of a person's looks, demeanour, etc.: Betokening a severe mood or disposition.
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Seuerus, Seuere grauitie of countenance. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 155 The Iustice,..With eyes seuere, and beard of formall cut. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 709 Saying with a severe countenance, that they were worthie of such death. 1675Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 206 A full, roundish high fore⁓head, a severe brow. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxvi, ‘There is in this mansion..,’ said the Grand Master, in a severe tone, ‘a Jewish woman.’ 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlix, The Lady Bareacres..to whom the Colonel's lady made also a most respectful obeisance: it was returned with severe dignity by the exalted person in question.
2. a. Of law, judgement, punishment, discipline, restraint, and the like: Involving strict and rigorous treatment; executed or carried out with rigour; not leaning to tenderness or laxity; unsparing.
1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates ii. Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 21 The seueir punisment of Core, Dathan, and Abiron. c1570W. Wager The Longer thou livest 1752 (Brandl), I represent Gods seuere iudgement, Which dallieth not where to strike he doth purpose. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 269 Let my old life be sacrific'd..Vnto the rigour of seuerest Law. 1661Act 13 Chas. II, c. 9 §21 None shall presume to quarrell with his Superior Officer, upon pain of severe punishment. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. i. §12 It is not evident that the Laws of all the antient Common-wealths were so severe against Atheism. 1669–70Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 306 The House..voted..that severe provision be made against all frauds upon the importation [of wine]. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian x, Schedoni hinted that the obedience of youth was hopeless unless severer measures were adopted. 1819Shelley Cenci v. ii. 73 To pursue this monstrous crime By the severest forms of law. 1838F. A. P[aley] tr. Schömann's Assemb. Athen. Introd. 19 The people..disliking the severe controll of the four hundred. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 47 Severer penalties awaited drunkenness, dissipation, or dicing.
b. Of a compact: Imposing rigorous conditions, stringent. Of an account: Unsparingly exacted.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iv. 114 If we conclude a Peace, It shall be with such strict and seuere Couenants, As little shall the Frenchmen gaine thereby. 1684Contempl. St. Man i. ix. (1699) 106 Let us not misspend the time of this Life, since so severe an account will be demanded of all the benefits which we have received. 1751Jortin Serm. (1771) I. vii. 135 Power wantonly exercised is the undesirable opportunity of doing mischief, for which a severe account is to be given in the next state.
c. Of a prisoner: Rigorously confined. nonce-use.
1740Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 138 You told me once she was in London waiting on a bishop's lady, when all the time she was a severe prisoner here.
3. a. Unsparing in censure, criticism, or reproof.
1561B. Googe Palingenius' Zodiac of Life Ep. Ded., As the deuine Plato (although a Iudge somethynge to seuer agaynste them)..doth confesse. 1581J. Hamilton Cath. Traict. 21 S. Hierom, the seueir impugner of all hæritiks in his age. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 83 Your friend therefore, is certainly more severe than he neede to be. c1673Waller To the Duchess, when he presented this Book 8 While we your wit and early knowledge fear, To our productions we become severe. 1680Dryden Pref. Ovid's Ep. (1716) 9 The most severe Censor cannot but be pleas'd with the Prodigality of his [Ovid's] Wit. 1683Sir J. Turner Pallas Armata 39 marg., Lipsius severe to Vegetius. 1711Addison Spect. No. 124 ⁋1 As the most severe Reader makes Allowances for many Rests and Nodding-places in a Voluminous Writer. 1760–2Goldsm. Cit. W. xcix, Her very appearance was sufficient to silence the severest satirist of the sex. 1780Mirror No. 70 His good-nature..prevented him from viewing, with too severe an eye, the occasional excesses of some of his companions. 1825Macaulay Ess., Milton ⁋7 Nor..will the severest of our readers blame us. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 138 The exact but severe historian of astronomy, Delambre,..loses all his bitterness when he comes to Hipparchus. 1858Mrs. Paul Maiden Sisters xii. 119 ‘There is no depth in the talk of general society, but plenty of lightness and flippancy.’ ‘I think you are severe,’ said Ellen, courageously.
absol.c1614Sylvester Micro-cosm. 374 Wks. (Grosart) II. 100 If I be merry, I am mad (say the Severe).
b. to be severe on (or upon): to pass harsh or sarcastic judgement on, ‘to be hard upon’.
1672Wycherley Love in Wood ii. i. 26 His wit properly lies in..being severe as they call it, upon other peoples cloaths. 1713Addison Guardian No. 162 ⁋1 The good Lady Lizard..desired her Cosin Thomas..not to be so severe on his Relations. 1731–8Swift Pol. Conversat. 103, I suppose the Colonel was cross'd in his first Love, which makes him so severe on all the Sex. 1858Mrs. Paul Maiden Sisters xiv. 138 ‘One must not be severe on a little inequality of temper,’ said Norah, laughing.
c. Of an utterance, opinion, etc.: Unsparing in censure; strongly condemnatory.
1561B. Googe Palingenius' Zodiac of Life Ep. Ded., Humbly requesting that..the simple frutes of a yong head, may strongly be defended from the seuer reprehensions of Momus. 1668Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 253 We on Munday send to the Lords severe votes against their proceedings. 1692Norris Two Treat. Div. Light i. 15 He..very gravely applies to me two of the most severe Texts of Scripture that he could pick out in all the Bible. 1709Swift T. Tub Apol. (1710) a 3, The severest Stroaks of Satyr in his Book. 1781Cowper Table-t. 103, I grant the sarcasm is too severe. 1873B. Harte Fiddletown 27 He was arrested..and discharged with a severe reprimand. 1879Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. ix. 151 English travellers in Oriental countries frequently make severe remarks on the manner in which the..remains of antiquity are allowed to go to ruin.
II. Conforming to a rigorous standard.
4. a. Extremely strict in matters of conduct or behaviour; rigorous in self-discipline and self-restraint; austere with oneself; shunning laxity or self-pleasing.
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Seuerus, A seuere man eschewynge all sensuall pleasures. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 301 Come, you are too seuere a Moraller. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §7 To doe no injury, nor take none, was a principle, which to my former yeers..seemed to contain enough of Morality, but my more setled yeares, and Christian constitution have fallen upon severer resolutions. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 280 The Stoic severe. 1709Steele Tatler No. 4 ⁋8 He is held in the highest Veneration imaginable for a severe Honesty, and Love of his Country. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 459 He was a man of severe morals. 1798S. Lee Canterb. T., Young Lady's T. II. 411 Emily affected severe economy in her travelling expences. 1818Scott Rob Roy xiii, A man of severe temperance. 1822Mrs. Hemans Siege of Valencia i, We must fall As men that in severe devotedness Have chosen their part, and bound themselves to death. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 306 [His] severe impartiality adds weight to his authority. 1879Froude Cæsar xxviii. 481 A Roman matron of the strictest and severest type.
b. Of habits, etc.: Dictated by strict and austere principles of living.
1828Sewell in Oxf. Prize Ess. 36 The Spartan manners were rough, simple, and severe. 1879Froude Cæsar vi. 49 The habits of the household were simple and severe.
c. Of a secret: Strictly kept (? obs.). Of a resolution: Unyielding, rigid.
1734Fielding Univ. Gall. iv. i, I beg this thing may be kept a severe secret. 1849De Quincey Engl. Mail Coach Wks. 1890 XIII. 276 The Emperor..descended in great pomp from his throne, with the severest resolution never to remount it.
5. a. Of intellectual operations, thought, etc.: Conforming to an exacting standard of mental effort; rigidly exact or accurate; grave, serious, not light or recreative; not shrinking from what is toilsome or difficult. (Cf. 9.)
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. §3. 8 A substantiall and seuere Collection of the Heteroclites, or Irregulars of Nature, well examined & described. c1645Howell Lett. (1655) II. xli. 50, I find you have a genius for the most solid and severest sort of studies. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. viii. §6. 235 And upon severe enquiry we shall find the grand principle which [etc.]. 1682Dryden Relig. Laici 233 Those hours hast thou to Nobler use employ'd, And the severe Delights of Truth enjoy'd. 1757Gray Bard 127 Truth severe, by Fairy Fiction drest. 1812Cresswell Maxima & Min. i. 10 In haste to quit the province of severe reasoning. 1821Hazlitt Table-t., Milton's Sonn., A day spent in social retirement and elegant relaxation from severer studies. 1839De Quincey Recoll. Lakes Wks. 1862 II. 203 Under the continual restraint of severe good sense. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola i. xii, [He] is held in high honour for his severe scholarship.
absol.1683Soame & Dryden tr. Boileau's Art Poet. i. 76 Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe [orig. du plaisant au sévère]. 1734Pope Ess. Man iv. 380 Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe.
b. said of a student, thinker, etc.
1603Daniel Def. Rhyme H 5 b, Peraduenture there will be found in the now contemned recordes of Ryme matter not vnfitting the grauest Diuine and seuerest Lawyer in this kingdome. 1706Hearne Collect. 8 Mar. (O.H.S.) I. 201 Mr. Smith..has been..a severe Student.
6. a. In reference to style or taste, literary or artistic: Shunning redundance or unessential ornament; not florid or exuberant; sober, restrained, austerely simple or plain.
1665Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. i. (1848) 341 To expect that Piety and Vertue were able, by their native charms, so much to endear my dress, as to win themselves adorers in a plain, or even a severe one. 1676Dryden State Innoc. Pref. (1677) b 3 Virgil and Horace, the severest Writers of the severest Age. 1693― Disc. Satire Ess. 1900 II. 65 Lucilius, who was more severe, and more correct. 1820Keats Hyperion i. 211 That inlet to severe magnificence Stood full blown, for the God to enter in. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps ii. §24. 56 The forms of the tracery were still severe and pure. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Manners Wks. (Bohn) II. 50 Even Brummel their fop was marked by the severest simplicity in dress. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. xi. 319 He would have been remembered as one of the severest of painters. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton x, Queen Titania's more severe but no less graceful costume.
†b. Of a language: Concise, terse, not redundant. Obs. rare.
1680Dryden Pref. Ovid's Ep. (1716) 15 The Latin (a most Severe and Compendious Language).
III. Of impersonal agencies or conditions: Pressing hardly, rigorous.
7. a. Of the weather, etc.: Causing great discomfort or injury to living beings; hard, rigorous; very cold, wet or stormy.
1676in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 32 God bless your two deare sweet babies and keep them from the sharp colds of this seveare weather. a1700Evelyn Diary 7 Mar. 1658, This had been the severest winter that any man alive had known in England. 1768H. Walpole Let. to Earl Strafford 25 June, We have had some severe rain; but the season is now beautiful. 1774Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772 175 The climate is very severe. 1788M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 420 Very severe shower in the night. 1812New Bot. Gard. I. 59 In case the frost is not so severe as to destroy the flowers. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxviii. (1878) 477 Very severe weather came. 1884Harper's Mag. Jan. 283/2 They would require slightly severer cold to affect them.
b. Of fire or light: Painfully or searchingly intense. rare.
1652Crashaw Carmen Deo Nostro Wks. (1904) 252 O that Book! whose leaves so bright Will sett the world in severe light. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 276 Our torments also may in length of time Become our Elements, these piercing Fires As soft as now severe. 1822Shelley Tri. Life 424 In that light's severe excess.
c. Of an attack of illness or disease: Attended with a maximum of pain or distress, violent.
1725N. Robinson Th. Physick 265 It is the way Nature her self often takes, in solving the severer Fevers. 1756M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club) 224 The coldness of the inn had given Mr. Calderwood a severe cold. 1803Med. Jrnl. X. 522 The complaint was in many cases very severe, but fatal to very few. 1823Whewell in Life (1881) 83, I finally caught a severe cold. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 507 In severe cases [of eczema] there may be some prodromal symptoms.
8. a. Of pain, suffering, loss, or the like: Grievous, extreme.
1742Gray Eton 80 Moody Madness laughing wild Amid severest woe. 1781Cowper Truth 101 His voluntary pains, severe and long. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxviii, The silence of Valancourt..oppressed Emily with severe anxiety. 1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 173 Severe shooting pains in the head were felt. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Isab. i. xi. (1854) I. 272 The loss inflicted on the infantry was also severe. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 200 Their exposure beyond the trenches to the fire of the garrison would have been attended with still severer loss of life. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxii, She..watched incessantly by the wounded lad, whose pains were very severe. 1888Spectator 30 June 874/2 There has been a severe fall in the value of the shares.
absol.1802Beddoes Hygeïa viii. 141 The gouty, besides having to struggle with every thing that pain has of severe, are [etc.].
b. Qualifying an agent-n., as a severe loser.
1748Foote Knights ii. Wks. 1799 I. 80 'Tis odd, that the same cause that increases the passion in one sex should destroy it in the other; the reason is above my reach, but the fact I am a severe witness of. 1863Fawcett Pol. Econ. ii. v. 185 Individuals engaged in the trade might be severe losers.
9. a. Of events or circumstances, labour or exercise, a struggle or contest, a test, trial, etc.: Hard to sustain or endure; making great demands on one's powers or resources; arduous.
1774Bryant Mythol. II. 58 Osiris..then entered Thrace, with the King of which he had a severe encounter. 1784Cowper Task iv. 389 The man feels least, as more inur'd than she To winter, and the current in his veins More briskly mov'd by his severer toils. 1798Forester in Paget Papers (1896) I. 114 This day..met near Oakham, have had a very severe day. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. xiii. 244 De Bœffleurs once more assisted me, though his terms were most severe. 1827Scott Two Drovers Introd., The master of the pack takes as severe exercise as his whipper-in. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Isab. ii. xiv. (1854) II. 220 This action was one of the severest which occurred in these wars. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xxii. 347 In the following experiment the ice was subjected to a still severer test. 1867Baker Nile Tribut. xiv. (1886) 244 The pace was too severe, and, although running wonderfully, he was obliged to give way to the horses. 1880C. T. Newton Art & Archæol. viii. 323 Universities where this elaborate training was tested by competitive examinations of the severest kind.
b. transf. Of geographical terrain, etc.: causing exertion or making great demands of endurance or skill; taxing, hard to ‘negotiate’. Also spec. of a rock or mountain or the route by which it may be climbed. Hence as n. (usu. with capital initial).
1881Sportsman's Year-bk. 49 Twenty miles a day is often the work of a crack greyhound intended to run in a severe country. 1897Daily News 1 Sept. 3/1 This is again a very difficult piece of running. There are severe curves at Smethwick and at Worcester Foregate. 1897O. G. Jones Rock-Climbing in Engl. Lake District p. xxiii, Exceptionally Severe Courses: Screes Great Gully. 1935D. Pilley Climbing Days iv. 66 It was bizarre that a severe should sometimes seem simple, when a moderate caused nerve storms of impotent despair. 1951C. Coxhead One Green Bottle iii. 86 ‘Ah yes, the Amphitheatre Buttress... An easy Difficult, isn't it?’ She..herself led Very Difficults, and occasionally..an easy Severe. 1958E. Newby Short Walk in Hindu Kush iii. 34 Easy, moderate, difficult, very difficult, severe, very severe, exceptionally severe, and excessively severe. 1970Guardian 28 Aug. 18/6 The Wen Slab, a broad expanse of smooth, sheer rock classed as ‘very severe’. 1975G. Moffat Miss Pink iii. 43 It's the big stack off the north headland: a hundred and fifty feet high... A good Severe, we thought. 1976H. MacInnes Death Reel iii. 23 ‘Is there any climbing on Bidean?’ ‘I reckon Lilly's route is the best line on this side. About 600 feet, Severe.’
10. Naut. (See quot. 1867.)
1830Marryat King's Own xiii, Belay all that; take a severe turn, and don't come up an inch. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Severe, effectual; as, a severe turn in belaying a rope.
11. colloq. (chiefly U.S.). A vague epithet denoting superlative quality; very big or powerful; hard to beat.
1805T. E. White Jrnl. (1904) 32, I got up this morning with the determination to have a severe nap before night. 1834J. Hall Kentucky II. 9 Your whiskey is as good as your fire, and that is saying a great deal, for you are the severest old beaver to tote wood that I've seen for many a long day. 1847De Quincey Sp. Milit. Nun Wks. 1890 XIII. 209 note, These Andes, in Jonathan's phrase, are a ‘severe’ range of hills. 1864Atkinson Stanton Grange 75 The whole party arrived, quite ready for a ‘severe tea’. 1889C. D. Warner in Harper's Mag. Jan. 270/1 A well-known character in the mountains, who has killed twenty-one men... He is called, in the language of the country [Kentucky], a ‘severe’ man.
12. Epithet of a small snake, Coluber severus.
1802Shaw Gen. Zool. III. 421 Severe snake. Coluber Severus.
13. quasi-adv. = severely.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe 20 Not any where is the word seuerer practised, the preacher reuerentlier obserued and honoured. 1653Milton Ps. ii. 9 The Lord shall scoff them, then severe Speak to them in his wrath. 1725Pope Odyss. i. 446 No blame severe his choice. 1802J. Woodforde Diary 13 July (1931) V. 401 It was like to be a severe contested Election.
IV. Comb., as severe-faced, severe-looking adjs.
1939W. Fortescue There's Rosemary xxxv. 220 Together we hurried down the garden path—to meet Queen Alexandra, Princess Victoria, and a severe-faced lady coming out of the garden door. a1957J. Cary Captive & Free (1959) xliii. 186 A very severe-looking young woman.
Add:[IV.] severe combined immune deficiency (also severe combined immunodeficiency) Path., a rare and often fatal congenital immune deficiency which is characterized by abnormally low levels of T lymphocytes and (in most cases) also of B lymphocytes. Abbrev. SCID s.v. *S 4 a.
1973Lancet 16 June 1393/2 Three patients with both *severe combined immunodeficiency (S.C.I.D) and adenosine-deaminase (A.D.A.) deficiency have been reported. 1984M. J. Taussig Processes in Path. & Microbiol. (ed. 2) 78 The most extreme forms of primary immunodeficiency in children are (a) the X-linked infantile (Bruton-type) agammaglobulinaemia.., (b) thymic aplasia or Di George syndrome.., and (c) severe combined immunodeficiency, where both T and B systems are deficient due to the absence of stem cells in the bone marrow. 1992Independent 16 Jan. 2/1 The Cleveland girl suffered from a rare inherited defect, known as severe combined immune deficiency (SCID), which crippled her immune system. Most patients with the condition die in infancy from overwhelming infection.
▪ II. severe
obs. form of sever v. |