| 释义 |
▪ I. cosmetic, a. and n.|kɒzˈmɛtɪk|
[ad. Gr. κοσµητικ-ός relating to adornment, f. κοσµεῖν to arrange, adorn, f. κόσµ-ος order, adornment. Cf. F. cosmétique.]
A. adj.
1. a. Having power to adorn, embellish, or beautify (esp. the complexion); also = cosmetical a. a.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. Introd., Which damnable portion of cosmetique Art. 1699Garth Dispens. ii. 20 Whilst Iris his cosmetick Wash must try, To make her Bloom revive. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 13 When her face is smoothed..by a thousand cosmetic slops and washes. a1845Hood Progress of Art xii, Washed by my cosmetic brush How Beauty's cheek began to blush.
b. Of surgery: improving or modifying the appearance. Of prosthetic devices: re-creating or imitating the normal appearance.
1926Encycl. Brit. III. 690/1 Cosmetic and plastic surgery, especially of the face, has undergone considerable improvement following our large experience in the war. 1962Daily Tel. 11 Dec. 9/3 A demonstration was given in London of a ‘cosmetic limb’..a hand and arm that resembles the real thing. 1965Observer 7 Mar. Suppl. 13 His metal alloy legs..are finished with cosmetic shoes.
2. fig. That affects appearance only, superficial; spec., intended merely to improve appearances.
1955T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences iii. 98 Phrases and ‘cosmetic’ modifications of vowels are invented, adopted and discarded. 1969Guardian 25 July 10/3 Your recent leading article complains of engineers throwing down motorways with insufficient cosmetic treatment. 1970Harper's Bazaar July 58 Environmental problems are cosmetic, not systemic. Unemployment and inflation, however unpleasant for those immediately involved, are technical faults and certainly nothing to justify any interference with the free price system. 1975Ottawa Citizen 10 Oct. 14/4 Both sides agreed that a piece of paper these days is simply cosmetic, and that they could trust each other on this question because of the established relationship between both sides. 1977A. Carter Passion of New Eve ii. 20 These lights cast a cosmetic and indulgent glow over the depredations that took place beneath them. 1984Daily Tel. 27 Aug. 1/2 The ferry..was back on normal service between Sheerness and Flushing, despite ‘cosmetic’ damage to the bows.
B. n.
1. A preparation intended to beautify the hair, skin, or complexion.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 48 Recommend those Cosmetiques..which preserve hair for the use and intention of Nature. 1691Ray Creation ii. (1704) 437 No better Cosmeticks than a severe Temperance and Purity. 1783F. Burney Diary 3 Oct., Between her medicines, and the..cosmetics, I shall expect to become stout and beautiful. 1879E. Garrett House by Works I. 55 Knowing no cosmetic but cold water.
fig.1842H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. I. 25 All the loathsome deformities of guilt disappear under the cosmetics which fortune can apply.
2. The art of adorning or beautifying the body. Also pl. (cf. athletics). [= Gr. ἡ κοσµητική.]
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. x. §1 Art of decoration [of the body] which is called cosmetic. 1838–9Hallam Hist. Lit. III. iii. iii. §48. 37 Painting and music..counted as..only somewhat more liberal than cookery or cosmetics. 1865Grote Plato II. xxii. 95 Cosmetic, or Ornamental Trickery, is the counterfeit of Gymnastic.
3. One who practises the cosmetic art. nonce-use.
1713Guardian No. 64 That you would place your petitioners at the head of the family of cosmetics [barber, perfumer, etc.].
▪ II. cosˈmetic, v.
[f. prec. n. 1: cf. to physic.]
trans. To treat with cosmetics. So cosˈmeticked ppl. a.
1890Temple Bar Mag. July 446 Joan and Anne were gorgeously arrayed, roseate-cheeked, cosmeticked. 1897‘Mark Twain’ More Tramps Abroad xliv. 261 Ladies have to paint it, and powder it, and cosmetic it, and diet it with arsenic. 1934E. Linklater M. Merriman xiii. 158 Faces most carefully cosmeticked were streaked and plain. 1960C. Ray Merry England 128 How flaccid, nowadays, the English upper lip, and how bluely cosmeticked, even in the daytime, the young girls' upper eyelids. |