| 释义 |
counterweigh, v.|ˌkaʊntəˈweɪ|
Also 5–6 -wey, 6 -way, countreweigh.
[f. counter- 1 + weigh v., a partial englishing of AF. countrepeyser to counterpoise.]
1. trans. To weigh (things) against each other, or in opposite scales; to balance. (In quots. fig.)
c1430Lydg. Bochas iii. xvii. 90 a, Yf their power wer weyed in balaunce And counterweyed aright in theyr memory. a1541Wyatt Abused Lover resolveth Poet. Wks. 26 With words and chere so contrarying, Sweet and sower countre-weighing.
2. intr. To act as a counterpoise or equivalent weight; to weigh evenly (with, against). lit. and fig.
1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 847 With whose chast lyvyng Your noble demenour is counterwaying. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 127 To peece theyr shaftes..wyth brasel or holye, to counterwey with the head. a1568― Let. to Raven (T.), If Wrights had ten fellowships of St. John's, it would not counterweigh with the loss of this occasion. 1809N. Pinkney Trav. France 8 To counterweigh against the continental predominance of the French Emperor.
3. trans. To counterbalance, counterpoise.
1825Carlyle Schiller ii. (1845) 73 The few men of worth..are too disagreeably counterweighed by the baleful swarm of creatures who keep humming round you. 1854–6Patmore Angel in H. i. ii. i. (1879) 148 If one slight column counterweigh The Ocean, 'tis the Maker's law. |