| 释义 |
sportive, a. and n.|ˈspɔətɪv|
[f. sport n.1 or v. + -ive.]
A. adj.
1. a. Inclined to jesting or levity; disposed to a playful lightness of thought or expression.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 58, I am not in a sportiue humor now: Tell me, and dally not, where is the monie? 1593Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 260 They are nought els but cleanly coyned lyes, which some pleasant sportiue wittes haue deuised, to gull them most groselie. 1676Glanvill Seasonable Refl. 31 'Tis equally absurd to be sportive about affairs that are serious. 1778F. Burney Diary 26 Aug., Two little productions..full of a sportive humour. 1782V. Knox Ess. (1819) III. 238 With a rich and sportive fancy he combined a solid judgment. 1837Disraeli Venetia i. ii, A curious fountain carved..in one of those capricious moods of sportive invention. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 541 Three generations of serious and of sportive writers wept and laughed over the venality of the senate.
b. Characterized by lightness or levity; not earnest or serious.
1593Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 109 The younge men in their merry-running Madrigals, and sportiue Base⁓bidding Rundelayes. 1655Musarum Deliciæ Title-p., Conteining severall select Pieces of sportive Wit. 1742Gray Spring 42 Methinks I hear in accents low The sportive kind reply. 1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes ii. xii. 17 In raillery the sportive jest. 1813Hor. Smith Horace in London 46 Whom Echo..Shall chaunt in sportive numbers? 1826F. Reynolds Life & Times II. 166 The ensuing sportive anecdotes may appear frivolous. 1882Ouida Maremma I. 32 Of sportive love offered and returned.
2. Of the nature of, inclined to, amorous sport or wantonness. Now arch.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 14, I, that am not shap'd for sportiue trickes, Nor made to court an amorous Looking⁓glasse. c1600― Sonn. cxxi. 6 For why should others false adulterat eyes Giue salutation to my sportiue blood? 1855Browning Fra Lippo 6 Where sportive ladies leave their doors ajar.
3. a. Disposed to be playful or frolicsome.
a1637B. Jonson Horace, Art Poet. 150 Stuff'd menacings [fit] The angry brow, the sportive, wanton things. 1651Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year ii. x. 129 The bait is in their mouths, and they are sportive; but the hook hath strook their nostrils, and they shall never escape the ruine. a1721Prior To Madam K.P. 7 Lively the Nymphs and sportive are their Swains. 1762Falconer Shipwr. ii. 70 Beneath the lofty stem A shoal of sportive dolphins they discern. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 417 There, Werter sees the sportive children fed. 1819Shelley Cyclops 92 This sportive band of Satyrs near the caves. 1865Alex. Smith Summer in Skye I. 259 He cannot be sportive for the fear that is in his heart.
transf.1697Potter Antiq. Greece (1715) II. xx. 401 Then tow'rds the Wind the sportive Ashes cast Upon the Sea. 1784Cowper Task i. 346 So sportive is the light Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance. Ibid. 567 The sportive wind blows wide Their flutt'ring rags. 1798Wordsw. ‘Five years have past’ 16 Little lines Of sportive wood run wild. 1827R. Pollock Course of Time 111, Its breath was cold, and made the sportive blood Heavy and dull and stagnant.
b. Of qualities, etc.
1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes iii. xviii. 13 See my flocks in sportive vein Frisk it o'er the verdant plain. 1812J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 450 A gaudy flag..Hung up in sportive joy by those Whose sports and joys are past. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 222 Exhibiting a kind of dance, performed with the most sportive vivacity.
4. a. Of or pertaining to, marked or characterized by, sport; of the nature of sport or amusement; affording or providing sport or diversion.
1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 52 They go to Bowls, and other sportive Exercises every Sunday. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 358 He then placed them in a cage at his chamber window, to be amused by their sportive flutterings. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. xviii, The sportive toil..Had dyed her glowing hue so bright. 1839T. Mitchell Frogs of Aristoph. 148 note, A die (the sportive instrument of playful youth). 1874Mahaffy Social Life Greece xi. 351 The Greeks made their serious pursuits, especially their religion, sportive.
b. Undertaken, given, etc., in (mere) sport.
1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes i. viii. 16 Where are now the livid scars Of sportive, nor inglorious, wars? 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xlvii, The apparition of the dead comes not on light or sportive errands. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 105 Quickened by a sportive volley which the Indians rattled after him. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 400 It was now not a sportive combat, but a war to the death.
5. a. Produced in, or as in, sport; spec. of the nature of a sport or abnormal variation; anomalous. Now rare or Obs.
1796H. Hunter St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) 277 Examine, on their gowns and handkerchiefs, the sportive productions of their imagination. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 73 The mineral kingdom, with all the riches, beauties, and sportive productions it contains. 1804Parkinson Organic Remains I. 24 The vis plastica, the vis formativa, and the sportive creations of nature, were terms yet in frequent use. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) I. 458 By what means they are rendered subservient to such an infinite variety of sportive and anomalous effects.
b. Of plants, etc.: Liable to sport or vary from the true type; characterized by sporting.
(a)1850Beck's Florist 24 Duchess of Sutherland..is a feathered rosy byblœmen, rather sportive. 1868Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. 315 [He] was forced to reject some of his new sub-varieties, which he suspected had been produced from a cross, as incorrigibly sportive. 1892Gardeners' Chron. 27 Aug. 250/2 P. aculeatum, though far less sportive than P. angulare, afforded material for a fine selection.
(b)1891W. Allan Dis. Skin iv. (ed. 3) 52 It is this sportive tendency manifested by skin diseases which adds so much to the difficulty of their diagnosis.
6. a. Taking part in, following or interested in, sport or sports.
1893C. G. Leland Mem. I. 37 Uncle William was a kind⁓hearted ‘sportive’ man, who took Bell's Life. 1969Daily Tel. 13 Mar. 18 Sportive readers of this paper's report yesterday on the pay talks of 90 Tonbridge cricket ball makers are puzzled..that these craftsmen should be represented by the National Union of Furniture Trade Operatives.
b. Of clothes: suitable for sporting or informal wear. Cf. sportif a.
1935Amer. Speech X. 193/2 Combinations like smoothly sportive, fetchingly feminine..are numberless. 1963C. Beaton Diary 15 Feb. (1979) 358 In his yachting jacket and sportive shoes, he has something about his swash⁓buckling style that reminds me of Douglas Fairbanks, Senior.
†B. n. A thing merely amusing or diverting and not of a serious character. Obs.—1
1616E. Bolton Hypercritica (1722) 237 If they have seen that incomparable Earl of Surrey his English translation of Virgil's æneids.., [they] will bear me witness that those others were Foils and Sportives. |