abyssn.

Brit.

/əˈbɪs/, U.S.

/əˈbɪs/

Forms:

α. Middle English–1600s abissus, Middle English–1600s abyssus, late Middle English abyssi.

β. 1500s–1600s abisse, 1500s–1600s abysse, 1600s–1700s abiss, 1600s– abyss.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin abyssus.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin abyssus bottomless pit (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), primal chaos, pit of Hell, depth of wisdom (Vulgate), depth of sin (c400), depth of obscurity (8th cent. in a British source), depth of grief (from 13th cent. in British sources) < Hellenistic Greek ἄβυσσος the great deep, primal chaos (Septuagint), pit of Hell (New Testament), use as noun of feminine of ancient Greek ἄβυσσος bottomless, unfathomed, unfathomable, boundless < ἀ- a- prefix⁶ + βυσσός (see byss n.²). Compare Old French, Middle French abis (13th cent., rare), and also Old Occitan abis (14th cent.), Catalan abís (13th cent.), Spanish †abisso (13th cent.), Portuguese abisso (14th cent.), †avisso (13th cent.), Italian abisso (1306). Compare abysm n. (and foreign-language forms cited at that entry), abysmus n.In form abyssi in quot. c1460 at sense 1c after the Latin genitive form. In sense 4 after French abîme centre of an escutcheon (1671), specific sense of abîme abysm n. Compare the following Old English example of Abyssus (glossed as deepness n.; compare sense 1c), as the name of a door of one of the seven heavens in apocalyptic literature:OE Homily: Apocalypse of Thomas (Corpus Cambr. 41) in R. Willard Two Apocrypha in Old Eng. Homilies (1935) 4 Ðonne is þære dura nama þæs forman heofones Abyssus haten, þæt is, Deopnis.

a. The primal formless chaos out of which the earth and the heavens were created.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > [noun] > origin > specific

abyssa1398

chaos1531

fortuitous concourse of atomsa1676

mundane egg1684

the world > space > shape > lack of shape > [noun] > (first) formless matter

mattera1382

abyssa1398

chaos1531

unnature1843

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156^v Þe primordial and firste matere, it was in þe bygynnyng of þe worlde noȝt distingued by certeyne forme, it is yclepid abissus..Abissus is þat bodilich þing þat god made to be matere of bodilich þinges, and þat mater was..withoute ordre and wiþoute liȝte, and so Abissus is þat..materia prima.

1678 J. Norris Coll. Misc. (1699) 21 But let a pure unquestion'd darkness rear Her Sooty Wings all o're the Air; Such as once on th' Abyss of Chaos lay.

1696 W. Whiston New Theory of Earth iii. 158 At the time immediately preceding the six days Creation, the face of the Abyss, or superior Regions of the Chaos, were involv'd in a thick Darkness.

1794 Brit. Critic 3 633 A divine emanation from Brahme, the supreme God, discovered floating about over the abyss of Chaos.

1863 C. Walworth Gentle Skeptic xviii. 197 He created heaven and earth by animating with a warm breath that matter which in the beginning of ages was only a vast abyss without form.

1890 Universalist Q. & Gen. Rev. 47 79 The Abyss, or Chaos of the Ancient Cosmogonies.

1938 L. J. Halle Birds against Men 201 A recognition of the primal chaos, of the abyss, would have made him an easy prey to death.

2007 A. Mason Necronomicon Gnosis 59 The Abyss is thus synonymous with the concept of Chaos.

b. In the ancient Hebrew cosmogony of the Old Testament: a vast subterranean body of water, the source of terrestrial water and of the Flood. Also: (in other cosmogonies) a primordial ocean on which the earth floated. Cf. abysm n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > water > body of water > [noun] > deep place or part > imaginary, under earth

abysmc1350

abyssa1398

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156b/b Also abissus, þat is depnesse of water, haþ of him silf dymnesse and depnesse and fongeþ al water.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156^v Abissus is depnesse of water vnsey, and þerof cometh and springeþ welles and ryuers.

1692 J. Ray Misc. Disc. v. 131 The Waters rising up out of the subterraneous Abyss, the Sea must needs succeed.

1701 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 3) i. 90 Bring up Springs and Rivers from the great Abyss.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word) The existence of an Abyss, or receptacle of subterraneous waters is..defended by Dr. Woodward.

1822 Retrosp. Rev. 6 139 The waters of the abyss began to settle too, and the dry land to appear.

1895 J. M'Clintock & J. Strong Cycl. Biblical, Theol., & Eccl. Lit. (new ed.) I. 39/2 It was believed that the abyss, or sea of fathomless waters, encompassed the whole earth.

1903 J. M. Robertson Pagan Christs ii. 218 A creative Sophia who equates with the creative Logos without any adaptation to the primordial abyss of waters.

1941 A. E. Haydon Biogr. Gods i. 15 An ancient myth, well-known in India and Europe, taught that the Creator was born from a cosmic egg which floated on the abyss of primeval waters.

1990 Omni Nov. 64/3 The waters of the Abyss had burst forth from the springs of the earth, and the waters of heaven had poured through the sluice gates in the vault.

c. The great deep or bottomless gulf believed in old cosmogonies to lie beneath the earth; the infernal pit, the abode of the dead, hell. Cf. abysm n. 1a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > as pit or abyss

hell pitOE

pitOE

abysmc1350

hell-holec1400

abyssc1460

bisme1483

pota1500

barathrum?1510

bottomless pit1526

limbo-lake1558

the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > earth > [noun] > that which lies beneath

abysmc1350

abyssc1460

c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Letabundus (Harl.) l. 97 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 52 Off Abyssi this Aungel bar the keyes, Callid Clauis Dauid to shettyn and vnshette, Whom hevene and helle and al the world obeyes.

a1500 ( Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) (1953) iii. xi. f. 55 This pitte..is the chief palice of helle, þat is calledd Abissus.

1591 E. Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints sig. F3 Image of hellish horrour Ignorance, Borne in the bosome of the black Abysse.

1649 R. Lovelace Lucasta: Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs 155 Ye blew-flam'd daughters oth' Abysse, Bring all your Snakes, here let them hisse.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 84 Our adversarie, whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no barrs of Hell..nor yet the main Abyss Wide interrupt can hold.

a1711 T. Ken Psyche ii, in Wks. (1721) IV. 205 That Angel..Of the Abyss Key-keeper made, Rules the infernal Shade.

a1736 T. Yalden On Re-printing Milton's Prose Wks. in Wks. Eng. Poets (1810) XI. 74/1 The dread abyss beneath, Hell's horrid mansions.

1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. vi. 198 The abyss of Tartarus, fast secured with iron gates, and a brazen floor.

1860 G. Turvey Occas. Ess. in Philos. I. 28 The lamentations of the damned and their shrieks of despair ascend from the abyss of hell to the throne of God for ever and ever.

1914 J. McDonnell Half-hours with God 157 The torrents of impiety and of unbelief mount up from the depths of the infernal abyss and threaten to submerge the world.

1965 Life 17 Dec. 43/3 Such theatrical scenes as the icy abyss of Hell..quickly became the most popular representations of Dante.

2002 R. Kaczynski Perdurabo viii. 131 Those who clung to some vestige of their former lives were mired forever in the Abyss.

2. A bottomless chasm; any unfathomable cavity or void space.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > extension downwards or depth > [noun] > great or considerable depth > deep place, part, or thing

piteOE

bottomOE

swallowa1100

profundity?a1425

abysmc1475

bisme1483

gulfa1533

abyss1538

fathom1608

profound1640

a well of a1843

subterranean1912

1538 T. Elyot Dict. Abyssus, is a depenes without bottom.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. 12 His deepe deuouring iawes Wyde gaped, like the griesly mouth of hell, Through which into his darke abysse all rauin fell.

1639 P. Massinger Unnaturall Combat ii. i. sig. D Were I condemn'd..to fill up..A bottomlesse Abysse, or charge through fire, It could not so much shake me.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 211 They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde.

1731 D. Mallet Eurydice i. i. 2 Where is she now! Hid in the wild abyss, with all her crew, All lost for ever!

1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 30 How striking the profundity of the abysses! the frightful elevation of the rocks!

1829 W. Scott Anne of Geierstein I. ii. 32 I can see part of it [sc. the pathway] lying down in the abyss.

1873 J. F. W. Herschel Pop. Lect. Sci. ii. §4. 50 That awful abyss which separates us from the stars.

1928 R. T. Hopkins Lure of Sussex 56 From this path you look down into an abyss whereof the slope is..starred with dainty violet-blue rampions.

1961 S. J. Perelman Rising Gorge 133 I stood reverently contemplating the torrent as it thundered four hundred feet into the Dantesque abyss.

2004 M. Farren Kindling iv. 182 He found himself on a bridge, a narrow span..that arched across a seemingly bottomless volcanic abyss.

3. figurative. An extremity of some condition or quality (usually a negative one); a condition from which recovery is impossible or unlikely.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > [noun] > good or bad condition or order

point?c1225

plighta1375

waya1400

ply1443

ploy1477

abyss1548

order1569

kilter1582

trim1628

tilter1674

fettle?1748

kidney1763

fix1816

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [noun] > quality or fact of being extreme > highest, utmost, or extreme degree

heightOE

perfectiona1398

utterestc1410

uttermosta1425

tiptoec1440

pinnaclec1450

utmost1472

outmostc1535

extremity1543

abyss1548

top1552

furthest, utmost stretch1558

summa summarum1567

superlative1573

strain1576

extreme1595

fine1596

last1602

yondmost1608

super-superlative1623

pitch1624

utmostness1674

pink1720

supreme1817

ultima Thule1828

peak1902

1548 A. Bacon tr. B. Ochino Serm. iii. sig. D.vi The bothomeles abisse of my synnes hath nede of y^e abisse of Christes passion.

1601 T. Lodge tr. Luis de Granada Flowers I. xi. f. 72 For the Abiss of diuine mercy, is not content to haue pardoned our sinnes, and to haue receiued man into his fauour.

1621 F. Bacon in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1881) 43 Your majesty's heart, which is an abyssus of goodness, as I am an abyssus of misery.

1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther i. 5 Thy throne is darkness in th' abyss of light, A blaze of glory that forbids the sight.

1723 J. Barker Patch-work Screen for Ladies 112 To trace but out the Follies of Mankind,..Is an Abyss, wherein to drown the Mind.

1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i. 4 Some of them seemed plunged in unfathomable abysses of disgrace.

1834 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 112 Pascal himself was..so hallucinated with hypochondrism as to believe that he was always on the verge of an abyss.

1871 F. T. Palgrave Lyrical Poems 101 Into the dismal abysses Where outworn centuries lie.

1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence ii. xxxii. 326 Looking over at her as if the slight distance between them were an unbridgeable abyss.

1944 W. H. Auden Sea & Mirror iii. 29 On the shuddering edge of the bohemian standardless abyss.

2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Apr. 30/3 This gave him impregnable security during Labour's descent into the abyss and slow climb back to electability.

†4. The centre of an escutcheon. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > escutcheon or shield > [noun] > one of nine fixed positions > other points

fesse-point1562

nombril1562

honour point1572

umbilic point1586

navel point1725

abyss1753

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Abyss is also used, in heraldry, to denote the centre of an escutcheon. [Also in later dictionaries].

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

abyssv.

Brit.

/əˈbɪs/, U.S.

/əˈbɪs/

Forms: see abyss n.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion; perhaps modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: abyss n.

Etymology: < abyss n., perhaps after Middle French, French abysmer, French abîmer (see abysm v.). Compare slightly later abysm v.

Now rare.

transitive. To swallow up in an abyss, to engulf.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > devour, engulf, or consume (of fire, water, etc.)

supeOE

eatc950

fretc1000

forthnimc1175

forfret?c1225

to-fret?c1225

swallowa1340

devourc1374

upsoup1382

consumea1398

bisweligha1400

founderc1400

absorb1490

to swallow up1531

upsupa1547

incinerate1555

upswallow1591

fire1592

absume1596

abyss1596

worm1604

depredate1626

to gulp downa1644

whelm1667

the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > wrapping > wrap [verb (transitive)] > enfold or envelop > in a surrounding medium > swallow up

swallowc1175

to swallow up1526

devour1555

engulf1555

abyss1596

involve1605

flapdragona1616

to suck upa1616

ingurgitatea1620

absorbeate1623

exorbeate1623

entomba1631

gulf1807

begulf1809

1596 A. Copley Fig for Fortune 68 She had no being at all aboue the earth But euer lay in deepest hell abyssed.

1643 R. Gentilis tr. G. Diodati Pious Annot. Holy Bible (Job x. 22) 73/2 All is there abissed and sunk into eternall night.

1669 ‘Eleutherius’ tr. L. M. Du Bail Famous Chinois i. 65 The principal Authors of it [sc. a revolt] determined..to Abyss themselves in the ruines of the State.

1776 W. Kenrick et al. tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Animals, Veg., & Minerals VI. xvi. 154 In 1693, this volcano vomited bitumen..and the whole abyss was abyss'd and disappeared.

1799 Llewellin III. vi. 175 There a precarious plank threatened, if trod upon, to sink abyssed.

1846 Chambers' Edinb. Jrnl. 29 Aug. 129/2 The hero must be abyssed in love; this is even more essential than entangling him in any other dreadful peril whatever.

1890 J. R. P. Huguet Consoling Thoughts of St. Francis de Sales iv. xi. 330 The assurance that my heart will be eternally abyssed in the love of the Heart of Jesus.

1902 C. Wells Abeniki Caldwell 75 Simple Jack Pudding wept as he saw the fearful chasm abyssing itself beneath the fine, frail strand.

1987 E. Sanders Thirsting for Peace in Raging Cent. 233 I thought of Archilochus whose work comes down to us in pitiful tatters gone shredded stomped abyssed.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	abyss
释义	abyssn. Brit. /əˈbɪs/, U.S. /əˈbɪs/ Forms: α. Middle English–1600s abissus, Middle English–1600s abyssus, late Middle English abyssi. β. 1500s–1600s abisse, 1500s–1600s abysse, 1600s–1700s abiss, 1600s– abyss. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin abyssus. Etymology: < post-classical Latin abyssus bottomless pit (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), primal chaos, pit of Hell, depth of wisdom (Vulgate), depth of sin (c400), depth of obscurity (8th cent. in a British source), depth of grief (from 13th cent. in British sources) < Hellenistic Greek ἄβυσσος the great deep, primal chaos (Septuagint), pit of Hell (New Testament), use as noun of feminine of ancient Greek ἄβυσσος bottomless, unfathomed, unfathomable, boundless < ἀ- a- prefix⁶ + βυσσός (see byss n.²). Compare Old French, Middle French abis (13th cent., rare), and also Old Occitan abis (14th cent.), Catalan abís (13th cent.), Spanish †abisso (13th cent.), Portuguese abisso (14th cent.), †avisso (13th cent.), Italian abisso (1306). Compare abysm n. (and foreign-language forms cited at that entry), abysmus n.In form abyssi in quot. c1460 at sense 1c after the Latin genitive form. In sense 4 after French abîme centre of an escutcheon (1671), specific sense of abîme abysm n. Compare the following Old English example of Abyssus (glossed as deepness n.; compare sense 1c), as the name of a door of one of the seven heavens in apocalyptic literature:OE Homily: Apocalypse of Thomas (Corpus Cambr. 41) in R. Willard Two Apocrypha in Old Eng. Homilies (1935) 4 Ðonne is þære dura nama þæs forman heofones Abyssus haten, þæt is, Deopnis. 1. a. The primal formless chaos out of which the earth and the heavens were created. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > [noun] > origin > specific abyssa1398 chaos1531 fortuitous concourse of atomsa1676 mundane egg1684 the world > space > shape > lack of shape > [noun] > (first) formless matter mattera1382 abyssa1398 chaos1531 unnature1843 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156^v Þe primordial and firste matere, it was in þe bygynnyng of þe worlde noȝt distingued by certeyne forme, it is yclepid abissus..Abissus is þat bodilich þing þat god made to be matere of bodilich þinges, and þat mater was..withoute ordre and wiþoute liȝte, and so Abissus is þat..materia prima. 1678 J. Norris Coll. Misc. (1699) 21 But let a pure unquestion'd darkness rear Her Sooty Wings all o're the Air; Such as once on th' Abyss of Chaos lay. 1696 W. Whiston New Theory of Earth iii. 158 At the time immediately preceding the six days Creation, the face of the Abyss, or superior Regions of the Chaos, were involv'd in a thick Darkness. 1794 Brit. Critic 3 633 A divine emanation from Brahme, the supreme God, discovered floating about over the abyss of Chaos. 1863 C. Walworth Gentle Skeptic xviii. 197 He created heaven and earth by animating with a warm breath that matter which in the beginning of ages was only a vast abyss without form. 1890 Universalist Q. & Gen. Rev. 47 79 The Abyss, or Chaos of the Ancient Cosmogonies. 1938 L. J. Halle Birds against Men 201 A recognition of the primal chaos, of the abyss, would have made him an easy prey to death. 2007 A. Mason Necronomicon Gnosis 59 The Abyss is thus synonymous with the concept of Chaos. b. In the ancient Hebrew cosmogony of the Old Testament: a vast subterranean body of water, the source of terrestrial water and of the Flood. Also: (in other cosmogonies) a primordial ocean on which the earth floated. Cf. abysm n. 1b. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > water > body of water > [noun] > deep place or part > imaginary, under earth abysmc1350 abyssa1398 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156b/b Also abissus, þat is depnesse of water, haþ of him silf dymnesse and depnesse and fongeþ al water. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 156^v Abissus is depnesse of water vnsey, and þerof cometh and springeþ welles and ryuers. 1692 J. Ray Misc. Disc. v. 131 The Waters rising up out of the subterraneous Abyss, the Sea must needs succeed. 1701 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 3) i. 90 Bring up Springs and Rivers from the great Abyss. 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word) The existence of an Abyss, or receptacle of subterraneous waters is..defended by Dr. Woodward. 1822 Retrosp. Rev. 6 139 The waters of the abyss began to settle too, and the dry land to appear. 1895 J. M'Clintock & J. Strong Cycl. Biblical, Theol., & Eccl. Lit. (new ed.) I. 39/2 It was believed that the abyss, or sea of fathomless waters, encompassed the whole earth. 1903 J. M. Robertson Pagan Christs ii. 218 A creative Sophia who equates with the creative Logos without any adaptation to the primordial abyss of waters. 1941 A. E. Haydon Biogr. Gods i. 15 An ancient myth, well-known in India and Europe, taught that the Creator was born from a cosmic egg which floated on the abyss of primeval waters. 1990 Omni Nov. 64/3 The waters of the Abyss had burst forth from the springs of the earth, and the waters of heaven had poured through the sluice gates in the vault. c. The great deep or bottomless gulf believed in old cosmogonies to lie beneath the earth; the infernal pit, the abode of the dead, hell. Cf. abysm n. 1a. ΘΚΠ the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > as pit or abyss hell pitOE pitOE abysmc1350 hell-holec1400 abyssc1460 bisme1483 pota1500 barathrum?1510 bottomless pit1526 limbo-lake1558 the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > earth > [noun] > that which lies beneath abysmc1350 abyssc1460 c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Letabundus (Harl.) l. 97 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 52 Off Abyssi this Aungel bar the keyes, Callid Clauis Dauid to shettyn and vnshette, Whom hevene and helle and al the world obeyes. a1500 ( Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) (1953) iii. xi. f. 55 This pitte..is the chief palice of helle, þat is calledd Abissus. 1591 E. Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints sig. F3 Image of hellish horrour Ignorance, Borne in the bosome of the black Abysse. 1649 R. Lovelace Lucasta: Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs 155 Ye blew-flam'd daughters oth' Abysse, Bring all your Snakes, here let them hisse. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 84 Our adversarie, whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no barrs of Hell..nor yet the main Abyss Wide interrupt can hold. View more context for this quotation a1711 T. Ken Psyche ii, in Wks. (1721) IV. 205 That Angel..Of the Abyss Key-keeper made, Rules the infernal Shade. a1736 T. Yalden On Re-printing Milton's Prose Wks. in Wks. Eng. Poets (1810) XI. 74/1 The dread abyss beneath, Hell's horrid mansions. 1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. vi. 198 The abyss of Tartarus, fast secured with iron gates, and a brazen floor. 1860 G. Turvey Occas. Ess. in Philos. I. 28 The lamentations of the damned and their shrieks of despair ascend from the abyss of hell to the throne of God for ever and ever. 1914 J. McDonnell Half-hours with God 157 The torrents of impiety and of unbelief mount up from the depths of the infernal abyss and threaten to submerge the world. 1965 Life 17 Dec. 43/3 Such theatrical scenes as the icy abyss of Hell..quickly became the most popular representations of Dante. 2002 R. Kaczynski Perdurabo viii. 131 Those who clung to some vestige of their former lives were mired forever in the Abyss. 2. A bottomless chasm; any unfathomable cavity or void space. ΘΚΠ the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > extension downwards or depth > [noun] > great or considerable depth > deep place, part, or thing piteOE bottomOE swallowa1100 profundity?a1425 abysmc1475 bisme1483 gulfa1533 abyss1538 fathom1608 profound1640 a well of a1843 subterranean1912 1538 T. Elyot Dict. Abyssus, is a depenes without bottom. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. 12 His deepe deuouring iawes Wyde gaped, like the griesly mouth of hell, Through which into his darke abysse all rauin fell. 1639 P. Massinger Unnaturall Combat ii. i. sig. D Were I condemn'd..to fill up..A bottomlesse Abysse, or charge through fire, It could not so much shake me. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 211 They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde. View more context for this quotation 1731 D. Mallet Eurydice i. i. 2 Where is she now! Hid in the wild abyss, with all her crew, All lost for ever! 1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 30 How striking the profundity of the abysses! the frightful elevation of the rocks! 1829 W. Scott Anne of Geierstein I. ii. 32 I can see part of it [sc. the pathway] lying down in the abyss. 1873 J. F. W. Herschel Pop. Lect. Sci. ii. §4. 50 That awful abyss which separates us from the stars. 1928 R. T. Hopkins Lure of Sussex 56 From this path you look down into an abyss whereof the slope is..starred with dainty violet-blue rampions. 1961 S. J. Perelman Rising Gorge 133 I stood reverently contemplating the torrent as it thundered four hundred feet into the Dantesque abyss. 2004 M. Farren Kindling iv. 182 He found himself on a bridge, a narrow span..that arched across a seemingly bottomless volcanic abyss. 3. figurative. An extremity of some condition or quality (usually a negative one); a condition from which recovery is impossible or unlikely. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > [noun] > good or bad condition or order point?c1225 plighta1375 waya1400 ply1443 ploy1477 abyss1548 order1569 kilter1582 trim1628 tilter1674 fettle?1748 kidney1763 fix1816 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [noun] > quality or fact of being extreme > highest, utmost, or extreme degree heightOE perfectiona1398 utterestc1410 uttermosta1425 tiptoec1440 pinnaclec1450 utmost1472 outmostc1535 extremity1543 abyss1548 top1552 furthest, utmost stretch1558 summa summarum1567 superlative1573 strain1576 extreme1595 fine1596 last1602 yondmost1608 super-superlative1623 pitch1624 utmostness1674 pink1720 supreme1817 ultima Thule1828 peak1902 1548 A. Bacon tr. B. Ochino Serm. iii. sig. D.vi The bothomeles abisse of my synnes hath nede of y^e abisse of Christes passion. 1601 T. Lodge tr. Luis de Granada Flowers I. xi. f. 72 For the Abiss of diuine mercy, is not content to haue pardoned our sinnes, and to haue receiued man into his fauour. 1621 F. Bacon in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1881) 43 Your majesty's heart, which is an abyssus of goodness, as I am an abyssus of misery. 1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther i. 5 Thy throne is darkness in th' abyss of light, A blaze of glory that forbids the sight. 1723 J. Barker Patch-work Screen for Ladies 112 To trace but out the Follies of Mankind,..Is an Abyss, wherein to drown the Mind. 1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i. 4 Some of them seemed plunged in unfathomable abysses of disgrace. 1834 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 112 Pascal himself was..so hallucinated with hypochondrism as to believe that he was always on the verge of an abyss. 1871 F. T. Palgrave Lyrical Poems 101 Into the dismal abysses Where outworn centuries lie. 1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence ii. xxxii. 326 Looking over at her as if the slight distance between them were an unbridgeable abyss. 1944 W. H. Auden Sea & Mirror iii. 29 On the shuddering edge of the bohemian standardless abyss. 2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Apr. 30/3 This gave him impregnable security during Labour's descent into the abyss and slow climb back to electability. †4. The centre of an escutcheon. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > escutcheon or shield > [noun] > one of nine fixed positions > other points fesse-point1562 nombril1562 honour point1572 umbilic point1586 navel point1725 abyss1753 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Abyss is also used, in heraldry, to denote the centre of an escutcheon. [Also in later dictionaries]. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021). abyssv. Brit. /əˈbɪs/, U.S. /əˈbɪs/ Forms: see abyss n. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion; perhaps modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: abyss n. Etymology: < abyss n., perhaps after Middle French, French abysmer, French abîmer (see abysm v.). Compare slightly later abysm v. Now rare. transitive. To swallow up in an abyss, to engulf. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > devour, engulf, or consume (of fire, water, etc.) supeOE eatc950 fretc1000 forthnimc1175 forfret?c1225 to-fret?c1225 swallowa1340 devourc1374 upsoup1382 consumea1398 bisweligha1400 founderc1400 absorb1490 to swallow up1531 upsupa1547 incinerate1555 upswallow1591 fire1592 absume1596 abyss1596 worm1604 depredate1626 to gulp downa1644 whelm1667 the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > wrapping > wrap [verb (transitive)] > enfold or envelop > in a surrounding medium > swallow up swallowc1175 to swallow up1526 devour1555 engulf1555 abyss1596 involve1605 flapdragona1616 to suck upa1616 ingurgitatea1620 absorbeate1623 exorbeate1623 entomba1631 gulf1807 begulf1809 1596 A. Copley Fig for Fortune 68 She had no being at all aboue the earth But euer lay in deepest hell abyssed. 1643 R. Gentilis tr. G. Diodati Pious Annot. Holy Bible (Job x. 22) 73/2 All is there abissed and sunk into eternall night. 1669 ‘Eleutherius’ tr. L. M. Du Bail Famous Chinois i. 65 The principal Authors of it [sc. a revolt] determined..to Abyss themselves in the ruines of the State. 1776 W. Kenrick et al. tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Animals, Veg., & Minerals VI. xvi. 154 In 1693, this volcano vomited bitumen..and the whole abyss was abyss'd and disappeared. 1799 Llewellin III. vi. 175 There a precarious plank threatened, if trod upon, to sink abyssed. 1846 Chambers' Edinb. Jrnl. 29 Aug. 129/2 The hero must be abyssed in love; this is even more essential than entangling him in any other dreadful peril whatever. 1890 J. R. P. Huguet Consoling Thoughts of St. Francis de Sales iv. xi. 330 The assurance that my heart will be eternally abyssed in the love of the Heart of Jesus. 1902 C. Wells Abeniki Caldwell 75 Simple Jack Pudding wept as he saw the fearful chasm abyssing itself beneath the fine, frail strand. 1987 E. Sanders Thirsting for Peace in Raging Cent. 233 I thought of Archilochus whose work comes down to us in pitiful tatters gone shredded stomped abyssed. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.a1398v.1596
随便看	divertive divertment diverts dives dives costs divesdom divest divest oneself of divested divestible divesting divestitive divestiture divestitures divestment divestments divests divesture divestures divey divi-divi diviciate dividable dividableness divide