| 释义 |
physiognomyn. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French phisenomie, phisonomie, physiognomie; Latin physiognomia. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman phisenomie and Middle French phisonomie, fisonomie, phizonomie, phisonomye, phizionomie, phisiognomie, physiognomie the art of judging a person's nature by his or her appearance (1256 in Old French as phisanomie ), features or expression of the face (mid 14th cent.; French physionomie , †physiognomie , †phisiognomie ) and its etymon post-classical Latin physiognomia, phisiognomia (also physiognomonia , phisiognomonia ; from 13th cent. also physionomia, physonomia) the science or art of judging a person's nature by his or her features (4th cent.), appearance, face (15th cent.), the supposed art of predicting the future by the features of the face (1508) < ancient Greek ϕυσιογνωμία (Hippocrates, cited in a work attributed to Galen) < (with elision of the antepenultimate syllable) ϕυσιογνωμονία < ϕυσιογνώμων judging a person's character by his or her features ( < ϕυσιο- physio- comb. form1 + γνώμων judge, interpreter: see gnomon n.) + -ία -y suffix3. Compare Old Occitan phizonomia (c1350), Catalan fisonomia , fesonomia (late 14th cent. as phisonomia ), Spanish fisonomía (late 14th cent., also †phisonomia ), fisionomía (1528; 1427–8 as phisionomía ), fisiognomía (1569 as phisiognomia , rare), Italian fisionomia (14th cent.), early modern German physonomie , phyzonomie facial features (1360), study of features or physical appearance (1523 or earlier as physionomey in a context of divination (compare sense 2); German Physiognomie). N.E.D.(1906) states that the pronunciation (fiziǫ·nŏmi) /fɪzɪˈɒnəmɪ/ ‘which formerly prevailed..is now somewhat old-fashioned’, citing quots. 1783 at γ. forms and 1840 at γ. forms in Forms section γ. British dictionaries gave one or other or both pronunciations until the mid 20th cent., but all editions of D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict.give only that without /ɡ/. I. The study of appearance. 1. the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychology of personality > analysis from bodily features > [noun] a1393 J. Gower (Fairf.) vi. 109 Thou scholdest be Phisonomie Be schapen to that maladie Of lovedrunke. c1450 (Sloane 2464) 2467 The excellent science..phisonomye, Be which thou shalt..knowe disposicioun..Of al thy peple. a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. (Rawl.) (1898) 219 (MED) Physnomye is a science to deme the condycions or vertues and maneres of Pepill, aftyr the toknesse or syngnesse that apperyth in facione or makynge of body, and namely of visage and of the voyce and of the coloure. 1591 R. Greene sig. K3 I haue not..such assured sight in phisognomie, as I dare auouch it for truth. 1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac III. 19 The reputation of my skill in Physnomie and Prognosticating. 1693 T. D'Urfey ii. i. 15 Stock. Come, Madam, I'll stand ye fair, 'faith: Your Reason, your Reason... Sophr. Why I have skill in Physiognomy, and see't in thy Face. a1720 J. Sheffield (1753) II. 60 An illustrious exception to all the common rules of Physiognomy. 1789 J. Byng Diary 31 May in (1938) IV. 105 His Face appears to me abundant of Honesty, Zeal, and good works;..there seems as if much useful knowledge were to be acquired from the Study of Physiognomy. 1820 6 651 Physiognomy takes cognizance of the shapes, and pathognomy of the motions of the features. 1853 C. Brontë I. vii. 125 I want your opinion. We know your skill in physiognomy... Read that countenance. 1915 W. S. Maugham xxvi. 107 Fräulein Anna took an interest in physiognomy and she made Philip notice afterwards how finely shaped was his skull, and how weak was the lower part of his face. 1990 57 693 Such assumptions were underpinned by still vigorous popular traditions of physiognomy and its related branches of pathognomy and phrenology. 1658 Sir T. Browne iii. 50 Since bones afford..figure unto the body; It is no impossible Physiognomy to conjecture at fleshy appendencies. the world > the universe > astrology > judicial astrology > [noun] > fortune foretold or character divined by the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > divination by personal appearance > [noun] > by the face 1531 c. 12 §4 Physyke, Physnamye, Palmestrye or other craftye scyences wherby they beare the people in hande that they can tell theire destenyes deceases & fortunes. 1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. v. f. 107/2, in R. Holinshed I Roges..practizers of Phisiognomie and Palmestrie, tellers of fortunes..and others. 1589 ‘Marphoreus’ Ep. Ded. sig. A2v For that it seemeth you haue some skill in Astrologie,..let vs haue a glimpse at the least, of the fooles phisnomies. 1651 R. Baxter 242 According to my little skill in Physiognomy, I hope he may live yet many a yeer. 1684 tr. H. C. Agrippa (new ed.) 99 Among the arts therefore of Fortune-telling vulgarly professed in hope of gain, are Physiognomy,..Soothsaying, Speculatory, and Interpretation of Dreams. 1788 xxi. 680 Any Justice of the Peace..may send and commit unto the said house (of correction)..persons..feigning themselves to have knowledge in physiognomy, palmestry, or pretending that they can tell destinies or fortunes. 1976 18 Dec. 10/2 The future is not in the palm of your hands, it's in your face, according to the ancient Chinese art of p [h] ysiognomy. 1990 L. Picknett 73/1 The Chinese have always set great store by both physiognomy (face reading) and palmistry. II. Physical appearance. 3. the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > [noun] the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > [noun] > as index of character c1425 (c1400) 6328 (MED) For Alle Achilles trecherie, Thei wolde not sen his ffisnamye. c1460 (?c1400) 3196 (MED) I knowe wele by thy fisnamy thy kynd were to stele. 1509 S. Hawes (1555) R iij b For you are euill fauoured, and also vgly, I am the worse, to se your visnamy. 1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus i. iv. 39 Dyuers peoples of sondry phisonomy and shape. 1579–80 G. Harvey (1884) 98 Eies glauncinge, fisnamy smirkinge. 1614 J. Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque in W. C. Hazlitt (1875) XI. 264 You shall march a whole day..and not disrank one hair of your physiognomy. 1624 R. Burton (ed. 2) iii. iii. i. ii. 473 She did abhorre her husbands phisnomy. 1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley v. sig. I4v I haue seene that physiognomy; Were you never in prison. 1753 S. Richardson I. ii. 8 The grace which that people call Physiognomy, and we may call Expression. 1792 H. H. Brackenridge (1937) I. i. 68 The young man..was of a handsome personal appearance, and of an eye and physiognomy that indicated sensibility and understanding. 1819 W. Scott Bride of Lammermoor ii*, in 3rd Ser. II. 55 The loon has woodie written on his very visnomy. 1856 R. W. Emerson iv. 54 Each religious sect has its physiognomy. The Methodists have acquired a face; the Quakers, a face; the nuns, a face. 1869 H. F. Tozer II. 305 The distinctive Greek physiognomy was no longer to be found. 1892 27 Feb. 379/1 None had ever a more expressive viznomy than this prince of ‘muggers’. 1938 Z. Grey iv. 53 He was a rugged man in the prime of life, tall, erect, broad-shouldered, with a physiognomy that baffled her. 1962 S. J. Perelman in 7 Apr. 39/1 I can just picture a sardonic smile wreathing your physiognomy as, meerschaum in hand, you peruse these lines in your study. 2003 (Nexis) Nov. 84 She was not only allowing us to stare but insisting that we look beyond the jarring physiognomies of what she termed ‘singular people’. society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > painting according to subject > [noun] > portrait-painting > a portrait 1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine 339/2 Oure lord..toke fro the payntour a lynnen clothe and set it upon his vysage and enprynted the very physonomye of his vysage therin. 1547 Inventory in f. 117v The phisionomye of Kinge henrie theight painted in a Table. 1587 in H. Ellis (1824) 1st Ser. III. 52 (note) One little Flower of gold with a frogg thereon, and therein Mounsier his phisnamye. 1603 H. Crosse sig. R3v Appelles would not loose a day without shadowing a phisnomie. 4. the world > space > shape > [noun] the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > appearance or aspect > [noun] 1567 J. Maplet f. 7 Efestides [sc. a kind of stone] is in colour and Phisiognomie verie shamefast and childish. 1819 P. B. Shelley 27 Sept. (1964) II. 121 Its physiognomy indicates it to be a city, which..yet possesses most amiable qualities. 1830 C. Lyell I. 362 The most grand and original feature in the physiognomy of Etna. 1863 N. Hawthorne I. 228 The old highways..adapted themselves..to the physiognomy of the country. 1903 J. C. Tarver tr. G. Hanotaux I. i. 10 The valley of the Rhine and Meuse has a physiognomy of its own in Europe. 1993 Jan. 70/2 Arras municipal council..had already voted unanimously in favour of restoring the town's pre-war physiognomy. the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [noun] > community or association > appearance of 1845 C. Darwin Let. 16 Apr. in (1987) III. 178 You have already told me that the plants [of the Galapagos] have a S. American physionomy. 1878 12 369 If we consider what may be called their physiognomy alone, the descent of the true palm from the sago-palm, or both from a common ancestor in the Cycadaceæ would seem in a high degree probable. 1926 A. G. Tansley & T. F. Chipp ii. 11 The physiognomy or ‘look’ of an association is primarily determined by the life form of its dominant species. 1999 E. G. Leigh vii Moynihan engaged me to compare the structure and physiognomy of tropical forests. the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [noun] > a characteristic a1680 S. Butler (1759) II. 494 There is a Kind of Physiognomy in the Titles of Books, no less than in the Faces of Men, by which a skilful Observer will as well know what to expect from the one as the other. c1796 T. Twining (1894) 91 The moral physiognomy of certain sections of the United States. a1854 H. Reed (1878) iii. 93 You may discover the physiognomy, that is in speech, as well as in face. 1879 No. 3374. 2 The utter change in the political physiognomy of the new Landtag. 1946 19 July 7/6 French music, though neither folk nor national in its physiognomy, has always been distinctly and decisively French. 1991 (Nexis) 23 Sept. The Academy preserved its moral physiognomy and survived by staying faithful to itself. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022). <  n.a1393 |
