请输入您要查询的英文单词:

 

单词 protean
释义

Proteanadj.n.

Brit. /ˈprəʊtɪən/, /prəʊˈtiːən/, U.S. /ˈproʊdiən/, /proʊˈtiən/
Forms: also with lower-case initial.
Origin: From a proper name, combined with an English element. Etymons: proper name Proteus , -an suffix.
Etymology: < the name of Proteus (see Proteus n.) + -an suffix. Compare French Protéen (1571 and 1580 in isolated attestations in Middle French as protean; subsequently from 1869).
A. adj.
1. Of or relating to Proteus, like that of Proteus. Hence in extended use: adopting or existing in various shapes, variable in form; variously manifested or expressed; changing, unpredictable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > [adjective] > having many or all forms
variformed1578
milliformc1581
Protean1594
multiform1603
shapeful?1615
omniform1642
polymorphean1656
diversiform1660
variform1662
multiformousa1670
proteiform1724
various1725
versiform1727
polymorphous1798
maniform?1811
polymorphic1816
pantomorphic1836
omniformal1848
polymorph1872
pluriform1938
the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective]
slidinga900
wankleeOE
windyc1000
unsteadfastc1200
fleeting?c1225
loose?c1225
brotelc1315
unstablec1340
varyingc1340
variantc1374
motleyc1380
ungroundedc1380
muablea1393
passiblea1393
remuablea1393
changeablea1398
movablea1398
variablec1397
slidderya1400
ticklec1400
variantc1412
flitting1413
mutable?a1425
movingc1425
flaskisable1430
flickering1430
transmutablec1430
vertible1447
brittlea1450
ficklea1450
permutablec1450
unfirmc1450
uncertain1477
turnable1483
unsteadfast1483
vagrantc1522
inconstant1526
alterable?1531
stirringc1540
slippery1548
various1552
slid?1553
mutala1561
rolling1561
weathery1563
unconstant1568
interchangeable1574
fluctuant1575
stayless1575
transitive1575
voluble1575
changeling1577
queasy1579
desultory1581
huff-puff1582
unstaid1586
vagrant1586
changeful1590
floating1594
Protean1594
unstayed1594
swimming1596
anchorless1597
mobilec1600
ticklish1601
catching1603
labile1603
unrooted1604
quicksilvered1605
versatile1605
insubstantial1607
uncertain1609
brandling1611
rootless1611
squeasy1611
wind-changinga1616
insolid1618
ambulatory1625
versatilous1629
plastic1633
desultorious1637
unbottomed1641
fluid1642
fluent1648
yea-and-nay1648
versipellous1650
flexile1651
uncentred1652
variating1653
chequered1656
slideable1662
transchangeative1662
weathercock-like1663
flicketing1674
fluxa1677
lapsable1678
wanton1681
veering1684
upon the weathercock1702
contingent1703
unsettled?1726
fermentable1731
afloat1757
brickle1768
wavy1795
vagarious1798
unsettled1803
fitful1810
metamorphosical1811
undulating1815
tittupya1817
titubant1817
mutative1818
papier mâché1818
teetotum1819
vacillating1822
capricious1823
sensitive1828
quicksilvery1829
unengrafted1829
fluxionala1834
proteiform1833
liquid1835
tottlish1835
kaleidoscopic1846
versative1846
kaleidoscopical1858
tottery1861
choppy1865
variative1874
variational1879
wimbly-wambly1881
fluctuable1882
shifty1882
giveable1884
shifty1884
tippy1886
mutatory1890
upsettable1890
rocky1897
undulatory1897
streaky1898
tottly1905
tipply1906
up and down1907
inertialess1927
sometimey1946
rise-and-fall1950
switchable1961
the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective]
sunderlyeOE
manifoldeOE
selcoutha1000
felefoldc1000
mislichOE
alkinOE
manykinOE
fele-kync1175
serekina1300
sundera1325
sundrya1325
serea1340
divers1340
varyingc1340
variantc1380
muchfoldc1384
serelepesa1400
serelepya1400
multifaryc1460
sundryfoldc1460
multiplicate?a1475
variable?a1475
sundrilyc1480
diversea1542
particoloured1591
multifarious1593
Protean1594
daedal1596
choiceful1605
Daedalian1605
multiplex1606
variated1608
diversified1611
multiplicious1617
variousa1634
multivarious1636
mosaic1644
multiple1647
omnigenous1650
chequered1656
plurifarious1656
ununiform1660
variate1677
disuniform1687
Proteusian1689
unsteady1690
unequable1693
inequable1721
variegating1727
varied1733
multitudinous1744
multifold1806
polygeneous1818
unequalized1822
ruleless1836
varicoloured185.
non-uniform1856
omnigener1857
polytypic1858
multiferous1860
variatious1871
variegated1872
polytypical1890
the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > [adjective] > changing in form
form-shifting1593
Protean1594
shape-changing1621
Proteusian1689
metamorphostical1722
metamorphic1816
proteiform1833
shape-shifting1884
1594 G. Chapman Σκìα Νυκτòς sig. Biv Sweet Protean dreames she sends of euery sort: Some taking formes of Princes, to perswade..Some clad in habit of deceased friends [etc.].
1598 J. Marston Certaine Satyres in Metamorph. Pigmalions Image 47 I shall stand in doubt What sex thou art, since such Hermaphrodites Such Protean shadowes so delude our sights.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage viii. x. 664 He escaped by his Protean Arts; now appearing like an Eagle, the second time like a Tygre, the third like a Serpent.
1679 Established Test 3 Their Protean Faculties of Dissimulation, Perjury, and Putting on so many Shapes.
1700 T. D'Urfey Famous Hist. Rise & Fall Massaniello i. v. i. 45 So well I've plotted, I am unsuspected of the late Conspiracy—and now have formed another Protean plot, to seat myself securely.
1753 H. Jones Merit 21 The Protean Skill of Action we admire. The Eagle thus that wheels aloft in Air, Can sudden stoop..Then instant spring, and mount to Heav'n again.
1832 Times 31 Mar. 4/3 The Lord Chancellor, with all his Protean powers.
1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 559/2 Its geological relations should always be consulted before deciding on the name of this Protean rock.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species ii. 46 Genera which have sometimes been called ‘protean’ or ‘polymorphic’, in which the species present an inordinate amount of variation.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xiv. 97 The scene had time to go through several of its Protean mutations.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 346 General paralysis is of necessity a protean malady.
1929 C. Aiken Sel. Poems 335 Her protean fiery body and lithe arms.
1978 I. Berlin Russian Thinkers 23 The many varied provinces of Pushkin's protean genius.
1991 R. Rendell Kissing Gunner's Daughter (1992) xii. 142 There was something protean about him, so that in certain lights and at certain angles you would have called him a sharp-featured man with a hard jawline, while at others his nose and mouth looked almost feminine.
2. Biology. Designating protozoans (esp. amoebas) which can vary their shape. Cf. Proteus n. 2a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > protozoa > class Sarcodina > [adjective] > resembling member of Sarcodina
proteiform1724
Protean1813
1813 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. (ed. 4) III. 568 The Protean Vibrio..a species which has derived its name from its very singular power of assuming different shapes.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 645/1 The Protean animals..do not undergo..any further metamorphosis.
1874 Amer. Naturalist 8 741 We have almost anticipated a definition of the Rhizopoda, of which the Amœba, or Protean animalcule, is the simplest form.
3. Theatre. Of a performance: having the same actors playing several parts in the same piece; (of a performer) playing several characters in the same piece, ‘quick-change’. Cf. sense B. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [adjective] > type of actor by performance
tear-cat1606
Roscian1607
buffo1789
stickish1810
Protean1871
glimmery1892
hammy1929
ham1935
pixilated1959
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > [adjective] > other types of acting
straight1895
Protean1946
1871 Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 2 May 1/1 Operettas, Protean Burlesque, Monologue and Duologue Pieces.
1892 Chicago Tribune 4 Aug. The academy is not so rich in Shakespearean scenery as in..appurtenances of the protean drama.
1897 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 4/5 Few will deny that Leopoldi Fregoli..is..alert, versatile, neat in his business, quick as lightning in his changes, and..the best ‘protean’ entertainer that the oldest playgoer has ever seen.
1946 S. T. Felstead Stars who made Halls xiii. 132 This was nothing more than protean work; he had to play five characters a night and received thereby the munificent sum of twenty-five shillings a week.
1995 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 14 Oct. The Protean extras transform from eunuch to soldier or slave in double-quick-change time.
4. Zoology. Of animal behaviour: unpredictable and confusing, thus providing a defence against predators.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [adjective] > unpredictable
Protean1959
1959 Chance & Russell in Proc. Zool. Soc. 132 67 We therefore propose the term ‘Protean Displays’. The mythical Proteus frustrated would-be captors by constantly changing his shape, so that they had nothing systematic to which to react.
1970 Nature 6 June 968/1 We have surveyed the occurrence of such protean behaviours and defined them as behaviours which are sufficiently unsystematic in appearance to prevent a reactor predicting in detail the position and/or actions of the actor.
1993 Canad. Jrnl. Zool. 71 1562 We suggest that low-altitude erratic flight in moths is a protean insurance defence against bats.
B. n.
1.
a. A person who or thing which changes form, character, nature, role, etc., rapidly or frequently.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > [noun] > deliberate > exploiter of
Protean1598
equivocator1599
Janus face1654
straddle-bug1872
agnostic1885
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [noun] > inconstant person or thing > inconstant person
starter1519
changeling1539
flirt1577
Protean1598
weathercock1598
changerc1600
mooncalf1607
minute jacka1616
a nose of wax1821
sugar stick1825
wax-nosea1843
in-and-outer1905
brainstormer1907
1598 J. Marston Certaine Satyres in Metamorph. Pigmalions Image 38 These same Proteans, whose hipocrisie, Doth still abuse our fond credulity.
1664 T. Killigrew 2nd Pt. Thomaso v. i, in Comedies & Trag. 444 Switzers with two-colour'd Coats, Knaves of divers colours, black and white Knaves, such Proteans a Lady knows not when to love or hate them.
1918 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 17 Feb. iii. 4/1 The attack upon this most unfortunate of Proteans [sc. Nietzsche] has been partly due to the actions of his own countrymen.
1927 Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 10 Nov. 6/1 (title of poem) Proteans of the wild.
1971 W. R. Johnson Luxuriance & Econ. 26 Participles, those marvellously aspectual proteans, half-noun, half-adjective, that can..impersonate or describe whatever phenomenon a Greek sentence wants to sketch.
1999 S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) ix. 265 And once we've learned how to change our skins, we Proteans, sometimes we can't stop, we career between selves, lane-hopping wildly, trying not to run off the road and crash.
b. An actor capable of performing a variety of parts, esp. one who plays several parts in the same piece (see sense A. 3).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor playing specific type of part > actor playing two or more parts
double1808
Protean1890
1890 Cent. Dict. Protean, an actor who plays a number of parts in one piece.
1953 M. Redgrave Actor's Ways & Means 19 There are ‘personality’ actors and the rest—the ‘Proteans’.
1969 Times 1 Oct. (Review section) iii./5 And there are Proteans—actors who get under the skin of a part and fit themselves into its furrows.
1994 Syracuse (N. Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 28 Sept. b5/4 The Proteans are particularly funny as soldiers under the command of Gloriosus and as the eunuchs in charge of Marcus Lycus' stable of lovelies.
2. Zoology. = proteid n.2 Cf. Proteus n. 2b. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1890 Cent. Dict. Protean, a salamander of the family Proteidæ.

Derivatives

ˈproteanism n. rare capacity for change, variability, unpredictability.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > changeableness > [noun]
unstablenessc1340
varyingc1380
uncertaintyc1384
brotelnessc1386
were1390
instabilityc1422
bricklenessa1425
changeability?a1425
changeableness1447
vertibility1447
mutability?a1475
variableness?a1475
inconstance1509
mutationa1542
fickleness1548
variety1548
unconstancy1563
mobility1567
unstability1572
vicissitude1576
variousness1607
inconstancy1613
slipperinessa1618
alterableness1633
versatilousness1640
bottomlessness1642
lability1651
brittlety1652
versatileness1654
fluctuancy1659
fugitivenessa1661
alterability1661
permutability1662
unfixedness1668
mutablenessa1677
flittingnessa1680
frailness1687
flittiness1692
versability1721
plasticity1727
variability1771
unestablishment1776
fluctuabilitya1786
changefulness1791
unsettledness1799
versatility1802
harlequinism1808
fluidity1824
fitfulness1825
sensitiveness1825
insubstantiality1848
contingency1858
rootlessness1859
shiftingness1866
ficklety1888
variancy1888
impredicability1906
proteanism1909
1909 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 30 72 It is difficult for a mere European, brought up on a dictionary and accustomed to define everything accurately, to grasp the Proteanism, the fluidity, if I may so speak, of the Hindu divinity called for the most part simply Devi.
1951 R. Hargreaves This Happy Breed vii. 77 The proteanism of his endless duties knows no limitation.
1998 New Scientist 22 Aug. 32/3 Proteanism could also make sense of some of the more bizarre interactions between predators and prey.
ˈproteanly adv. rare in a protean manner (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > [adverb] > in different forms
proteanly1678
variformly1891
the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > [adverb]
transitively1577
proteanly1678
transformingly1866
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 36 Matter..only Proteanly transformed into different Shapes.
1962 MLN 77 353 The author had mistakenly identified the artists from the initials on the engravings, and he had no idea of how proteanly interchangeable text and illustration were.
1988 New Lit. Hist. 20 202 Croce and Derrida's shared historicist view of language as proteanly dynamic and creative.
2000 D. Carr Professionalism & Ethics in Teaching i. i. 10 Both concepts are proteanly resistant to precise formulations.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.1594
随便看

 

英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。

 

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间:2025/3/4 19:22:16