| 释义 |
legible, a. (n.)|ˈlɛdʒɪb(ə)l|
Also 4 legeable, 5 legibylle.
[ad. late L. legibilis (6th c.), f. legĕre to read: see -ble.]
That can be read. a. Of writing: Plain enough to be read; easily made out or deciphered.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xlii. (Agatha) 283 And wrytine ves in þat tabil rycht fare lettire & legeable. 1483Cath. Angl. 212/2 Legibylle, legibilis. 1560Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. ii. 8 b, Dresse the letters after thys maner..and they shalbe legible. 1620Middleton Chaste Maid v. i, A fair, fast, legible hand. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 403 Strange Characters..so eaten out by time, that they were not legible. 1719Swift To Yng. Clergym. Wks. 1755 II. ii. 11 Their heads held down..within an inch of the cushion, to read what is hardly legible. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 218 Over each box should be a legible inscription.
b. Of compositions: Accessible to readers (nonce-use); also, easy to read, readable. rare.
1676W. Hubbard Happiness of People Pref., For their sakes who..were denied the opportunity to be of the Auditory, I have condescended to make it Legible. 1820Shelley Lett. Prose Wks. 1880 IV. 178, I am translating in ottava rima the Hymn to Mercury... My next effort will be, that it should be legible, a quality much to be desired in translations. 1840Mill Diss. & Disc. (1859) II. 121 French books are supposed to be sufficiently legible in England without translation.
c. transf. and fig.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. iii. §2. 16 That excellent correspondence, which is betweene Gods revealed will and his secret will..is not legible to the Naturall Man. 1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) To Rdr., I have..endeavoured to make my thoughts as legible as I can. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. (O.H.S.) III. 112 His epitaph is legible in the larg volumes of his workes. 1703Collier Ess. ii. 102 People's opinions of themselves are commonly legible in their countenances. 1774Jefferson Autobiog. App., Wks. 1859 I. 141 The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader. 1825Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Superannuated Man, My fellows in the office would sometimes rally me upon the trouble legible in my countenance.
d. as n. pl. Matter for reading. rare—1.
1864Realm 10 Feb. 1 Natonal education too much resembles the powerful winch of a literary air-pump, screwing up the demand for legibles, and lightening the atmospheric pressure of criticism on the supply.
Hence ˈlegibleness, legibility.
1727in Bailey vol. II. |
