| 释义 |
paroxysm|ˈpærəksɪz(ə)m|
Also 7 -isme, -ysme, -im(e, 7–8 -ism.
[a. F. paroxysme (16th c.), earlier peroxime (13–14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. med.L. paroxysmus irritation, exasperation, a. Gr. παροξυσµός, f. παροξύνειν to goad, exasperate, irritate, f. παρ(α- para-1 1 + ὀξύν-ειν to sharpen, goad, render acute. In 16th c. used in Greek or L. form.]
1. Path. An increase of the acuteness or severity of a disease, usually recurring periodically in its course; a violent temporary access of disease; a fit.
[1577Frampton Joyfull Newes ii. 86 When thei bee in their traunce, or paroxismos the smoke of it maketh theim to awake.] 1604T. Wright Passions v. §2. 161 When the paroxime was vpon them. 1605B. Jonson Volpone iii. v, Againe, I feare a Paroxisme. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 83 If they can..go but so far, as to call the fit of an Ague, a Paroxysme,..my admiring Patient taketh him to be a great Schollard. 1704F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 34 They may give wonderful Relief in the Paroxism. 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 409 In the course of the paroxysm she felt great aversion to water. 1876tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. (ed. 6) 16 The period in which the symptoms make their appearance is called the paroxysm or attack.
2. A violent access of action or emotion; a fit, convulsion (e.g. of laughter, excitement, rage, terror, etc.; also said of physical processes, as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions).
1641Milton Reform. i. Wks. (1851) 30, I will not run into a paroxism of citations again on this point. 1762Sterne Tr. Shandy VI. xxiii, In one or two of the more violent paroxysms of the siege. 1839James Louis XIV, IV. 42 He was cast into paroxysms of rage and despair which were frightful to behold. 1869Phillips Vesuv. iii. 48 In this violent paroxysm the whole top of the mountain is believed to have been swept away.
b. (Without pl.) The extreme height or violence, the acute stage (of any action, etc.). Now rare.
1650Fuller Pisgah iv. v. 84 And four-score [Years]..in the Paroxysme of their [Egyptian] bondage. 1693R. Fleming Disc. Earthquakes 110 By a falling down of the greatest Darkness, he brings their case to some higher Paroxism. 1821J. Q. Adams in Davies Metr. Syst. iii. (1871) 145 At the very moment of fanatical paroxysm of the French revolution.
c. Violent or convulsive (physical) action.
1893A. W. Momerie in J. H. Barrows World's Parlt. Relig. I. 271 It is manifest that the species themselves..have been created not by paroxysm but by evolution.
†3. A violent outburst; an open quarrel. Obs.
1650Fuller Pisgah iv. i. 13 The greatest contention happening here, was that Paroxysme betwixt Paul and Barnabas. 1655― Ch. Hist. ii. ii. §88 The paroxisme continued and encreased betwixt the Scotish Bishops..and such who celebrated Easter after the Roman rite. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. ii. iii. (1852) 372 The misunderstanding did proceed so far as to produce a paroxism. |
