| 释义 |
▪ I. inflexible, a.1|ɪnˈflɛksɪb(ə)l|
[ad. L. inflexibil-is, f. in- (in-3) + flexibilis flexible: cf. F. inflexible (13–14th c. in Littré).]
Not flexible.
1. Incapable of being bent; unbendable; not pliant; rigid, stiff.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. i. ii. 24 If þat he [the ligament] hadde be inflexible as a boon..oon lyme myȝte not han meued wiþouten anoþer. 1545Joye Exp. Dan. vi. (R.), Of this thing is the king's scepter a very apt signe and token, in that it is ferme and inflexible. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 153 His trunck..is crooked, gristly, and inflexible, at the root next to the nose. 1725Pope Odyss. xxi. 188 The bow inflexible resists their pain. 1728Pemberton Newton's Philos. 63 If two equal bodies..be hung at the extremities of an inflexible rod. 1892Strand Mag. Dec. 652/1 An ivory-handled knife with a very delicate inflexible blade.
2. Unbending in temper or purpose; not to be turned from a purpose by persuasion or argument; immovable, inexorable.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. viii. (Add. MS. 27,944 lf. 15/1) He is inflexible, stedfast, and faileþ not. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 168 The bischop vas inflexibil. 1542N. Udall in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 6 Not to bee inexorable nor inflexible towardes me your poor servant. 1694Kettlewell Comp. Persecuted 145 Fill me with an inflexible Integrity and Constancy in my Duty. 1716Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 21 Nov., She..remains still inflexible, either to threats or promises. 1777Watson Philip II, xvi. (1839) 329 Sebastian adhered to his purpose with inflexible obstinacy. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 727 Billop, though courteous, was inflexible.
3. Unalterable, rigidly fixed.
1693South Twelve Serm. (1698) III. 84 To make it the Rigid Inflexible Rule, which it is to Judge by. 1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. viii. 220 Nature's laws are more inflexible than iron. 1885S. Cox Exposit. Ser. i. ii. 20 The moral order of the universe is as inflexible as the physical order.
▪ II. † inflexible, a.2 Obs. rare.
[f. L. inflex- (see inflex a.) + -ible.]
Capable of being inflected; in Optics diffrangible. Hence † inflexiˈbility.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 405 Hym semede his herte to be more inflexible [L. inflecti] to melody then to chevallery. 1796H. Brougham in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 233 Wherefore I conclude that the rays of the sun's light differ in degree of inflexibility, and that those which are least refrangible are most inflexible. 1857H. Lloyd Wave-Theory Light (ed. 2) §95 Supposing that the rays which differ in refrangibility differ also in inflexibility. |
