| 释义 |
sesquipedalian, a. and n.|ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən|
[f. L. sesquipedālis: see sesquipedal and -ian.]
A. adj.
1. Of words and expressions (after Horace's sesquipedalia verba ‘words a foot and a half long’, A.P. 97): Of many syllables.
1656Blount Glossogr. s.v., Sesquipedalian words (verba sesquipedalia) used by Horace for great, stout, and lofty words; words that are very long, consisting of many Syllables. 1661K. W. Conf. Char., Courtier (1860) 20 Noddle puzzling sesquepedalian words. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1776 (1831) III. 407 Finding one of his sesquipedalian words hang fire. 1793W. Roberts Looker-on No. 80 (1794) III. 276 A set of sesquipedalian exclamations. 1807Southey Spec. Eng. Poets I. Pref. p. xviii, The verses of Stephen Hawes are as full of barbarous sesquipedalian Latinisms, as the prose of the Rambler. 1861Max Müller Sci. Lang. Ser. i. viii. (1864) 338 In these sesquipedalian compounds the significative root remains distinct. 1886R. F. Burton Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.) I. Forew. p. xii, Sesquipedalian un-English words.
b. transf. Given to using long words.
1853Mrs. Gaskell Cranford v, Towards the end of her letter Miss Jenkyns used to become quite sesquipedalian.
¶ Used for ‘very tall or big’.
1857Trollope Barchester T. xxv, This [half-crown] she sacrificed to the avarice of Mrs. Proudie's metropolitan sesquipedalian serving-man.
2. Half a yard high or long.
c1714Arbuthnot, etc. Mem. M. Scribl. i. xiv. (1741) 48 Hast thou ever measur'd the gigantick Ethiopian, whose stature is above eight cubits high, or the sesquipedalian Pigmey?
B. n.
1. A person or thing that is a foot and a half in height or length.
1615Curry-Combe for Coxe-Combe iii. 113 He thought fit by his variety, to make you knowne for a viperous Sesquipedalian in euery coast. 1656Blount Glossogr.
2. A sesquipedalian word.
1830Fraser's Mag. I. 350 What an amazing power in writing down hard names and sesquipedalians does not the following passage manifest! 1894Nat. Observer 6 Jan. 194/2 His sesquipedalians recall the utterances of another Doctor.
Hence ˌsesquipeˈdalianism, style characterized by the use of long words; lengthiness; so sesquiˈpedalism; ˌsesquipeˈdality, sesquipedalian quality; transf. great length, lengthiness; also, ‘the practice of using long words’ (Ogilvie, 1882).
1863Sat. Rev. 440 How dear to his heart must be that marvellous *sesquipedalianism in which he ordinarily revels. 1887W. C. Russell Bk. for Hammock (1893) 120 Everything must be done quickly at sea: there is no time for sesquipedalianism.
1873F. Hall Mod. Eng. 148 The era of galvanized *sesquipedalism and sonorous cadences.
1759Sterne Tr. Shandy ii. ix, With a breadth of back, and a *sesquipedality of belly, which might have done honour to a serjeant in the horse-guards. 1850Fraser's Mag. XLI. 654 There is certainly some sesquipedality in the word. 1855Ibid. LI. 63 A most wonderful topknotted cock with a sesquipedality of wattle. |
