hum·ble /ˈhʌmbəl ||ˈʌm-/
(a.)卑下的,謙遜的,粗陋的(vt.)使…卑下,挫,貶抑
Hum·ble a. [Compar. Humbler superl. Humblest ]
1. Near the ground; not high or lofty.
Thy humble nest built on the ground. --Cowley.
2. Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects.
3. Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; weak; modest. Used to describe people.
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. --Jas. iv. 6.
She should be humble who would please. --Prior.
Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation. --Washington.
Humble plant Bot., a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva).
To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humiliation; -- a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles. --Halliwell. --Thackeray.
Hum·ble a. Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.]
Hum·ble v. t. [imp. & p. p. Humbled p. pr. & vb. n. Humbling ]
1. To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate.
Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues
Have humbled to all strokes. --Shak.
The genius which humbled six marshals of France. --Macaulay.
2. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive; -- often used rexlexively.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. --1 Pet. v. 6.
Syn: -- To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade.
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humble
adj 1: low or inferior in station or quality; "a humble cottage";
"a lowly parish priest"; "a modest man of the people";
"small beginnings" [syn: low, lowly, modest, small]
2: marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful; "a
humble apology"; "essentially humble...and self-effacing,
he achieved the highest formal honors and distinctions"-
B.K.Malinowski [ant: proud]
3: used of unskilled work (especially domestic work) [syn: menial,
lowly]
4: of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense);
"baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or
lowly) birth" [syn: base, baseborn, lowly]
v 1: cause to be unpretentious; "This experience will humble him"
2: cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of; "He humiliated his
colleague by criticising him in front of the boss" [syn: humiliate,
mortify, chagrin, abase]