| 词组 | avid |
| 释义 | avid "Avid," says Barzun 1985, "means hungry, greedy, moved by physical appetite." With this definition as his point of reference, he goes on to criticize several uses of the word that do not fit his conception of the word's meaning. Kingsley Amis, in Michaels 8c Ricks 1980, seems to concur. Barzun's definition, however, cannot be found in the OED or Webster's Second or Webster's Third, and for good reason—it does not represent what the word usually means. Barzun perhaps based his notion on the meaning of the French word from which avid is derived, but his emphasis on "physical appetite" is mistaken. In English the use of the word to denote physical appetite is rare. The OED has an 1866 example of a "dragon avid for his prey." We have these: • ... on arms exposed to avid Aedes aegypti —C. N. Smith, Pesticide Progress, July 1968 • ... has been an avid smoker ever since —Time, 19 Mar. 1951 • ... giving her accumulated richness over to that tiny blind mouth so avid to suck —John Updike, Couples, 1968 The notion of physical appetite underlies this use too: • So I really must get rid of that original rat nightmare, and the idea of that closing-in circle of thousands of avid glittering eyes —Elizabeth Bowen, letter, reprinted in Partisan Rev., 1948 But those are all our examples. From the beginning ( 1769) the usual use has been to denote desire or eagerness rather than physical appetite. The basic meaning of avid is "eager." But avid is generally a more intense word than eager. It adds to eager, in use that tends to be literary, the notion of great desire or greed, or, in use that runs more to journalism and standard reference works, the notion of great enthusiasm. The first of these two somewhat divergent uses is the longer established. Avid is often applied to people; in such use it may stress either desire and greed or enthusiasm: • To all of these avid participants, the bargainers made representations —American Guide Series: Minnesota, 1938 • ... the duty of all musical organizations to play for this avid and absorptive public —Virgil Thomson, The Musical Scene, 1947 • ... every month hundreds of millions of dollars in new securities were snapped up by avid investors — Allan Nevins & Henry Steele Commager, The Pocket History ofthe U.S., 1942 • ... an avid collector of matchboxes —Time, 1 Jan. 1946 • ... you are almost snatched inside the shops by avid proprietors —Claudia Cassidy, Europe—On the Aisle, 1954 • ... an avid student of Sandburg —Gerald W. Johnson, New Republic, 15 Dec. 1952 • ... taken over by an avid fisherman —Horace Sutton, Saturday Rev., 12 June 1954 • ... a talented musician, an avid bowler, and a student of existentialist literature —Johns Hopkins Mag., October 1965 • ... an avid reader, an opera buff, and is very much up on politics —William Nolen, MD., McCall's, October 1971 • ... was an avid botanist, as this superb estate of 11 hectares bears witness —Geri Trotta, Gourmet, December 1982 It is also applied to personified abstractions and to parts of people: • ... business has never been an especially avid supporter of these programs —Andrew Hacker, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 2 Sept. 1979 • Beautifully made books can be shared with an interested grownup as avid little fingers are guided in careful handling —Alice Rusk, Library Jour., 15 Mar. 1967 • ... the usual group of ghouls who materialize from nowhere to feast their avid eyes on tragedy —Van Siller, Cosmopolitan, March 1972 • ... had given his obviously avid mind an opportunity to pick up matters far beyond the ken of most —John McNulty, New Yorker, 13 June 1953 And to ordinary abstractions: • ... still takes an avid interest in Tanzanian politics —William Edgett Smith, New Yorker, 30 Oct. 1971 • ... frown on what they consider his avid fondness for the limelight —Time, 3 June 1946 • His avid thirst for knowledge —Times Literary Supp., 21 Jan. 1955 • ... my dominant emotion was one of avid curiosity —S. S. Van Dine, The Greene Murder Case, 1927 The foregoing examples have shown avid in an attributive position. It is also used as a predicate adjective, and in that position tends to be followed by for or of or by to and an infinitive: • He was convivial, bawdy, robustly avid for pleasure —F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Rich Boy," 1926 • He was not avid for responsibility —C. S. Forester, The African Queen, 1935 • She watched him eagerly, avid for any gleam of surprise or disapproval —Margery Allingham, More Work for the Undertaker, 1949 • He was writing for a public avid for gruesome details —New Yorker, 20 June 1953 • The press, always avid for personality clashes —I. F. Stone's Bi-Weekly, 22 Mar. 1971 • A powerful will grown to manhood, avid of glory — H. A. Overstreet, About Ourselves, 1927 • Sinclair Lewis is close akin to his own Babbitt; avid of quick effects and immediate rewards —Ben Ray Redman, Saturday Rev., 15 Feb. 1947 • The two cultures are equally avid of message — Edmund White, Saturday Rev., 6 Jan. 1973 • The island markets were filled with all sorts of delectable sea food, and Sallie was always avid to learn new dishes —The Autobiography of William Allen White, 1946 • ... avid to spend such spare time as they possessed reading better things —Anthony Powell, Punch, 30 Dec. 1953 • ... employs 1,450 people and is avid to demonstrate that it deserves its current $53.5-million budget — Herman Nickel, Fortune, 2 June 1980 • ... people were avid to be consumers —Andrew Hacker, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 24 June 1984 Avid is a relatively recent word and was not widely used until the 20th century. The foregoing examples illustrate typical 20th-century usage and are a reliable guide for your use of the word. |
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