bitter principle 名詞
苦味素
Prin·ci·ple n.
1. Beginning; commencement. [Obs.]
Doubting sad end of principle unsound. --Spenser.
2. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
The soul of man is an active principle. --Tillotson.
3. An original faculty or endowment.
Nature in your principles hath set [benignity]. --Chaucer.
Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering. --Stewart.
4. A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.
Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. --Heb. vi. 1.
A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad. --Milton.
5. A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle.
All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind. --Law.
6. Chem. Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc.
Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna. --Gregory.
Bitter principle, Principle of contradiction, etc. See under Bitter, Contradiction, etc.
bitter principle
n : any one of several hundred compounds having a bitter taste;
not admitting of chemical classification