torpid (torpid)

and n. [L. torpid us, benumbed, torpid, November dark Checks vegetation in the torpid plant Expos'd to his cold breath. Cowper, Task, iii. 468. 2. Specifically, dormant, as an animal in hibernation or estivation, when it pa es its time in sleep: as, a torpid snake.-3. Figuratively, dull; sluggish; apathetic. Now to the church behold the mourners come, Sedately torpid and devoutly dumb. Crabbe, Works, I. 16. The love of children had never been quickened in Hepzibah's heart, and was now torpid , if not extinct. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, ii. 4. Pertaining to the torpids, or Lent boat races at Oxford. See II. [Oxford slang.] The Torpid Races last six days. • Dickens's Dict. Oxford, p. 18. II. n. 1. A second-cla racing-boat at Oxford, corresponding to the slogger of Cambridge; also, one of the crew of such a boat. [Oxford slang.] The torpids being filled with the refuse of the rowing men-generally awkward or very young oarsmen. T. Hughes , Tom Brown at Oxford, II. iv. An undergraduate who is one of their best torpids . Pall Mall Gazette , Feb. 26, 1884. ( Encyc . Dict.) 2. pl . The Lent boat-races at Oxford. [Oxford slang.] Three weeks or so before the Lent Races, or Torpids as Dickens's Dict. Oxford, p. 18. they are invariably called here, the crews are put into training.