| 释义 |
definition|dɛfɪˈnɪʃən|
Forms: α. 4–6 diffinicioun, etc. (with usual interchange of i and y), 5–6 -tion, etc., 6 Sc. -tioun; β. 5–6 defi-, 6 defynicion(e, 6– definition.
[a. OF. de-, def-, diffinicion (also definison), ad. L. dēfīnītiōn-em (also in MSS. diff-), n. of action from dēfīnīre: see define. Cf. Pr. diff-, deffinicio, Sp. definicion, It. difinizione.]
†1. The setting of bounds or limits; limitation, restriction. Obs. rare.
c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 25 Yit herd I never tellen..Uppon this noumbre diffinicioun. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 403 b/2 Thenne said he ben they knowen which men shal suffre thyse passyons without dyffynycion.
2. The action of determining a controversy or question at issue; determination, decision; spec. a formal decision or pronouncement of an ecclesiastical authority. Obs. exc. in specific use.
1382Wyclif Dan. xi. 36 Diffinicioun, or dome [1388 determynynge] is fully don. 1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §9 A finall decree, sentence, judgement, diffinicion, and determinacion. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 41 The determinatiouns and diffinitiouns of general counsellis. 1634R. H. Salernes Regiment 13 This question..whether a man should eate more at Dinner, or at Supper. For definition hereof, it is to be noted [etc.]. 1661Bramhall Just Vind. viii. 241 This challenge of infallibility diminisheth their [councils'] authority, discrediteth their definitions. 1864J. H. Newman Apol. 392 Infallibility cannot act outside of a definite circle of thought, and it must in all its decisions, or definitions, as they are called, profess to be keeping within it.
3. Logic, etc. The action of defining, or stating exactly what a thing is, or what a word means.
1645Milton Tetrach. (1851) 168 Definition is that which refines the pure essence of things from the circumstance. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. iii. §10 Definition being nothing but making another understand by Words, what Idea the Term defin'd stands for. 1730Bailey (folio), Definition (with Logicians), an unfolding the essence or being of a thing by its kind and difference. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 226 Definition is always an enclosure of the true by exclusion of the false. 1860Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §54. 82 Definition expounds all the marks implied in the notion, and so represents to us the nature or specific character of it. Ibid. §69. 111. 1885 W. L. Davidson Logic of Definition 32 It is the object of Definition to determine the nature or meaning or signification of a thing; in other words, definition is the formal attempt to answer the question, ‘What is it?’
4. a. A precise statement of the essential nature of a thing; a statement or form of words by which anything is defined.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxvi. (1495) 920 Some thynges haue but one dyffynycyon. c1450tr. De Imitatione i. i. 2, I desire more to knowe compunccion þen his diffinycion. 1551T. Wilson Logike 14 A definition of the substaunce is a speach which sheweth the very nature of the thing. 1571Digges Pantom. ii. v. M ij b, Of quadrangles..there are fiue sortes, as appeereth in the Diffinitions. 1633Massinger Guardian v. iv, His victories but royal robberies, And his true definition—A Thief. 1710Steele Tatler No. 62 ⁋14 Propriety of Words and Thoughts, which is Mr. Dryden's Definition of Wit. 1758Johnson Idler No. 1 ⁋4 It has been found hard to describe man by an adequate definition. 1842Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 75 The old definition of force was, that which caused change in motion. 1864Bowen Logic 94 A Definition consists primarily of two parts, the Proximate Genus and the Specific Difference of the Concept defined.
b. A declaration or formal explanation of the signification of a word or phrase. [Not recognized by Johnson.]
a1500Wyclif's Wycket Sub-Title, A verye brefe diffinition of these wordes, Hoc est corpus meum. 1551T. Wilson Logike 14 A definition of a word is any maner of declaration of a word. 1724Watts Logic i. vi. §2 A definition of the name being only a declaration in what sense the word is used, or what idea or object we mean by it. 1755Johnson Pref. to Dict., As nothing can be proved but by supposing something intuitively known, and evident without proof, so nothing can be defined but by the use of words too plain to admit a definition. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1755 (1887) I. 293 The definitions have always appeared to me such..as indicate a genius of the highest rank... A few of his definitions must be admitted to be erroneous. 1885W. L. Davidson Logic of Definition 87 No [dictionary] definition of ‘Gold’ will be sufficient that does not contain a reference to its colour, which supplies us with the distinct meaning ‘golden’.
c. definition in use: a definition which does not provide an equivalent for the expression to be defined, but instead replaces the whole context in which that expression occurs by an equivalent not containing that expression; a contextual definition (cf. contextual a. b).
1910Whitehead & Russell Principia Math. I. iii. 69 Incomplete..symbols have what may be called a ‘definition in use’... We define the use of ∇2, but ∇2 by itself remains without meaning. 1936A. J. Ayer Lang., Truth & Logic iii. 66 In a dictionary we look mainly for what may be called explicit definitions; in philosophy, for definitions in use. 1963A. Pap Introd. Philos. Sci. ii. 30 Contextual definition (also called ‘definition in use’).
5. a. The action of making definite; the condition of being made, or of being definite, in visual form or outline; distinctness; spec. the defining power of a lens or optical instrument, i.e. its capacity to render an object or image distinct to the eye.
1859Reeve Brittany 137 We were content..to sacrifice the artistic definition of the trees. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xviii. 125 The stratification..was shown with great beauty and definition. 1878Newcomb Pop. Astron. ii. i. 138 The definition of this telescope is very fine.
b. gen. Definiteness, precision, exactitude. rare.
1866Argyll Reign Law i. (ed. 4) 8 A fallacy is getting hold upon us from a want of definition in the use of terms.
c. The degree of distinctness of the details in a photograph, film, television picture, etc.; so high-definition, low-definition, used to designate television systems using different numbers of scanning lines.
1889E. J. Wall Dict. Photogr. 38 Detail, the definition of each minute part or parts of the material of a picture, whether in the negative or print therefrom. 1928Television I. ii. 7/3 It is claimed that much better definition and detail are obtained. Ibid. 10/1 A difference of phase of only one per cent. between the transmitter and the receiver is sufficient to spoil the definition of the received image. 1933Ibid. VI. lxix. 373/1 Other companies, too, may..be given similar opportunities of providing high-definition television apparatus for transmission experiments. 1935Discovery Sept. 277/2 The pioneer work of Baird..with low and high definition scanning. Ibid. 278/1 The iconoscope camera, which is said to be capable of definition up to 500 lines. 1937Amateur Photography (Newnes) 50 This explains the superb definition of the tiny cine-film pictures, in spite of their enormous enlargement when projected. 1943Gloss. Terms Telecomm. (B.S.I.) 77 High-definition television, a system of television in which the number of scanning-lines exceeds 200 for each picture. 1946Nature 20 July 88/2 In 1929..the B.B.C. decided to give Messrs. Baird Television, Ltd., facilities for experimental transmissions through the medium-wave London station. These transmissions, which were afterwards referred to as ‘low-definition’, employed 30 scanning lines and 12½ pictures per second. 1955J. Lipinski Miniature & Precision Cameras ii. 34 It is not generally realized how serious a contribution camera shake makes in degrading the definition of a photograph taken with a miniature. 1969M. J. Langford Adv. Photogr. iii. 58 A high resolution lens may well form separate images of closely spaced lines, but unless the blacks and whites are also clearly definable by their contrast the impression of ‘definition’ will be poor.
6. Comb.
1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 209 Alas, for our poor definition-cutter, with his logical scissors! |