| 释义 |
devolution|dɛvəʊ-, diːvəˈl(j)uːʃən|
[ad. med.L. dēvolūtiōn-em, n. of action f. L. dēvolvĕre to roll down: see devolve and -ion1.]
I. From the intrans. senses of the verb.
1. lit. Rolling down; descending or falling with rolling motion. arch.
1623Cockeram Deuolution, a rolling downe. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 57 Deterrations, or the Devolution of Earth down upon the Valleys, from the Hills. Ibid. (1723) 257 This Deterration..or Devolution of Earth and Sand from the Mountains.
2. fig. The rolling or passing on of time; descent or passing on through a series of revolutions or stages, in time, order, etc.
c1630Jackson Creed vi. xviii, The possible devolutions or alternations of the reasonable creatures from his antecedent will to his consequent. 1651Raleigh's Ghost 157 After a long devolution of years fulfilled. 1826C. Butler Life Grotius i. 3 heading, Boundaries and Devolution of the Empire of Germany during the Carlovingian Dynasty. 1841Blackw. Mag. L. 400 Everybody's price of corn must depend on this descent, or devolution as we call it, through ranges of different machinery. 1843Ibid. LIV. 541 The ‘devolution’ of foreign agriculture upon lower qualities of land and consequently its permanent exaltation in price.
3. Descent by natural or due succession from one to another, of property, or fig. of qualities, etc.
1545Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Pref. 11 By a moste just and right deuolucion, and dyscent of inheritaunce of the crounes of Englande, Fraunce, and Irelande. 1590Swinburne Testaments 291 The legacie is lost without hope of deuolution thereof to the executors or administrators. a1631Donne in Select. (1840) 130 Now for the riches themselves..he may have them by devolution from his parents. 1706De Foe Jure Div. ix. 194 If Kings by Jus Divinum wear the Crown, By nat'ral Devolution handed down. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xiv. 95 The party of lord Danby..asserted a devolution of the crown on the princess of Orange. 1842Grove Corr. Phys. Forces (ed. 6) 10 A force cannot originate otherwise than by devolution from some pre-existing force or forces.
4. a. The passing of any unexercised right to the one upon whom it devolves if allowed to lapse.
1593Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 349 To loose their right..by devolution, when they neglected their time aboue sixe monethes. 1656Blount Glossogr., Devolution..a falling into lapse. 1661Bramhall Just Vind. vi. 129 A thousand other artifices to get money. As provisions, Collations, Exemptions, Canonisations, Divolutions, Revocations. 1707Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 337 An Empty Fellow..whom the Archbp. of Cant. Dr. Tennison, put into the Society upon the Devolution to him of that Power. 1712Ibid. III. 331 If it [election of Warden of New Coll.] be not determin'd within 12 Days there will be a Devolution. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. 62 Vacating the place or office, and a devolution of the right of election for that turn to the crown. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) II. 212 The popes soon assumed not only a right of decision, but of devolution; that is, of supplying the want of election..by a nomination of their own. 1872Jervis Gallican Ch. I. Introd. 23 note, ‘Devolution’ signifies the lapse of a benefice to the Pope, by reason of failure on the part of the patron to present a clerk duly qualified.
†b. The passing of jurisdiction upon appeal. Obs.
1593Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 11 All matters without exception pertaine to Christ's tribunal originally, and not by way of devolution. a1676Hale (J.), The jurisdiction exercised in those courts is derived from the crown of England, and the last devolution is to the king by way of appeal. 1706tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. II. iv. xx. 363 Nor shall any Devolution or Appeal be lodged with the Apostolical See. 1726[see devolve 3 b].
c. Sc. Law. (See quot.)
1861W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl., Devolution is a term sometimes applied to the reference made by two or more arbiters who differ in opinion, to an oversman or umpire, to determine the difference. To confer this power on arbiters, an express clause in the submission is necessary. The term is also applied to the devolution of a purchase made under articles of roup upon the next highest offerer, on the failure of the highest offerer to find caution for payment of the price within the time limited by the articles.
5. The passing of the power or authority of one person or body to another.
1765Blackstone Comm. I. 162 This devolution of power, to the people at large, includes in it a dissolution of the whole form of government established by that people. 1875Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xiv. (ed. 5) 236 The complete exclusion..of any notion of a devolution of authority from the sovereign people.
6. Biol. (opposed to evolution): Degeneration.
1882H. S. Carpenter in Homilet. Monthly Sept. 688 If there be e-volution, there surely is de-volution, a degradation of the species. 1892Pop. Sc. Monthly XLI. 709 Psychical disease, the progress of which in contrast with evolution is called devolution.
II. From the transitive senses of the vb.
†7. The action of throwing down. Obs.
1663Bp. Patrick Paral. Pilgr. 303 In those submissions and devolutions of ourselues before our Lord.
8. fig. The causing of anything to descend or fall upon (any one); the handing (of anything) on to a successor.
1621Sanderson Serm. I. 169, 2. The suspension of his judgment for his time; 3. And the devolution of it upon Jehoram. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. v. ii. (1852) 255 A devolution of certain burdens on the heads of such as were treated with it. 1858Gladstone Homer I. 489 A devolution of sovereignty either partial or total, by aged men upon their heirs.
9. a. The causing of authority, duties, or the like to fall upon a substitute or substitutes; esp. the delegation or leaving of portions or details of duties to subordinate officers or committees.
1780T. Jefferson Lett. Writ. (1893) II. 305 Disappointments which flowed from the devolution of his duties on Deputies acting without a head. 1878N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 189 To lighten the cares of the central Legislature by judicious devolution. 1880Gladstone Sp. in Parlt. 28 Feb., The day when there may be wisely devised, and successfully carried through the House an important and effectual measure for the devolution of such portions of its powers as may be safely devolved, with the view of lightening its duties. 1888― in Daily News 6 Nov. 6/2 They were passed by the Grand Committees—passed by the method of what is called devolution. 1889G. Findlay Eng. Railway 15 The management of this great service is nothing more than a carefully arranged system of devolution combined with watchful supervision.
b. In Irish politics, with reference to a scheme proposed as a substitute for Home Rule.
1898J. Redmond in Hansard Commons 4th Ser. LIII. 379 Liberal popular opinion in England is in the direction..of the diminution of the magnitude of the Home Rule question, from 1886 and 1893, down to some scheme of devolution and federalism. 1907A. S. T. Griffith-Boscawen 14 Yrs. Parl. 323 In the middle of the summer holidays [1905] the country had been startled by the promulgation by Lord Dunraven and his friends of a plan of ‘devolution’ of Irish Government, which was neither Unionism nor Home Rule, but a sort of half-way house, in which Irishmen of all persuasions were to live in happiness for ever after. 1907Daily Chron. 9 May 4/6 The vehement language in which some of the Orange Members spoke of resistance to Mr. Birrell's Irish Council scheme might..almost justify fears of another ‘Devolution War’. 1971Times 19 Mar. 21/3 The form of devolution that is peculiar to that corner of the United Kingdom [sc. Northern Ireland] will have to be changed.
c. The transfer of some powers from Parliament at Westminster to proposed Scottish and Welsh assemblies; also, the delegation of certain administrative functions from central government to provincial offices in Scotland and Wales.
1889G. B. Clark in Hansard Commons 72, I think the only solution of the present state of affairs in this House is to have devolution upon the lines of nationality. 1904W. S. Churchill in Times 19 Oct. 5/5 The Irish demand and the Welsh demand for devolution ought not to go forward separately, but together hand in hand. 1929J. Barr in Hansard Commons 10 July 957, I am not emphasising particularly Scottish Home Rule, because I recognise that in all parts of this House there are those who think that some measure of devolution is necessary. 1954Rep. R. Comm. Scottish Affairs 109 in Parl. Papers 1953–54 (Cmd. 9212) XIX. 1 In 1939 the opening of St. Andrew's House as the headquarters of Scottish administration marked the culmination of a steady process of administrative devolution and transfer of staff from London. 1973Ld. Kilbrandon et al. Rep. R. Comm. Constitution xxi. 296 in Parl. Papers 1973–4 (Cmnd. 5460) XL. 1 We have found it convenient to use the term administrative devolution to cover all arrangements for the conduct of central government business in Scotland, Wales and the English regions. 1978Guardian Weekly 17 Sept. 3 The demand for devolution..was conceded by the Labour Government not out of conviction but to stem the threatening tide of nationalism.
†10. Math. = evolution 4 b. Obs.
1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 343 Eduction of the Lesser Root by Devolution. |