| 释义 |
direction|dɪˈrɛkʃən, daɪ-|
[a. L. dīrectiōn-em, n. of action from dīrig-ĕre to direct; cf. F. direction, 15th c. in Hatz.-Darm., possibly the immediate source in some senses.]
1. The action or function of directing:
a. of pointing or aiming anything straight towards a mark;
b. of putting or keeping in the right way or course; guidance, conduct;
c. of instructing how to proceed or act aright; authoritative guidance, instruction;
d. of keeping in right order; management, administration.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxiv. xiii, She [nature] werketh upon all wonderly..In sondry wyse by great dyreccyon. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 138 Which thing was shewed unto the kinges counsaile, by whose direction, the matter was committed unto Sir Philip Basset. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 128 He is a Souldier, fit to stand by Caesar And giue direction. 1618Raleigh in Four C. Eng. Lett. 38 Where without any direccion from me, a Spanish village was burnt. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 109 Father Arnout, who was preferred by the Duke of Luynes, to the direction of the [King's] Conscience. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 36 The Steeples give a great direction to the Ships that sail that way. 1689–92Locke Toleration iii. ii. Wks. 1727 II. 324 Their want of Knowledge during their Nonnage, makes them want Direction. a1719Bp. Smalridge (J.), The direction of good works to a good end. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 217 He may use one of his hands when necessary for the direction of the horses. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. i. 60 [No] such precision..in the direction of the arrows. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, Who shall arraign the head by whose direction the act was done? 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. v. 422 The French prince followed the direction of his wiser instincts. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola ii. ix, She felt the need of direction even in small things.
e. The art, technique, or an instance of directing a play, film, etc. (see direct v. 5 c).
1938C. Morgan Flashing Stream 36 The play was first performed at the Lyric Theatre, London under the direction of Mr. Godfrey Tearle. 1939W. C. & H. S. Pryor Let's go to Movies 45 (heading) Direction. 1949G. B. Shaw in E. J. West Shaw on Theatre (1958) 279 They are not concerned with direction as a fine art; but they cover the mechanical and teachable conditions which are common to all productions. 1959Oxf. Mag. 12 Mar. 338/1 The pace and punch of his direction, camera-work and cutting are far better than anything he ever did in England.
†2. Capacity for directing; administrative faculty.
1585J. B. tr. Viret's Sch. Beastes A vij, Because of their industrie..and of that prudence and direction that they have. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 16 Call for some men of sound direction. 1636Massinger Bashf. Lover ii. iv, The enemy must say we were not wanting In courage or direction.
3. a. The office of a director; a body of directors; = directorate.
1710Steele Tatler No. 206 ⁋2 We met a Fellow who is a Lower Officer where Jack is in the Direction. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 225 A friend..will recommend you to the direction. 1855Thackeray Newcomes I. 62, I will ask some of the Direction. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 124 Resignation by Mr. Hudson of his position on the direction.
b. Mus. The office or function of the conductor of an orchestra or choir: see direct v. 5 b.
†4. Orderly arrangement or disposition of matters; arranged or ordered course; arrangement, order. Chiefly in to take direction or set direction. Obs.
1407Mann. & Househ. Exp. 173 Ȝeff ther be any derekesyon take at thes kowensel for the Kinges goenge. 1475Plumpton Corr. 33 He shall see such a derection betwixt his brother Gascoin & you, as shalbe to your harts ease & worship. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 491 The whiche variaunce to apese the Kynge toke therein some payne, but no direccion he myghte set therein, so that the saide duke & sir John deperted with wordes of diffiaunce. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 14/b, And there remained at the kynges charge, til other direccion was taken for theim.
5. a. with a and pl.: An instruction how to proceed or act; an order to be carried out, a precept.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 257, I set downe directions and precepts, how you should order and dispose your studies. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 129 He..took little or nothing but by the Doctors directions. 1722De Foe Plague (1754) 10, I desire this Account may pass with them, rather for a Direction to themselves to act by. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. Introd. 24 The stage direction then requires the entry of Two men. 1845H. J. Rose in Encycl. Metrop. II. 897/1 His [Christ's] direction in the case of an offending brother, ‘tell it to the Church’..would be unintelligible, if there were no visible Church. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxx. 569 His instructions contained the following directions.
b. Instruction how to go to a place.
1596Spenser F.Q. vi. i. 6 Withouten guyde Or good direction how to enter in. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xvi. x, Fitzpatrick..was inquiring in the street after his wife, and had just received directions to the door. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. ciii, I..beg of you to provide him with proper directions for finding me in London.
6. a. The action of directing or addressing a letter, or the like. †b. The dedication or address of a writing (obs.). c. The superscription or address upon a letter or parcel sent, indicating for whom it is intended, and where it is to be taken; the name of the place at which letters for a particular person are to be delivered; = address n. 7. d. U.S. Law. ‘In equity pleading, that part of the bill containing the address to the court’ (Cent. Dict.). (Called in England the address.)
1524Wolsey Let. to Dacres 24 Apr. in M.A.E. Wood Lett. Illustr. Ladies (1846) I. 315 It was folded in the said paper, without direction to any person, and sealed semblably with a letter of a contrary tenor. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 4 That it [a writing] containe not base..or scurrile matter, unbeseeming a direction so worthy. Ibid. i. 16 The directions, which on the outside of every Letter..are always fixed, and commonly are termed by the name of Super⁓scriptions. 1663Chas. II, in Cartwright Madame Henrietta (1894) 138 A little booke..by the derections you will see where 'tis to be had. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., I have received..that short note.. in which you..promise me a direction for the place you stay in. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xiii. ii, The proper direction to him was, To Dr. Misaubin in the World. 1786Burns Let. to W. Chalmers 27 Dec., My direction is—care of Andrew Bruce, merchant, Bridge-street. 1840Clough Amours de Voy. v. vii, Has he not written to you?—he did not know your direction. 1886N. & Q. 7th Ser. II. 425/1 These letters..retain their directions..and bear the postmarks of the period.
†7. Disposition, turn of mind. Obs. rare.
1642Life Dk. Buckhm. in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 286 His religious lady, of sweet and noble direction.
†8. Direct motion (of a planet): see direct a. 3. Obs. rare.
1658Phillips, Direction, a Planet is said direct, when it moveth in its natural course according to the direction of the Signs. 1727–51Chambers Cycl., Direction, in astronomy, the motion, and other phænomena, of a planet, when direct. 1790E. Sibly Astrol. (1792) I. 147 Direction signifies a planet moving on in its natural course from west to east.
9. a. The particular course or line pursued by any moving body, as defined by the part or region of space, point of the compass, or other fixed or known point, towards which it is directed; the relative point towards which one moves, turns the face, the mind, etc.; the line towards any point or region in its relation to other lines taken as known.
angle of d., line of d.: see quots. 1706, 1727.
1665Hooke Microgr. 100 The undulating pulse is..at right angles with the Ray or Line of direction. 1706Clarke Attrib. God ix. (R.), The direction of all their [the planets'] progressive motions..from the west to the east. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Line of Direction (in Mechan.) is the Line of Motion that any natural body observes according to the Force impressed upon it. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., Angle of Direction, in mechanics, is that comprehended between the lines of direction of two conspiring powers. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 47 The tides..move it in two different directions four times in the natural day. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iii. xv, Their parts never continue long in the same right line. They vary their direction every moment. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales II. 103 The trout were darting about in all directions. 1842Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 70 The direction of this rotation is changed by changing the direction of the magnetic force. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 6 These terms—north and south, east and west..indicate definite directions. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §218 The direction of a force is the line in which it acts. If the place of application of a force be regarded as a point, a line through that point, in the direction in which the force tends to move the body, is the direction of the force. Mod. Tell me in what direction to look. He has gone in the direction of Warwick. In what direction is Versailles from Paris?
b. fig. in reference to a course of action or the like, viewed as motion.
1752Johnson Rambler No. 206 ⁋3 A Man, actuated at once by different desires, must move in a direction peculiar to himself. c1790Willock Voy. 306 Of late..politics have taken a new direction. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. i. 5 Too often the impulse which sprang from a public source, took the direction of a private end. 1874Green Short Hist. vi. §4. 308 Efforts..in the direction of educational and religious reform. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 519 New directions of enquiry.
10. Astrol. (See quots.)
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey). 1727–51Chambers Cycl., Direction..is a kind of calculus, whereby they pretend to find the time wherein any notable accident shall befal the person whose horoscope is drawn. 1819J. Wilson Compl. Dict. Astrol. s.v., Primary directions are arithmetical calculations of the time of events caused by the significator forming conjunctions, or aspects, with the places of promittors. Ibid., The distance of the place of a significator in a nativity from the place he must arrive at before he can form the aspect..is called the arc of direction.
11. attrib. and Comb., as direction-giver, direction-paper; direction cosines, the cosines of the angles which a given direction makes with the three axes of coordinates in space; direction-finder Telecommunications, a receiving device that determines from which direction radio waves come to it; so direction-finding; direction indicator, a device on a motor vehicle used to indicate the direction the driver intends to take; = trafficator; direction-post, a finger-post at the branching of a road, a directing post; direction-ratio, the ratio of one of the oblique coordinates of a point to the distance of the point from the origin; direction-word = catchword 1.
1913Year-Bk. Wireless Telegr. & Teleph. 307 Direction-finding from ship-board. Ibid. 316 The uses of the direction-finder. 1919R. Stanley Wireless Telegr. (ed. 2) II. 270 A direction-finding aerial system. 1920Discovery May 131/2 The Marconi direction-finder not only receives wireless signals; it also indicates the direction of the sending station. 1921L. B. Turner Wireless Telegr. 178 Direction-finding stations on land..are usually grouped in pairs at the ends of a suitable base line, so that the intersection of the two orientations determined gives the position of the source of signal, e.g. a ship or an aeroplane. 1935Discovery June 155/2 The practical problems of direction-finding are closely connected with the vagaries of the waves returned from the ionosphere, and continued success has been attained in the development of direction-finders less subject to the errors produced by these waves. 1946Electronic Engin. XVIII. 20 An automatic V.H.F. direction finder. 1966M. R. D. Foot SOE in France x. 324 He tried to get in touch with Dowlen; but Dowlen was caught by direction-finders.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. ii. 90 Sweet Protheus, my direction-giuer, Let us into the City presently.
1937Times 13 Apr. p. xxii/4 The makers of direction indicators and fog and anti-dazzle lamps. 1959Motor Manual (ed. 36) vi. 183 Another change since the war has been the progressive displacement of the semaphore-type of direction indicator by flashing light signals.
1769Franklin Lett. Wks. 1887 IV. 233 Enclosed is his direction-paper for opening and fixing it.
1795K. P. Moritz Trav. 142 Where there are cross-roads, there are direction posts, so that it is hardly possible to lose oneself in walking. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. ii, A direction-post, which is always telling the way to a place. 1861Mill Utilit. ii. 35 To inform a traveller..is not to forbid the use of direction-posts on the way.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Direction-word..a Word set at the bottom of a Page directing or shewing the first word of the next page.
Hence diˈrectionism, the theory of a directing power underlying the material forces of the universe; diˈrectionless a., void of aim or direction.
1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vi. iv. §8 An aspen or elm leaf is thin, tremulous, and directionless, compared with the spear-like setting and firm substance of a rhododendron or laurel leaf. 1873Pater Renaissance viii. 190 The eyes are wide and directionless, not fixing anything with their gaze. 1894Month June 281 He..supposes a power underlying the whole, which he calls ‘directionism’; as an antagonistic view to that of mere materialism. |