| 释义 |
subsidence|səbˈsaɪdəns, ˈsʌbsɪdəns|
[ad. L. subsīdentia sediment, f. subsīdĕre to subside: see -ence. Cf. It. sussidenza sediment.]
1. A sediment, precipitate. ? Obs.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 92 A Chalky earth, which..steeped in water, affoordeth a cream..on the top, and a grosse subsidence at the bottome. 1650Vaughan Anthroposophia 15 The Earth was an impure, Sulphureous subsidence, or Caput mortuum of the Creation. 1847Clarke in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. i. 109 The soil of the whole is the subsidence of a muddy water. 1890Gould New Med. Dict., Subsidence,..in pharmacy, the sediment falling from a liquid.
2. The settling (of solid or heavy things) to the bottom, formation of sediment, precipitation.
1656Blount Glossogr., Subsidence, a resting or setling in the bottom. 1696Whiston Th. Earth iii. (1722) 278 The same Law..was also observ'd in the subsidence of the Shells of Fishes. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 98 What I have written on the subsidence of chalk, and the simple method of recovering that almost-lost manure. 1799Monthly Rev. XXX. 150 A force of subsidence, the natural consequence of gravity,..has produced similar effects. 1800Henry Epit. Chem. (1808) 125 Separate the liquid part by filtration or by subsidence. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (1862) iv. §1. 259 The clear oil is afterwards agitated.., again clarified by subsidence [etc.].
3. The sinking (of liquids) to a normal or lower level; also, a fall in the level of ground.
1669Boyle Contin. New Exper. xix. 62 The Quick-silver that before stood at 29 inches..would fall so low as to rest at 9 or 10 inches, (for once I measur'd the Subsidence beneath its former Elevation). 1837Syd. Smith Wks. (1850) 641 One of those Shem-Ham-and-Japhet buggies—made on Mount Ararat soon after the subsidence of the waters. 1839G. Bird Nat. Philos. 104 The subsidence of mercury in the barometer, as we ascend mountains..affords valuable data for calculating their vertical height. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 104 The country..is a succession of the gentlest swells and subsidences. 1865Livingstone Zambesi xxi. 429 Snags..left in the channel on the sudden subsidence of the water.
b. A fall in rhythm or accent.
1824Landor Imag. Conv., æschines & Phocion Wks. 1853 I. 26/2 Concentrated are his arguments,..easy the swell and subsidence of his periods, his dialect purely attic. 1851Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables x, He delighted in the swell and subsidence of the rhythm, and the happily-recurring rhyme.
4. A sinking into inactivity or quiescence.
a. of feelings, of a disturbance, of the attacks of a disease, etc.
1754Warburton Serm. 27 Oct., Wks. 1788 V. 519 The mind..being, by the subdual or subsidence of the more violent passions, now become attentive to, and sensible of, the soft and gentle impressions of tranquillity. 1847Dickens Haunted Man ii. 70 A decided subsidence of her animosity. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 256 So these people burst out..into a noise and fury... And the subsidence is as sudden. 1890Gould New Med. Dict., Subsidence,..in pathology, the gradual cessation and disappearance of an attack of disease.
b. Of physical phenomena or actions.
1731Arbuthnot Aliments ii. ii. (1735) 29 The alternate Motion of those Air-Bladders, whose Surfaces are by turns freed from mutual Contact, and by a sudden Subsidence meet again by the ingress and egress of the Air. 18..Edin. Rev. (Seager), Subsidence of waves. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. 81 The subsidence of this action [throbbing] was always the signal for further advance. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 292 We awaited her subsidence as that of a shower. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 215 A second..fermentation takes place..; its subsidence diminishes the bulk of the wine.
c. Sinking into decline or decay.
1856Merivale Rom. Emp. xxxiii. (1865) IV. 67 It was about the period of the Gracchi that this subsidence of the old aristocracy of birth began first to be remarked.
5. (orig. Geol.) A gradual lowering or settling down of a portion of the earth due to dynamic causes, mining operations, or the like.
1802Playfair Illustr. Hutton. Th. 449 Though a local subsidence, or settling of the ground, could hardly account for this change,..yet a subsidence that has extended to a great tract..will agree very well with the appearances. 1854Murchison Siluria vi. 131 The rock is..subject to slides or subsidences. 1856Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. ii. 39 Subsidences occasioned by earthquake and volcanic convulsions. 1912Standard 20 Sept. 6/4 Streets and buildings..are being damaged by subsidences due to disused underground workings.
transf.1861Morning Post 27 Nov., They reached the door, but found it fixed by the subsidence of the walls.
6. attrib., applied to vessels in which liquids are put in order to precipitate their suspended solid matter, as subsidence reservoir, subsidence vat.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Subsidence-vat, a dyer's settling-vat. 1892Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Sept. 2/1 All the companies supplying river water..have subsidence reservoirs, into which the water is first turned for the purpose of allowing such of the suspended solid matter as will to settle. |