| 释义 |
survival|səˈvaɪvəl|
Also 6–7 -all.
[f. survive + -al1 5.]
1. a. The continuing to live after some event (spec. of the soul after death); remaining alive, living on.
1598Chapman Iliad iii. [vii.] 42, I promise thee that yet thy soule shall not descend to fates, So hearde I thy suruiuall cast, by the celestiall states. 1615― Odyss. i. 638 The returne of my lou'd Sire, Is past all hope; and should rude Fame inspire..a flattring messenger, With newes of his suruiuall [etc.]. 1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes iv. xiii. 27 Ah! tragical survival! She glorious died in beauty's bloom, While cruel Fate defers thy doom To be the raven's rival. 1812Coleridge Lett., to Wordsworth (1895) 601 More cheerful illustrations of our survival, I have never received, than from the recent study of the instincts of animals. 1818Colebrooke Obligations 88 An assurance of a ship lost or unlost; or benefit of survival of an absent person. 1872Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (ed. 6) 71 If a single individual were born, which varied in some manner, giving it twice as good a chance of life as that of the other individuals, yet the chances would be strongly against its survival. 1908J. Orr Resurrect. Jesus viii. 229 The survival of the soul is not resurrection.
b. survival of the fittest (Biol.): a phrase used to describe the process of natural selection (q.v., s.v. selection 3 b), expressing the fact that those organisms which are best adapted to their environment continue to live and produce offspring, while those of the same or related species which are less adapted perish.
1864Spencer Princ. Biol. §164 This survival of the fittest, implies multiplication of the fittest. Ibid. §165 This survival of the fittest..is that which Mr. Darwin has called ‘natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life’. 1875Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 843 The theory of descent explains intelligibly how plants have obtained their extraordinarily perfect adaptations for resisting the struggle for existence; this struggle has itself been the means of their obtaining them by the ‘Survival of the Fittest’. 1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. 40 The result of the struggle for existence would be the survival of the fittest among an indefinite number of varieties.
2. transf. Continuance after the end or cessation of something else, or after some event; spec. continuance of a custom, observance, etc. after the circumstances or conditions in which it originated or which gave significance to it have passed away.
1820Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1839) IV. 79 The evidence of a future state and the survival of individual consciousness. 1860A. L. Windsor Ethica vii. 359 Though oratory at Rome was naturally more prolific and its chances of survival greater [than in Greece]. 1870Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. i. (1875) 2 The use of stone knives in certain ceremonies is evidently a case of survival. 1871Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 60 We do not hear of it [sc. the spear-thrower] as in practical use at the Conquest, when it had apparently fallen into survival. 1875Whitney Life Lang. ix. 156 Cases of survival from former good usage.
attrib.1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 487 This custom is now getting into the survival form in Libreville and Glass. 1906Fortn. Rev. Apr. 746 It is the true belief that has the greatest survival-value.
3. (with a and pl.) Something that continues to exist after the cessation of something else, or of other things of the kind; a surviving remnant; spec. applied to a surviving custom, observance, belief, etc. (see 2). Also, used spec. in Anthrop. with ref. to a theory that from such surviving customs and observances the earlier stages in the evolution of a culture can be reconstructed.
1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 164 The..survivals of such old Manuscript-Publications. 1867E. B. Tylor in Proc. R. Inst. V. 91 Their remnants have lingered on into a period of higher mental culture, and have become survivals. 1873― Primitive Culture (ed. 2) I. i. 16 Among evidence aiding us to trace the course which the civilization of the world has actually followed, is that great class of facts to denote which I have found it convenient to introduce the term ‘survivals’. 1874L. Morris Serm. in Stones iii, What are they But names for that which has no name, Survivals of a vanished day? 1874Carpenter Mental Phys. i. ii. (1879) 98 Instincts..which may be presumed to be survivals of those which characterized some lower grade. 1875Maine Hist. Instit. i. 14 This ancient written verse is what is now called a survival, descending to the first ages of written composition from the ages when measured rhythm was absolutely essential. 1883J. Hatton & M. Harvey Newfoundland 202 The Esquimaux are looked upon by some recent ethnologists as the ‘survivals’ of the Cave Men of Europe. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert vi. 49 Jane Cuthbert was..a late survival of a type by no means uncommon..in the earlier half of her century. 1920R. R. Marett Psychol. & Folk-lore v. 99 Folk-lore, usually defined as the study of survivals, needs to conceive its object in a dynamic, not a static way. 1937R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory v. 41 Applying the principle of survivals, the author interprets mythological references to outstanding women as relics of a one-time gynaecocracy. 1944B. Malinowski Sci. Theory of Culture iii. 29 The real harm done by the concept of survivals in anthropology consists in that it functions on the one hand as a spurious methodological device in the reconstruction of evolutionary series; and, worse than that, it is an effective means of short-circuiting observation in field-work. 1965L. Mair Introd. Social Anthrop. ii. 26 Rivers was the last British field anthropologist to interpret usages that he actually observed as survivals of an earlier stage of society.
4. attrib. and Comb., as survival capsule, survival car, survival course, survival kit, survival machine, survival pack, survival rate, survival skill, survival suit, survival training; survival bag, a large plastic bag used by climbers as a protection against exposure; survival curve, a curve showing how the number of survivors varies with the size of a radiation dose or with the length of time after a dose; survival time Biol., the time for which a biological system survives after a given dose of a chemical or ionizing radiation; survival value Biol., the property of any heritable or other character that renders the individuals possessing it more likely to survive and reproduce; also transf.; also, the ability to survive.
1971Guardian 22 Feb. 10/2 Cheap, light plastic or plasticised ‘*survival bags’ can be bought for a few shillings. 1977Navy News Aug. 21/3 The party spent the night practically underwater in polythene survival bags.
1960Britannica Bk. of Year 557/2 The phrase *survival capsule was used to mean the pilot's detachable compartment in a manned rocket.
1962Amer. Speech XXXVII. 272 *Survival car,..a traffic patrol car equipped with all sorts of strapping and cushioning devices to insure survival of the driver in case of a high-speed collision or roll⁓over.
1961D. Huff Score (1962) i. 2 Sometimes I wonder why my high school didn't give me a course in how to take tests. These days it would be a *survival course.
1936E. C. Smith in B. M. Duggar Biol. Effects of Radiation II. xxvii. 893 It has already been mentioned that deviations from the logarithmic type in the S-shaped *survival curves have been attributed by many to other varying factors. 1947Radiology XLIX. 322/2 Since the survival curves for the two radiations are very similar, it is possible to establish a standard base curve which represents the expected survival for any combination of added doses of beta rays and gamma rays. 1980Genetics XCV. 281 After UV treatment, [mutant] pso1–1 in stationary phase is very sensitive and demonstrates an exponential survival curve.
1944Yank 21 July 2/1 A plastic-boxed *survival kit (fishhooks, dextrose tablets, first-aid materials and other stuff). 1962D. Slayton in Into Orbit 24 He would have a survival kit attached to the raft, which included a mirror he could use to signal airplanes overhead, some packages of shark repellant and a knife for cleaning fish. 1973Times 17 May 12/6 Compiled a kind of survival-kit beginning with instructions on how to write out a cheque.
1976R. Dawkins Selfish Gene ii. 21 The replicators which survived were the ones which built *survival machines for themselves to live in.
1970‘B. Mather’ Break in Line ix. 116 Compressed rations that had probably been stolen from American Air Force *survival packs.
1953E. Smith Guide to Eng. Traditions & Public Life 240 The increase of population was largely due not so much to a higher birth-rate as to a higher *survival-rate.
1976National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov. 17/2 Such ‘*survival skills’ as filling out a job application and using a telephone book.
1980Christian Sci. Monitor (Midwestern ed.) 4 Dec. b32/1 *Survival suits and inflatable life rafts must now be provided by the shipping companies.
1947Radiology XLIX. 359/1 *Survival time, which was one of the most sensitive responses, showed effects following daily exposures in the range of 0·1n of fast neutrons and 1r of gamma rays. 1980Amer. Jrnl. Hematol. VIII. 290 The gamma model is so far the best among the nine recommended methods for calculating the mean survival time in 51Cr-labeled platelet survival study.
1972National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 1/1 Bondurant's school is one of a handful that offer this ‘*survival’ training.
1912J. S. Huxley Individual in Animal Kingdom i. 16 This..view of the individual, as a whole whose diverse parts all work together in such a way as to ensure the whole's continuance, or, as the evolutionist would say, whose structure and working have ‘*survival-value’, cannot stand without some qualification. 1924J. A. Thomson Sci. Old & New xlvii. 280 The notable musical talent of birds..has its survival-value in connection with mating and as an expression of very vital emotion. 1944A. L. Rowse Eng. Spirit xvii. 142 The survival-value of the College must be rated extraordinarily high. 1965J. D. Chambers in Glass & Eversley Population in Hist. xiii. 313 The survival-value of the small man under the impact of enclosures should not be under-estimated. 1966Listener 17 Mar. 385/2 This behaviour has great survival value. So long as the troop sticks together, the prospects of a predator getting a meal are slim.
Add:[1.] c. The ability to survive under harsh or war-like conditions, practised as an outdoor sport or activity. Freq. attrib. (see sense 4).
[1969National Observer (U.S.) 19 May 18/5 (Advt.), Wilderness survival school. Montana complete outdoor program. Boys and girls 12 to 18.] 1972Ibid. 1 July 14/6 (Advt.), Lazy E-L Ranch... Emphasis on..3 day pack trip, survival, leadership, horseshoeing, saddlery..and orienteering on horseback. 1989Combat & Survival Oct. 63/1 (Advt.), Fieldcraft and survival techniques. The F.A.S.T. way to learn about survival.
▸ survival horror n. a genre of video game in which a protagonist must escape or survive a horrific, eerie, and violent environment, and which typically aims to create an atmosphere similar to that of a horror film; a video game of this genre.
App. originally used in a line of text in the game Resident Evil (1996), and regarded as irregular: cf. quot 1996.
1996Re: Resident Evil!?! in rec.games.video.sony (Usenet newsgroup) 1 Apr. The translations are really bad in places (‘they are entering the world of *survival horror’). 1997Business Wire (Nexis) 17 Dec. The overwhelming success of the company's best-selling survival horror video game has established another huge franchise. 2004P2 No. 54 13/1 While Resident Evil and Silent Hill have cornered the market in survival horror, few other scare-fests have made much of an impact recently. |