| 释义 |
system|ˈsɪstɪm, -əm|
Also 7–8 systeme, 8 sistem(e.
[ad. late L. systēma musical interval, in med. or mod.L., the universe, body of the articles of faith, a. Gr. σύστηµα organized whole, government, constitution, a body of men or animals, musical interval, union of several metres into a whole, f. σύν syn-1 + στα-, root of ἱστάναι to set up (see stand v.). Cf. F. système (1664, ‘le systeme de l'ame’, in Hatz.-Darm.), It., Sp. sistema, Pg. systema, G. system, etc.]
I. An organized or connected group of objects.
1. A set or assemblage of things connected, associated, or interdependent, so as to form a complex unity; a whole composed of parts in orderly arrangement according to some scheme or plan; rarely applied to a simple or small assemblage of things (nearly = ‘group’ or ‘set’).
a1638Mede Apostasy Latter Times (1641) 64 Mans life is a systeme of divers ages... The yeare is a systeme of foure seasons. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxii. 115 By Systemes; I understand any numbers of men joyned in one Interest, or one Businesse. a1676Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. (1677) 15 The Universe, as it comprehends the Systeme, Order and Excellencies of all created Beings. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 31 The body is a system or constitution: so is a tree: so is every machine. 1775Bryant Mythol. II. 469 The exit from the Ark; when the whole of the animal system issued to light. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. iii. xiv. 111 The Greeks distributed their years into systems of four, calling them Olympiads. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xxv. (1819) 398 The universe itself is a system; each part either depending upon other parts, or being connected with other parts by some common law of motion. 1829Chapters Phys. Sci. 391 The ancients divided the starry sphere into..constellations, or systems of stars.
b. spec. (with this, a possessive, or the like): The whole scheme of created things, the universe.
1619Selden Upon Drayton's Bar. Wars D.'s Poems A iv b, Thy Martiall Pyrrhique, and thy Eqipue straine Digesting Warres with heart-vniting Loues; The two first Authors of what is compos'd In this round Systeme All. 1769E. Bancroft Guiana 2 The blessings of Nature, have in no part of our habitable system, been dispensed with a more liberal hand. 1816G. Field in Pamphleteer (1817) IX. 101 (title) τριτογενεα; or, a Brief Outline of the Universal System.
c. With the: (a) The prevailing political, economic, or social order, esp. regarded as oppressive; the Establishment; any impersonal, restrictive organization. Freq. with capital initial.
1806C. Wilmot Let. 23 Mar. in Londonderry & Hyde Russ. Jrnls. (1934) II. 223 Dozens of Slaves are waiting..to greet the Princess... Her Lenity makes their Lot better perhaps than that of others, but that's saying very little for the System. 1855Mechanics' Mag. LXIII. 542 (heading) It is the system. Ibid., I have not heard anything of it from that day to this, and must therefore infer that his Lordship was instigated by the ‘system’. 1906U. Sinclair Jungle xxx. 384 These Western fellows were just ‘meat’ for Tommy Hinds—he would get a dozen of them around him and paint little pictures of ‘the System’. 1911H. Walpole Mr. Perrin & Mr. Traill ix. 178 She suddenly..had a revelation..that it wasn't really any one's fault at all—that it was the system, the place, the tightness and closeness and helplessness that did for everybody. 1965G. Jackson Let. June in Soledad Brother (1971) 78 It's frayed nerves, caused by the harsh terms that defeat brought when they went against the system, the same system that runs this place. 1973Ottawa Jrnl. 18 May 16/1 It is the deeply moving, contemporary story of a young man who wouldn't surrender to the System..and the girl who always stood beside him. 1977Gay News 24 Mar. 20/1 No, I accepted the system wholeheartly—the suit, white stiff collar and tie, night school, the lot. 1981‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty vi. 65 If I hadn't made it quite to Harvard, I might still have thought there was a chance for me in the system. But Harvard—the oxygen was too pure.
(b) spec. (See quot. 1945.) Austral. Hist.
1874M. Clarke His Natural Life (1875) III. iv. vii. 194 ‘You have a future to live for, man.’ ‘I hope not,’ said the victim of the ‘system’. 1934B. Penton Landtakers (1935) i. v. 42 Joe's..not the same as other lags... The System soon breaks them up, but Joe it just sets on fire and leaves him as hard as brick. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. ii. 43 The prison at Fremantle was the establishment, a term which is fit to rank with the System—as transportation in general and the maltreatment of prisoners in particular became known—as notable examples of understatement.
2. Physics. A group of bodies moving about one another in space under some particular dynamical law, as the law of gravitation; spec. in Astron., a group of heavenly bodies connected by their mutual attractive forces and moving in orbits about a centre or central body, as the solar system (the sun with its attendant planets, etc.), the system of a planet (the planet with its attendant satellites).
1690Locke Hum. Und. iv. iii. §24 If we..confine our Thoughts to this little Canton, I mean this System of our Sun. a1704–1842 [see solar a. 7]. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. i. ix. 117 Of the Motion of a System of Bodies revolving about another Body; all which is applied to the System of the Sun, and the Primary and Secondary Planets. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 25 Observe how system into system runs, What other planets circle other suns. 1816[see planetary a. 1]. 1850Tennyson In Mem. Concl. 122 Star and system rolling past. 1870Proctor Other Worlds xii. 274 First satellite-systems, then planetary systems, then star-systems, then systems of star-systems. 1878Stewart & Tait Unseen Univ. iii. §103. 114 Taking as our ‘system of bodies’ the whole physical universe. 1890C. A. Young Elem. Astron. §362 The range of the system [of Saturn] is enormous. Iapetus [the outermost satellite] has a distance of 2,225,000 miles.
3. Biol.
a. A set of organs or parts in an animal body of the same or similar structure, or subserving the same function, as the nervous system, muscular system, osseous, etc. systems, the digestive system, respiratory system, reproductive, etc. systems; also, each of the primary groups of tissues in the higher plants.
1740Cheyne Regimen 168 Accidents that injure the arterial and nervous system. 1838–9Kemble Resid. Georgia (1863) 13 The diseases of the muscular and nervous systems. 1841T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 302 The generative system appears, at first, to be absolutely wanting in the larva. 1875Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 77 Forms and Systems of Tissues... We..usually find an Epidermal System, a Fascicular System, and the system of the Fundamental Tissue between them. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 699 Affections of the pigmentary system.
b. With the or possessive: The animal body as an organized whole; the organism in relation to its vital processes or functions.
Occas. extended to include the mind.
[1683Tryon Way to Health 312 When once the same is wounded, the whole Systeme of Nature is disordered.] 1764Goldsm. Trav. 347 Till, over-wrought, the general system feels, Its motions stop. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 526 Introducing vaccine virus into the system. 1806J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xii. xxv, Ennui so powerfully predominates over your whole system, mental and bodily, that [etc.]. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xxiii. 300 It is extraordinary how long it takes to get those malarial fevers out of the system.
c. In fig. phr. to get (something) out of one's system and varr.: to rid oneself of some preoccupation or obsession, esp. by indulging in it to a point of satiety. Cf. quot. 1908, sense 3 b.
1900H. A. Jones Mrs. Dane's Defence iv. 80 I'm rather glad he has taken it [sc. a disappointment in love] so violently... It means that in six months it will be out of his system. 1911G. S. Porter Harvester xviii. 430 Let me finish... Let me get this out of my system. 1962P. Green tr. S. de Beauvoir's Prime of Life iii. 129 She still saw him occasionally, trying, at one and the same time and with equal lack of success, to win him back and get him out of her system. 1970New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/1 By the time I put a couple of drinks under my belt, I worked the whole thing out of my system. 1974J. Gardner Return of Moriarty 28 We had stayed silent, it was better to let the young fool get it out of his system.
4. In various scientific and technical uses: A group, set, or aggregate of things, natural or artificial, forming a connected or complex whole.
a. of natural objects or phenomena, as geological formations, mountains, rivers, winds, forces, etc.; also of lines, points, etc. in geometry.
1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 125 We may select the great carboniferous series..as the oldest system of rocks of which the organic remains furnish any decisive evidence as to climate. 1831Brewster Optics xxviii. 237 If we place a sphere of glass in a glass trough of hot oil, and observe the system of rings, while the heat is passing to the centre of the sphere. 1840Lardner Geom. 261 Any system of conjugate diameters of an ellipse. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. vi. 43 We had a good view of the glacier system of the region. 1885Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) vi. Introd. 631 We speak of the Chalk or Cretaceous system, and embrace, under that term, formations which may contain no chalk. 1893H. N. Dickson Meteorol. i. §12 Winds arranged in a rotating system. Ibid. iii. §45 Low pressure system or cyclone. 1912T. G. Bonney Work of Rain & Rivers iv. 95 The History of a River System.
b. of artificial objects or appliances arranged or organized for some special purpose, as pulleys or other pieces of mechanism, columns or other details of architecture, canals, railway lines, telegraphs, etc.
1830Herschel in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 804 Joint vibrations of a plate and string as a system. 1851Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. viii. 88 Magnificent buildings have been composed of systems of small but perfect shafts. 1855Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §8. (1864) 31 A system of telegraph wires. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. ix. 318 The system of beacons, which has been traced out over a long range of the hill-tops. 1892Daily News 1 Nov. 6/6 The principal members of the staff are residents upon the company's system and daily travellers upon the line.
c. Geol. A major stratigraphic division, composed of a number of series and corresponding to a period (period n. 4 b) in time; the rocks deposited during any specific period.
1829A. Sedgwick in Trans. Geol. Soc. III. 121 The previous statements seem to show, that the system of the new red sandstone could not have been produced by any sudden and transitory agency. 1835― in Ibid. IV. 70 The lowest beds of the carboniferous system of this region. 1835R. I. Murchison in Phil. Mag. VII. 48, I venture to suggest..the term ‘Silurian system’ should be adopted as expressive of the deposits which lie between the old red sandstone and the slaty rocks of Wales. 1839― Silurian System xiv. 169, I venture..to apply to it [sc. the Old Red Sandstone] the term system, in order to convey a just conception of its importance in the natural succession of rocks. 1882A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. 636 The Geological Record is classified into five main divisions... These divisions are further ranged into systems, each system into series..or formations, each formation into groups or stages. 1898,1927[see group n. 4 b (iii)]. 1944A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. vii. 103 Pebbles of Shap granite..occur in the conglomerates at the base of the Carboniferous system in Westmorland. 1961Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XLV. 658/2 The system is the fundamental unit of world-wide time-stratigraphic classification of Phanerozoic rocks... In the Precambrian, systems still have only local significance. 1971Nature 12 Feb. 480/2 In historical geology, the subdivision of periods into epochs and ages (or systems into series and stages) is usually defined by unconformities.
d. The set of the various phases that two or more given metals are capable of forming at different temperatures and pressures. Usu. with qualifying term, as alloy system.
1911Jrnl. Inst. Metals V. 127 In the year 1897 the late Sir William Roberts-Austen..published the complete freezing-point curve of the copper-zinc alloys... This diagram was the first attempt to construct what would in present-day terminology be the Equilibrium Diagram of the Copper-Zinc System. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 927/2 In non-ferrous alloys, considerable attention has been given to the alloys of zinc, a portion of the ternary system copper-aluminium-zinc. 1967A. H. Cottrell Introd. Metallurgy xv. 233 Many alloy systems are complicated by the appearance of several intermediate phases. 1977Sci. Amer. July 82/3 Both cements are based on the ternary system of oxides of calcium, silicon and aluminum (CaO-SiO2-Al2O3).
e. Linguistics. A group of terms, units, or categories, in a paradigmatic relationship to one another.
1953R. H. Robins in Trans. Philol. Soc. 109 Professor J. R. Firth has recently suggested that the terms ‘Structure’ and ‘System’ be kept distinct in the technical vocabulary of linguistic description. ‘Structure’ might be used to refer to undimensional, linear abstractions at various levels from utterances or parts of utterances... When..categories have been devised by means of which the utterances of the language can be successfully described and analysed, closed systems are formed of these categories. 1956J. R. Firth in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1955 91 Neither the Americans nor the Scandinavians have controlled and distinguished the use of system and structure as we have in the linguistics group at the School of Oriental and African Studies. 1961Y. Olsson Syntax Eng. Verb ii. 27 Values for the elements are given by terms which commute, that is, operate along the line one-instead-of-another; terms constitute systems. 1964R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics ii. 49 It is useful to employ structure..specifically with reference to groupings of syntagmatically related elements, and system with reference to classes of paradigmatically related elements. 1977Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1976 XXI. ii. 196 Throughout the late 'fifties and early 'sixties he [sc. M. A. K. Halliday] extended J. R. Firth's concepts of ‘system’ and ‘structure’ and ‘modes of meaning’ into what came to be known as scale and category linguistics.
f. Computers. A group of related programs; spec. = operating system s.v. operating vbl. n. b.
1963L. Schultz Digital Processing xiii. 271 In applications such as were described in Chapter 6, a system of programs rather than a single program is necessary. 1972Computers & Humanities VII. 82 If a package of programs is so tightly integrated that output from one program is automatically input to another program, then it is frequently called a system. 1978Lynch & Rice Computers ix. 407 A system..handles the manipulation of source programs, language translators, input-output and so on.
g. With reference to business and social organizations and the operations or interactions they involve (see also quot. 19672).
1963Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. XIV. 38 The idea of ‘system’ has been used to imply that its parts (organizations or institutions) are interdependent with each other: that the performances of the parts have consequences or functions, consequences for the ‘performing’ part, consequences for other ‘parts’, consequences for the whole system. 1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy (1968) ix. 166 The term ‘systems’ is becoming popular for describing large-scale non-military industrial projects. 1967R. Whitehead in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. iv. 70 The health of the nation is made possible by a number of systems: doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, chemists, and, of course, patients. These are not isolated systems but interacting parts of a large and exceedingly complex whole. Ibid. iv. 54 The typewriter may be a relatively simple machine but in this context it is a system with a person and a machine coupled together, both interrelated and interacting. 1969D. C. Hague Managerial Econ. i. 17 We have been considering models for analysing business problems. These seek to state the set of relationships—what we shall call the system—within which and about which business decisions have to be taken.
h. Colloq. phr. all systems go: everything functioning correctly, ready to proceed; everything fully operational. Chiefly fig. (orig. U.S.).
1962[see go a. 1]. 1967A. Lurie Imaginary Friends i. 8 The Seekers were looking for new members, and we should have no trouble making contact. As McMann put it, all systems were Go. 1969Times 22 July (Moon Rep. Suppl.) p. i/1 Neil Armstrong on the porch of the Eagle at 109 hours 19 minutes and 30 seconds to L.O.S., all systems go, over. 1977Listener 7 Apr. 450/1 It was sportsfest time again for the BBC last week—all systems go.
i. A prefabricated construction unit used in system building (see system building, sense 11 d below).
1963[see industrialized ppl. a.]. 1969H. A. Frey tr. Schmid & Testa's Syst. Building 26/2 Building with systems is naturally more compatible with team thinking than with the approach of the isolated independent architect. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia III. 455/2 Basically a modular volumetric unit composed of some combination of walls, roof, and/or floor, the box system is usually prefabricated in a plant.
5. Mus.
a. In ancient Greek music, A compound interval, i.e. one consisting of several degrees (opp. to diastem); also, a scale or series of notes extending through such an interval, and serving as the basis of musical composition.
1656Blount Glossogr., Systeme,..the compasse of a song, or (by a metaphor) of any other thing. 1672T. Salmon Ess. Adv. Musick 58 The entire Systeme of an Octave. 1694Holder Treat. Harmony vi. 110 Diastem signifies an Interval..; System, a Conjunction..of Intervals. Ibid. 111 Thus a Tone was a Diastem, and Diatessaron was a System, compounded of Degrees... And the Scale of Notes which they used, was their Greatest, or Perfect System. 1721A. Malcolm Treat. Mus. 333 That we may know where each Part lies in the Scale or general System,..which is the true Design and Office of the Clefs. Ibid. 335 By this constant and invariable Relation of the Clefs, we learn easily how to compare the particular Systems of several Parts, and know how they communicate in the Scale. 1776Burney Hist. Mus. I. i. 12. 1898 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 207/2 After the time of Ion, the original Greek scale received only one more string, the eleventh... In this..form, it became the ‘lesser perfect system’ of the Greeks. Ibid. 208 The Greater Perfect System.
b. Applied to a stave (obs.), or to a set of staves connected by a brace in a score of concerted music.
1672T. Salmon Ess. Adv. Musick 63 A Mean and Treble, which may be..placed upon a Systeme of four or five lines. 1889Grove Dict. Mus. IV. 45/2 System, the collection of staves necessary for the complete score of a piece.
6. Gr. Pros. A group of connected verses or periods, esp. in anapæstic metres.
1850Mure Lit. Greece III. 54 A System is a..section of the text of a metrical composition, the numbers of which..are too extensive to admit of their being comprised in a single verse. 1861Paley æschylus (ed. 2) Agam. 40 note, The chorus of old men.. enter the orchestra..and..sing the following system of anapaests.
†7. A pad formerly worn by women to raise up the hair: see toque 1 b, quot. 1817. Obs.
II. A set of principles, etc.; a scheme, method.
8. The set of correlated principles, ideas, or statements belonging to some department of knowledge or belief; a department of knowledge or belief considered as an organized whole; a connected and regularly arranged scheme of the whole of some subject; a comprehensive body of doctrines, conclusions, speculations, or theses.
a1656Hales Serm. 2 Pet. iii. 16 Gold. Rem. (1673) 11 Their acquaintance with some Notitia, or Systeme of some technical divine. 1678Cudworth (title) The True Intellectual System of the Universe. 1699T. Baker Refl. Learn. i. 4 The moderns..more pleas'd with their own inventions, than with the dry Systems of the Old Philosophers. Ibid. vi. 63 The last Systeme of Logic that I have met with. 1758C. Fleming (title) A Survey of the Search after Souls,..wherein The principal Arguments for and against the Materiality are collected: And the Distinction between the mechanical and moral System stated. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxvii. III. 59 The humanity of Ambrose tempted him to make a singular breach in his theological system. 1833Tennyson Two Voices 207 A dust of systems and of creeds. 1845J. Martineau Ess. (1891) III. 341 Morality is not a system of truths, but a system of rules. In other words, it is not a science, but an art. 1850Tennyson In Mem. Prol. 17 Our little systems have their day. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 421 In the Hegelian system ideas supersede persons.
b. spec. in Astron. A theory or hypothesis of the arrangement and relations of the heavenly bodies, by which their observed movements and phenomena are or have been explained.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. Pref. A iv, The Word Intellectual, being added, to distinguish it from the other, Vulgarly so called, Systems of the World, (that is the Visible and Corporeal World) the Ptolemaick, Tychonick, and Copernican. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), System... Among Astronomers it is taken for the general Constitution, Fabrick and Harmony of the Universe, or any orderly Representation thereof, according to some noted Hypothesis. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 186 To describe the Tychonic System of the World. 1855Brewster Newton II. xxiv. 358 The Copernican system is not more demonstrably true than the system of theological truth contained in the Bible. 1870[see tychonic].
†c. In weakened sense: A theory or hypothesis; also, theory (as opposed to practice). colloq. Obs.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., System and Hypothesis have the same Signification; unless, perhaps, Hypothesis be a more particular System; and System a more general Hypothesis. 1748Chesterfield Let. to Son 27 Sept., Read and hear..ingenious systems, nice questions, subtily agitated. 1750Ibid. 6 Aug., In the course of the world there is the same difference, in every thing between system and practice. 1756M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Cl.) 213 A book upon naturall philosiphy, which is much esteemed; it is overturning all the sistem of every thing being produced by generation, and nothing by corruption. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., Mystery, I could form no system to explain the phænomenon.
†d. transf. A work or writing containing a comprehensive and regularly arranged exposition of some subject; a systematic treatise. Obs. exc. in titles of books.
1658Phillips, Systems,..a Treatise or body of any Art or Science. 1661J. Fell Hammond 6 He presently bought a Systeme of Divinity, with design to apply himself straightway to that study. 1695in Fasti Aberd. (1854) 373 A printed course or systeme of philosophie. 1722A. Nisbet (title) A System of Heraldry, Speculative and Practical. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. iii, Astronomers (who have written large systems). 1727De Foe (title) A System of Magick; or, a History of the Black Art. 1772Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. p. xxxii, It will be..advisable, that he give his lectures from a short text or system, written,..that they may have an opportunity of perusing it. 1896Allbutt (title) A System of Medicine.
9. An organized scheme or plan of action, esp. one of a complex or comprehensive kind; an orderly or regular method of procedure. Now usually with defining word or phrase.
1663Heath Flagellum (1672) 17 That there might no vice be wanting to make his Life a systeme of Iniquity. 1734in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 251 The generous system, that his Maty has always pursued. 1746Francis tr. Hor., Epist. i. vi. 99 Farewel, and if a better System's thine, Impart it frankly. 1769Junius Lett. viii. (1788) 63 What system of government is this? 1781Cowper Expost. 91 He found..Their piety a system of deceit. 1790Jefferson Writ. (1895) V. 228 The conduct of Spain has proved that the occlusion of the Mississippi is system with her. 1842Tennyson Audley Court 33 We..discuss'd the farm, The four-field system, and the price of grain. 1873Morley Struggle Nat. Educ. 55 Subsidising the denominational system. 1882Nature 9 Feb. 351/1 The system of dredging introduced..on the rivers of France.
b. A formal, definite, or established scheme or method (of classification, notation, or the like).
1753[see Linnæan]. 1760[see sexual 2 d]. 1797[see metrical a.2 1]. 1831[see notation 5 c]. 1849Balfour Man. Bot. §719 A natural system endeavours to bring together plants which are allied in all essential points of structure. 1860[see Morse n.3]. 1864[see metric a.2]. 1866Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 136 The system of chemical notation now in use. 1867[see numeration 1 b]. 1893Times 26 July 12/1 The T.A. system of signalling invented by Admiral Tryon.
c. Cryst. Each of the six different general methods in which different minerals crystallize, constituting the six classes of crystalline forms.
1820Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. III. 173 We call every simple form, from which other simple forms are derived, a fundamental form; and the class of figures derived from that fundamental form, a system of crystallisations. 1863Fownes' Chem. (ed. 9) 259–262 All crystalline forms may..be arranged in six classes or systems:.. 1. The regular system... 2. The square prismatic system... 3. The right prismatic system... 4. The oblique prismatic system... 5. The doubly-oblique prismatic system... 6. The rhombohedral system. 1868Dana Min. (ed. 5) Introd. p. xxi, The systems of crystallization are as follows: 1. Having the axes equal. The Isometric system. 2. Having only the lateral axes equal. The Tetragonal and Hexagonal. 3. Having the axes unequal. The Orthorhombic, Monoclinic, and Triclinic.
d. Any method devised by a gambler for determining the placing of his bets.
1850Thackeray Pendennis II. xxvi. 262, I won a good bit of money there, and intend to win a good bit more... I've got a system. I'll make his fortune. 1896Badminton Mag. Dec. 708 Straight bets over single events are losing their popularity in favour of ‘systems’. A system is a kind of patent safety insurance policy. 1908Chesterton All Things Considered 47 His vanity..remains a mere mistake of fact, like that of a man who..thinks he has an infallible system for Monte Carlo. 1965J. Symons Belting Inheritance iii. 54 He had all sorts of bright ideas that were going to make a fortune. One was..a racing system, something to do with backing second favourites.
e. System D [tr. F. Système D (also used)], (see quots. 1918, 1970). slang.
1918in C. A. Smith New Words Self-Defined (1919) 185 ‘System D’ is coming into play in the United States Army. ‘System D’ is a bit of French slang. It means to unmix, to disentangle, to go straight through... It comes from the initial letter of the word ‘débrouiller’. 1947M. Laski in Vogue Oct. 63/1 That method called by the French System D, the phony medical certificate, the faked-up business journey. 1970N. Freeling Kitchen Bk. v. 45 He was a master of the short cut, the easy way out, the system D. D. stands for dé as in débrouiller or démerder—to extricate, and I suppose that in English it is ‘I'm all right, Jack’. 1973‘Trevanian’ Loo Sanction (1974) 78 MI-6..muddled their way through the Second World War, relying largely on the French organizational concept, ‘système D’.
10. In the abstract (without a or pl.): Orderly arrangement or method; systematic form or order.
1699T. Baker Refl. Learn. vi. 68 Aristotle is more noted for his order, in bringing Morality into Systeme,..and distinguishing vertues into their several kinds, which had not been handled Systematically before, than for any real improvement he made in this sort of knowledge. 1746W. Horsley Fool (1748) II. 47 It [sc. government] consists of too many detach'd Parts to be easily reduced into System. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 426 There is more of system in the Phaedo than appears at first sight. 1876Trevelyan Macaulay II. xv. 474 Macaulay, even during his hours of leisure, began to read on system.
III. 11. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. Of or pertaining to, or involving a system, systematic, as system-name; belonging to or affecting a system of bodily organs (esp. the nervous system: cf. systemic 1 b), as system degeneration, system disease, system tract. b. (i) objective, chiefly in sense 8 or 9 (often with unfavourable implication), as system-builder, system-building, system-destroyer, system-maker, system-making, system-monger, system-mongering, system-writer; (ii) in appositive use, as system-structure. See also sense 11 e.
1761Sterne Tr. Shandy IV. xvii. 125 But what it is, I leave to *system builders and fish pond diggers betwixt 'em to find out. 1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad vii. 313 note, Tristram Shandy tells us, that his father was a most excellent system-builder, was sure to make his Theory look well. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. iv. iv, This is the Sieyes who shall be System-builder, Constitution-builder General; and build Constitutions..which shall all unfortunately fall before he get the scaffolding away.
1911J. Drummond Paul vi. 79 There is no attempt at *system-building. 1969A. Maude Common Problem v. 94 The difference between this process [sc. the construction of a system by a political philosopher] and the determinist system-building of social scientists today is concerned with the making of ethical choices about ends.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 99 The degeneration of the posterior columns of the spinal cord is a *system degeneration.
1905J. Brierley Eternal Relig. vi. 48 The system-maker is by an equal necessity the *system-destroyer.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 494 The chief indication of a *system disease of the neuron is its intrinsic nervous origin.
1717Prior Alma iii. 330 We *System-makers can sustain The Thesis, which, You grant, was plain. a1721― Cromwell & his Porter Wks. 1907 II. 267 Your System-Makers and World-wrights. 1749Hartley Observ. Man I. Pref. p vi, I think,..that I cannot be called a System-maker, since I did not first form a System, and then suit the Facts to it. 1826[see methodist 2 b]. 1836H. Rogers J. Howe ii. (1863) 21 Where Scripture speaks, or seems to speak, in consonance with the opinions of the system-maker, well and good.
1884Century Mag. XXVII. 915 There were many independent centers of movement and *system-making.
1750Chesterfield Let. to Son 6 Aug., A *system-monger, who, without knowing any thing of the world by experience, has formed a system of it in his dusty cell. 1836H. Rogers J. Howe iii. (1863) 45 There would be no lack of system-mongers and theorists. 1896Badminton Mag. Dec. 711 The system-monger is apt to derive encouragement from the fact that long runs on a colour are rare, the longest known at Monte Carlo being a series of 28 reds.
1940Mind XLIX. 120 Hegel was wrong in his formal *system-mongering which reflects the influence upon his thought of Christian theology. 1978N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 Feb. 6/1 [Matthew] Arnold frowned on dogmatic religion, puritanism, and system-mongering.
1888Clodd Story Creation iv. 32 The stratified rocks are subdivided into the systems shown on fig. 4..No uniform principle has governed the choice of the *system-names.
1964P. Strevens in D. Abercrombie Daniel Jones 125 Such disparate bodies of grammatical theory as those which lie behind phoneme-morpheme-syntax grammar..and *system-structure grammar. 1975M. A. K. Halliday in S. Rogers Children & Lang. iv. 225 Prague theory, glossematics, system-structure theory, tagmemics, stratification theory and the later versions of transformation theory are all variants on this theme.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 79, I have seen sclerosis so situated in *system tracts, as to be mistaken for a tract-degeneration.
1711Shaftesbury Charac. III. Misc. iii. ii. 187 A formal and profess'd Philosopher, a *System-Writer.
c. In sense 4 g, as system library, system technology, etc.; also system contradiction, system integration (so system-integrative adj.).
1952T. Parsons Social System 7 The moment even the most elementary system-level is brought under consideration a component of ‘system integration’ must enter in. 1953System integrative [see polar a. 7 b]. 1962J. Riordan Stochastic Service Systems iv. 70 As noted previously, this is a system with limited waiting capacity. If the waiting capacity is K - 1, the system capacity is K. 1962E. Godfrey Retail Selling & Organization xi. 120 Many firms now recognize that system training needs to be interspersed with periods of practical selling. 1970Gloss. Aeronaut. & Astronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) x. 4 System capacity, the total power available from the power sources under the prescribed operating and environmental conditions in the aircraft. 1973C. W. Gear Introd. Computer Sci. iv. 156 These built-in subroutines..form part of what is called the system library. 1976Time 20 Dec., facing p. 2 (Advt.), This new aid for a communication-saturated world is one more example of Toshiba's sophisticated system technology, which brings together technology from many different fields to solve complex problems of today. 1977A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory ii. 127 By ‘system contradiction’ I mean a disjunction between two or more ‘principles of organization’ or ‘structural principles’ which govern the connections between social systems within a larger collectivity. 1977Ibid. 123 While the notion of function is redundant to the theory of structuration, that of ‘social integration’ can still be regarded as a basic one—together with the further one of ‘system integration’. 1978J. McNeil Consultant ix. 108 The details of his past career..appeared to have involved Webb in the study of system efficiency.
d. In pl. systems, used esp. in sense 4 g, as systems approach, systems manager, systems theory, etc. Cf. also sense 11 e below.
1952N.Y. Certified Public Accountant Oct. 604/2 Principles for acquiring specialized knowledge and experience in the systems field. Ibid. 605/2 You can rely on a systems consultant whose business it is to devote more time..than you..can afford to give. 1959Economist 11 Apr. 139/1 The American department is relying increasingly on prime contractors (called ‘systems managers’) to combine the works of many sub-contractors. 1967Ibid. 28 Jan. 328/3 Airlines in general are shifting toward a ‘systems concept’ which takes charge of the traveller from door to door, not simply between departure and arrival lounges. 1968Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 23 Nov. 32/3 General Motors and Ford can use a ‘systems’ approach to their global investments. 1969Times 30 Apr. 23/4 (Advt.), In advanced technology. Systems evaluation engineers. Systems trials engineer. Systems test engineers... We require a number of engineers experienced in the assessment, evaluation and/or trials of complex defence weapon systems. 1970T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. (ed. 2) iii. 80 An example of a practical application of a systems theory of organization. 1975Modeling & Simulation VI. 795 (heading) Are systems scientists not scientists? 1976J. Lund Ultimate i. 11 Fernandos was a systems consultant to a group of supermarket owners. 1977R.A.F. News 22 June–5 July 9 (Advt.), Systems test engineers {pstlg}3,500–{pstlg}4,000. 1977A. Giddens Stud. in Soc. & Polit. Theory ii. 115 Von Bertalanffy counterposes the ‘mechanistic’ views characteristic of nineteenth-century physical science with the twentieth-century perspective of systems theory. 1978Times 2 Oct. 6/8 A new industry, or sub-industry, has emerged, formed on ‘systems houses’ which buy in the micro components and other hardware, write the software, and design and market the complete systems. 1978J. McNeil Consultant ix. 109 You might have a bit of trouble with my Systems Manager.
e. Special Comb., as systems (or † system) analysis, the rigorous, often mathematical, analysis of complex situations and processes as an aid to decision-making or preparatory to the introduction of a computer; so systems analyst; system building vbl. n., a method of construction using standardized prefabricated components (see sense 4 i above); hence system builder; system-built ppl. a.; system(s) design, the process or task of matching a computer system to the situation into which it is to be introduced and determining the procedures that are to be used; hence system(s) designer; systems engineering, the investigation of complex, man-made systems in relation to the apparatus that is or might be involved in them; so systems engineer; system(s) program Computers, a program forming part of an operating system; so system(s) programmer, programming; system(s) software Computers, system programs collectively.
1950in J. H. Batchelor Operations Research (1959) 769 Notes on (m × 2) evaluation matrices for special system analysis applications. 1953Jrnl. Operations Res. Soc. Amer. I. 191 Sometimes this broad type of operations research is called ‘systems analysis’, ‘systems planning’, or ‘market research’. 1966A. Battersby Math. in Management i. 26 This field of application of mathematics has been defined as ‘systems analysis’, which considers the thing-being-managed as a system subject to control and operating within an environment with which it interacts. 1977Time 4 Apr. 50/1 Systems analysis, which is really good common sense on a grand scale, combines the knowledge of mathematical probabilities with the aim of dealing with problems in their entirety rather than just piecemeal.
1955Operations Research III. 470 How does the systems analyst choose the preferred strategy? 1967D. Wilson in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 47 The macro block-diagrams show the main logic for a particular program and may be prepared by the systems analyst. 1982M. Duke Flashpoint xxvii. 205 From computer programmer to systems analyst. Quite an achievement.
1965Times 4 Dec. 5/7 If you want to give the system-builder a fair chance of developing his system you have got to have continuous production for a number of years. 1973Architect Jan. 4/1 If you require the services of a good system builder... We can manufacture to your own particular design or in a manner which allows the best use of our standard components.
1964R. M. E. Diamant Industrialised Building I. p. viii, System building is particularly well suited to the rapid erection of tall, low⁓cost blocks of flats. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 80 A brilliant group of young men and women actively at work developing two methods of system-building, 5M and 12M.
1968Guardian 13 Nov. 1/4 The Minister of Housing..made strenuous efforts to halt the collapse of confidence in system-built blocks. 1973Archit. Assoc. Q. V. iv. 8/2 Later models [of bungalow] were supplied with what would appear to be system-built furniture. Described by the architect as ‘chair-furniture’, it consisted of various components which could be assembled into chairs, stools, tables, etc.
1954Trans. IRE Prof. Group Electronic Computers June 8/2 The necessity for effecting compromises and avoiding conflicts of this kind between the rival claims of operational effectiveness and engineering reliability and economy strongly influenced the system design of the SEAC and DYSEAC. 1960Gregory & Van Horn Automatic Data-Processing Systems xi. 380 Some analysts with an accounting and systems-design background suggest the straightforward approach—simply asking management people what they must have to control operations. Ibid. 396 System design is discussed here in terms of fact finding, developing specifications, meeting specifications, and matching equipment with the system. 1980Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Feb. 147/1 With the advent of micro-electronics and the growth in the field described nowadays as systems design, there is some danger that..that manager will fail to appreciate the real importance of the design element. 1980J. McNeil Spy Game i. 28 Stick to systems design... You make a lousy financial expert.
Ibid. 22 You're the best systems designer in his Division.
1955Business Week 15 Jan. 164/3 Nowadays, the systems engineer starts a project by wrestling with the abstruse questions of what elements in the system need accurate measurement, which ones are important to control. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVII. 972/1 The first task of the systems engineer is to develop as clear a formulation of objectives as possible.
1952W. H. Martin in Proc. 5th Ann. Conf. Administration of Research 1951 8/1 In our organization [sc. Bell Telephone Laboratories] extensive use is made of an analytical procedure which we call Systems Engineering. 1962A. Battersby Guide to Stock Control i. 9 Two types of specialists concern themselves with the study of these communications networks: we may say broadly that the Organization and Methods experts are responsible for the general layout of the network, whereas the accountants are concerned with the messages which flow along them. The two functions are combined in the new specialism called Systems Engineering. 1973Gottfried & Weisman Introd. Optimization Theory i. 5 The techniques of systems engineering (of which optimization techniques constitute an important subclass) are applicable to a very wide variety of physical problems.
1958Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery Aug. 16 System programmers writing in uncol can use an existing translator to produce their ML system programs. 1960Ibid. III. 537 (heading) A list of computer systems programs for the ibm 650, datatron 205, and univac-SS80. 1973Abrams & Stein Computer Hardware & Software iii. 14 Software may be divided into..applications programs, which are written to solve users’ problems, and systems programs, which are concerned with operating the computer service. 1973C. W. Gear Introd. Computer Sci. ii. 53 These programs, called system programs, will read in our program after it has been punched on cards in a suitable form and arrange for the instruction counter to be set to the address of the first instruction in our program.
1958System programmer [see system program above]. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing v. 92 Nowadays, only some very specialized ‘system programmers’ write programs in machine code.
1958Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery Aug. 12 A minimum of ‘system programming’ should be required to produce the system initially. 1979R. Bornat Understanding & Writing Compilers xiv. 240 Most system-programming languages allow stack pointers to be used with even more freedom than in ALGOL 68.
1971B. de Ferranti Living with Computer 89 System software, those programs, usually prepared by the hardware manufacturer, that provide the link between the programs of the user and the hardware. 1980Palmer & Morris Computing Sci. viii. 283 Systems software is written to schedule the various stages in running a program..at the same time making efficient use of the hardware.
Add:[III.] [11.] [e.] system operator Computing (orig. U.S.), one who manages the operation of an electronic bulletin board.
1982Computerworld 18 Oct. 20/3 Videotex Directory..lists *system operators that are running videotex and teletext field trials and commercial services in the U.S., Canada and 25 foreign countries. 1988Govt. Computer News (U.S.) 19 Feb. 24/4 Bulletin board systems require thoughtful design and tending. The system operator..needs to clear out old entries, run backups, maintain user identification [etc.].
systems operator orig. U.S., one who controls or monitors the operation of complex esp. electronic systems.
1975Aviation Week & Space Technol. 20 Jan. 18/1 These aircraft will have a dual trainer-operational capability, with the second crew member as the avionics *systems operator for special missions. 1983Mech. Engin. Dec. 43/2 Because of wide differences in climate, designer skills, quality of the installation, diligence of the building owner or systems operator, and other variables system types cannot be quantitatively compared. 1990Air Force Mag. Mar. 81 Accommodation: crew of two on flight deck; two or three systems operators in main cabin.
▸ system administrator n. Computing a person who manages the operation of a computer system, network, etc., and has special privileges needed to administer and maintain the system; cf. sysadmin n.
[1968SIAM Rev. 10 463 What meaning this is to have for the average computer system administrator is difficult to say.] 1971Computers & Biomed. Res. 4 404 A privilege class signifies special availability of certain files or operations to the user. For example, a *system administrator might have the privilege of joining additional user names to the system, but an ordinary user typically would not. 1989DesignCenter ii. 17/2 Distribution is controlled by the system administrators of the networked machines and is propagated by category. 2004R. Dew & P. Pape No Backup xxvii. 216 Hanssen's attempt to gain system administrator privileges, which would provide unimpeded access to private areas throughout the entire Department of State system, was a hacker crime.
▸ systems administrator n. Computing = system administrator n. at Additions.
[1961N.Y. Times 6 Aug. f12/7 (advt.) Data processing systems administrator. Expert in introduction, analysis and management of programs utilizing DP Equipment.] 1968Sunday Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 15 Sept. 10/4 The Kaiser Bauxite Company as announced the appointment of Mr. Frazer Perry as *Systems Administrator in the Data Processing Department. 1993SunExpert Jan. 38 Backup is valued only when primary storage fails and panic-stricken eyes turn tearfully to the systems administrator. 2001J. Deaver Blue Nowhere iii xxiii. 254 The famous sendmail flaw was a bug in an early version of Unix..that let someone send a certain type of e-mail to the root user—the systems administrator—that would sometimes let the sender seize control of the computer. |