| 释义 |
elementary, a.|ɛlɪˈmɛntərɪ|
Forms: 5–6 elementar(e, -air, -arie (7–8 elimentarie, -y).
[ad. L. elementārius, f. elementum: see element and -ar, -ary. Cf. F. élémentaire.]
1. Of or pertaining to the four elements or any one of them; = elemental 1. rare in mod. use.
1549Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 47 The fyrst part [of the varld] is the regione elementair. 1605Timme Quersit. i. v. 21 The elementary qualities passiue. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) III. 19 A species of living Creatures in the Orb of the Moon, which may bear som analogie with those of this Elementary world. 1669Gale Crt. Gentiles i. iii. iii. 46 If our Light be a Substance, its either Heavenly, or Elementarie. a1761Law Comf. Weary Pilgr. (1809) 90 This elementary world. 1856Tait's Mag. XXIII. 763 This year of peace has been distinguished by ‘elementary’ war—by deluges and earthquakes.
†2.
a. Composed of, or produced by, the (four) elements; material, physical; opposed to spiritual, celestial, etc.; = elemental 2. Obs.
c1440[see 3]. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 239 A Mineral is an elementarie body that is of it self firm and fixed. 1635Swan Spec. M. iii. §2 (1643) 48 The uncreated Light (viz. God) commanded this elementarie light to be. a1656Bp. Hall Occas. Med. (1851) 9 A false and elementary apparition. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 88 The Devil..set his human and elementary instruments at work. 1750tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 48 Others..say, there is only an elementary virtue in stones.
†b. That is in the condition of raw material.
1799tr. Meister's Lett. on Eng. 145 There is more gross and elementary matter in the English diet.
†3. Applied to air, fire, water, earth (cf. elemental 3):
a. Physical, material, literal, as opposed to figurative or ‘spiritual’; also, such as they exist in this lower world.
b. In their state of pure elements, as opposed to the impure state in which they are cognizable by the senses.
c1440Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. xxxiii, God is not fyre elementare. 1610Healey St. Aug. City of God 438 Some..held the Christalline heavens composed of waters..of a farre other nature then the Elementary. 1652French Yorksh. Spa ii. 7 The whole Elementary air being of its owne nature most subtile. 1658Torments of Hell in Phenix (1708) II. 438 Corporal elementary Fire is light..the Fire of Hell is not corporal Fire. 1782Kirwan in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 230 Fixed air..when stripped of phlogiston, and impregnated with..elementary fire, becomes again dephlogisticated air. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 56 Glass appears to be the true elementary earth, and all mixed bodies are only glass in disguise.
4. a. Pertaining to the great forces of nature. elementary gods: the gods of the elements. Cf. elemental 4, which is now in more frequent use.
1739H. Walpole Corr. (1820) I. 23 The elementary god of fire. 1841Elphinstone Hist. India I. 173 The worship of the old elementary gods.
b. fig. Comparable to the great forces of nature.
1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. v. 185 Byron..the greatest elementary power..in our literature since Shakespeare.
†5. Like one's ‘native element’; congenial. Obs.
1760H. Brooke Fool of Quality (1792) v. 5 He found their manners congenial and elementary to his own natural turn and disposition.
6. a. Of the nature of an (absolutely or relatively) ultimate constituent. Of chemical substances: Simple, not decomposable. elementary particle: now used in Physics spec. for any of a number of particles smaller than an atom (the leptons, mesons, and baryons) which are not known to be composed of any simpler particles and which are characterized by having a definite mass, a lifetime that is long compared with the interaction time, and well-defined electromagnetic properties, and are capable of an independent existence.
1622Peacham Compl. Gent. xv. 161 As if light were a quality resulting of an elementary composition, it being created before all mixed bodies. 1736Butler Anal. i. i. 18 The solid elimentary Particles of Matter. 1751Harris Hermes (1841) 210 To about twenty plain elementary sounds..we owe that variety of articulate voices. 1813Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 33 The elementary substances of which [rocks] are composed are very few. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. xxxiii. 339 What one may call the elementary expressions of the face. 1934Chem. Abstr. 2258 Theory of elementary particles...A relativistic wave equation of the Dirac type for a particle of given rest mass will allow only a spin of ½ in the usual units. 1937F. Rasetti Elem. Nuclear Physics 8 If the elementary particles are to be kept together in a stably bound nucleus, we must expect energy to be released in the formation process. 1949Gamow & Critchfield Theory Atomic Nucleus i. 8 It is possble to develop the theory of the fundamental nuclear properties and the various nuclear reactions..on the basis of..interaction-laws between the nucleons from which the composite nuclei are built. Here lies a convenient,..though not sharply defined, boundary between nuclear physics proper, and the next, as yet rather unexplored, division of the science of matter which can be called tentatively the physics of elementary particles. 1963K. W. Ford World of Elementary Particles i. 2 The elementary particles represent the deepest-lying sub⁓structure of matter to which man has been able to probe. Ibid. 17 The heaviest known ‘elementary’ particle, the xi particle..has not yet been explained as a composite of any of the lighter particles. That all of these particles are built up from some more primordial material remains..a strong possibility. 1963Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 9 May 1183/2 The University has established a Professorship of Elementary Particle Physics.
b. Math. Of the nature of an element or infinitesimal part (see element 8).
1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 83 Elementary polar area of the curve C. 1885Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 98 An elementary area of that surface.
7. a. Of the nature of elements or rudiments; rudimentary, introductory. elementary book, elementary writer, one that deals with first principles. elementary school, one in which primary instruction is given. Also elementary education, elementary schoolmaster.
1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 429, I would not wishe you to cleaue still to these elementarie aydes. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., Musicke is diuided into two parts, the first may be called Elementarie or rudimental. 1793T. Beddoes Math. Evid. 17 The same thing must..be..true of every other elementary author. 1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 24 Elementary books on the science. 1841Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 341 In 1835, the elementary schools were 4422. 1860Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 22/2 Elementary maxims of prudence. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man 5 These innovations have been treated of in my..Manual of Elementary Geology. 1870Act 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75 §1 This Act may be cited as ‘The Elementary Education Act, 1870’. 1912W. Owen Let. 2 July (1967) 148 By him sat an Elementary School-master, of Elementary Education. 1944H. C. Dent Education Act, 1944 12 Under Clause 7 of the Act the category ‘elementary’ disappears from the English educational system, and ipso facto local education authorities for elementary education only disappear also.
†b. That has not advanced beyond the rudiments. Obs.
1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. (T.) Your courtier elementary is one but newly entered, or as it were in the alphabet. |