| 释义 |
tangible, a.|ˈtændʒɪb(ə)l|
[ad. L. tangibilis that may be touched, f. tangĕre to touch: see -ble. So F. tangible (16th c. in Littré).]
A. adj.
1. a. Capable of being touched; affecting the sense of touch; touchable.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. i. (Arb.) 78 Of the things that haue conueniencie by relation, as the visible by light colour and shadow: the audible by stirres, times and accents:..the tangible by his obiectes in this or that regard. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 769 That body, or that which is tangible and divisible, is the only substantial thing. 1825Macaulay Ess., Milton (1887) 11 The..desire of having some visible and tangible object of adoration. 1886Myers Phantasms of Living I. Introd. 59 These sounds, these movements, these tangible apparitions.
b. Hence, Material, externally real, objective.
1620T. Granger Div. Logike 56 Whereof externall, and tangible workes are produced. 1827Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1873) 3 The threatenings of Christianity are material and tangible. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. iii. 117 He would not have had much chance of winning tangible rewards. 1875Fortnum Maiolica i. 1 From a very early period of human existence, known to us only by the tangible memorials of primitive inhabitants.
(b) tangible assets, physical and material assets which can be precisely valued or measured.
1930[see intangible n.]. 1977Time 8 Aug. 39/3 Recognizing that shares of many companies are selling at far less than the replacement value of their tangible assets, a number of chief executives have been using corporate cash to buy the assets of other companies at a discount. 1982Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 19/2 Alexander Howden's net tangible assets were overstated..according to the audit of the British insurance company.
2. That may be discerned or discriminated by the sense of touch; as a tangible property or form.
1664Jer. Taylor Dissuas Popery i. 5 This method..is the best, the most certain, visible and tangible. 1684J. P. tr. Frambresarius' Art Physic i. 14 [They have] so many real Agreements of Tangible Qualities. 1709Berkeley Th. Vision §45 Certain ideas perceivable by touch—as distance, tangible figure, and solidity. 1814Chalmers Evid. Chr. Revel. viii. 211 The only way to learn its tangible properties is to touch it.
3. fig. That can be laid hold of or grasped by the mind, or dealt with as a fact; that can be realized or shown to have substance; palpable.
1709Berkeley Th. Vision §96 Tangible ideas. a1763Byrom Crit. Rem. Horace Poems 1773 I. 310 That none of you touch a most tangible Blunder. 1839James Louis XIV, II. 284 These proposals assumed a more tangible form..after the arrival of Turenne. 1852Grote Greece ii. lxxiii. (1862) VI. 415 Without any tangible ground of complaint.
4. Capable of being touched or affected emotionally.
1813L. Hunt in Examiner 11 Jan. 22/2 He..is like the..Executioner,..tangible neither by groan nor by indignation.
B. as n. A thing that may be touched; something material or objective. Also fig.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xix. 77 Those things are tangibles; their real properties, such as shape, size, mass, consistency, position, reveal themselves only to touch. 1962Y. Malkiel in Householder & Saporta Probl. Lexicogr. 5 Range, i.e. the volume and spread of the material assembled, represents..the most obvious criterion [for classifying dictionaries]; it is also the most objective, involving by definition tangibles alone. 1965Economist 21 Aug. 697/2 He also had some tangibles to offer, in particular a request to Congress to eliminate the import fee on sugar. 1980I. St. James Money Stones ii. i. 39 Financial operators like me deal in paper and rarely have first-hand contact with tangibles..reducing..a new jumbo jet or a sugar crop to one common denominator..Money.
Hence ˈtangibleness, the quality or state of being tangible; ˈtangibly adv., in a tangible manner.
1727Bailey vol. II, *Tangibleness, capableness of being touched or felt by the Touch. 1843Mill Logic i. ii. §4 When only one attribute..is designated by the name; as visibleness; tangibleness; equality; squareness; milkwhiteness; then the name can hardly be considered general. 1893C. A. Wingerter in Barrows Parl. Relig. II. 1410 We have not appreciated it [duty to the poor] fully unless we recognize its tangibleness.
1847Webster, *Tangibly. 1858Macdonald Phantastes v. (1878) 73 The human forms appeared..more tangibly visible. |