| 释义 |
equinoctial, a. and n.|ɛk-, iːkwɪˈnɒkʃəl|
Forms: 4–7 equinoctiall, (4 equynoxial, 5 equinoccialle, 6 -ccyall, 6–8 æquinoctial(l, 7, 9 equinoxial(l, 6– equinoctial.
[ad. L. æquinoctiālis, f. æquinoctium equinox. Cf. Fr. équinoxial.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to a state of equal day and night. equinoctial line, equinoctial circle (in Milton equinoctial road), the celestial or terrestrial equator. Cf. B. 1 and 2. equinoctial point = equinox 2.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §25 Tak his nethere elongacioun lengthing fro the same equinoxial lyne. c15111st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 29/2 So haue we sayled ouer y⊇ linie equinocciall. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 49 There is ane vthir circle of the spere, callit the circle equinoctial. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 31 For vnder the line equinoctiall..lyeth..great, and wyde desertes. 1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 428 The diurnal revolution is from the motion of the earth, by which the equinoctial circle is described about it. 1667Milton P.L. x. 672 Som say the Sun Was bid turn Reines from th' Equinoctial Rode. 1726tr. Gregory's Astron. I. ii. 305 To determine the Places of the Stars in respect of the Equinoctial and Solstitial Points. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India I. ii. ix. 420 The origin of the Indian zodiac did not coincide with the equinoxial point. 1837Brewster Magnet. 238 The magnetic equator will meet the equinoctial line only in two points.
2. Pertaining to the period or point of the equinox. equinoctial colure: see colure. † equinoctial day: a normal day of 12 hours. † equinoctial hour: an hour of normal length. equinoctial month: a month which includes one of the equinoxes. † equinoctial spring: the vernal equinox.
1570–87Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 58 After the equinoctiall spring. 1594Blundevil Exerc. ii. (ed. 7) 116, Six houres, which is the one halfe of an Equinoctiall day. 1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. v. 104 The excesse of the greatest and longest day aboue the equinoctiall day. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. vii. 309 Marcus Varro..exposeth his farme unto the equinoxiall ascent of the Sunne. 1775Adair Amer. Ind. 77 The two Jewish months just mentioned, were æquinoctial.
b. Happening at or near to the time of the equinox; said esp. of the ‘gales’ prevailing about the time of the autumnal equinox.
1792Anecd. W. Pitt III. xliii. 151 At last will come your equinoctial disappointment. 1795Ld. Lyndhurst Let. in Sir T. Martin Life 38 Many vessels have lost their anchors in this, I may call it, equinoctial gale. 1811Wellington in Gurw. Disp. VIII. 269 Till the equinoctial rains have filled the Tagus. 1865Livingstone Zambesi xix. 369 And the equinoctial gales made it impossible for us to cross to the eastern side.
3. Of or pertaining to the equinoctial (see B. 1, 2); = equatorial.
a. Pertaining to, or having reference to, the equator as a circle of the celestial or terrestrial sphere. equinoctial dial: see quot. 1751.
b. Pertaining to the regions adjacent to the terrestrial equator.
1594J. Davis Seaman's Secr. (1607) 3 Therefore those that trauail must either vse the Globe or an Equinoctiall diall. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 637 As when farr off at Sea a Fleet descri'd Hangs in the Clouds, by æquinoctial Winds Close sailing from Bengala. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth 169 The polar parts sinking into the abyss, the middle or æquinoctial parts still subsisted. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 319 The Center of the Equinoctial Semi-circle. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v. Dial, Equinoctial Dial is that described on an equinoctial plane, or a plane representing that of the equinoctial. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 419 Where equinoctial fervours glow. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 209 The warmer parts of equinoctial America. 1860tr. Hartwig's Sea & Wond. i. 13 The equinoctial ocean.
B. n.
1. The celestial equator: so called because, when the sun is on it, the nights and days are of equal length in all parts of the world.
c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 36 By nature knew he ech ascencioun Of equinoxial. 1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 252 All other lands that are vnder and neere the Equinoctiall. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. II. iii. 70 He affirmeth that Biarmia..hath the pole for its Zenith and Equinoctiall for the Horizon. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xvi. 92 At Tonquin..there is no tide at all, when the moon is near the equinoctial. 1833Herschel Astron. i. 58 They term the equator of the heavens the equinoctial. 1854Moseley Astron. ix. (ed. 4) 43 The distance of the star from the equinoctial..is called the Declination of the star. 1869Dunkin Midn. Sky 133 The Ecliptic is inclined to the equinoctial at an angle of 23° 28′.
2. The terrestrial equator. Now rare.
1584Calendar St. Papers 103–4 Any parts between the Equinoctial and the North Pole. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 5 Nor is this weather rare about the æquinoctiall. 1657Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 336 Born in the Caraccas, 1000 miles south of the equinoctial. 1784Burke Sp. agst. W. Hastings Wks. XIII. 155 As if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the virtues die. 1813Eustace Classical Tour (1821) III. 130 Cities that lie between them and the equinoctial.
b. transf. and fig. (humorously.)
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 24 Passing the Equinoctial of Queubus. 1609Dekker Gull's Horne-bk. 127 If he sit but one degree towards the equinoctial of the saltcellar. 1713Birch Guardian No. 36 Started a conceit at the equinoctial, and pursued it through all the degrees of latitude.
†3. = equinox. Obs.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 325 From the equinoccialle of Ver on to the equinoccialle of herveste. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 56 Quhen ther multipleis ane grit numir of sternis in the equinoctial of Libra..at that tyme ther occurris grit tempestis. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 413 There are scarce fifty dayes of ours, at the greatest time of heat, before the latter Equinoctial.
fig.1618Donne Serm. cxlv. V. 591 This day was a holy Equinoctial and made the day of the Jews and the day of the Gentiles equal.
4. An equinoctial gale.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 260 The equinoctials fright me a little. 1880Black White Wings II. 70 It is a shame he should be cheated out of his thunderstorm. But we have the equinoctials for him, at all events. |