| 释义 |
equinox|ˈiːk-, ˈɛkwɪnɒks|
Also 6–7 equinoxe, 6 æquinoxe, 7–8 æquinox.
[ad. (directly or through OF. equinoxe) L. æquinoctium (in the Middle Ages spelt equinoxium) equality between day and night, f. æqui- (see equi-) + noct- stem of nox night.
The late L. æquinox adj. (f. as æquinoctium) used also as n. in the sense ‘equinoctial point or sign’, though not the source of the word as now used, seems to occur in the quot. from Chaucer under 2.]
1. One of the two periods in the year when the days and nights are equal in length all over the earth, owing to the sun's crossing the equator. Hence, the precise moment at which the sun crosses the equator.
The vernal or spring equinox is at present on the 20 March, and the autumnal on the 22 or 23 September. Just before the reformation of the calendar they were 11 days earlier.
1588A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. H j, To tak away y⊇ ten dayes quhairby y⊇ æquinoxe of springe tyme had passeit y⊇ dew tyme. 1664Power Exp. Philos. iii. 149 It is eight dayes more from the Vernal to the Autumnal Aequinox, then it is from the Autumnal to the Vernal again. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. 261 The months of March and September, the two æquinoxes of our year, are the most windy and tempestuous. 1726tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 246 That he might..bring the Equinox to its former place, ten Days were suppressed in the Month of October, in the Year 1582. 1789T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 88, I should put off my departure till after the equinox. 1838Emerson Milton Wks. (Bohn) III. 296 He believed his poetic vein only flowed from the autumnal to the vernal equinox. 1842Tennyson Will Waterproof xxx, Live long, nor feel in head or chest Our changeful equinoxes. 1849M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xiii. 105 At the time of the equinoxes..the sun's declination is zero.
attrib.1643Lightfoot Glean. Ex. 20 That began..from the Equinox day.
b. The condition of having the days and nights of equal length. Also fig.
1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 129 [His vice is] to his vertue, a iust Equinox, The one as long as th' other. 1696Whiston Th. Earth i. (1722) 58 There must be a perpetual Equinox, or equality of Day and Night, through the whole Planet. 1698J. Keill Exam. Th. Earth (1734) 229 Then the Earth had a perpetual Equinox and unity of Seasons.
2. One of the two points at which the sun's path crosses the Equator, described technically as the first points in Aries and Libra. Formerly also used loosely for the region of the ecliptic adjacent to these points. precession of the equinoxes (see precession).
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §17 And ther-fore ben thise two signes [Aries & Libra] called the equinoxiis [ed. 1560 equinoctes]. 1594Blundevil Exerc. 149 a, The beginning of Aries, which is called the vernal Equinoxe. 1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. v. 105 If..in any oblique Horizon, there should bee an equinoxe, it could no wise bee in the middle time betwixt the two Solstices. 1726tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 418 The true and imaginary Sun will be equally distant from both Equinoxes.
†3. = equinoctial line or equator. Obs.
1579Fenton Guicciard. vi. (1599) 252 The Iles of Cape Verde..are distant fourteene degrees from the Equinox. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. iv. 90 To the North of the Equinox..in these Seas, I never saw any [Seals]. 1728Earbery tr. Burnet's St. Dead II. 45 The true Fertility that brings Corn to a Masculine Perfection is in Countries far from the Equinox.
†4. An equinoctial gale. Obs. rare.
1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 504 The wind, 'tis true, Was somewhat high, but that was nothing new, Nor more than usual equinoxes blew. |