| 释义 |
▪ I. tense, n.|tɛns|
Also 4–6 tens, temps, 6 tence.
[a. OF. tens, 11–13th c. (also tans, 11–16th c.); mod.F. temps from 13th c. = Pr. temps, Sp. tiempo, Pg., It. tempo:—L. tempus time.]
1. Time. Obs. or arch. (exc. in allusion to 2).
c1315Shoreham Poems i. 1061 And foluelle þat remenaunt Ine purgatoryes tense Eft-sone. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 377 Þe Gospel of Maudelen Dai is red on Fridai in Quarter Tense in Septembre among Ferials. [Editor's note. ‘Quatuor Tempora’, or, as it is called in Ireland, Quarter Tense; for the gospel read on St. Mary Magdalen's day (July 22) is the same as that for Ember Friday in September.] c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 322 It is to seken..That future temps hath maad men disseuere, In trust ther-of, from al þat euere they hadde. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. (Percy Soc.) 214 For onely of hym it is especiall,..in finall, The future tence to knowe directly. [1843Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. v, There are three Tenses, Tempora, or Times; and there is one Eternity.] 1922Joyce Ulysses 604 To fast and abstain on the days commanded, it being quarter tense or, if not, ember days or something like that.
2. a. Gram. Any one of the different forms or modifications (or word-groups) in the conjugation of a verb which indicate the different times (past, present, or future) at which the action or state denoted by it is viewed as happening or existing, and also (by extension) the different nature of such action or state, as continuing (imperfect) or completed (perfect); also abstr. that quality of a verb which depends on the expression of such differences.
1388Wyclif Prol. xv. 57 A participl of a present tens..may be resoluid into a verbe of the same tens, and a coniunccion copulatif. 1530Palsgr. Introd. 31 These thre accidentes, mode, tens and declination parsonall. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. vii. 2 The tenses or tymes of verbes are oftentymes chaunged among the Hebrewes. 1580― in Baret Alv. To Rdr. viii, The Coniugation, Number, Person, Tence, And Moode of Verbes. 1580Fulke Martiall Confut. iv. 169 Findeth fault with him for giuing the aoristes the signification of the present temps. 1599Massinger, etc. Old Law iv. i, Thou præterpluperfect tense of a woman. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §11 In Eternity there is no distinction of Tenses. 1751Harris Hermes i. vii. Wks. (1841) 152 The tenses are used to mark present, past, and future time. 1871Roby Lat. Gram. ii. xvi. §549 [In Latin there are] Six tenses... Three, denoting incomplete action... Three, denoting completed action. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) §212 The tenses of the English verb are made partly by inflection, partly by the use of auxiliary verbs.
b. fig. or allusively, in conjunction with mood: see mood n.2 2 b.
3. attrib. and Comb., as (in sense 2) tense-aspect, tense-form, tense-making, tense marker, tense stem, tense system; tense-expressing, tense marking, tense-modal adjs.
1892H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. I. 101 By tense-aspect we understand distinctions of time independent of any reference to past, present, or future. 1980English World-Wide I. i. 113 It seems as though the tense-aspect system of English has been restructured.
1886Amer. Jrnl. Philol. Dec. 448 That the present subjunctives of posse and videri..can..become tense-expressing. 1871Roby Lat. Gram. ii. xvi. §550 All verbs in the passive have in the Indicative only three simple tense-forms. 1875Whitney Life Lang. vii. 123 A case or two of verbal tense-making.
1971E. Jones in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 83 Krio is equipped with a range of tense markers, as may be seen from the following set. 1978Language LIV. 84 The advocates of abstract remote structures posit auxiliaries including negative and tense markers as main verbs.
1962C. Barber in F. Behre Contrib. Eng. Syntax 27 Any combination of four tense-markings.
1921E. Sapir Language v. 96 Had the statement been made on another's authority, a totally different ‘tense-modal’ suffix would have had to be used. 1965Language XLI. 173, 1200 adverbial suffixes, partly tense-modal.
1935T. Hudson-Williams Short Introd. Study Compar. Gram. xiii. 72 The endings were added to each tense-stem. 1971Archivum Linguisticum II. 100 The subjunctive is originally independent from the so-called tense stems, as is evident in Celtic and Tocharian and also in Latin.
1951W. K. Matthews Lang. U.S.S.R. iv. 75 The tense system is complicated by being carried into the non-finite grammatical categories, including the gerund. 1963J. Lyons Structural Semantics vi. 112 The ‘tense-system’ may be set out in terms of the two dimensions of time and aspect.
▪ II. tense, a.|tɛns|
[ad. L. tens-us, pa. pple. of tendĕre to stretch.]
1. a. Drawn tight, stretched taut; strained to stiffness; tight, rigid: chiefly said of cords, fibres, or membranes. Opposed to lax, flaccid. Also transf. of a sensation, the breathing, the pulse.
1670Phil. Trans. V. 2059 Whether the Mercury..be sustain'd by the external Air, or by a Tense matter within. 1676Wiseman Surg. (R.), The skin was tense, also rimpled and blistered. 1728Rutty in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 563 She complain'd..now and then of a tense Pain and a Difficulty in Respiration. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 75 Fiddle-strings are..much more tense in wet weather than in dry. 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 518 A small spasmodic and very tense pulse of 120, which as the pain increased, resembled the vibration of a musical string. 1834J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 529 The artery remains full and tense, and resists strongly the compressing finger. 1879Tourgee Fool's Err. xxxvi. 254 With every muscle as tense as those of the tiger waiting for his leap.
b. Entom. Applied to the abdomen when not divided or transversely folded, as in spiders.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 350 [Abdomen] Tense..when it is not folded. Ex. Most Araneidæ.
c. spec. in Phonetics, applied to (the articulation of) a speech-sound pronounced with enhanced tension in the muscles of the speech organs. Cf. lax a. 5 c, slack a. 7 e.
1909, etc. [see lax a. 5 c]. 1909[see slack a. 7 e]. 1918D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics 21 When pronouncing the..tense vowel..the throat feels considerably tenser and is somewhat pushed forward. 1933L. Bloomfield Language vii. 109 In German the tense vowels are longer than the loose; this difference of length is more striking than that of tenseness. 1968W. S. Allen Vox Graeca v. 103 The usually tenser articulation of voiceless plosives might also tend to emphasize the crescendo. 1978Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1977 XXII. 211 Rêve and âge have inherited, underlying tense vowels.
2. fig. In a state of nervous or mental strain or tension; strained; highly strung; ‘on the stretch’; excited, or excitable; keenly sensitive.
1821Coleridge in Blackw. Mag. X. 254 These distinctive faculties being in a tense and active state. 1845–6De Quincey Notes Gilfillan's Lit. Portr. Wks. 1859 XII. 281 This collapse of a tense excitement. 1860Holland Miss Gilbert ix, Her sensibilities, kept tense through the long winter,..refused to respond. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iii. xxi, Gwendolen..looked at her with tense expectancy, but was silent. 1902R. Hichens Londoners 161 The house⁓party were now tense with excitement.
3. Comb., as tense-drawn, tense-fibred, etc.
1761Pulteney in Phil. Trans. LII. 353 Robust and tense fibred. 1891Kipling Light that Failed vii. 134 The Americans, whose rasping voices..strain tense-drawn nerves to breaking-point. 1908Westm. Gaz. 15 May 2/1 The haggard, tense-eyed men, the expensively attired, withered, yet beautiful women.
▪ III. tense, v.
[f. tense a.; perh. at first in pa. pple. tensed, repr. L. tensus stretched, strained.]
a. trans. To make tense; to stretch tight; spec. of vowel sounds (cf. tense a. 1 c). Also refl. and with up.
1676[implied at tensed ppl. a.]. 1884Mind Jan. 109 A maximal effort of tensing the extensor instead of the flexor muscles. 1929P. Gibbs Hidden City 1 Rage causes an increase of adrenal secretion, tensing up the nerve cells. 1942G. Casey It's Harder for Girls 130 When his turn came he tensed himself to go through with it. 1951C. S. Forester Randall & River of Time xviii. 263 The constable was tensing himself, ready to restrain him if he should do anything violent. 1978Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1977 XXII. 211 Historically, /v/ and /ž/, although lengthening preceding vowels, did not automatically tense them.
b. intr. To become tense. Also const. up.
1946Sunday Express 31 Mar. 8/2 The court tensed as Ribbentrop gave inside glimpses of events which shaped the war. 1959Encounter Feb. 31, I was tensing for the death-blow. 1973Houston (Texas) Chron. Texas Mag. 14 Oct. 2/3 They..feared the kids would tense up if they knew a reporter was in their midst. 1975I. McEwan First Love, Last Rites 42 There was such a sudden ferocity in her silence that I found myself tensing like a sprinter on the starting line.
Hence ˈtensing vbl. n. (also with up).
1921L. R. Freeman In Tracks of Trades 85 There was a sharp tensing of the powerful frame. 1977Washington Post 23 Nov. b2/3 It is the isometric tensing of muscles opposite ones that have been over-developed. 1983N.Y. Times 9 Oct. vi. 56/2 More like a tensing-up that begged for relief. |