| 释义 |
terminus|ˈtɜːmɪnəs|
Pl. termini |-aɪ|.
[L., = end, limit, boundary; also as in sense 2.]
†1. Math. = term n. 11. Obs. rare.
1571Digges Pantom. ii. xx. Q iv, When anye proportion is geuen, there are two Numbers wherewithall it is expressed, and they are called Termini.
2. Anc. Rom. Myth. (With initial capital.) The deity who presided over boundaries or landmarks.
1600Holland Livy i. lv. 38 The seat and house of Terminus was not stirred, and he the god alone that was not displaced and called forth of the limits to him consecrated. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 15 This land is the furthest part of the old knowne world, god Terminus here especially triumphing.
3. A statue or bust of, or resembling those of, the god Terminus; also, the pedestal of such a statue: see term n. 15. Sometimes, a boundary post or stone.
1645Evelyn Diary 1 Mar., Statues and antiquities..amongst which is..a Terminus that formerly stood in the Appian Way. 1754Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 822 At the several angles of the square was a terminus of marble. 1758J. Kennedy Curios. Wilton House (1786) 3 Such Termini were set at their Doors without, as the Limits and Boundaries of their houses. 1842–76Gwilt Archit. iii. i. §2686 What is called a terminus, which is, in fact, nothing more than a portion of an inverted obelisk.
4. a. The point to which motion or action tends, goal, end, finishing-point; sometimes that from which it starts; starting-point. = term n. 1 c.
a1617Bayne On Eph. (1658) 42 This condition belongeth not to the chusing but to the terminus to life. 1651tr. Life Father Sarpi (1676) 86 That perfection..is the very Terminus whereunto the Church, and every faithful man ought to pretend. 1668Wilkins Real Char. iii. iii. 310 Some of these are Absolutely determined, either to Motion, or to Rest, or the Terminus of motion. 1868Lever Bramleighs of Bp.'s Folly I. xviii. 271, I go straight to my terminus, wherever it is.
b. esp. in phr. terminus a quo (= ‘term from which’); also used spec. in dating to indicate the starting-point of a period; also terminus ad quem (= ‘term to which’); similarly terminus ante quem, terminus post quem (= ‘term before which’, ‘term after which’) used to indicate the finishing- or starting-point of a period; also ellipt., as terminus ante, terminus post.[terminus a quo, terminus ad quem are phrases originating in Scholastic L.: a 1250 in Albertus Magnus, Phys. 5. 2. 2; also in Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus, etc.] a1555Cranmer Lord's Supper (Parker Soc.) 272 In nutrition terminus a quo is the hunger and thirst of the man; and terminus ad quem is the feeding and satisfying of his hunger and thirst. 1618T. Adams Vict. Patience Wks. 1861 I. 96 So there is terminus à quo, from whence we are freed; and terminus ad quem, to which we are exalted. 1905J. R. Harris Guiding Hand of God vii. 107, I do not regard death..as a terminus, but more and more as a starting-point... It is a terminus a quo and not a terminus ad quem. 1906Hibbert Jrnl. Jan. 270 The terminus ad quem, or the end whither the theological movement of our age tends. 1930A. H. Krappe Sci. Folklore i. 14 Generally speaking..a terminus ante quem is furnished by the oldest European historical variant. 1936Burlington Mag. Aug. 75/1 The dress the king is wearing did not become fashionable before 1796, a fact which indicates a terminus post quem. 1939Ibid. May 218/1 The termini post and ante of the glass, thus given by the birth of Charles (1500) and the death of Philip (1506). 1953R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archæol. vi. 166 It must be clearly understood that these termini post and ante quem are the closest that the archæologist can get (at least with present methods of research) to an absolute date. 1968English Studies XLIX. 455 The chapter..provides a good survey of the evidence..that seems to point to a date around 1200 as the most probable date of composition. However, the terminus a quo (1193) that is suggested..on p. 19, seems quite unwarranted. 1973Nature 9 Nov. 77/1 These dates..merely provide, however, a terminus post quem for the valley deepening and widening during which cavern opening occurred. 1974Bodleian Library Rec. Dec. 174 Such evidence clearly establishes for the annotations a terminus a quo of 1602. 1978Maledicta II. 243, I must now propose 1888 as a conservative terminus ante quem for that species, and the evidence at that date points back considerably farther.
5. A boundary, limit. rare.
1673Ray Journ. Low C. 122 These Sutures I found..to be the Termini or boundings of certain Diaphragms or partitions, which seemed to divide the Cavity of the Shell into a multitude of..Cells. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) II. vii. ii. 233 The retrocession of the Roman terminus under Adrian.
6. a. The end of a line of railway; also, the station at the end; the place at which a tramline, bus route, etc. ends. (The common current sense.)
1836Mech. Mag. XXV. 317 Perhaps it would be well to substitute the plain English termination for the Latin terminus. 1837R. Alderson in Papers Corps Engineers II. 94 Both lines commence from the same terminus. 1841Penny Cycl. XX. 272/1 A class of buildings that have sprung up of late years, namely railway termini. 1848Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 137 Long walk..to the railway terminus on the sea-shore. 1877Tramways Intelligence 17 The lines of the company have their London termini at Westminster Bridge-road, Blackfriars-road. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 226 The..competition that arises from the working of two independent routes between the same termini. 1886C. E. Pascoe London of To-day xix. (ed. 3) 192 Hand-bills and time-tables to be easily had at any terminus or railway booking-office in London. 1936J. B. Priestley They walk in City iii. 39 The tram was full, but they pushed their way in... By the time they had arrived at the terminus in Gladstone Lane..a few drops [of rain] were falling. Ibid. iv. 85 Taking a bus as far as the edge of the moors, walking over to some place where he could get tea, then walking back to the terminus again. 1975R. L. Beals Peasant Marketing System of Oaxaca i. 9. Around the peripheries of the district are the termini of most of the bus lines.
attrib.1908Westm. Gaz. 12 Mar. 10/2 With the coming of railways..came terminus hotels, many of which were now palatial.
b. transf. or gen. An end, extremity; the point at which something comes to an end.
1855Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §8 (1864) 30 The grey matter [of the brain] is a terminus; to it the fibrous collections tend, or from it commence. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxiii. 160 The..glacier pushes its huge terminus right across the valley. 1888Goode Amer. Fish 36 It is frequently found far above the terminus of the tide. 1891Cent. Dict., Terminus... 6. The point to which a vector carries a given or assumed point. 1906Blackw. Mag. May 461/2 The rugged terminus of England seems to possess a charm of its own. |