| 释义 |
evolve, v.|ɪˈvɒlv|
[ad. L. ēvolvĕ-re to roll out, unroll, f. ē out + volvĕre to roll.]
1. trans. To unfold, unroll (something that is wrapped up); to open out, expand. Almost always fig.
a1641,1647[see evolved ppl. a.] 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. 31 This little active Principle as the Body increaseth..evolveth, diffuseth and expandeth if not his Substantial Existence, yet his Energy and Virtue. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. ii. 54 If we wish to see..the Voluntary Principle fully evolved and ripened under a summer heat. 1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 67 Mr. Glencoe..would stimulate and evolve the powers of his mind. 1855H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. vi. (1878) 188 Their condensed wisdom may be evolved for new applications.
†b. lit. To unwind (a thread, also a curved line). Obs. rare.
1730–6Bailey (folio), Evolute, the first curve supposed to be opened, or evolved, which being opened describes other curves. 1796Hutton Math. Dict., Evolute..is any curve supposed to be evolved or opened, by..beginning to evolve or unwind the thread from the other end, keeping the part evolved, or wound off, tight stretched. 1811― Course Math. II. 334 If AE, BF, etc. be any positions of the thread, in evolving or unwinding; it follows, etc.
2. To disengage from wrappings, disclose gradually to view; to disentangle; to set forth in orderly sequence. (Only with reference to immaterial objects, though often consciously fig. from the physical sense).
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xvii. 63, I have not yet evolved all the intangling superstitions that may be wrapt up. 1737Thomson To Memory of Ld. Talbot 144 He thro' the Maze of Falsehood urg'd it [the Truth] on, Till, at the last evolv'd, it full appear'd. 1744Akenside Ep. to Curio, Time..Evolves their secrets, and their guilt proclaims. 1773Ld. Monboddo Lang. I. i. viii. 101 With so many various forms and substances, that it is difficult to evolve them and shew them by themselves. 1852Ld. Cockburn Jeffrey I. 189 Jeffrey's..whole opinions and tastes were evolved in these articles. 1858Sears Athan. iii. ix. 325 The outlines of Paul's system of Pneumatology..have been sufficiently evolved in the preceding pages.
3. Math. To extract (the root of a number or quantity). Cf. evolution 4 b.
1810Hutton Course Math. I. 202 To Evolve or Extract the Roots of Surd Quantities.
4. To give off, emit, as a product of chemical, vital, or other internal action; to liberate or disengage from a state of chemical combination.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 125 The expectorated fluid..may..evolve fetor. 1806Davy in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 9 The fixed alkali is not generated, but evolved, either from the solid materials employed, or from saline matter in the water. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art II. 63 The chlorine will be evolved. 1844–57G. Bird Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 80 Nitrogen and carbon evolved from the system..in the form of urea and uric acid. 1869Phillips Vesuv. iii. 69 In September the vapours evolved from Vesuvius grew to be considerable.
5. To bring out (what exists implicitly or potentially): e.g. to educe (order from confusion, light from darkness, etc.); to deduce (a conclusion, law, or principle) from the data in which it is involved; to develop (a notion) as the result of reflection or analysis; to work out (a theory or system) out of pre-existing materials.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 47 An English Editor, endeavouring to evolve printed Creation out of a German printed and written Chaos. 1851Hussey Papal Power iii. 172 New claims of authority..were gradually evolved from the doctrine of the Supremacy. 1859Mill Liberty (1865) 30 Other ethics than any which can be evolved from exclusively Christian sources. 1864Bowen Logic viii. 262 The particular instances are first stated as facts, and then the law they constitute is evolved. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. vii. 296 The idea of a subject-pronoun was evolved last of all. 1883Mrs. Plunkett in Harper's Mag. Jan. 241/2, I evolved a satin-covered heart-shaped Christmas leaf.
6. Of circumstances, conditions, or processes: To give rise to, produce by way of natural consequence.
1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. 1. Castle Vaultsberg, The new diseases that human life Evolves in its progress. 1866Huxley Phys. x. (1872) 236 The simple sensations which are thus evolved. 1868Helps Realmah xvii. (1876) 476 New felicities—evolved in each representation. 1879Spectator 7 June 719 That habits of gregariousness tend eventually to evolve a morality.
7. To develop by natural processes from a more rudimentary to a more highly organized condition; to originate (animal or vegetable species) by gradual modification from earlier forms; in wider sense, to produce or modify by ‘evolution’. (See evolution 6–9). Chiefly in pass. without reference to an agent.
1832Lyell Princ. Geol. ii. i. 14 The orang-outang, having been evolved out of a monad, is made slowly to attain the attributes and dignity of man. 1837Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar (1844) 204 Was the first Ichthyosaurus gradually evolved from some embryo substance? 1849Murchison Siluria ii. (1867) 23 Lying upon them, and therefore evolved after them, other strata succeed. 1873H. Spencer Study Sociol. v. 102 Societies are evolved in structure and function as in growth. 1881Sollas in Science Gossip No. 202. 217 The organism..was evolved in the course of ages from some simpler form of life. 1884E. P. Roe in Harper's Mag. Apr. 737/2 If God..chooses to evolve His universe, why shouldn't He?
8. intr. for refl. in various of the above senses: To open out, expand; to come gradually into view; to arise by way of natural or logical consequence; to be developed by ‘evolution’.
1799S. Turner Anglo-Sax. (1836) I. iv. iv. 288 When great political exigencies evolve..they are usually as much distinguished by the rise of sublime characters. 1800A. Carlyle Autobiog. 488 The excellence of that character which gradually evolved on his admiring countrymen. 1827G. S. Faber Sacred Cal. Proph. (1844) I. 201 Then come the days of blessedness, which both Daniel and John describe as evolving..in the course of the present visible sub⁓lunary world. 1849C. Brontë Shirley v. 57 May feel ripe to evolve in foliage. 1863W. Phillips Speeches ix. 235 Everything else will evolve from it. 1879H. Spencer Data of Ethics §104. 269 How does mechanical science evolve from these experiences? 1881Student II. 35 A tree evolves in obedience to his [God's] laws.
Add:9. intr. To be transformed into by evolution; to adapt, develop.
1901G. B. Shaw Capt. Brassbound's Conversion iii. 280 The world..contemplates him with wonder as to what the devil he will evolve into in another century or two. 1921― Back to Methuselah Pref. p. lxxi, The Old Vitalist, who was essentially a Materialist, has evolved into the New Vitalist. 1938L. MacNeice I crossed Minch vii. 98 They [sc. seals] must, he thought, have evolved late into sea-creatures. 1988F. Spalding Brit. Art since 1900 iii. 69 His method evolved into a formula during the 1960s. |