| 释义 |
explore, v.|ɛkˈsplɔə(r)|
[ad. F. explore-r, ad. L. explōrā-re to search out.
Usually explained as f. ex- out + plōrāre to make to flow, f. pluĕre to flow.]
1. a. trans. To investigate, seek to ascertain or find out (a fact, the condition of anything). Also with indirect question as obj.
1585Queen Elizabeth in Four C. Eng. Lett. 29 Stratagems..by..sondry meanes to be explored. 1624Massinger Renegado v. iii, A cunning spy, sent to explore The city's strength or weakness. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 47 Let the Learned Gard'ner..Explore the Nature of each sev'ral Tree. 1715–20Pope Iliad i. 84 Let some prophet..Explore the cause of great Apollo's rage. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. i. xv. (1865) 120 Who or what sort of persons inherited Mackery End..we..determined some day to explore. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. (1871) V. xlii. 165 The imperator resolved to explore, disguised..the real temper of his soldiers.
†b. To search for; to find by searching; to search out. Obs.
1615Chapman Odyss. ii. 328, I now am bound..to explore My long-lack'd father. 1700Dryden Fables, Meleager & A. 201 With his pointed dart Explores the nearest passage to his heart. 1712Pope Messiah 51 The good shepherd..Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs. 1769Goldsm. Hist. Rome (1786) I. 255 The Alps, over which he was to explore a new passage into Italy. 1822T. Taylor Apuleius 59 Exploring..a fit opportunity.
¶ To try, make proof of. (A Latinism.)
1667Milton P.L. ii. 632 Satan..toward the Gates of Hell Explores his solitary flight.
2. a. To look into closely, examine into, scrutinize; to pry into (either a material or immaterial object). In later use coloured by association with 3.
1592Davies Immort. Soul (1869) I. 152 Her selfe in instants doth all things explore; For each thing's present. 1729T. Cooke Tales, Proposals, etc. 92 Some unexperienc'd Fool her Eyes explore. 1747Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) p. ix, They explored the several Kinds of..vegetable Substances. a1800Cowper Mischievous Bull, Wood-peckers explore the sides Of rugged oaks for worms. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 683 Of no man..was the public conduct so completely explored. 1833Lamb Elia Ser. ii. xi. (1865) 308, I digress into Soho to explore a bookstall. 1847Emerson Poems (1857) 179 He looketh seldom in their face, His eyes explore the ground. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 440 note, The Dutch archives have been too little explored.
b. To examine by touch; to probe (a wound). Cf. exploration 1 b.
1767Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 66 The finger is better than any instrument to explore some kinds of wounds. 1784Cowper Task iv. 361 The learned finger never need explore Thy vig'rous pulse. 1870Bryant Iliad I. iv. 114 The physician must explore thy wound.
3. a. esp. To search into or examine (a country, a place, etc.) by going through it; to go into or range over for the purpose of discovery. Fig. phr. to explore every avenue (or to explore avenues), to investigate every possibility.
a1616Beaumont Loving at First Sight Poems (1653), Not caring to observe the wind Or the new sea to explore. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. iv. 41 Another Typhis shall new Seas explore. 1733Pope Ess. Man iii. 105 Who bid the stork, Columbus like, explore Heav'ns not his own? 1781Cowper Retirement 151 The busy race..explore Each creek. 1791Boswell Johnson 12 Apr. an. 1783, He..recommended us to explore Wapping. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 10 It is the old historical lands of Europe that the lover of history longs to explore. 1867M. E. Herbert Cradle L. vii. 194 We spent a couple of hours..exploring the ruins.
fig.1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 235 The Scotch School..entered the mind to explore it. 1868Max Müller Chips III. v. 118 He had explored the modern languages of Europe. 1922G. Edwards From Crow-scaring to Westminster xii. 142, I intended to explore every avenue during the next few days before the final crash came to secure peace. 1926,1927[see avenue n. 2]. 1940N. Mitford Pigeon Pie xv. 232 In war-time we are bound to explore every avenue, whether it is likely to be productive of results, or not.
b. intr. To conduct operations in search for.
1872R. B. Smyth Mining Statist. 27 A large expenditure of public money in exploring for coal. 1919M. K. Bradby Psycho-analysis 165 Those striking characteristics are on the surface. We do not explore for others less obvious, because these that we see satisfy systems of repressed or under-expressed emotion.
c. To make an excursion; to go on an exploration (to).
1816Jane Austen Emma II. xiv. 263 While they are with us, we shall explore a great deal. Ibid. 264 We explored to King's-Weston twice last summer. 1924R. Macaulay Orphan Island ii. 29 Wouldn't the Royal Geographical Society finance the expedition? It ought to, as it's to explore to an undiscovered island.
Hence exˈplored ppl. a.
1823Lamb Elia (1860) 15 Some rotten archive, rummaged out of some seldom-explored press. |