| 释义 |
transmute, v.|trɑːnsˈmjuːt, træns-, -nz-|
Pa. pple. transmuted, also 5–6 transmute.
[ad. L. transmūtā-re, f. trans- + mūtāre to change.
(Occurs first as variant in MSS. of Chaucer's works.)]
1. a. trans. To alter or change in nature, properties, appearance, or form; to transform, convert, turn.
14..Chaucer's Troylus iv. 439 (467) (MS. Gg. 4. 27) Þu muste me fyrst transmute [v.r. transmuwen] in to a ston. [14.. Chaucer's Clerk's T. 329 (Lansd. MS.) Vnneþ þe peple hire knewe for hire faireness Whan sche transemute was in suche rechesse.] 1494Fabyan Chron. vi. clix. 149 The Emperour hauyng compassion of the forenamyd Barnarde,..transmutyd the sentence of deth vnto perpetuyte of pryson, & losynge of his syght. 1545T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 20 Y⊇ lyuer: in whome the iuyce of meat, before of colour white, is transmutyd into red. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus D d iv, When Io was transmute of Ioue into an Hefars forme. 1660Sharrock Vegetables 29 The colour only or some other easily alterable accidents..are transmuted. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. x. 310 To transmute its energy..into vibratory motion. 1890Century Mag. May 48/2 The tendency of black plumage to become transmuted into white is a familiar..fact in breeding.
b. Alch. To change (one substance) into another, esp. a baser metal into gold or silver. Hence allusively and absol. Also in Physics, to change (one element or isotope) into another by irradiation or bombardment; to change (one sub-atomic particle) into another.
1610Donne Pseudo-martyr 94 By a new Alchimy, they doe not onely extract spirit out of euery thing, but transmute it all into spirit. a1661Fuller Worthies, Worc. iii. (1662) 173 He is said to have transmuted a brass warming-pan (..onely warming it by the fire, and putting the Elixir thereon) into pure silver. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 51 ⁋11 Some alchymists have obstinately suppressed the art of transmuting metals. 1818M. W. Shelley Frankenst. ii. (1865) 51 Metals cannot be transmuted. 1870M. D. Conway Earthw. Pilgr. i. 29 You will find the pavements golden only when you can transmute them to gold. 1897Electrician 10 Dec. 214/1 Only the other day we were told how many centuries it would require to ‘transmute’ a milligram or two of one element into another, in a Crookes tube. 1926R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity xxi. 148 This method of transmuting elements is still far from being of any practical importance. 1956A. H. Compton Atomic Quest i. 52 The naturally occurring atoms of U-238 and Th-232 can be transmuted into sources of atomic fuel. 1977Mod. Railways Dec. 474/1 Vinyl chloride monomer..leaves by rail for Barry, where it is transmuted into PVC and heavy-duty plastic items. 1979McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 267/2 The pions can produce only a single-charge exchange by transmuting a proton into a neutron. 1981Sci. Amer. Feb. 85/1 Cosmic rays transmute nitrogen 14 in the upper atmosphere into the radioactive isotope carbon 14. 1981C. H. L. Smith in J. H. Mulvey Nature of Matter iii. 72 In this case, quarks would very occasionally be transmuted into electrons.
c. intr. for pass. To undergo transmutation; to change or turn into something else.
1675G. R. tr. Le Grand's Man without Passion 139 His Strength transmutes into Temerity. 1962D. G. Cogan in A. Pirie Lens Metabolism Rel. Cataract 294 The morgagnian globules..finally transmute into homogeneous milky fluid. 1970A. Romer Radiochem. & Discovery of Isotopes 127 The radiothorium, transmuting into thorium X.., would gradually disappear. 1978Nature 29 June 707/1 In the weak interaction of radioactivity it has been known for many years that the neutrino turns into an electron or that an up quark transmutes into a down. 1983Penthouse Sept. 169 Do you think capitalism is an eternal system, or will it transmute into something else?
†2. trans. To remove from one place to another; to transport. [So late L. transmūtāre.] Obs. rare.
a1700Life & Death Ld. Shaftsbury in Harl. Misc. (1810) V. 372 His malady..that might transmute his soul into that endless happiness, which he had been so long labouring for. 1817M. Edgeworth Ormond xxx, I was transmuted to Dublin, to be..lodged in Kilmainham.
Hence transˈmuting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 155 Though we take the word of transuming for changing, turning, transmuting, or transelementing,..yet meane they not chaunge of one substance into another. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. i. 45 The earth..by her inwarde heate and transmuting nature..will conuert [etc.]. 1846Trench Mirac. i. (1862) 99 An ennobling of the common, and a transmuting of the mean. 1864Musgrave Ten Days in Fr. Parsonage II. v. 150 Efforts..made to employ public education of the poor as a transmuting power. |