| 释义 |
universe|ˈjuːnɪvɜːs|
Also 5 vniuerse, 6 -uers, 7 univers.
[a. F. univers (12th c.; = Sp., Pg., It. universo), ad. L. ūniversum n., the whole world, orig. neut. sing. of ūniversus all taken collectively, universal, f. ūnus uni- and versus, pa. pple. of vertĕre to turn.]
†1. in universe, universally, of universal application. Obs.—1
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 36 Ye folk a lawe han sette in vniuerse; And þis know I by hem þat loueres be, Þat whoso stryueth with ȝow hath þe worse.
2. a. The whole of created or existing things regarded collectively; all things (including the earth, the heavens, and all the phenomena of space) considered as constituting a systematic whole, esp. as created or existing by Divine power; the whole world or creation; the cosmos.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. (Arb.) 111 The Roundell or spheare..for his ample capacitie doth resemble the world or vniuers. 1596Spenser Hymn Heav. Beauty 31 Looke on the frame Of this wyde vniuerse, and therein reed The endlesse kinds of creatures. 1611B. Jonson Catiline i. i, O for a clap of thunder now, as loud As to be heard throughout the universe, To tell the world the fact. 1656Cowley Davideis i. 800 Dull Earth with its own Weight did downwards pierce To the fixt Navel of the Universe. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 63, I wou'dn't touch a Man's Flesh for the Universe. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. I. 149 That active power of Nature which fills the Universe. 1817Byron Manfred ii. ii. 111 She had..The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind To comprehend the universe. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVI. 18/1 Theory of the Universe,..what is known of the general arrangement of planets, stars, etc. and of their connexion with one another. 1871Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 216 The same sense of the puniness of man in the centre of a cruel and frowning universe.
b. With a and pl. Also const. of (something).
1667Milton P.L. ii. 622 A Universe of death, which God by curse Created evil. 1805Wordsw. Prelude xiv. 160 To..substitute a universe of death For that which moves with light and life informed. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. i. ii, To Newton and to Newton's Dog Diamond, what a different pair of Universes! 1872Mozley Mirac. (ed. 3) Pref. p. xxvi, These two schools of minds live indeed in different universes.
c. transf. and fig.
less universe (quot. 1674) = microcosm 1.
1674Milton P.R. iv. 459 As..harmless, if not wholsom, as a sneeze To mans less universe. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. University, They are call'd Universities, or Universal Schools, by reason the four Faculties are supposed to make the World or Universe of Study. 1821Shelley Epipsych. 589 Into the height of Love's rare Universe. 1847J. Kirk Cloud Dispelled iv. 67 His conduct is false, and will be denounced as such by the universe of mind. a1854H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets ii. (1857) 62 To trace the associations between the universe of sense and the spiritual life within us. 1871E. F. Burr Ad. Fidem xv. 299 A universe of light and color—a universe of sound.
d. universe of discourse: the totality of entities under consideration; all those that the terms of a proposition may refer to. Also absol., and (as universe) in Statistics, = population2 2 d.
1849A. De Morgan in Trans. Cambridge Philos. Soc. VIII. 380 By not dwelling upon this power of making what we may properly (inventing a new technical name) call the universe of a proposition, or of a name, matter of express definition, all rules remaining the same, writers on logic deprive themselves of much useful illustrations. Ibid., Let the universe in question be ‘man’: then Briton and alien are simple contraries. 1881J. Venn Symbolic Logic vi. 128 We must be supposed to know the nature and limits of the universe of discourse with which we are concerned... If we are talking of ordinary phenomena we must know whether we refer to them without limit of time and space. 1896‘L. Carroll’ Symbolic Logic I. ii. iii. 14 The Genus, of which [the] Terms [of a Proposition] are Species, is called its ‘Universe of Discourse’. 1898A. N. Whitehead Treat. Universal Algebra I. ii. v. 110 If we extend the Universe of self-evident propositions either by some natural or conventional definition, we may extend the conception of conversion. 1911G. U. Yule Introd. Theory Statistics ii. 17 For actual work on any given subject, no term is required to denote the material to which the work is so confined... But for theoretical purposes some term is almost essential to avoid circumlocution. The expression the universe of discourse, or simply the universe, used in this sense by writers on logic, may be adopted. 1939A. E. Treloar Elements Statistical Reasoning i. 8 Such a type of selective sampling from this universe is wholly impossible. 1967G. Wills in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Management Technol. 191 Numbers of calls made by sales representatives is a meaningless item of statistics unless it can be related to..the total universe of outlets which can handle such a product. 1972Science 23 June 1306/2 The universe of discourse is severely restricted in this jargon. 1975Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. XXVI. 37 The universe from which the sample was drawn was all Royal Navy officers stationed in England.
3. a. The world or earth, esp. as the place of abode of mankind or as the scene of human activities.
1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 134 Such a bridge, that without exception, it may worthily be accounted the admirablest Monument, and firmest erected Collosseum (in that kinde) of all the Vniverse. 1687T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1720 I. 89 No People in the Universe know better. 1704(title), The Present State of the Universe. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 6 A land, perhaps the only one in the universe, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope of the constitution. 1791Hampson Mem. J. Wesley III. 96 [Wesley] took the universe for his parish. 1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 339 Who all our green and azure universe Threatenedst to muffle round with black destruction.
b. transf. The inhabitants of the earth; mankind in general.
1742Johnson's Debates (1787) II. 222 The decline of that power which has so long intimidated the universe. Ibid. 230 That wisdom..which..the greatest part of the universe will remember with gratitude. 1774Goldsm. Retal. 31 Here lies our good Edmund,..Who, born for the universe,..to party gave up what was meant for mankind. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. viii, ‘Go to,..thou shalt pay due debt!’ shouts the Universe to them.
Hence ˈuniverseful, as many or as much as the universe will hold.
1891J. Orr Chr. View of God & World (1893) 374 A whole universefull of other spiritual beings. |