| 释义 |
vacancy|ˈveɪkənsɪ|
Also 6 vacantie, 7 Sc. vaccancy.
[f. vacant a. (see -ancy), or ad. late and med.L. vacantia (Sp. and Pg. vacancia, It. vacanza), f. vacant-, vacans vacant. Cf. prec.]
I.
1. a. = vacation 2. Also in pl. Now arch.
c1580W. Spelman Dial. (1896) 6 There I contynued my sute untill the tyme of ther vacantie in the Lawe. 1633W. Robinson in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) I. 18 He is to come this vacancy into Lincolnshire about business of his own. 1679Trials of White & other Jesuits 62 Joseph. He was [absent] in the time of the Vacancy... L.C.J. When are the Vacancies? Joseph. In August, my Lord. 1702Marwood Diary in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. VII. 134 To-day the Vacancys of the lower Classe began, and end at St Luke. 1703in Ritchie Churches of St. Baldred 128 He must not grant the vacancie without acquainting the session. 1780Stiles Diary (1901) II. 409 At the End of the Vacancy 1744 Mr. Reed carried his 3 pupils..to enter into Harv[ard] College. 1876Grant Burgh Sch. Scot. ii. v. 182 Besides the half and occasional holiday two annual ‘plays’, or ‘vacancies’, have of old been granted to the scholar. 1876in Hare Story Life (1896) IV. 412 They are having their vacancies.
†b. Without article. Obs. rare.
1643in Fasti Aberd. (1854) 421 The porter..shall attend the colledge for saving the fabrick, both in tyme of play and vacancie. 1691tr. Emiliane's Observ. Journ. Naples 15 Every year in Autumn they have two Months of vacancy.
†2.
a. Temporary freedom or cessation from business or some usual occupation. Also const. from.
1599Broughton's Let. vii. 21 His assiduous reading in any vacancie from busines. 1602Segar Honour Mil. & Civ. iv. xxi, For he that hath been longest vacant may take place before him that is lesse ancient in Vacancie. c1630Milton (title), On the University Carrier who sickn'd in the time of his vacancy, being forbid to go to London, by reason of the Plague. 1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxix. (1668) 337 He did not find so much vacancy as his heart desired for private Prayer. 1775Johnson Lett. (1788) I. 291 Air, and vacancy, and novelty, would..afford all the relief that human art can give.
†b. Free or unoccupied time; leisure. Obs.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 26 If he fill'd His vacancie with his Voluptuousnesse. a1628Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 114 So occupied with outward things abroad, that they have no vacancie to feed their souls within. 1656Blount Glossogr. To Rdr., This Work..has taken me up the vacancy of above Twenty years.
†c. An interval of leisure or unoccupied time.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 305 Daies of nothing, but Riots, visits..and such like Exiles from themselves, and vacancies from the businesse of life. 1676Hale Contempl. i. Redempt. Time 21 An industrious Husband-man, Trades-man, Scholar, will never want business for occasional vacancies and horæ subcisivæ. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iv. xx. §3 There are none so enslav'd to the necessities of life, who might not find many vacancies that might be husbanded to this advantage of their knowledg. 1748in Welsh Rev. Feb. (1892) 350 Filled in y⊇ vacancies of y⊇ day with work.
3. a. The state or condition of being free from or unoccupied with work, business, or action; absence of occupation; idleness; inactivity.
Freq. in the 17th c.; now rare.
1615G. Sandys Trav. i. 64 Chesse,..a sport that agreeth well with their sedentary vacancie. 1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. xii. §10 They who are least troubled with caring for necessary things..are invited by their vacancy sometimes to disputation among themselves concerning the Common⁓weal. 1670Cotton Espernon Pref., Having about three Years since, and in the Vacancy of a Country Life, taken this Volume in hand. 1782W. Heberden Comment. xiii. (1806) 78 Nor does the vacancy of a Bath life suit complaints. 1818Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1836) I. 200 The source of the common fondness for novels of this sort rests in that dislike of vacancy and that love of sloth..inherent in the human mind. 1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. vi, Such is the refuge of our youth and age, The first from Hope, the last from Vacancy.
†b. Const. from. (Freq. in 17th cent.) Obs.
1615Jackson Creed iii. Pref. A 3 b, God..blesse me outwardly with that measure of health, of vacancy from other businesse [etc.]. 1631Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 143 A precise vacancy from all worke..is morall. 1690Norris Beatitudes (1692) 80 Implying, that a Vacancy from Wrath is a necessary Qualification for Prayer. 1712Spect. No. 408 ⁋8 An absolute Indifference and Vacancy from all Passion.
†c. Freedom from mental preoccupation. Obs.
1752Johnson Rambler No. 204 ⁋13 Nor was he able to disengage his attention, or mingle with vacancy and ease in any amusement. 1796F. Burney Camilla V. 293 Her pliant mind, in this state of vacancy, had readily been bent to the new pursuit. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. i. iii, ‘Every evening at six’..[they] walk majestically out again, to embroidery, small-scandal, prayers, and vacancy. 1856Aytoun Bothwell ii. i, The fishers..whistle o'er their lazy task In happy vacancy.
d. Absence of any determining influence or factor. rare—1.
1754Edwards Freed. Will ii. vii. (1762) 64 The Will's Freedom consists in..this Vacancy and Opportunity that is left for the Will itself to be the Determiner of the Act.
II.
†4. An unoccupied period or interval; a time of absence of some activity. Obs.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 90 For three months before, (No int'rim, not a minutes vacancie,) Both day and night did we keepe companie. 1625T. Godwin Moses & Aaron i. (1641) 2 In these vacancies or distances of time, between Iudge and Judge. 1663Heath Flagellum (1672) 32 In so long an interval and vacancy of War, from which this Nation had been blessed.
5. a. The fact or condition of an office or post being, becoming, or falling vacant; an occasion or occurrence of this.
1607in Hist. Wakefield Gram. Sch. (1892) 59 Within foure daies of the vacancie knowen. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 197 They began a new Custom, which was, That they would in Vacancies, name the Captains, and other inferiour Officers under their Pay. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. ii. 172 No candidate shall, after the date..of the writs, or after the vacancy, give any money or entertainment to his electors. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 35 A sale of an advowson, the church being actually void, was simoniacal and void in respect to the then present vacancy. 1896Law Times Rep. C. 408/1 With reference to the vacancy among the Chancery taxing masters.
b. Const. of (an office, position, etc.).
1610G. Carleton Jurisdict. 2 That power whereby we succeed the Emperour in the vacancie of the Empire. 1659H. L'Estrange Alliance Div. Off. 321 As did the Clergy of Rome also in the vaca[n]cy of that Sea determine. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 77 note, Zornesan Mustapha Basha made Keeper of the Seal during the vacancy of the Charge of Grand Visier. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 129 In the Vacancy of a Bishoprick, the Guardian of the Spiritualities was summon'd to Parliament in the Bishop's Room. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 152 The vacancy of the throne was precedent to their meeting without any royal summons.
c. An instance or occasion of land, a tenancy, etc., being or becoming vacant. rare.
1809Christian in Blackstone's Comm. II. 9 It cannot be said that in such a case there is ever a vacancy of possession. 1845Polson Eng. Law in Encycl. Metrop. II. 827/1 The maxim..that the tenancy of the land should always be filled, and that the tenant could make no disposition of his interest likely to involve a vacancy in the same tenancy.
6. a. A vacant or unoccupied office, post, or dignity.
1693Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 81 Mounsieur Catinat..has sent 250 officers to throw themselves into the towne to supply the vacancies of those that were sick and dead there. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 21 He shall force a Rupture with some one of his Lieutenants to make a Vacancy for him. 1769Junius' Lett. iii. (1788) 46 His military cares have never extended beyond the disposal of vacancies. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 638 How could there be an election without a vacancy? 1858Froude Hist. Eng. IV. 286 More than twenty vacancies in the order of the Golden Fleece were placed by him at Henry's disposal.
b. A church without an incumbent or minister.
1867J. Macfarlane Mem. T. Archer I. 17 The ‘vacancies’ sought after him.
c. A vacant room in a hotel, guest-house, etc. Usu. attrib. as vacancy sign, a signboard advertising available accommodation, or in pl.
1953‘R. Macdonald’ Gone Girl in Lew Archer, Private Investigator (1977) 24 The first motel I came to..was decorated with a vacancy sign. 1970R. H. Greenan Nightmare iv. 15 The place..is a bit sleazy... There's a vacancy sign out. 1972Guardian 17 May 12/3 Hotels are replacing the ‘Vacancy’ signs with hoardings saying ‘For Sale’. 1973Value Added Tax Tribunals Rep. I. 165 Students have at their choice, provided vacancies are available, three types of accommodation. 1982M. Babson Death beside Seaside xiii. 111 Most of the trippers will be leaving this afternoon. There'll be plenty of vacancies.
7. Absence or lack of something. rare.
1650Fuller Pisgah ii. xiii. 269 Jordan, in the vacancy of the inhabitants, having got violent possession, fenced and fortified himself in the slime pits. 1805Foster Ess. iii. i. II. 11 With this cast of significance, and vacancy of sense, it is allowed to depreciate without being accountable.
III. 8. Empty or void space.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 117 Alas, how is't with you? That you bend your eye on vacancie, And with the incorporall ayre do hold discourse. 1606― Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 221 Th' ayre: which but for vacancie, Had gone to gaze on Cleopater too, And made a gap in Nature. 1813Byron Corsair i. xv, The tender blue of that large loving eye Grew frozen with its gaze on vacancy. 1827Syd. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 134 To roar and bellow No Popery to Vacancy and the Moon. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. x. 164 Folding his arms upon his breast, with his eyes fixed upon vacancy, he stood in gloomy silence. 1899F. T. Bullen Way Navy 79 Meanwhile the ‘Mersey’ came up out of vacancy at her best speed.
9. a. A vacant, unfilled, or unoccupied space; an open space between objects or things, or in a row or series; a breach, gap, or opening; † an unoccupied or uninhabited piece of ground.
1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 18 In the case of those who first inhabited Vacancies; or who became possess't by right of War and Conquest. 1670W. Perwich Desp. (1903) 90 As soon as ever he passed the great vacancy, he went to see the Cittadell. 1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 901 In measuring of Roofing, seldom any deductions are made for..the Vacancies for Lutheren Lights, and Sky-Lights. 1726R. Bradley Country Gentl. Monthly Director 3 In places where there are Vacancies in Hedges, set Truncheons, or Twigs of the White Sallow. 1744M. Bishop Life & Adv. 209 It [i.e. gun-fire] soon broke us in a terrible manner, though our Vacancies were quickly filled up. 1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 20 Their saddles have in the middle a vacancy, which must make it easy for the horse. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 55 Small vacancies in the ice would not prevent the journey. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872) I. 20 This great arch..with the lofty vacancy beneath it. 1905Westm. Gaz. 26 Jan. 1/3 The closing of the fontanelle, or the ‘vacancy’ in the infant cranium.
b. transf. A blank, gap, or deficiency.
1759Johnson Rasselas i, Every one..in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute to fill up the vacancies of attention, and lessen the tediousness of time. 1846Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. I. 2 Visions of reluctant homage from crowned heads..have passed away from me, and leave no vacancy. 1856Dove Logic Chr. Faith v. ii. 317 Without revelation there would be a distinct vacancy in the scheme of knowledge.
c. Cryst. A defect in a crystal lattice consisting of the absence of an atom or ion from a position where there should be one.
1951Physical Rev. LXXXII. 551/1 The experiments described below seem to be the most direct evidence, to date, that diffusion in close-packed metals occurs, predominantly, through the movement of vacancies. 1958[see Schottky 2]. 1967A. H. Cottrell Introd. Metallurgy xx. 365 The quench..produces a supersaturated solution of vacancies and..these vacancies agglomerate to form dislocation rings or other defects which harden the metal by acting as obstacles to gliding dislocations. 1971New Scientist 25 Mar. 664/2 The interstitial migrates by jumping from one site to another, while the vacancy migrates as a result of a neighbouring atom jumping into the vacant hole. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 334/1 Theoretical considerations require that all crystals have vacancies except at absolute zero temperature.
10. a. The state or condition of being vacant, empty, or unoccupied; emptiness.
1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xlv. IV. 453 He contemplated with horror the vacancy and solitude of the city. 1796F. Burney Camilla I. 214 Such is the vacancy of dissipated pleasure, that..an opening always remains for something yet to be tried. 1817J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 52 The dullest country town in England can afford no idea of the stillness and vacancy of the several noble-looking cities. 1823Scott Quentin D. xix, Quentin felt a strange vacancy and chillness of the heart. 1878Stewart & Tait Unseen Univ. i. §12. 31 When David or Hezekiah shrank from the gloomy vacancy of the grave.
b. Lack of intelligence; inanity; vacuity.
1841Dickens Barn. Rudge v, Where in his face there was wildness and vacancy, in hers there was..patient composure. 1866― Boy at Rugby Christm. Stories (1874) 332 He is a smiling piece of vacancy. |