| 释义 |
▪ I. impregnant, a.1 and n.|ɪmˈprɛgnənt|
[In sense A1, f. im-1 + pregnant; in senses A2 and B, ad. L. imprægnānt-em, pres. pple. of imprægnāre: see impregn and -ant.]
A. adj.
†1. Impregnated, pregnant.
a. Caused to conceive; fig. rendered fruitful or productive.
b. Imbued, saturated with. Obs.
1641French Distill. v. (1651) 163 Vapours of Nitre..bodying, and impregnant with Spirits of Nitre. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §16 [In the chaos] there was no deformity, because no forme, nor was it yet impregnant by the voice of God. 1670E. Borlase Lathom Spaw 5 The Water dies it with a rusty iron colour, one Argument of what it is impregnant with. 1712Addison Spect. No. 303 ⁋4 The Division of Hell into Seas of Fire, and into firm Ground impregnant with the same furious Element.
2. Impregnating. Also as n. That which impregnates (cf. quot. 1664 s.v. impregnate v. 4). Now rare.
1661Glanvill Van. Dogm. xiv. 133 It [interest] is the Pole, to which we turn, and our sympathizing Judgements seldom decline from the direction of this Impregnant. 1825Coleridge Lit. Rem. (1836) II. 340 This chaos, the eternal will,..acting as the impregnant, distinctive, and ordonnant power,—enabled to become a world. 1868Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy iv. 313 As the impregnant sap Of years successive frames the full-branched tree.
B. n. A substance used for the impregnation of something else. (Cf. sense A 2.)
1933H. Bennett Chem. Formulary I. 441/1 Leather Soles, Impregnant for. 1948Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. II. 546 The bitumens employed as felt impregnants are usually soft, low-melting materials of high fluidity in the molten condition. 1955Seymour & Steiner Plastics for Corrosion-Resistant Applications xii. 191 The sealing effect of the impregnant..is dependent upon an increase in molecular size of the resin used. 1959New Scientist 30 July 127/3 Inside present day automotive storage battery cells..a waffle-shaped network of lead holds the impregnant that keeps the battery alive.
▪ II. † impregnant, a.2 Obs. rare.
[f. im-2 + pregnant a.]
Not pregnant; sterile.
a1659Osborn Misc., Queries (1673) 610 That all things were not Created for their Own sakes, but the meer Interest of Nature, which abhors to be Idle, or to leave any in Impregnant Condition. |