释义 |
increment|ˈɪnkrɪmənt| [ad. L. incrēmentum increase, means of growth, f. stem of incrē-scĕre to increase: see -ment. (So F. incrément, 18th c.)] 1. a. The action or process of increasing or becoming greater, or (with pl.) a particular case or instance of this; increase, augmentation, growth.
c1425Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S) 29 The desirid helth by certeyne incrementys began to come Ageyne. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 2979 Joseph a son growing or increment [v.r. encrees] is for to say. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 379 It was beaten..into the heades of the common people..that the Roode (for Crucifix) of this church, did by certaine increments continually wax and growe. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. §11. 144 They prayed..that Christ's kingdome upon earth might have its proper increment. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. xvii. 171 The increment of the Nails is very natural. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. ii. §6 (1833) 53 Our emotions are never instantaneous..[they] have different periods of birth and increment. 1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xvii. 218 We add daily increments to our knowledge and science. 1861A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. viii. 264 A standing proof of the increment of dignity which conspicuous height gives to a town construction. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 532 Woody plants..in which the limit of the annual increment of growth is sharply defined by the layer of periderm formed at [the] outer side [of the cortex]. †b. Increase of prosperity; advancement: cf. increase v. 4, n. 4. Obs. or arch.
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xiv. xi. 27 Turning to and fro, as she knoweth full well, the weights of increments and detriments both, of risings and fallings. 1667Waterhouse Fire Lond. 70 Celebrated benefactors to Londons Clergy, and Religious Increment. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. ix. i. 396 Majesty, by way of increment to Hacke..has lately made him ‘Master of the Hunt’. c. The waxing of the moon: spec. in Heraldry.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. iii. (1611) 91 According to the divers apparitions of the Moone hath she her divers denominations in Heraldrie; as her increment in her increase. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 21/2. 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. xi. 71 She is Increscent, or in Increment, when her horns point to the dexter. d. Rhet. ‘An advancing from weaker to stronger expressions, an ascending towards a climax’: = L. incrēmentum in Quintilian (Lewis & Short).[1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 132 Incrementum..is a form of speech which by degrees ascends to the top of something, or rather above the top, that is, when we make our speech grow and increase by an orderly placing of words, making the later word alwayes exceed the former in the force of signification..It is a kind of a Climax.] 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Increment..in rhetoric, a species of climax, which rises from the lowest to the highest. 1864Webster, Increment..4. (Rhet.) An amplification without strict climax, as in the following passage: ‘Finally, brethen, whatsoever things are true{ddd}{ddd}’ Phil. iv. 8. [1893Funk's Stand. Dict., Increment..5. Rhet. A form of discourse that consists in repeating with increasing emphasis an already emphatic statement, as in ‘he is a parricide—a parricide, I say; do you hear? a parricide!’] †2. transf. Something that helps or promotes growth: a. A support for a growing plant; b. Nourishment. Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 189 Stakis longe ar vynys increment. 1708J. Phillips Cyder (1807) 84 The loosen'd roots then drink Large increment. †3. Produce: cf. increase n. 7. Obs. rare.
1593Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 273 He promised to honour the eating thereof with the best increments of his overflowing tunne. 4. a. Amount of increase; an amount or portion added to a thing so as to increase it, an addition; an amount gained, profit. unearned increment: see unearned.
1631R. Brathwait Whimzies, Traveller 93 Should hee cast up his accompts..hee would finde his decrements great, his increments small. 1640–4Sir E. Dering in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 293 In fewer Words than this Additional Increment, now offered to your Bill. 1794Heron Inform. Powers at War, The annual increment of the Population. 18617th Rep. Postmaster Gen. 20 Annual increments of salaries and wages. 1865Mill Pol. Econ. v. ii. §5 (ed. 6), I see no objection to declaring that the future increment of rent should be liable to special taxation. 1875B. W. Richardson Dis. Mod. Life vi. 96 The increment of heat which proves fatal is from 11° to 12° Fahr. above the natural temperature of the animal. 1890Morley Sp. Ho. Comm., The question of unearned increment will have to be faced before many years are over. 1892Rep. Sel. Com. on Town Holdings p. xxv, The person who has benefited by the unearned increment in the value of the land. b. Math. and Physics. A small (or sometimes infinitesimal) amount by which a variable quantity increases (e.g. in a given small time); spec. the increase (positive or negative) of a function due to a small increase (esp. of unity) in the variable, as in the Method of Increments, now called the Calculus of Finite Differences (see difference n. 2 b).
[1715B. Taylor (title) Methodus Incrementorum.] 1721Bailey, Increment, in Algebra, signifies the infinitely small increase of a line in Fluxions, growing bigger by Motion. 1743Emerson Fluxions 2 The indefinitely small Portions of the Fluent which are generated in any indefinitely small Portions of Time are called Moments or Increments. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 352 The Supposition that Fluxions are not Increments, but relative Nothings. 1763Emerson Meth. Increm. Pref. 4 The Inventor of the Method of Increments was the learned Dr. Taylor. 1803J. Wood Princ. Mech. vii. 134 Equal increments of velocity are always generated in equal times. 1834M. Somerville Connect. Phys. Sc. x. (1849) 80 The sum of all these increments of velocity..would in time become perceptible. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §28 Acceleration of velocity..is said to be uniform when the velocity receives equal increments in equal times. c. Forestry. The increase in the quantity of wood produced by a tree or group of trees during a limited period; the value of this increase. Also attrib., as increment borer [tr. G. zuwachsbohrer (M. R. Pressler Zur Forstzuwachskunde (1868) 19], a kind of auger with a hollow bit, used to measure the magnitude of this increase in individual trees, by removing a piece of wood in which annual rings can be examined; increment boring, the cylinder of wood removed from a tree by an increment borer.
1889W. Schlich Man. Forestry I. ii. 167 The increment laid on by an individual tree does not by itself govern the increment produced per acre, because the latter is represented by the increment per tree, multiplied by the number of trees per acre. 1895Ibid. III. i. 13 In the case of standing trees, the measurements are made with Pressler's Increment Borer. 1905Terms Forestry & Logging (U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau Forestry) 14 Increment, the volume or value of wood produced during a given period by the growth of a tree or of a stand. 1938Weaver & Clements Plant Ecol. (ed. 2) ii. 34 The increment borer..removes a small core of wood from circumference to center, without injuring the tree. 1942Amer. Jrnl. Bot. XXIX. 553/2 (caption) An increment boring from a butt treated western red cedar pole. 1967T. E. Avery Forest Measurements xii. 210 In climates where tree growth is characterized by annual rings, ages of standing trees are usually determined by extracting a radial core of wood with an increment borer. 1972N. D. G. James Arboriculturalist's Compan. xiv. 159 In forestry the measurement and calculation of increment can be of considerable economic importance. 5. A quantity obtained from another by increase or addition. Const. of. (rare.)
1864Bowen Logic xii. 410 Each term may be an increment of its predecessor by the addition of a constant quantity. 1865Grote Plato I. i. 11 note, All [numbers] above ten were multiples and increments of ten. 6. attrib. and Comb.
1909[see budget v. c]. 1909–10Act 10 Edw. VII c. 8 §2 (1) The increment value of any land shall be deemed to be the amount (if any) by which the site value of the land, on the occasion on which increment value duty is to be collected.., exceeds the original site value of the land as ascertained in accordance with the general provisions of this Part of this Act as to valuation. 1971Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. Jan. 68 At a 30-msec interval the difference threshold for a decrease in pulse interval would be 30 msec, while the difference threshold for an increase in pulse interval would be five msec. These two types of difference thresholds will be referred to as decrement and increment thresholds, respectively. |