| 释义 |
infinity|ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪ|
Also 4–5 -te, 5–6 -tie.
[a. F. infinité (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. infīnītās endlessness, boundlessness, infinity, f. infīnītus: see -ity.]
1. The quality or attribute of being infinite or having no limit; boundlessness, illimitableness (esp. as an attribute of Deity).
c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. vi. 134 (Camb. MS.) Al thogh þat the lyf of it be strechched with infinite of tyme, yit algates nis it no swych thing. c1435Misyn Fire Love 14 In þe infenite of gode meruaile and worschip, with-oute begynyng all-myghti clerely scheuys. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 636/1 One whose eternity passeth al time, and whose infinity passeth all nombre, that is almightye God himselfe. 1647Cowley Mistr., Constant iii, What, alas can be Added to that which hath Infinity Both in Extent and Quality? 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxiii. §35 It is Infinity, which, joined to our Ideas of Existence, Power, Knowledge, &c. makes that complex Idea, whereby we represent to our selves the best we can, the supreme Being. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 94 Wherever the doctrines of infinity enter into philosophy, knowledge ceases, and we talk at random. 1875Jowett Plato IV. 9 Of that positive infinity, or infinite reality, which we attribute to God, he had no conception.
2. Something that is infinite; infinite extent, amount, duration, etc.; a boundless space or expanse; an endless or unlimited time. (In quot. 1682 the Infinite Being, the Deity.)
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 127–8 One pieres þe plough⁓man..seith þat dowel and dobet aren two infinites, Whiche infinites, with a feith fynden oute dobest, Which shal saue mannes soule. a1618Raleigh (J.), There cannot be more infinities than one; for one of them would limit the other. 1682Dryden Relig. Laici 93 Darest thou, poor worm, offend Infinity? 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. i. (1879) 12 Any power, acting for a time short of infinity. 1846Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. iii. iii. §25 The greatest number is no nearer infinity than the least, if it be definite number. 1856Masson Ess. iii. 62 They did not tenant all space, but only that upper and illuminated part of infinity called Heaven. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ix. 297 For all his sweetness and serenity, however, man's point of life ‘between two infinities’ (of that expression Marcus Aurelius is the real owner) was to him anything but a Happy Island.
3. a. In hyperbolical use (from 1 and 2): Immensity, vastness; an indefinitely great amount or number, an exceeding multitude, ‘no end’ (of). [A frequent sense in OF.]
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, George 321 Þe king þane ane infinite Of gret tresore gert offerit be To george. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxvi. (1887) 134 Whether all children be to be set to schoole or no, without repressing the infinitie of multitude. 1634W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I.) 168 By meanes of an infinity of rules and maximes. 1681Nevile Plato Rediv. 102 He gives daily charitable audience to an Infinity of poor people. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iii. iv, An infinity of observations of this kind are to be found in the writings and conversations of many. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 390 When little things are elaborated with an infinity of pains.
b. Phr. to infinity (= L. ad or in infinitum): to an ‘infinite’ extent, ‘endlessly’, without limit.
1640tr. Verdere's Romant of Rom. I. 27 Loving him to infinity, I almost died at the first news of his sicknes. 1772Burke Sp. Acts Uniform. Wks. 1842 II. 466 You may delight yourselves in varying to infinity the fashion of them. 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. ii. iv. 189 The multiplication of such commodities to infinity, could never occasion a glut.
4. a. Math. Infinite quantity (see infinite A. 4 c): denoted by the symbol ∞. Also, an infinite number (of something; quot. 1831).
1692Halley in Phil. Trans. XVII. 556 The whole..is the summ of the beginning and ceasing Infinity, or as I may say of Infinity a parte ante and a parte post, which is analogous to Eternity in time or Duration. 1831Brewster Newton (1855) II. xiv. 21 The curve which should cut at right angles an infinity of curves of a given nature. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 496 To say..that a hundred was five times infinity. 1859Halliwell Evid. Chr. 14 In modern science, there is a symbol used to express infinity. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 138 In this treatise [Nova Stereometria Doliorum, 1615] he [Kepler] introduced for the first time the name and notion of ‘infinity’ into the language of geometry.
b. Geom. Infinite distance, or that portion or region of space which is infinitely distant: usually in phr. at infinity. In Photogr. also used of any distance, or the range of distances, at which an object is effectively in focus when the lens is set for the greatest possible distance.
1867Sutton & Dawson Dict. Photogr. 122 In every lens there is..a certain distance of a near object from it, between which and infinity all objects are in equally good focus. 1873B. Williamson Diff. Calculus xiii. §192 A system of parallel lines may be considered as meeting in the same point at infinity. Ibid. §195 The ordinary parabola..[has] the line at infinity for an asymptote. 1885C. Leudesdorf Cremona's Proj. Geom. 221 Suppose the four tangents to be parallel in pairs..then one diagonal will pass to infinity. 1910Photogr. for Beginners (Country Life Ltd.) ii. 13 These are called ‘fixed focus’ cameras, and the lens is ‘set at Infinity’, which means that, provided the object to be photographed is not nearer the camera than, say, twenty feet, everything in the picture will appear sharp. 1929R. H. Goodsall Beginner's Guide Photogr. v. 22 The next thing is to adjust the lens to correct focus... All subjects over 100 feet away will be at ‘infinity’, smaller distances are marked on the scale. 1939J. M. Blair Pract. & Theoret. Photogr. ix. 89 The hyperfocal distance is the least distance at which a lens may be focussed when objects at infinity are still in focus. 1950G. L. Wakefield Your Camera Lens & Shutter ii. 27 In photography, an object at 100 feet away from the lens would be normally considered as being at infinity. Infinity cannot be rigidly defined in the photographic sense, but it becomes a greater distance as the focal length of the lens increases. 1974Trafford Catal. Spring & Summer 890/1 Kodak 100 pocket camera outfit. Fine 3-element lens gives sharp colourful prints or slides from 4 ft. to infinity.
▸ infinity pool n. orig. N. Amer. an outdoor swimming pool designed to give the impression that it lacks an edge or edges and merges into the surrounding landscape.
1992Orange County (Santa Ana, Calif.) Reg. 23 June e1/4 Dinner tables were sprinkled around an infinity pool (designed to look as if it's spilling over the hillside), guarded by a fountain of swans. 2003J. Farris Fury & Power 18 Alberta Nkambe had begun her daily half-mile swim in the infinity pool at the edge of the east lawn, overlooking a landscape of farms, bush, and extinct volcanoes. |