| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈinput, n.
[in adv. 11 d.]
1. A sum put in; a contribution. Sc.
1753Scots Mag. Aug. 421/1 An input of four guineas was run for by a white galloway..and a bay mare. 1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 11 My account..is debited for my inputs. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xii, Ilka ane to be liable for their ain input. 1859W. Anderson Disc. (1860) 163 The half crown, yea sixpenny, skip-the-plate..in-put of wealthy merchants and landlords..is all made manifest.
2. a. That which is put in or taken in, or which is operated on or utilized by any process or system (either material or abstract).
1893Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. CLXXXIII. 228 The pressure in the large systemic veins becomes raised during vagus action, because the quantity of blood which passes from them into the right ventricle (which we may refer to as the ‘input’ of the heart), in a given time, is diminished. 1929Prosp. Mona Copper Co. 6 With Copper at {pstlg}70 per ton on the basis of an input of 600 tons daily..a gross annual profit of about {pstlg}100,000 could be expected. 1966T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. iv. 88 To Rice..an organization is an ‘open system’. It takes in inputs from the environment, converts them, and sends outputs back into the environment. 1971Sci. Amer. Sept. 111/1 These carcasses are retrieved in the spring, and the meat is considered one of the more flavorsome food inputs. 1971J. B. Carroll et al. Word Frequency Bk. p. vi, The Corpus is drawn from written, and edited, published materials. There is no direct oral input.
b. Energy supplied to a device or system; spec. an electrical signal that enters an electronic device.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 574/2 The useful return or ‘output’ at the terminals of a large machine may amount to as much as 95 per cent. of the mechanical energy which forms the ‘input’. 1931Daily Express 21 Sept. 7/4 An advanced form of band-pass tuning, providing a special selector circuit between the input from the aerial and the first valve of the set. 1933E. T. A. Rapson Electr. Transmission & Distrib. xiv. 163 Accurate metering of the power input to and output from the Grid is essential. 1943C. L. Boltz Basic Radio xiv. 216 The input is applied between control grid and cathode. 1970J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers vi. 142 This same switch also receives an input from the a.m. section.
c. Econ. The total of resources necessary to production, including raw materials, use of machinery, and manpower, which are deducted from output in calculating assets and profits. (Cf. output.) Also attrib.
1926J. D. Black Production Economics iii. xi. 277 The term input..will be used..to refer to the amounts of the production elements that are used in turning out any product... In the present illustration, as the inputs of seed increase,..the outputs of grain increase. 1947Bull. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics No. 913. 11 Most persons, in using the term ‘productivity’, have meant the physical output obtained for a given physical input. 1953Steiner & Goldner Productivity ii. 5 What do we mean by input? A typical product is a combination of raw materials, machinery, workers' time, power, and many other factors. Each of these is called an input. Input items are combined in the manufacturing process into products or output. Should the unit of input be one worker, or one hour of labor time, or one machine, or a ton of raw materials or a kilowatt hour of electricity? Any of these could be an input although each is different. 1958Economist 15 Nov. 592/3 When the effect of other variables has been allowed for, the farmer is found to be using, even at low inputs, 4s. worth of concentrates to produce a gallon of milk which he sells for 3s. 1½d... Concentrate inputs beyond {pstlg}45 per cow per year..have no additional effect..upon milk yield. 1959Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 16 Mar. 796/1 The farmer also uses up large quantities of ‘industrial inputs’ (equipment, motor fuel, fertilizers, &c.), representing goods and services which could, directly or indirectly, have been exported if the British farmer had not used them, or which, in some cases, have to be imported. 1971[see input price (5 a below)]. 1972VAT: Gen. Guide (H.M. Customs) 16 Those goods and services are called his inputs, and the tax on them is his input tax. 1972Accountant 13 Apr. 471/1 Historically, Britain's indirect taxes had been collectible at a single point and from a restricted clientele; VAT, on the other hand, would be all pervasive. For any person receiving taxable ‘inputs’, zero-rating would be found preferable, ‘if at all possible’ to exemption. Ibid. 28 Sept. 402/3 Companies with only internal transactions should ensure that they did not lose relief for VAT suffered (input tax).
d. Computers. Data or program instructions that are fed into or processed by a computer; also, the physical medium on which these are represented.
1948Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation III. 7 The ‘input’ for a computational problem (i.e., the information available before the start of the computation) consists of two kinds of elements: numbers, and ‘orders’. Ibid. 9 The tapes which contain the input for any problem are classified into three groups. 1949D. R. Hartree Calculating Instruments & Machines (1950) vii. 80 Input and output for this machine are expressed in standard teletype code, with a coded symbol for the operation required. 1964A. Lytel Fund. Data Processing viii. 165 Punched paper tape can be read and used as a computer input. 1967D. Wilson in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Management Technol. iii. 45 It is sometimes necessary to obtain a detailed listing of all the input to determine where the error has occurred. 1973Time 13 Aug. 20/2 Business gave its own donation at the office, with the computer talk of ‘inputs’..and ‘print-outs’.
e. Psychol. The resources of mental and sensory stimuli available to an individual.
1954Canad. Jrnl. Psychol. VIII. 70 The maintenance of normal, intelligent, adaptive behaviour probably requires a continually varied sensory input. 1959Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry CXV. 1110/1 These studies suggest that maintaining adequate sensory input during space missions will be less of a problem than providing adequate information input. 1972Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVI. 220 Individuals who can tolerate diverse inputs from the environment may not be markedly affected by success or failure.
f. Linguistics. (See quot. 1966.) Freq. as input string.
1961H. A. Gleason Introd. Descr. Ling. (rev. ed.) xii. 173 It is normally stated in the form of rules which may be applied to one of the pair—an input—altering it to produce the other—an output. 1966M. Pei Gloss. Ling. Terminol. 126 Input, in transformational grammar, the term applied to a construction that is transformed into another..which is called the output (input: ‘he goes’; output: ‘he does go’, ‘he does not go’, etc.). 1969W. A. Cook Introd. Tagmemic Analysis ii. 42 The transformational rule is simply a rule of change. This rule has an input string, a rule of change, and an output string. With kernel sentences as input, it is possible to set up a series of optional rules that will produce the output, the derived sentences. 1971R. Fowler in Archivum Linguisticum II. 136 These rules..are typical of the local transformations which follow base constituent-structure rules on the present grammatical model. Their inputs and outputs are concatenated sets of syntactic..features, and their effect is to replace or add one feature in one set.
3. A place where, or device through which, an input enters a system, esp. an electronic device.
1929J. H. Morecroft Elem. Radio Communication vii. 228 Either of these..would give a beat frequency of 50 kc., which is then ‘detected’ and supplied to the ‘input’ of the I.F. amplifier. 1933Boys' Mag. XLVII. 108/2 Connect pick-up to ‘input’ and loud speaker to ‘output’. 1946Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 100 A flip-flop has two inputs and two outputs. 1963Gould & Ellis Digital Computer Technol. iv. 33 Data passing from the input to the computer proper, or from this to the output, can be marshalled, sorted and coded..to a large extent independently of the rest of the equipment. 1971Hi-Fi Sound Feb. 105/1 This recorder has inputs for microphone, radio and magnetic and/or ceramic pickup cartridges.
4. The action or process of putting in or feeding in.
1947Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 356 No means of numerical input or output other than the keyboard and the display panel are provided. 1948Ibid. III. 7 The speed of input is well in balance with the computing speed. 1955Sci. Amer. Jan. 69/3 If a block of iron were magnetized as a single large domain..it..would require the input of a considerable amount of energy. 1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting i. 15 The basic idea behind this method of input is to print the characters on the original document in a special type of magnetic ink. 1973Nature 13 Apr. 440/1 What is lacking..is a steady input of information on research and development on other fuels.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attributive, as input circuit, input device, input impedance, input price, input routine, input tape, input terminal, input transformer, input unit.
b. In sense ‘constituting input’, as input current, input data, input information, input signal, input voltage.
1921Wireless World 25 June 214/2 The *input circuit varies according to the receiver circuit to which the connection is made. 1940Amat. Radio Handbk. (ed. 2) iv. 69/1 The first general axiom is to arrange matters so that the output stages are as far as possible from the aerial or input circuits.
1930Field & Weill Electro-Plating 38 Fig. ii. showing the form of the *input and output currents.
1948Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation III. 7 The Harvard machines use punched cards for most *input data. 1948Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. XVI. 248 The design of input and output devices for electronic digital computers poses a specialized problem in electrical communications.
1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 191/1 The basic configuration of any computer consists of a store, a suitable *input and output device, and a control mechanism.
1928Times 23 Mar. 20/1 A certain *input impedance which had the effect of increasing or decreasing the resistance of the tuned circuit.
1949E. C. Berkeley Giant Brains x. 175 Since the *input information must be carefully verified, we shall need a second magnetic-tape device. 1956Input information [see buffer2 1 d].
1971Daily Tel. 19 May 17/2 *Input prices—the price of basic materials and fuel—have risen by more than 3 p.c. since the start of the year.
1954Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation VIII. 32 The function of the Ferut *Input Routine is to read information from tape, perform certain alterations on routines or numerical data and store the routines or data in assigned locations in the machine. 1962Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 42 Input routine, a routine, sometimes stored permanently in the computer, to control the readings of programs and data.
1950Mind LIX. 440 It will seem that given the initial state of the machine and the *input signals it is always possible to predict all future states.
1949E. C. Berkeley Giant Brains iii. 27 We shall need one register to read the *input tape and to store the number or operation recorded on it.
1919Wireless World Dec. 505/1 It will..be convenient to provide two ‘*input’ terminals, two terminals to which the..accumulator may be connected, and two for..an external plate battery. 1946Input terminal [see control n. 3 f].
1919Wireless World Dec. 506/1 The leaky grid condenser..is brought into use, the *input transformer..being isolated.
1962Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 81 *Input unit, that portion of an a.d.p. system used only for input. 1966B. A. M. Moon Computer Programming i. 6 Typical input units are punched card, paper tape and magnetic tape units.
1940Amat. Radio Handbk. (ed. 2) ii. 28/2 When an A.C. *input voltage is applied to the grid of a valve an amplified A.C. voltage appears across the output load in the anode circuit.
c. Also input–output (input–output, input/output), usu. attrib.
1914H. Pender Amer. Handbk. Electr. Engineers 961 With large motors it is desirable to use a generator as a load in making an input-output test. 1947Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 363 Another important element of the automatic computer which affects the compromise is the input-output mechanism. 1953Economist 26 Sept. 870/1 An input-output analysis of the British economic structure..will be ready by 1956. Ibid. 870/2 Mr. Roger Keyes..recently ordered the suspension of work on American input-output data; the colleagues he left behind..used to share his mistrust of input-output. 1964Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 452/2 Input-output tables show the interrelations among the major industry groups of the economy... Tables or matrices are constructed which show the goods-and-services inputs and outputs of each on a ‘from-whom to whom’ basis. 1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting ii. 38 The introduction of magnetic tapes..facilitates the compact storage and fast input-output of large files. 1967Technology Week 23 Jan. 11/1 (Advt.), Sigma 5..does foreground real-time control..and high-speed input/output. 1970Sci. Amer. Oct. 94/2 Ordinarily it is difficult to measure the input-output relations of an ecosystem, particularly those involving nutrients. 1970Sunday Times 29 Nov. 68/6 Input-output tables are brought into play to help estimate that trading profits per vehicle exceed manual pay for the men who make it.
▪ II. input, v.
Also 4 yn-, 6 Sc. imput(e, 6–7 imputt.
[f. in-1 or in adv. + put v.: in earliest quots. after L. impōnere; with stress on second syllable in senses 1 and 2, and on first syllable in sense 3.]
†1. trans. To put on, impose. Obs.
1382Wyclif 1 Macc. xi. 13 Ptholome..ynputtide two dyademes to his hed, of Egipt and Asie. ― Acts xxviii. 3 Whanne Poul hadde gederid sum multitude of kittingis of vynes, and ynputt on the fyer. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) l. 120 That..maner of necessyte be input to gentilmen, that they shulden not varien fro the vertues of their auncestres.
†2. To put in, set, or place (in some position). Sc. Obs.
1557–75Diurnal Occurr. (Bannatyne Club) 152 Thay..detrudit the Ministarie of Goddis word, and imputt in thair places preistis to celebrate mess againe. 1593Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) 48 (Jam.) It salbe lesum to the said Mr. cunyiour to imputt and outputt forgearis, prentaris, and all vthiris thingis belanging to the said office. 1652Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) App. 24/2 Quhome I..surrogat substitute and imputte in my full richt tytill and place of the samyn. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) II. 30 Thay first mell with the five cinque portis, inputtis and outputtis governouris at their plesour.
3. Computers. To supply or feed in (data, a program, etc.) to; to feed into. Pa. pple. ˈinput, (less commonly) ˈinputted.
1946Nature 12 Oct. 503/2 These switches are connected up so that for any two-figure argument x from 00 to 99, input to the function table, the value of the function for that argument is output in the form of pulse groups on the appropriate digit lines. 1953A. D. & K. H. V. Booth Automatic Digital Calculators viii. 62 It is possible to input up to 300 decimal digits per second. Ibid. 74 Working instructions do not have to be input after each shut-down. 1964F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers vi. 104 Magnetic tape provides a fast means of inputting information. 1965K. Nicol Elem. Programming iii. 14 When all your program has been input and compiled control is transferred from the compiler program to the machine code instructions of your program. 1967W. F. Bauer in W. J. Karplus On-Line Computing iv. 81 He inputs the data directly into the console by electronically filling out a form which the computer provides on the cathode-ray tube. Ibid. 80 Data verification is done by the computer's reflecting back to the user on the cathode-ray-tube scope exactly what has been inputted. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 222/1 At convenient intervals, the day lists are input to the computer. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xv. 230 A series of records which are to be input to a computer or have been output from it is called a file.
Hence ˈinput ppl. a., ˈinˌputting vbl. n. Also ˈinˌputter, one who puts in.
Quots. a 1578 refer to the imprisonment of James III in Edinburgh Castle by the Scottish lords.
1498Acta Dom. Conc. 320 (Jam.) That the said Thomas..has done na wrang in the inputting of the saidis gudis in the said tennement again. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 177 All letteris and commandementis and procliematiounis was gevin and maid in his name, lyke as they war befoir his imputing. Ibid., The lordis..that was his inputtaris. Ibid. 178 Desyrand support..quhairby he might be relaxit out of the castell of Edinburgh and to be revengit of his imputtaris. Ibid. 183 Certane lordis..quho was the consallouris of the maist pairt of his imputing. 1839Lockhart Ballantyne-Humbug Handled 34 The whole input stock was gone.
▪ III. input(e, -putrible, -pytuous etc.:
see imp-. |