| 释义 |
instrumental, a. and n.|ɪnstruːˈmɛntəl|
[a. F. instrumental (Oresme, 14th c.), ad. med.L. instrūmentālis: see instrument n. and -al1.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of the nature of an instrument (material or subservient); serving as an instrument or means; contributing to the accomplishment of a purpose or result.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xx[i]. (Add MS. 27944), The cause material and instrumental [L. instrumentalis] is in the tonge. 1478Househ. Ord. (1790) 44 No fees of plate nor sylver, but it be in his instrumental tools perused by occupation. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. To Rdr. ⁋v b, The service of his naturall abilities, and the use of his instrumentall powers. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 59 We giue unto God..the cheefest rule in all things, all other creatures being but the instrumentall, or secundarie causes. 1697tr. Burgersdicius his Logic i. xvii. 65 The Instrumental Cause is that which subserves the principal Cause in its Effecting. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) II. xi. 137 The instrumental duties of religion, as they are usually termed. 1848H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. vi. 322 The art of persuasive argumentation will, like every other instrumental art, be capable of abuse.
b. Const. to, in; † inf.; rarely † of, † for.
1650Jer. Taylor Holy Living (J.), Prayer, which is instrumental to every thing. 1655Hartlib Ref. Silk-worm To Rdr., Then would all hands be set a-work, and every one would become instrumentall to serve himselfe and his Neighbours in Love. 1663Dryden Wild Gallant iv. i, You have been instrumental, I hear, of my Preferment. 1666Pepys Diary 28 Apr., My Lady Castlemaine is instrumental in this Matter. 1722Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. Pref. 9, I was prepared to be instrumental for such a work as this. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 57 Instrumental in bringing about revolutions. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets i. 17 Zeal for greater rigour of thought was instrumental in developing a new vehicle of language in the creation of a prose style. 1881J. Simon in Nature XXIV. 372/1 When the life of either man or brute is to be made merely instrumental to the establishment of a scientific truth.
c. Serving well for the purpose; serviceable, useful; effective, efficient. Now rare or Obs.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 48 The Head is not more Natiue to the Heart, The Hand more Instrumentall to the Mouth. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 26 How instrumental soever the Captain hath been, the General usually carries away the honour of the Action. 1674Essex Papers (Camden) 249 My Lord Conway & Sr Arthr Forbese have bin instrumentall & usefull to me herein. 1709Swift Advancem. Relig. Wks. 1755 II. i. 115 It would be very instrumental to have a law made. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. ii. 175 Those truths which are most instrumental.
2. Of, pertaining to, performed with, or arising from, a material instrument; due to the instrument (as instrumental error).
1644Nye Gunnery ii. (1647) 47 The degree in the Circle, that was cut in the Circle of the Instrument, when you made your Instrumentall observation. 1760Pemberton in Phil. Trans. LI. 921 The instrumental construction proposed by Mr. Collins will very readily give the true latitude. 1797Downing Disord. Horned Cattle 129 All instrumental methods of extraction I wish to avoid as much as possible. 1830Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 125 We are obliged to have recourse to instrumental aids. 1858― Outl. Astron. (ed. 5) iii. §141 Such inquiries constitute the theory of instrumental errors. 1876Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 70 No instrumental treatment had taken place that day.
3. a. Of Music: Performed on, or composed for, an instrument or instruments. (Opp. to vocal.)
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. heading, Of musike: mundain, humayn, and instrumental. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxviii. §2 They which..require the abrogation of instrumentall musique. 1641Evelyn Diary 5 Oct., His three daughters entertained us with rare music, vocal and instrumental. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 686 With Heav'nly touch of instrumental sounds In full harmonic number joind. 1891Times 8 Oct. 7/4 When these alone sing, the balance is better kept by omitting the instrumental parts.
b. Of the nature of, or belonging to, a musical instrument. rare.
a1683Walton Angler i. (1886) 15 The nightingale..breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat. a1822Shelley To Constantia Singing iii, The blood and life within those snowy fingers Teach witchcraft to the instrumental strings.
†4. Old Physiol. Having a special vital function; that is a bodily organ; organic. (Cf. instrument n. 4.) Obs.
1533Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 10 b, Members instrumentall [are] The stomake: The raines: The bowelles: All the great synewes. 1578Banister Hist. Man iv. 44 A Muscle..is an instrumentall part of the body. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 266, I wish all Farriars..to know the causes of all diseases, as well in the parts similar as instrumental.
5. Gram. The name of a case in the declensions of some languages (as Sanskrit and Slavonic), denoting that with or by which something is done.
Called also ‘the ablative of the instrument’, and by early authors of English Sanskrit grammars causative, and implementive. The Skr. name is karaṇa means, instrument.
1806Carey Sungskrit Gram. 864 Of the instrumental case after the verb. 1813W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. LXXI. 476 Several Slavonian dialects..have seven cases, the six cases of the Latins, and an instrumental case. 1874–5T. L. Papillon Man. Comp. Philol. (1877) 106 In both languages [Greek and Latin] we shall find remnants of both locative and instrumental forms. 1879Whitney Sanscrit Gram. §283 Many instrumental constructions..call in translation for other prepositions than ‘with’ or ‘by’; yet the true instrumental relation is usually to be traced.
6. Law. = instrumentary a. 3. rare.
1790Dallas Amer. Law Rep. I. 209 Instrumental witnesses are always called upon.
7. Psychol. A term used to describe the type of learning where a particular response is the instrument by which the organism is taught to alter its environment.
1940Hilgard & Marquis Conditioning & Learning iii. 51 When the occurrence of the reinforcement is contingent upon the organism's behavior the procedure may be termed instrumental conditioning. Ibid. 52 As a reference experiment for instrumental reward training we may select a study by Grindley. 1956B. R. Bugelski Psychol. of Learning iv. 58 ‘Instrumental’ learning covers all other types. It is called ‘instrumental’ because the organism is learning how to affect its environment to bring about some change. 1964M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. x. 128 Instrumental learning consists of the blind stamping-in of rewarded responses. 1969R. H. Schuster in D. P. Hendry Conditioned Reinforcement viii. 194 The complication of three factors is necessary—simple association, instrumental reinforcement, and a decay process. Ibid. 195 Whether the stimuli precede or follow an instrumental response. 1971J. L. Gewirtz in R. Glaser Nature of Reinforcement viii. 288 He assumes that instrumental conditioning might be more effective for the acquisition of responses connoting complex skills. 1972New Yorker 26 Aug. 32/1 Edward L. Thorndike..is credited with the first rigorous investigation of trial-and-error, or instrumental, learning.
B. n.
†1. That which is instrumental to some end or purpose (see A. 1); an instrument, means. Obs.
[1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. Q, To demonstrate, not only the materialle and formal principles, but the Instrumentalles.] 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. §10 Unto the deepe, fruitefull, and operative studie of many Scyences..Bookes be not the only Instrumentals. 1643Sir. J. Spelman Case of Affairs 11 Through the concurrence of those that are the instrumentals of His restraint.
†2. An ‘instrumental’ part of the body (see A. 4); a bodily organ. Obs.
1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. etc., As to the seconde questyon that asketh why they [members] be called organykes & instrumentalles. 1564P. Moore Hope Health i. iv. 7 Some other partes in the body be called..instrumentalles and vnlyke partes.
3. Gram. The instrumental case, ‘the ablative of the instrument’: see A. 5.
1806Carey Sungskrit Gram. 35 There are seven cases, viz. the Nominative, Accusative, Instrumental [etc.]. 1824Heard Russ. Gram. §9 There are six cases in the Russian Language: the Nominative, the Accusative, the Genitive, the Dative, the Instrumental, the Prepositional. 1879Sweet Anglo-Sax. Rdr. (ed. 2) Introd. 48 Adjectives have the three genders of nouns, and the same cases, with the addition of the instrumental. 1879Whitney Sanscrit Gram. §278 The instrumental is originally the with-case: it denotes adjacency, accompaniment, association—passing over into the expression of means and instrument (with and by).
4. (See quot. 1945.)
1940Swing July 17/1 Bob Mersey's Blue Ink is another slightly Wham-like instrumental. 1945Music Library Assoc. Notes 2nd Ser. VII. i. 45/1 Instrumental, composition written for instrumental performance, solo or group. Also, any performance without benefit of a vocal. 1949L. Feather Inside Be-Bop i. 9 Dizzy..changed it from a slow ballad to a jump-tempo instrumental. 1972Jazz & Blues Sept. 11/3 ‘Jump’ instrumentals, normally featuring the tenor of Herb Hardesty. |