| 释义 |
isthmus|ˈɪsθməs, ˈɪstməs, ˈɪsməs|
Pl. isthmuses |-əsɪz|, rarely isthmi |-aɪ|. Forms: 6–7 isthmos, istmus, 7 istmos, 6– isthmus.
[a. L. isthmus, a. Gr. ἰσθµός neck, narrow passage, a neck of land between two seas, spec. the Isthmus of Corinth connecting the Peloponnesus with northern Greece.]
1. Geog. A narrow portion of land, enclosed on each side by water, and connecting two larger bodies of land; a neck of land.
1555Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 59 Certeyne places cauled Isthmi (beinge narrowe portions of lande so diuidynge twoo sees, that there is no passage from the one to the other). 1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 741 A generall assembly..kept in the straight of Peloponnesus, called Isthmos. 1591G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (Hakluyt Soc.) 7 By this riuer..you may passe..by water, drawing your boate..ouer a little isthmus or narrow slippe of lande, a fewe versts ouerthwart. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage viii. iii. 617 America is..divided by that Isthmus, or necke and narrow passage of Land at Darien, into two parts. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. lx. 90 Som do hold that this Island was tied to France..by an Istmos or neck of land 'twixt Dover and Bullen. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. viii. 319 Divers Princes have attempted to cut the Isthmus or tract of land which parteth the Arabian, and Mediterranean Sea. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative 120 They espyed a Company of Indians making towards the said Istmus. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 84 The beasts of cold climes passed over the northern isthmusses, which probably connected Europe, America, and Asia. 1850tr. Goethe's Convers. w. Eckermann 21 Feb. 1827, Lastly, I [Goethe] should wish to see England in possession of a canal through the Isthmus of Suez. 1882Farrar Early Chr. II. 159 note, It [Patmos] consists of three masses of rock united by narrow isthmuses.
transf.1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. i. (1858) 96 A solitary cell hewn in an isolated cliff, and joined to this platform by a narrow isthmus of rock.
b. fig.
1601Daniel Ep., To Sir T. Egerton i, Set thee in th' aidfulst roome of dignitie, As th' Isthmus these two Oceans to diuide Of Rigor and confus'd Vncertaintie. 1663Cowley Pindar. Odes, Life i, Vain weak-built Isthmus, which dost proudly rise Up betwixt two Eternities. 1755Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 176 He lies a sad deserted, outcast on a narrow isthmus between time and eternity. a1864J. D. Burns Mem. & Rem. (1879) 416 They stood on a narrow isthmus between two great periods of their history.
2. Anat., Zool., and Bot. A narrow part or organ connecting two larger parts; esp. the narrow passage connecting the cavity of the mouth with that of the pharynx (more fully isthmus of the fauces or throat).[c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 217 Bi þe place þat a mannes mete goiþ doun, or bi þe þrote, or..bitwixe þe .ij. placis in a place þat is clepid ismon.] 1706Phillips, Isthmus,..in Anatomy it is taken by some for that part which is between the Mouth and the Gullet; also the Ridge that separates the Nostrils. 1851E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. 571 The space included between the soft palate and the root of the tongue is the isthmus of the fauces... It is the opening between the mouth and pharynx. 1859Semple Diphtheria 12 A sponge soaked in concentrated hydrochloric acid was applied to the isthmus of the throat. 1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. viii. 533 These two lobes are united behind by a thick isthmus. 1880M. Mackenzie Dis. Throat & Nose I. 501 Over the second, third, and fourth rings (of the trachea) we see the isthmus of the thyroid gland. 1880Günther Fishes 39 The space on the chest between the two rami of the lower jaw and between the gill-openings is called the isthmus. |