| 释义 |
▪ I. material, a. and n.|məˈtɪərɪəl|
[ad. late L. māteriālis, f. māteria matter n.1: see -al1.
Cf. F. matériel adj. and n., matériaux n. pl., Sp., Pg. material, It. materiale; also the mod.Teut. forms (chiefly from Fr.), G. materiell adj., material n., Du. materieel adj., materiaal n.]
A. adj.
1. Scholastic Philos. and Theol. (Opposed to formal.)
a. Pertaining to matter as opposed to form. material cause: see cause n. 5. † Of number: Concrete.
c1386,c1430[see formal A. 1]. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) Introd. 1 The fyrst is clepyd cause efficyent The secunde they clepe cause materyal. 1588Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 280 Formall number may infinitly encrease, but the Materiall cannot multiply so much. 1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. §3. 52 Not the sound, or the letters and syllables, that is, not the material part, but the formal. 1669[see formal A. 1]. 1697tr. Burgersdicius his Logic i. xvi. 56 Form is..divided..into Material and Immaterial. Material Form is that which is produced out of the Power of Matter, or which dependeth upon Matter in that self same Moment and Act, by which it is made. 1713[see formally 1]. 1827[see formal A. 1].
b. That is (so and so) merely so far as its ‘matter’ is concerned.
material sin: a wrong action apart from the evil intention that is necessary to constitute it a sin in the full sense of the word; so material heresy, material schism, material schismatic, etc. material righteousness: righteousness as definable by conduct, without regard to its motive.
1656Bramhall Replic. ix. 341 They who separate actually without just cause, may doe it out of invincible ignorance, and consequently they are not formall but only materiall Schismaticks. 1690Norris Beatitudes (1692) 95 The desiring material Righteousness by a direct act of the Will actually makes a man formally Righteous.
2. Logic.
a. Concerned with the matter, as distinguished from the form, of reasoning. (Opposed to formal.)
1628T. Spencer Logick 232 A materiall Illation is when the consequent goes with the Antecedent: yet so as it followes the same, not by force thereof. 1685tr. Arnauld & Nicole's Logic iii. xiii. 65 The truth of a Consequence..is only propounded conditionally, and separated from the material Truth, as I may so say, of what it contains. 1697tr. Burgersdicius his Logic i. xxviii. 113 The Material Modes affect the Matter of the Enunciation, viz. either Subject or Predicate. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v. Circle, The material circle [in logic]..consists of two syllogisms, the former whereof proves the cause by the effect; and the latter the effect by the cause. 1727–52Ibid. s.v. Object, Material Object..is the thing itself that is considered, or treated of... Formal Object is the manner of considering it. 1850Whately Elem. Logic (ed. 9) iii. §3 The remaining class (viz. where the Conclusion does follow from the Premises) may be called the Material, or Non-logical Fallacies. 1864Bowen Logic vi. 149 The material truth of the Conclusion depends upon the material truth of the Premises. 1883F. H. Bradley Princ. Logic 471 If ‘material’ is a name for what transcends mere ‘concepts’ and commits itself to truth, then of course all logic must be material. 1889J. Venn Princ. Empirical Logic Pref., In such a province..as that of Material or Inductive Logic the case is very different. 1936Mind XLV. 442 Wisdom..gives the name Material Analysis to the substitution, for sentences about wholes, of sentences mentioning the individual parts of the whole, where the parts are of the same order of ultimacy (as previously defined) as the whole. E.g., material analysis of sentences about awe will be in terms of fear and admiration. 1937A. Smeaton tr. Carnap's Logical Syntax of Lang. iv. 237 We will..assign to the material mode of speech any sentence which is to be interpreted as attributing to an object a particular property, this property being quasi-syntactical, so that the sentence can be translated into another sentence which attributes a correlated syntactical property to a designation of the object in question. 1946Mind LV. 321 If we follow the material logicians in holding that universal propositions are existential as to individuals also [etc.].
b. material implication: a relationship which holds between two propositions, irrespective of content, save only when the first is true and the second false.
1903B. Russell Princ. Math. ii. 14 How far formal implication is definable in terms of implication simply, or material implication as it may be called, is a difficult question. 1932, etc. [see formal a. and n.1 1 d]. 1965Hughes & Londey Elem. Formal Logic iii. 17 A material implication is always true when its antecedent is false, and also when its consequent is true. That is, a false proposition materially implies any proposition; and a true proposition is materially implied by any proposition. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XI. 40/2 Reading p⊃q as ‘If p, q’..is made convenient by the fact that ‘if’ is often used in English in a ‘material-implication’ sense (someone who asserted ‘If it isn't raining, it's snowing’ would usually be held to have spoken truly unless the antecedent were true but the consequent false; i.e., unless it was neither raining nor snowing).
3. a. Of or pertaining to matter or body; formed or consisting of matter; corporeal.
a1340Hampole Psalter xlix. 4 Fire materiel or of ill consciens, sall bren. c1380Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 376 Whan he [Christ] was souȝte to be a kynge & to haue taake up-on hym þe material swerde. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋108 He þat is in helle hat defaut of light material. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xvi. (1495) 323 Thickenes and boystousnes of materyall parties is cause and welle of heuynesse and of lyghtnesse. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. i. (1859) 73 Mundus is the material world, but seculum is taken for the endurynge of the world. c1440Gesta Rom. xix. 66 (Harl. MS.) Þere beth two maner of medycyns, þat is to sey, material, and spiritual. a1533Frith Disp. Purg. To Rdr. A vi b, I meane not his materiall crosse that he hym self dyed on, but a spretuall crosse. 1563Homilies ii. Place & Time of Prayer i. (1859) 344 God doth allow the material temple made of lime and stone..to be his house. 1655Evelyn Diary (1827) II. 104 He believed the sunn to be a material fire. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 68 The material world appears to be, in a manner, boundless and immense. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 365 While heat was supposed to be material it could not be conceived as a force.
absol.1850O. Winslow Inner Life i. 6 The perishing of the material is not the annihilation of the immaterial. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. vii. 263 The analysis of the material is not the same as the analysis of the mental.
†b. Forming the material or substance of a thing. Obs. rare—1.
1605Shakes. Lear iv. ii. 35 She that her selfe will sliuer and disbranch From her materiall sap.
†c. Applied to the terrestrial sphere. Obs.
1551Recorde (title) The Castle of Knowledge{ddd}Containing the explication of the sphere bothe celestiall and materiall. 1657North's Plutarch, Add. Lives 6 The Mathematicians and Astrologers attribute the Invention of the Materiall Sphere to this subtill Philosopher [Archimedes].
†d. Of diseases: ? Organic as opposed to functional. Obs.
1528Paynel Salerne's Regim. iv, If they..eyther incline to materiall sickenes or to vnmateriall. Ibid., If the sickenes be materiall one maye eate the more at diner. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. O iv, They [cauteres] be necessary..to be gyuen in all dysposycyons of maladyes and specyall in materyal maladyes.
e. Philos. material object, material thing: an object considered as a physical existent independent of consciousness; hence material objectness, the state of existing as a material object.
1605Bacon Adv. Learning I. i. §3 View and inquiry into these sensible and material things. 1649tr. Descartes' Discourse 59 Imagination..is a particular manner of thinking on materiall things. 1713Berkeley Three Dialogues 61, I wou'd, therefore, fain know, what Arguments you can draw from Reason, for the Existence of what you call real Things, or material Objects. 1737A. Baxter Inquiry Human Soul (ed. 2) II. 204 He supposes that from the surfaces of all material things there are continually flying off thin membranes. 1865Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. i. 6 We at first limit ourselves to the case of physical, or what are commonly called material objects. 1899W. James Talks to Teachers vii. 58 The result of all this is that intimate familiarity with the physical environment, that acquaintance with the properties of material things, which is really the foundation of human consciousness. 1912B. Russell Probl. Philos. iv. 58 Common sense regards tables and chairs and the sun and moon and material objects generally as something radically different from minds. 1920A. N. Whitehead Concept of Nature ii. 43 Thus colour is not part of the reality of the material object. 1932H. H. Price Perception ii. 52 ‘Material-objectness’ cannot be defined without mention of it. 1933Mind XLII. 291 On the phenomenalistic view of material-objectness, there is evidence that material objects exist. 1940A. J. Ayer Found. Empirical Knowl. i. 1 It does not normally occur to us that there is any need..to justify our belief in the existence of material things. 1941Mind L. 282 The puzzle is this: if sense-data are all that we are directly aware of in perception, how have we ever acquired the concept of ‘material-objectness’ at all? 1959J. L. Austin Sense & Sensibilia (1962) ii. 7 ‘Material thing’ is not an expression which the ordinary man would use. Ibid. x. 107 The material-object language must somehow be ‘reducible’ to the sense-datum language. 1964Philos. Rev. LXXIII. 324 A corpse, like a material object, is non⁓conscious, rather than merely unconscious.
4. a. Concerned with or involving matter or corporeal substance, its presence, use, or agency. material theory (of heat): the theory that heat is a material substance (‘caloric’).
1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. v. 149 These temptations are crasse and material, and soon discernable; it will require some greater observation to arm against such as are more spiritual and immaterial. 1822Coleridge Table-t. 29 Dec., Schiller has the material Sublime: to produce an effect he sets you a whole town on fire [etc.]. a1824Campbell To Rainbow, When Science from Creation's face Enchantment's veil withdraws, What lovely visions yield their place To cold material laws! 1863Tyndall Heat ii. §17 (1870) 23 Two rival theories..which are named respectively the material theory, and the dynamical, or mechanical, theory of heat. 1867H. Macmillan Bible Teach. Pref. (1870) 14 Agriculture, though the most material of all our pursuits, is teaching us truths beyond its own direct province. 1874Green Short Hist. ix. §1. 590 The attempt to secure spiritual results by material force. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. iv. 94 The painter's art is at once ethereal and material. 1882T. H. Green in Mind No. 25. 19 The material atomism of popular science.
b. In opprobrious use, usually coupled with gross: Characterized by conduct, a tendency, point of view, etc. which is not elevated; unspiritual.
1588Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 267 Not of seruile or materiall witt, but..apt to studie or contemplat. 1700Dryden Cymon & Iph. 135 His gross material soul at once could find Somewhat in her excelling all her kind. 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. vii. (1863) 101 The Romish doctrine contains a truth which it is of importance to disengage from the gross and material form with which it has been overlaid. 1853C. Brontë Villette xxxvi, What I saw struck me..as grossly material, not poetically spiritual. 1875Manning Mission H. Ghost ix. 257 The gross heavy material love of the world.
c. Relating to the physical, as opposed to the intellectual or spiritual, aspect of things; concerned with physical progress, bodily comfort, or the like. material culture: the physical objects (tools, articles of domestic and religious use, dwelling-places, etc.) which give evidence of the type of culture developed by a social group.
1843Prescott Mexico i. iii. I. 57 note, The Mexican heaven may remind one of Dante's in its material enjoyments; which, in both, are made up of light, music, and motion. Ibid. iv. ii. II. 128 It was the material civilization, which belongs neither to the one nor the other. 1858Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 379 Better material accommodation you could have nowhere. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 39 The old bonds of relationship, and community of material interests. 1873–4Dixon Two Queens IV. xix. iv. 25 When the fury ceased, the city was a moral and material wreck. 1879M. Arnold Equality Mixed Ess. 70 France..is the country where material well-being is most widely spread. 1929N. & Q. Anthropol. (ed. 5) 187 The study of the artefacts and material culture of a people should not be viewed solely from their material aspects. Ibid. 188 The investigator of socio-religious matters may find that he cannot get information, and he will then find that a study of material culture provides him with a convenient avenue of approach. 1931Encycl. Social Sci. IV. 622/1 Material equipment of culture is not, however, a force in itself... Material culture requires a complement less simple, less easily catalogued or analyzed, consisting of the body of intellectual knowledge. 1937R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory iii. 27 Evolution is a positive fact in material culture. 1971World Archaeol. III. 119 Most items of material culture will have been removed.
d. Gram. material noun, = mass noun.
1892[see class-noun (class n. 10)]. 1892H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. I. 56 When a material noun is used to express an individual object of definite shape, it is no longer a material noun, but a class-noun. 1925Grattan & Gurrey Our Living Lang. xviii. 110 A material-noun is a word which stands for the whole mass of matter possessing the qualities implied by the word, or for an indefinite quantity of that matter—for example, water, iron, veal, butter. 1969R. Kingdon Palmer's Gram. Spoken Eng. (ed. 3) ii. 61 Common nouns..are subdivided into Material nouns and Class nouns. Material nouns..name substances.
5. a. Of serious or substantial import; of much consequence; important.
1529More Dyaloge i. Wks. 125/1 Sith this thing is much material, as wherupon many great thynges do depende. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 136 Whose absence is no lesse materiall to me, Then is his Fathers. 1625Bacon Ess., Cunning (Arb.) 439 He would put that which was most Materiall in the Post-script. 1665Glanvill Def. Van. Dogm. 23 'Tis a pertinent and material enquiry to ask, whence the Soul is? 1666–7Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 209 The Poll-bill is printed, but with no materiall errors. 1709Swift Adv. Relig. Wks. 1755 II. i. 117 That is no material objection against the design itself. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. xv, I have nothing material to say. 1769Junius Lett. iii. 19 The last charge..is indeed the most material of all. 1769Burke Lett., Mrq. Rockingham (1844) I. 211 His consequence in the India House is much more material to him than his rank in parliament. 1823Scott Peveril xx, When aware of this material fact, it became Julian's business to leave Liverpool directly. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. v. 276 In one point more material,..the commons successfully vindicated their privileges. 1847Grote Greece ii. xxxv. (1862) III. 248 The Athenians had a material interest in the quarrel. 1896Century Mag. Nov. 22 [He] seldom interlined a word or made a material correction.
b. Predicatively, with inf. or clause as subject.
1547J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes b viij, Whether he came out of Italy or not, is not muche materiall. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 74 That were too long their infinite contents Here to record, ne much materiall. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 102 It is not much materiall which gate wee goe out at. 1641Wilkins Math. Magick i. vii. (1648) 50 'Tis not materiall to the force of this instrument, whether the rundles of it be big or little. 1712M. Henry Commun. w. God i. Wks. 1853 I. 205/2 It is essential to a letter that it be directed, and material that it be directed right. 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 256 It is very material to distinguish them with accuracy. 1890Ld. Halsbury in Law Times Rep. LXIV. 3/2 Before dealing with the particular clauses..it is material to notice the problem which the Legislature had to solve.
c. Pertinent, germane, or essential to.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 232 Those [things] that be most materiall and necessarie for mans felicitie. 1611Shakes. Cymb. i. vii. 207. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 121 Nor was it a little material, to their advantage, if [etc.]. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 149, I pass the rest, whose ev'ry Race and Name, And Kinds are less material to my Theme. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxvii, Certain passages material to his understanding the rest of this important narrative. 1824Coleridge Table-t. 10 June, A slight contrast of character is very material to happiness in marriage. 1876Gladstone Homeric Synchr. 145 The point material to the present inquiry is that [etc.].
d. Chiefly Law. Applied to evidence or facts which are of such significance as to be likely to influence the determination of a cause, to alter the character of an instrument, etc. Also const. inf.: Serving materially (to prove).
1581W. Lambarde Eiren. ii. vii. (1588) 213 To take..the Information..(or so much thereof as shall be materiall to prooue the Felonie). 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 80 What they did one against another in the time of Charles the fift, is not much materiall to prove their courage. 1799Hull Advertiser 14 Sept. 3/3 He has been twice examined, but a material witness was wanting. 1848Arnould Mar. Insur. (1866) I. ii. i. 489 Facts, the statement of which may reasonably be presumed likely to have such an influence on the judgment of the underwriter are called material facts; a statement of such facts is called a material representation. 1881Ld. Coleridge in Times 5 July 4/2 The alteration which vitiates a contract must be material—that is, one which alters the character of the instrument itself.
†e. quasi-adv. In an important degree. Obs.
1653Holcroft Procopius Pref. A 2, Procopius..was a very material concerned Agent in all these Wars.
†6. Full of matter, sound information, or sense. Obs.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 32 A materiall foole. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster v. i, What thinks Materiall Horace of his learning? c1611Chapman Iliad xxiv. 566 His speech euen charm'd his eares: So orderd; so materiall. 1612Bacon Ess., Despatch (Arb.) 247 Beware of being too materiall, when there is any impediment, or obstruction in mens will. 1665J. Livingston Mem. Charact. in Sel. Biog. (1845) I. 335 Mr. James Simson, a very able and materiall preacher. 1685Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 224 Her discourse, which was always material, not trifling.
†7. In physical sense: Bulky, massive, solid. Obs.
1657Austen Fruit Trees ii. 166 Wild materiall fruit-trees have no power to engraft themselves. 1715Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 11 The Tuscan is so rude and material, that it is seldom used above ground. 1735in Pope's Lett. I. Suppl. 30 This was only in ordine ad, to another more material Volume.
B. n.
†1. pl. Things that are material. Obs.
1587Golding De Mornay xiv. 206 What doth..matter [bring forth] but matter, and materiall but materialles? 1605Timme Quersit. i. iv. 14 Simples may be distinguished..into those things which are simply formals, and into those which are simply materials.
2. a. The matter from which an article, fabric, or structure is made. Chiefly collect. pl. or sing.
raw material(s: unmanufactured material; material which is in a preparatory stage in a manufacturing process. Also fig.
pl.1556Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 294 To by stanis, lyme, and all materiallis neidfull thairto. 1610B. Jonson Alch. i. i, Your stills, your glasses, your materialls. 1622Massinger Virg. Mart. iii. i, [He] Took from the matrons' neck the richest jewels And purest gold as the materials To finish up his work [sc. an image]. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. (1848) 340 This Child..despising meer Bread,..his Mother is fain to disguise the Materials of it into Cake. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 329 Gunpowder..with other materials for kindling fire. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. iv, A palace may be built in a week, of materials so durable as to last for ever. 1796[see raw A. 2 e]. 1864Burton Scot Abroad I. iii. 118 Adventures which would make good raw materials for several novels. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times 25 Considering how perishable are the materials out of which clothes are necessarily formed. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 2 Without a considerable knowledge of raw materials, and of their adaptations, we could not live.
sing.1638Junius Paint. Ancients 47 Art can doe nothing without the materiall; whereas the materiall without Art hath her own worthinesse. 1662Gerbier Princ. (1665) 25 When Builders see their Copings [etc.]..to decay they must have patience, since there is no Meterial but is subject there unto. 1796Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 648 By drawing from a foreign country the raw material of their clothing. 1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 206 It is not the material but the workman that is wanting. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. v. 207 Flax..constitutes the material of linen cloth. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 351 The ordinary material was brick. 1855Ibid. III. 417 The raw material out of which a good army may be formed existed in great abundance among the Irish. 1863P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 100, {pstlg}1,186 12s. 43/4 d. for material, and {pstlg}797 16s. 11d. for labour. 1868[see raw A. 2 e].
b. The elements, constituent parts, or substance of something (whether physical or non-physical).
1642Rogers Naaman To Rdr., As they say of the materealls of the world, they would soone dissolve if [etc.]. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 59 If the very materials of the Church were a Ceremony, then the Church it self should be but a Ceremony. 1662Bk. Com. Prayer Pref., The Main Body and Essentials of it (as well in the chiefest materials, as in the frame and order thereof) have continued the same unto this day. 1864Kirk Chas. Bold I. i. 11 The material of the character was coarser and more robust. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 189 The solid materials are shot forth into the air.
c. pl. In Ireland: The ingredients for making whisky punch. Now ‘almost always shortened to matts, even in a bill’ (H. C. Hart).
1842S. Lover Handy Andy xxxviii, She..set about getting ‘the materials’ for making punch. 1888H. Smart Master of Rakehelly II. 53 Take my advice, leave the ‘matarials’ alone to-night and stick to the claret.
3. In various non-physical applications: Something which can be worked up or elaborated, or of which anything is composed; esp. documents, etc. for historical composititon; evidence from which a conclusion may be framed.
1624Ussher in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 131 To you I must be more beholding for furnishing me with materialls. 1625Bacon Ess., Seditions (Arb.) 399 Concerning the Materialls of Seditions... The surest way to prevent Seditions..is to take away the Matter of them. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. ii. §2 The simple ideas, the materials of all our knowledge. 1713Hearne Rem. & Collect. 25 June (O.H.S.) IV. 205, I have read part of the B. of St. Asaph's Life of St. Winifrid, for wch I helped him to several Materials out of Bodley. 1783Cowper Lett. 7 Mar., Were my letters composed of materials worthy of your acceptance, they should be longer. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. Pref. 3 Research and Criticism, only furnish the materials of Meditation. 1864Bowen Logic ii. 33 Perception, Memory and Imagination, through which we collect the materials for thinking. 1867Howells Ital. Journ. iii. 37 Their books are material, not literature. 1877Owen Wellesley's Desp. p. xlv, Wellesley..was anxious to secure fresh and malleable ‘material’, rather than overformed or misformed agents.
4. A stuff or fabric; in Dressmaking, woollen or cloth stuff as opposed to silks, etc.
1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. iv, A cool material with a light glazed surface, being the covering of the seats. 1875Plain Needlework 10 The material used in the South to strain milk, called ‘Cheese Cloth’ in the trade.
5. Tools, implements, or apparatus for performing an action. Now only in writing materials.
1731Bailey vol. II, Materials, tools or stuff proper for the making or doing any thing. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. 324 Materials, all tools and tackle, timber and implements, that belong to a Mine; and in large Mines a person is appointed to take care of them, who is called the Material-Man. 1855Prescott Philip II, ii. iii. (1857) 226 De Seso called for writing materials.
6. The matériel of an army. rare—1.
1815Southey in Q. Rev. XIII. 521 Their [sc. the French army's] baggage, equipage, tumbrils, artillery, the whole of what is called the material, were taken.
7. Preceded by a qualifying word, as officer material, a person who has (or persons who have) qualities thought of as suitable for an officer; similarly headmaster material, etc.; also with non-animate qualifier, as football material, a person or persons potentially suitable as footballers; grammar-school material, a person or persons suitable for admission to a grammar school.
1892College Index (Auburn, Alabama) Nov. I. i. 23 He still kept a sharp lookout for football material. 1927Officers Training Corps Gaz. Apr. 59/1 The sorely needed officer material caused by the early casualties. 1946Amer. Speech XXI. 238 Officer material, an enlisted man short in mentality. 1951H. Wouk Caine Mutiny xi. 123, I regard both those men as excellent officer material. 1964‘E. Peters’ Flight of Witch i. 9 Tom Kenyon, confident, clever and ambitious, was obvious headmaster material. 1968L. Berg Risinghill 86 The inspector who denounced the school the first time was a man who was interested in grammar-school ‘material’. 1969M. Pugh Last Place Left xxvii. 194 It was difficult recruiting men... ‘Some of them, well, they're not leadership material.’ 1969B. Weil Dossier IX ii. 4 His secretary came in. She was a tall fair girl with a tendency to stride. Wren officer material, Asher thought. 1970‘J. Melville’ New Kind of Killer i. 8 Her report..was, on the whole, a favourable one: ‘This officer is good promotion material.’ 1971D. Eden Afternoon Walk viii. 109 Aren't all top executives ulcer material?
8. attrib.: materials technology, material(s testing; material(s clerk, a clerk who controls the supply of materials in a business house; material(s control (see quot. 1959); hence materials controller; material dress, a dress made of woollen stuff; material(s handling, the movement and storage of materials in a factory; material(s man, (a) see quot. 1778; (b) one who deals in materials for building, etc.; material(s science, that branch of science which treats of the structure and properties of materials, esp. in so far as they are relevant to their usefulness and potential applications; so material(s scientist; material yard, a yard in which materials are stored.
1900Engineering Mag. XIX. 707 It is the duty of the *material clerk to see that sufficient material is in stock, or ordered, to provide for orders in hand. 1904Daily Chron. 2 June 9/3 Timekeeper and Materials Clerk required by large West-end contractors.
1918C. E. Knoeppel Organization & Administration xv. 252 The *material control sheet takes care of pieces ordered, pieces rough, pieces in progress, and pieces finished. 1938W. B. Cornell Business Organization xvi. 318 The other important duties of the standards and methods section include..development of stores and material control and production control methods. 1959Gloss. Terms Work Study (B.S.I.) 33 Material control, procedures and means by which the correct quantity and quality of materials and components are made available to meet production plans. 1962A. Battersby Guide to Stock Control 123 The Materials Control office calculated that the increase in the first-grade stock would have to be 200 items to preserve the same risk level as before.
Ibid. x. 90 The Finance Director..will then need a subordinate who can translate his general decisions on policy into detailed instructions. The subordinate would be the *Materials Controller: this title is better than the more usual ‘Stock Controller’ because, as we have seen, he controls the flow of materials rather than the stocks themselves.
1884Daily News 27 Oct. 2/1 The increasing popularity of silks as opposed to what are known as ‘*material’ dresses.
1921E. T. Elbourne Factory Administration & Cost Accounts (new ed.) 807 A form of production service having special reference to *material handling and custody. 1932S. J. Koshkin Mod. Materials Handling i. 2 It is of the greatest importance that the materials-handling methods and devices should be sufficiently worked out at the time the plant is designed so as to make them an integral part of the design. 1966A. Battersby Math. in Managem. vii. 163 A recent paper dealing with steel fabrication showed that an extra crane costing {pstlg}15,000 would not be needed in a new materials-handling system.
1778*Material-Man [see 5]. 1819Wheaton Cases Supreme Court U.S. IV. 438 Material men furnishing repairs to a domestic ship. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xx. (ed. 3) 202 A Materials-man selects, purchases, receives and delivers all articles required. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. App. 679 Mechanics, material-men, artisans, and labourers..have a lien upon the property upon which they have bestowed labour or furnished material.
1961(title of periodical) Progress in *materials science. 1966P. Feltham Deformation & Strength of Materials p.v, One of the effects of the unprecedented advance in the synthesis and use of new materials in the last few decades..has been the widespread introduction of ‘materials science’ into curricula of university courses. 1974New Scientist 9 May 349/1 (Advt.), Applicants should have a degree in physics or a material science discipline.
1974Nature 16 Aug. p. vii (Advt.), A vacancy exists for a *Materials Scientist to study basic factors concerned with lubrication, wear, fatigue and corrosion of plastics and metals used in the manufacture of orthopaedic implants.
1962Technology June 129/1 The course on *materials technology will draw on the methods of physics, chemistry, metallurgy and engineering. 1972N. J. Parratt Fibre-Reinforced Materials Technol. p. ix, Much of industry is concerned with making materials or with turning them into useful hardware, so that it cannot safely ignore any advances in materials technology.
1924Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. Index 124/2 (heading) *Materials testing. 1950Chem. Engin. Progress XLVI. 110/3 Materials Testing Reactor which..will be used in studies of material to be employed in building reactors. 1969R. F. Lang tr. Henglein's Chem. Technol. 315 The so-called technical laboratories..carry out the routine analyses..as well as material testing.
1901J. Black's Carp. & Build., Scaffolding 89 The smaller builder, having..no *material yard, has no convenient place to store poles when not in use.
Add:[A.] [2.] [b.] Also, material equivalence Logic, the relationship between two propositions in which, for the compound proposition to be true, either both must be true or both false; a case in which such a relationship obtains.
1918C. I. Lewis Survey Symbolic Logic 293 Material equivalence, (p≡q) = (p>q)(q>p). 1932Lewis & Langford Symbolic Logic iv. 88 Since the relation p≡q is a reciprocal implication, it shares the peculiarities of material implication and is called ‘material equivalence’. It does not represent equivalence of logical force or meaning, but only equivalence of truth-value. 1933Mind XLII. 33 Suppose we try ‘material equivalence’... It is symmetric, and so satisfies F, for the significance of F lies in making 〈 symmetric. 1982I. M. Copi Introd. Logic (ed. 6) vii. §5. 314 Two statements are said to be materially equivalent, or equivalent in truth value, when they are either both true or both false. This notion is expressed by the symbol ‘≡’. Material equivalence is a truth function and can be defined by the following truth table.
▪ II. † maˈterial, v. Obs.
[f. material a. and n.]
1. trans. To bring into material form.
1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §37 That the whole frame of a beast..is left in the same state after death, as before it was materialled unto life.
2. To furnish material for.
1661Glanvill Van. Dogm. 174 Comets..are materiall'd of vapours. Ibid. 216 Plants are partly material'd of water. |