| 释义 |
▪ I. meaning, vbl. n.1|ˈmiːnɪŋ|
Forms: 3–6 mening(e, 4–6 menyng(e, meanyng(e, (4 mennyng, meneyng, 5 menying, meenyng, 7 meaninge), 6– meaning.
[f. mean v.1 + -ing1: cf. OHG. meinunga (mod.G. meinung), MDu. meninge (mod.Du. meening).]
1. Intention, purpose. arch. † upon a meaning: with the intention. † a good meaning: (a) a good intention, friendly disposition; (b) a ‘good mind’, a strong inclination (to do something).
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 474 It was myn entente To forthere trouthe..And to be war from falsenesse..this was myn menynge. 1390Gower Conf. III. 254 Whan Collatin hath herd hire telle The menynge of hire trewe herte. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2315 Þe kyng..knewe him and his menynge. 1526Tindale 1 Cor. i. 10 Be ye perfecte in one mynde, and one meanynge. 1585Sir A. Poulet Let. to Walsingham 27 Apr. in Letter-Bks. (1874) 11 This cloth of Estate was set up at the first coming hither of this Queen, upon a meaning that she should dine and sup ordinarily in that chamber. c1592Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. ii, Yet, if he knew our meanings, could he scape? 1592Greene Groat's W. Wit (1617) 13 Lucanio..had a good meaning to vtter his mind. 1605Shakes. Lear i. ii. 190, I am no honest man, if ther be any good meaning toward you. 1633Ford Broken H. iv. i, A man of single meaning. 1781Cowper Ep. Lady Austen 98 A..visit..made almost without a meaning, Produced a friendship. 1814Wordsw. Excursion iv. 1150 You..Adore, and worship, when you know it not; Pious beyond the intention of your thought; Devout above the meaning of your will. 1847Tennyson Princess iii. 206 Since we learnt our meaning here, To lift the woman's fall'n divinity. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxxiii, Sure, sure, if stedfast meaning, If single thought could save, The world might end to-morrow, You should not see the grave.
2. That which is intended to be or actually is expressed or indicated. (See also double meaning.)
a. Of language, a sentence, word, etc.: The signification, sense, import; a sense, interpretation. Also, the intent, spirit as apart from the ‘letter’ (of a statement, law, etc.). † (that) is to meaning: (that) means.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 611 Þe menyng ys,..Ȝyf þou sweryst fals [etc.]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. xvii. (1495) 41 Raphael is to meanynge the medycine of god. 1401Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 85 If we taken the gospel aftir the menynge. a1450Knt. de la Tour xxxiv. 48 ‘Doughter, loue and worship youre husbonde..’; that is to menying that ye shulde loue and doute youre husbonde. c1491Chast. Goddes Chyld. 21 The fyrst feuer is callid a cotydian in whiche is properly in ghostly menyng a varyaunce of the herte. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 12 b, If this be the meaning of the lawe, then can no more the Spaniarde be chosen, then the Frencheman. 1625Bacon Ess., Unity in Relig. (Arb.) 429 Termes, so fixed, as whereas the Meaning ought to gouerne the Terme, the Terme in effect gouerneth the Meaning. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 516 That I [Satan] might learn In what degree or meaning thou art call'd The Son of God, which bears no single sence. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 63 Difficulties may be raised about the meaning, as well as the truth, of the assertion. 1843Mill Logic (1865) II. 233 It may be good to alter the meaning of a word, but it is bad to let any part of the meaning drop. 1876Jevons Logic Prim. 23 The confusion which arises between the different meanings of the same word.
b. That which a speaker or writer intends to express; the intended sense of (a person's) words.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16709 After hym in Englische y hit brought; Of his meninge y wot þe weye, But his fair speche can y nought seye. a1533Frith Disput. Purgat. (1829) 101, I will briefly declare the meaning of the Apostle. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard A iv b, I hope I haue hit of his meaning, though I vary from his wordes. 1841J. H. Newman Lett. (1891) II. 336 The Articles are to be interpreted, not according to the meaning of the writers, but..according to the sense of the Catholic Church. 1878R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. vi. 161 You will be good enough not to misunderstand my meaning.
c. Of a dream, symbol, phenomenon, etc. † in meaning that: as a sign or token that. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 301 Ac god sent hem fode bi foules and by no fierse bestes, In menynge [cf. 1393 C. xviii. 33 In tokenynge] þat meke þinge mylde þinge shulde fede. 1382Wyclif Dan. ii. 5 No bot ȝe shuln shewe to me the sweuen, and the coniecturyng, or menyng, therof. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §11 If he haue no such Being, neither can the Sacrament haue any such meaning as wee all confesse it hath. 1611Bible Dan. viii. 15 When I..had seene the vision, and sought for the meaning. 1702Addison Dial. Medals ii. Wks. 1721 I. 457 What is the meaning that this transparent Lady [sc. Hope] holds up her train in her left hand? for I find your women on Medals do nothing without a meaning. 1885Clodd Myths & Dr. i. iv. 66 The Greeks had sought out the meaning of their myths.
d. Of an action, a state of things, etc.
1828–32Webster s.v., What is the meaning of all this parade? 1877Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. iii. 29 What could be the meaning of so sudden and so startling a transformation? 1878T. Hardy Ret. Native i. iv, What's the meaning of this disgraceful performance?
e. In generalized use: Significance. no-meaning: nonsense.
1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. (1695) 288 He that hath Names without Ideas, wants Meaning in his Words. 1735Pope Ep. Lady 114 True No-meaning puzzles more than Wit. a1800Cowper Ode to Apollo i, Those luckless brains That..Indite much metre with much pains, And little or no meaning. 1865Kingsley Herew. i, As he passed the young lord he cast on him a look so full of meaning, that [etc.].
†3. Remembrance; only in phr. to have, make meaning. Also, a commemoration, memorial. Obs.
Cf. minning, often occurring in ME. as a variant reading for this word.
a1300Cursor M. 24748 Quen i ma mening o þat mild, Quat blis sco bred again vr bale. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5208 Lorde, have on me menyng. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 8320 When þou has of þi syns meneyng. 1503Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 72 Atour he sal nocht ring Laurence at the saule messe nor menyngis, bot for the nobill and honorabill personis of the town.
†4. Mention. Only in phr. to make meaning.
a1300–1400Cursor M. 8518 (Gött.) Childer..Of þe quilk i make na mening here. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 26 Þei mak no menyng whan, no in what date. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xiii. (Marcus) 14 Vthire twa, of quhame I wel here menyng ma.
†5. Knowledge, understanding. Obs. rare—1.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 138 ‘Ich haue no kynde knowyng’, quaþ ich, ‘ȝe mote kenne me bettere, By what wey hit wexith, and (wheder) out of my menyng’.
6. attrib. and Comb., as meaning-analysis, meaning-area, meaning-change, meaning-content, meaning-relation, meaning-relationship, meaning-unit; meaning-bearing, meaning-carrying adjs.
1936Wirth & Shils tr. Mannheim's Ideology & Utopia i. 46 There are..vast possibilities of precision in the combination of *meaning-analysis and sociological situational diagnosis. 1966C. G. Hempel Philos. of Nat. Sci. viii. 103 The characterization of these substances by their molecular structure is arrived at, not by meaning analysis, but by chemical analysis.
1958C. Rabin in Aspects of Translation vii. 124 The object in question has to be assigned either to the *meaning-area of watch or to that of clock.
1957N. Chomsky in Saporta & Bastian Psycholinguistics (1961) 266/2 We have counter examples to the suggestion..that morphemes be defined as minimal *meaning-bearing elements. 1972Archivum Linguisticum III. 83 Generativists have attempted to remove all meaning-bearing elements from transformations into the deep structure.
1965H. A. Gleason Ling. & Eng. Gram. 192 We might have had the *meaning-carrying verb washed.
1954F. G. Cassidy Robertson's Devel. Mod. Eng. (ed. 2) ix. 232 The various types of *meaning-change. 1968M. Black Labyrinth of Lang. vii. 163 A reasonably adequate account of the nature of such meaning-changes..is bound to be very complicated.
1946Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. (ed. 2) ii. iii. 234 In several Indo-European languages are types of compounds in which the *meaning-content or ‘determination’ is left unexpressed. 1948Mind LVII. 80 Each separately is intelligible by itself and has its own meaning-content independently of the other.
1934Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. ii. iii. 208 From the point of view of the *meaning-relation of their component words compounds fall into several well-marked classes. 1963J. Lyons Structural Semantics ii. 28 The only meaning-relation that is relevant in the case of phonemes is sameness and difference of meaning.
1961R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts i. 11 *Meaning relationships are obviously varied. 1966English Studies XLVII. 256 We find the same meaning-relationship between the adjunct clause and its verb.
1938I. Goldberg Wonder of Words xvi. 323 The smallest *meaning-unit of a word is called a semanteme. 1962W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use vii. 162 What we call the ‘same word’ is not a single meaning-unit.
▪ II. † ˈmeaning, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[f. mean v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. mean; moaning, lamentation.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 63 On fuwuer wise us bihoueð turnen to him; on heorte, on festene, on wope, on meninge. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 4803 Biside him he herd a mening, Also it were a woman schricheing. c1470Henry Wallace viii. 734 Madennys murnyt with gret menyng amang. 1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxx. 27 Dowglas..& gude Westiraw..with lytill meaning, fra the men be past.
▪ III. meaning, n.3 Astr.|ˈmiːnɪŋ|
[f. mean a.2 + -ing1.]
The motion of the sun in mean longitude.
1884E. J. Stone in Observatory 1 Jan. 3 And as we make no distinction in our theories between the real motion of the sun in longitude and that of the mean sun, the meaning of the real sun is fixed when [etc.].
▪ IV. meaning, ppl. a.|ˈmiːnɪŋ|
[f. mean v.1 + -ing2.]
1. Having intention or purpose. Usually with qualifying word, as better meaning, well meaning, etc.
1581Mulcaster Positions iii. (1887) 8 Some well meaning man. 1633,1681Ill-meaning [see ill- B]. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1768) IV. 343 At first..(and till I observed her meaning air, and heard her speak) I supposed that she had no very uncommon Judgment. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 134 One of them..is..as little meaning of harm to any one as his mother.
2. That conveys or expresses meaning or thought; expressive, significant.
1728Young Love of Fame v. (ed. 2) 110 The motion of her lips, and meaning eye Pierce out the Idea her faint words deny. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. ii, ‘Had done business with him’, said Mr. Bonney with a meaning look. 1865W. G. Palgrave Arabia I. 115 The thoughtful expression of his large forehead and meaning eye. 1885Manch. Exam. 10 July 5/5 At this frank confession a meaning smile passed between Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Childers. |