| 释义 |
megalithic, a. Antiq.|mɛgəˈlɪθɪk|
[f. Gr. µέγα-ς great + λίθος stone + -ic.]
1. Consisting or constructed of great stones. Hence, of a period, a people, etc.: Characterized by the erection of megalithic monuments.
1839A. Herbert (title) Cyclops Christianus, or an Argument to disprove the supposed Antiquity of Stonehenge and other Megalithic Erections. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times 53 This appears to have been the finest megalithic ruin in Europe. 1867Sir J. Y. Simpson Archaic Sculpt. 144 A race of Megalithic Builders—if we may so call them. 1875D. Wilson in Encycl. Brit. II. 338/1 The rudiments of architectural skill pertaining to the Megalithic Age.
2. Special collocations, as megalithic fathom, a name given to a measure of length equal to 5·44 ft., used in the construction of certain British megalithic monuments; megalithic yard, half a megalithic fathom (2·72 ft.).
1961A. Thom in Math. Gazette XLV. 83 The unit of length used was the same from Land's End to John o' Groats... This unit was 5·44 ft... Half of this, 2·72 ft., might be called the Megalithic Yard, but whether this or the Megalithic Fathom (5·44 ft.) was the length of the standard rod carried about the country it is not possible to say. 1962― in Jrnl. R. Statistical Soc. A. CXXV. 243 In an earlier paper (Thom, 1955) it was shown that in a statistically significant number of cases the diameters of stone circles were multiples of 5·44 ft. This might be called the megalithic fathom. Ibid. 246 About 55 per cent. of all circles have the diameter an even number of fathoms. In setting out a circle it is the radius rather than the diameter which has to be measured out on the ground, so that where the diameter is an odd number of fathoms, that is, in about 45 per cent. of all circles, the constructors used a half fathom. Thus for our present purpose it seems better to take as the unit a length of half a fathom (2·72 ft) and for convenience call it the megalithic yard. 1967― Megalithic Sites in Britain v. 36 We first demonstrate that there is a presumption amounting to a certainty that a definite unit was used in setting out these rings. It is proposed to call this the Megalithic yard (MY). Two of these might be called the Megalithic fathom... It will appear that the Megalithic yard is 2·72 ft and so the Megalithic fathom is 5·44 ft. 1975Country Life 16 Jan. 134/2 The megalithic yard of 2·72 ft that Professor Thom has recently so convincingly shown to have been used by the builders of Stonehenge, Avebury, Carnac. |