| 释义 |
▪ I. observatory, n.|əbˈzɜːvətərɪ|
[Corresponds to a L. type *observātōri-um, neut. n. from *observātōrius adj., and to mod.F. observatoire: cf. next, and see -ory.]
1. A building or place set apart for, and furnished with instruments for making, observations of natural phenomena; esp., for astronomical, meteorological, or magnetic observations.
1676Evelyn Diary 10 Sept., Mr. Flamstead the learned astrologer..whom his majesty had establish'd in the new Observatorie in Greenewich Park. 1795[see observer 4]. 1872Yeats Hist. Comm. 409 Magnetic observatories have been established in England, other parts of Europe, and the United States. 1899Whitaker's Alm. 618 The Ben Nevis Observatory was to have ceased work..in October of this year [1898]. Ibid. The Magnetic Observatory at Toronto has been abandoned, and the magnets at the U.S. Naval Observatory have been rendered useless by the electric railways passing near.
2. A position affording an extensive view; a building erected to command a wide view.
1695Ld. Preston Boeth. iv. 196 He looks about him from the high Observatory of his Providence. 1809Kendall Trav. III. lxxiv. 153 A building called the observatory, a name by which..we are..to understand..a marine signal house. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 321 Misenus gives A sign from his observatory high. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Behaviour Wks. (Bohn) II. 383 The birds have ..the advantage by their wings of a higher observatory.
3. (nonce-use.) A place of observation.
1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 39 The observatory was blinded, a wardrobe having been drawn in front of it upon the other side. 1886― Kidnapped 296, I could hear the noise of a window gently thrust up, and knew that my uncle had come to his observatory.
▪ II. obˈservatory, a.
[f. L. observātōr-em, or observāt-, ppl. stem of observāre to observe: see -ory.]
Of or pertaining to scientific observation.
1864Athenæum 15 Oct. 493 The system of bar hives, the very best for observatory purposes..is ignored. 1884C. R. Markham in Pall Mall G. 20 Aug. 1/2 The observatory work will be valuable, by supplementing the series taken on board her Majesty's ship Discovery. |