| 释义 |
▪ I. apparition, n.|æpəˈrɪʃən|
[a. Fr. apparition (15th c. in Litt.), ad. L. appāritiōn-em, n. of action f. appārē-re to appear: see -tion. The senses are those of late L. and Fr. Cl. L. had only the sense ‘attendance, service, servants,’ f. a special sense of appārēre ‘to appear at a summons, wait upon, attend’: see apparitor, aparaunt. (Etymologically, exactly = appearance, and having a parallel development of senses. But now almost restricted in common use to sense 9, and when used in other senses, having generally from this association some idea of startling or unexpected appearance.)]
1. The action of appearing or becoming visible.
a. The supernatural appearance of invisible beings, etc.
c1525–30More De Quat. Noviss. Wks. 1557, 77/2 The apparicion of a very ghost. 1650Fuller Pisgah Sight ii. ix. 194 The first apparition God made to Abraham. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 105 That Apparition of the two Angels to the Apostles. 1725tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. v. 49 The History of many Apparitions of the Cross. 1814Scott Wav. xiii. 56 Presbyterian divines put to the rout by a sudden apparition of the foul fiend.
b. Of a visitor; of a person, a comet, etc.
1652Gaule Magastrom. 18 The apparition of this starre in Bethlehem. 1794Godwin Cal. Williams 2, I..contrived to satisfy my love of praise with an unfrequent apparition at their amusements. 1867F. Parkman Jesuits N. Amer. v. (1875) 45 Amazed at the apparition of the white stranger.
c. Appearance in history or before the world.
1860Farrar Orig. Lang. x. 216 The apparition of the main races of humanity. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. 43 Jealous of the apparition of a new public body in the State.
2. Astr. The first appearance of a star or other celestial body after disappearance or occultation.
1556Recorde Cast. Knowl. 196 That owghte not to bee called proprelye rysynge of any Starre when it getteth oute of the Sonne beames, and maye shewe or shine..but it oughte rather to be called Apparition or appearynge. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. 330/1 The apparition of the Dog-star is its rising together with the Sun. 1751Chambers Cycl., Apparition, in astronomy..stands opposed to occultation. 1859Sir J. Herschel Astron. §567 (ed. 5) The intervals of these successive apparitions being 75 and 76 years.
†3. The manifestation of Christ; the Epiphany; the festival or season commemorating it. (Apparitio = Epiphania in Du Cange.) Obs.
1652Sparke Prim. Devot. (1663) 142 Epiphania..the day of Apparition or manifestation of Christ from above. 1681Wharton Fasts & Fest. Wks. 1683, 23 The Epiphany, or Apparition, or the Feast of Twelfthday after Christmass. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 72 The Chappel of the Apparition.
†4. Manifestation, demonstration, display.
1533Bellendene Livy iv. (1822) 312 Commandit ane army to be rasit with na les apparicioun and magnificence than it wes afore. 1590Greene Neuer too late (1600) 11 No vaine⁓glorious shewes Of royall apparition for the eye. 1627F. E. Edw. II (1680) 5 The melancholy apparitions of their parting.
5. Astr. The state or condition of being manifest to sight, or of being visible; esp. the visibility of a star, planet, or comet.
1601Holland Pliny (1634) I. 9 The Moone..shines the first day of her apparition, 3/4 parts, and the foure and twentieth part of an hour. 1635Swan Spec. Mundi v. §2 (1643) 129 The Rain-bow is..the apparition of certain colours. 1666Phil. Trans. I. 301 Representations of its Head and Train in each day of its apparition. 1833Sir J. Herschel Astron. i. 61 The circle of perpetual apparition, between which and the elevated pole the stars never set.
†6. A seeming to the eyes or mind, appearance, semblance. Obs.
1613Sherley Trav. Persia 27 [Great] distinction between the effects of the world, and the workings of God..permanency in the last, and no more but apparition in the other. 1650Weldon Court K. James 41 There was an apparition of Southamptons being a Favourite to his Majesty. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 293 A dream, Whose inward apparition gently moved My fancy.
†7. The form in which anything appears; aspect. Obs.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. iii. (1660) 110 According to the divers apparitions of the Moon, hath she her divers denominations in Heraldry. 1632Brome North. Lasse i. iv, A Devil in a most Gentlewoman-like apparition. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. xxxvii. 307 By their whiteishness, to emulate in some measure the apparition of Light.
8. That which appears; an appearance, especially of a remarkable or unexpected kind; a phenomenon.
1481Caxton Myrr. iii. ix. 151 Tholomeus, whiche knewe so many demonstraunces of apparicions and so moche loued astronomye. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 356/2 To looke for some strange apparition or vision in the aire. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 211 The heavenly bands..on a hill made halt, A glorious apparition. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xxi. 593 So strange an apparition excited his surprise and indignation. 1865Livingstone Zambesi iii. 79 The steamer was such a terrible apparition to them.
9. spec. An immaterial appearance as of a real being; a spectre, phantom, or ghost. (The ordinary current sense.)
1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 277, I thinke it is the weakenesse of mine eyes That shapes this monstrous Apparition. 1685Luttrell Brief Rel. I. 338 A common report..of some apparition that walks at Whitehall. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 120 The land of apparitions, empty shades! 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 348 The dominant spirit..is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head.
b. transf. or fig.
a1845Hood Wint. Nosegay ii, The very apparition of a plant. 1848H. Miller First Impress. xi. (1857) 178 The apparition of vanished states of things.
†10. A deceptive appearance counterfeiting reality; an illusion, a sham. Obs.
1610Healey St. Aug., City of God 662 That which man can doe with true collours, the Divell can do with apparitions. 1679Penn Addr. Prot. Pref., Without which Religion is a Cypher..an Apparition at most: No solid or valid thing.
▪ II. apparition, v. rare—1.
1876Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. II. xvii. 468 Flowers that apparition themselves out of the unseen. |