| 释义 |
‖ pabulum|ˈpæbjʊləm|
[L. pābulum food, nourishment, fodder, f. stem pā- of pā-sc-ĕre (pā-vi) to feed.]
Anything taken in by an animal or plant to maintain life and growth; food, aliment, nutriment. More usually said of the ‘food’ of plants, or of animal organs or organisms; rarely in reference to higher animals.
1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. i. 7 Roots must search out and fetch themselves all the Pabulum of a Plant. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. i. (1814) 18 No one principle affords the pabulum of vegetable life. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xliv. IV. 216 Affording a pabulum to these animals. 1845Todd & Bowman Phys. Anat. I. 43 The blood is the immediate pabulum of the tissues. 1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea x. §493 The rivers bring down and pour into the sea continually the pabulum which those organisms require.
b. That which supports or ‘feeds’ fire.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. i. 46 Fire..needs a Pabulum to prey upon, doth not continue alwaies one and the same Numerical Substance. 1744Berkeley Siris §197 Oil, air, or any other thing that vulgarly passeth for a pabulum or food of that element [fire]. 1860Farrar Orig. Lang. v. 105 A necessary pabulum of combustion.
c. fig. That which nourishes and sustains the mind or soul; food for thought.
1765Sterne Tr. Shandy VII. xxxi, Such a story affords more pabulum to the brain, than all the Frusts, and Crusts, and Rusts of antiquity. 1819Crabbe T. of Hall x. 393 An age..when tales of love Form the sweet pabulum our hearts approve. 1888M. Robertson Lombard St. Myst. iii, To furnish..more pabulum for reflection and rumination.
Add:d. fig. Bland intellectual fare; also, something which constitutes an insipid or undemanding diet (of words, entertainment, etc.); = pap n.2 1 c.
This figurative use may have arisen partially through confusion with pablum n.
1976Economist 15 May 123/2 This is not pure manufacturers' pabulum... Geoffrey Knight's own weary distaste for the staggeringly unprofessional way the project was attacked on both sides of the Channel emerges too strongly for that. 1977A. Carter Passion of New Eve iii. 39 The radio in the car fed me an aural pabulum of cheapjack heartbreak. 1986Newsweek 17 Nov. 83/2 Older fans, disdaining pop pabulum..prefer instead the familiar sounds of the past. 1987Golf World Aug. 59/1 His forthright answers are a refreshing change from the evasive, sugarcoated pabulum we are so used to swallowing from our sports heroes. |