| 释义 |
per cent, phr. (n.)|pə ˈsɛnt|
Orig. usually with full-stop (per cent.), as if an abbreviation of per centum, which is the form used in Acts of Parliament and most legal documents; but see cent1. Now freq. without full-stop, and as one word.
[See per III. 2 and cent1.]
A. phr.
a. By the hundred; for, in, or to every hundred: with preceding numeral, expressing a proportion, as of a part to the whole amount, or esp. of interest to principal. See cent1 2. Also with preceding numeral as an approximate estimate of extent in unquantifiable contexts. a or one hundred per cent: see hundred n. and a. 2 c.
Sometimes definitely = in a hundred pounds (of sterling money), as ‘a shilling per cent’ = 1s. in {pstlg}100.
1568–1888 [see cent1 2]. 1939F. Pratt Secret & Urgent 258 It will be noted that more than fifty per cent of all English words end in E, S, D or T. 1961Information & Control IV. 65 The study of this particular data collection showed that over 95 percent of the vocabulary could be represented by 13 characters. 1973Times 21 Dec. 14/6 This trouble's cut my social life by about 35 per cent. 1973[see percentage b]. 1975Sci. Amer. Feb. 15/3 The two reasons most often given for emigrating are ‘Better training in the U.S.’ (69 percent) and ‘Political factors’ (8 percent). 1976Ibid. May 108/3 Io is particularly red, and its colour, together with its high reflectivity (about 62 percent, roughly equivalent to white sand), make it a unique object in the solar system. 1976Daily Tel. 20 July 1/5 Average earnings in May were 19·4 per cent. up on the previous year, compared with a 15·4 per cent. rise in retail prices.
b. With numeral forming a phrase used attrib. (‘four per cent loan’), or as n. in pl. (‘three per cents’), denoting public securities bearing such and such a rate of interest: see cent1 2 b.
1822–88[see cent1 2 b].
c. As quasi-n. Percentage; one per cent.
1905G. W. Rolfe Polariscope 96 The per cent of sucrose in the sample. 1934Jrnl. Sedimentary Petrology IV. 68/2 In setting up a histogram, we are in effect setting up a series of separate ‘bins’, each of which contains a certain per cent of the grains. 1960Anatomical Rec. CXXXVIII. 395/2 The statistical significance..was calculated by determining the median for the combined population and comparing the percent of the animals that had cataracts in each group. 1966T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 v. 122 Always just that little percent on the wrong side of breaking even... Why don't I quit? 1970Nature 7 Nov. 546/2 If the relative abundances of 15N and 17O in the sample are found to be a few tenths of a percent higher than normal, [etc.]. 1971Daily Tel. 27 Oct. 1/3 The retail price index has risen by only three-quarters of a per cent. in the three months since June. 1972Science 12 May 595/2 The magnitude of the effect is again a few tenths of a percent. 1977Daily Tel. 23 Dec. 2/7 Those provincial journalists whose immediate settlement hopes have foundered over ·56 of a per cent.
B. n. per cents (without preceding numeral) as n. pl. Percentages: spec. in U.S. schools.
1850Mrs. Browning Soul's Trav. 23 The tread of the business-men who must Count their per-cents by the paces they take. 188353rd Rep. Cincinnati (Ohio) Schools 71 No committing text-books to memory—no cramming for per cents.
Hence perˈcent v. colloq. in U.S. schools.
1883Student (U.S.) III. 286 When students are found obtaining help of others they are not percented at all. 188353rd Rep. Cincinnati (Ohio) Schools 71 As in Physics so in United States History, there is no percented written examination. |