释义 |
‖ plenum|ˈpliːnəm| [L., neut. of plēnus adj. full (sc. spatium space): cf. vacuum empty (space).] 1. a. Physics. A space completely filled with matter; spec. the whole of space regarded as being so filled; opposed to vacuum n.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. i. 9 Leucippus and his Companion Democritus make the first Principles of all things to be Plenum and Vacuum (Body and Space). 1714Let. fr. Layman (ed. 2) 7 A Government can't rightfully restrain a Man's professing the Belief of a Vacuum or a Plennum. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Cartesians adhere firmly to the doctrine of an absolute plenum. 1747Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 191 Here we have a bottle containing at the same time a plenum of electrical fire, and a vacuum of the same fire. 1822R. Hall Serm. Wks. 1833 VI. 13 In a perfect plenum, motion would be impossible. 1827J. Farey Treat. Steam Engine i. vi. 447 There is..a plenum of steam in one compartment, and a vacuum, or exhaustion in the other. 1876C. Slagg Sanitary Wk. ix. 102 The motion of the pan..disturbs the equilibrium between the air-pressure in the receiver and the outside, causing at times a partial vacuum and at other times a plenum of air in the receiver. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 565/1 From the astronomers the Stoics borrowed their picture of the universe,—a plenum in the form of a series of layers or concentric rings, first, the elements, then the planetary and stellar spheres, massed round the earth as centre. 1956E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics iii. 90 In Newton's theory it [sc. the aether] plays no rôle save to help visualisation: the victory of the Cartesian conception of space as a plenum as against the Aristotelian void. 1972Sci. Amer. Apr. 115/2 It is not the ether as a medium that is denied by Einstein... We can deny only the Newtonian properties of the ether, in particular the linear addition of velocities. Quantum electrodynamics builds a real plenum in space. b. transf. A condition of fullness; a full place.
1795Southey Lett. fr. Spain (1799) 6 This..was followed by some excellent chocolate, and I soon established a plenum in my system. 1878Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 117 An ache, a need That spaceless stays where sharp analysis Has shown a plenum filled without it. 1949E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxvii. 61 Mind come to plenum when nothing more will go into it. 2. A full assembly; a meeting of a legislative body, conference, association, etc., at which all the members are expected to be present; spec. a meeting of all the members of a communist party committee; † in Sweden, a meeting of one of the legislative chambers (obs.).
1772Town & Country Mag. 50 Stokholm Dec. 6 In the plenum held yesterday, the inferior orders made no alteration in the resolution they had taken of adopting the royal capitulation with the projected changes. 1772Hartford Merc. Suppl. 18 Sept. 3/3 The Marshal of the Diet opened the Plenum of the Nobility with a long panegyric upon the King. 1885Ld. Loftus in Pall Mall G. 6 May 2/1 All colonial questions in common to the empire would be discussed by the Plenum, but would have to be sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament before receiving the Queen's sanction. 1899Daily News 12 June 9/1 Germany..will..only give her final decision when the Pauncefote scheme, with the inevitable amendments, comes before the plenum. 1948J. Towster Political Power in U.S.S.R. x. 189 The plenums of the village and city soviets electing their own executive organs. 1950D. W. Brogan Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt xv. 315 [The American Communist] regional party meetings had the strange title of ‘plenums’. 1956Ann. Reg. 1955 234 The Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the P.Z.P.R., held in Warsaw from 21 to 24 January. 1965New Statesman 9 Apr. 566/2 At the recent Plenum, the first since Mr K was ousted, Ilyichev was booted upstairs as Deputy Foreign Minister. 1966Ibid. 29 July 158/1 Ten years ago the man who failed Mao over the speed of collectivisation simply did not get promoted; today's failures suddenly find themselves dismissed and denounced, apparently without even the ‘due process’ of a central committee plenum. 1974T. P. Whitney tr. Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago I. i. x. 417 Bukharin..willingly assured the Plenum of his repentance, and immediately abandoned his hunger strike. 3. a. attrib., as plenum method, plenum system, a system of artificial ventilation in which fresh air, forced into the building to be ventilated, drives out the vitiated air. Also applied to things connected with this method (which is used also for heating and air-conditioning).
1844D. B. Reid Illustr. Theory & Pract. Ventilation ii. iii. 121 Plenum ventilation..can be sustained only by the constant use of machinery. 1888J. A. Ewing in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 160/2 A broad distinction may be drawn between what are sometimes called vacuum and plenum methods of artificial ventilation. 1894J. Keith Houses of Parl.: Rep. Heating & Ventilation 3 The action of the Plenum fan..in blowing in the fresh air upwards through the grated floor of the Chamber. 1903Architect 24 Apr. 276/2 The ventilation of the hospital was secured by natural, as opposed to artificial, means, such as that usually called the Plenum system. 1934H. M. Vernon Princ. Heating & Ventilation ix. 177 A comparison of some thousands of observations made in factories ventilated by plenum air and by natural means showed very little defect of humidity in the plenum factories. 1948T. Bedford Basic Princ. Ventilation & Heating xii. 198 In most of the plenum installations found in industry the air is untreated except that it is warmed in cold weather. 1967W. P. Jones Air Conditioning Engin. xvi. 428 The primary air delivered by the nozzles escapes from the room through a plenum relief grille. 1968New Scientist 7 Mar. 517/1 This [underwater] tunnel was driven by traditional methods, and the ‘plenum’ method (using compressed air behind the tunnelling shield) was not then known. 1978Ld. Drogheda Double Harness xiii. 143 We had allowed for proper air conditioning... Instead we installed a horrible thing called plenum ventilation, which warmed the air in winter, filling the offices with smuts..but failing to cool it in summer. b. (Not attrib.) = plenum chamber (a).
1940W. H. Carrier et al. Mod. Air-Conditioning xviii. 425 The fan..is permitted to discharge into a plenum of section area at least ten times that of the fan discharge. 1970Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 40/1 (Advt.), Humidifier... Coated pans fit sloped/vertical plenums. 1975Croome-Gale & Roberts Airconditioning & Ventilation of Buildings vii. 272 There are three sources of pressure change within the plenum which must be kept under control to ensure uniform plenum pressure. 4. Special Combs.: plenum chamber, (a) in some plenum systems, an enclosed space into which the outside air is forced (after any conditioning) and from which ducts lead to the various outlets inside the building; (b) any analogous enclosure in which the pressure is maintained above that of the atmosphere by the forcing in of air, as in some air-cooled engines, a ram-jet, or a hovercraft; plenum space = plenum chamber (a).
1908A. G. King Pract. Steam & Hot Water Heating xxi. 227 Separate ducts may be arranged to connect the main hot-air supply with the rising flues, or the heated air..may be discharged under a slight pressure into a *plenum chamber with which all supply pipes or warm-air ducts are connected. 1949Aircraft Engin. Nov. 346/2 A disadvantage is that the pressure of the combustion chambers raises the temperature of the air in the plenum chamber, with a slight loss of power. 1959Motor 30 Sept. 236/1 The entire engine, enclosed in the pressed-steel plenum chamber, is exposed to the cooling air, which escapes through vents below and behind. 1965D. Herbert How to design & install Warm Air Heating iii. 47 A concrete or brick foundation should be laid to provide a flat and level base for the plenum chamber, which is that part of the heater to which the ducts are connected. 1967New Scientist 31 Aug. 435/1 The cushion of air on which a hovercraft rides is created continuously by a flow of air delivered through ducts, which empty themselves into the plenum chamber by nozzles equally spaced around its edge. 1975M. J. Nunney Automotive Engine v. 175 The cooling air flow entering the plenum chamber from the fan is directed downwards over the cylinders and cylinder heads.
1916C. L. Hubbard Ventilation Hand Bk. ix. 154 The flues connecting the *plenum space with the registers are..concealed in the leg of the pew. 1975Croome-Gale & Roberts Airconditioning & Ventilation of Buildings vii. 278 The ventilated ceiling system is an all-air system which delivers supply air through..ductwork to a plenum space over a suspended ceiling, so that a relatively small plenum pressure may be used to evenly distribute the air through the ventilated ceiling to the room below. |