| 释义 |
pollution|pəˈl(j)uːʃən|
Forms: 4 pollusyone, 4–5 pol(l)ucio(u)n, 5 polucyon, 7 pollusion, 6– pollution.
[ad. L. pollūtiōn-em defilement, noun of action from polluĕre to pollute. So F. pollution (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. a. The action of polluting, or condition of being polluted; defilement; uncleanness or impurity caused by contamination (physical or moral). spec. The presence in the environment, or the introduction into it, of products of human activity which have harmful or objectionable effects.
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1301 Safe I wold desyre yow spare Pollucion. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1988 Hys pryde owt of my love xall have polucyon. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 13 His purse was..I think verily a puritane, for it kept it selfe from any pollution of crosses. a1684Leighton Wks. (1835) I. 114 The soul and body of all mankind are stained by the pollution of sin. 1792Anecd. W. Pitt III. xliv. 195 Such a mode of warfare was a contamination, a pollution of our national character. 1876M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 16 It seemed to him that there was pollution in such contact. 1877Roscoe & Schorlemmer Treat. Chem. I. 255 The running water seldom reaches the sea in its natural or pure state, but is largely contaminated with the sewage of towns, or the refuse from manufactures or mines. So serious..is this state of things becoming that some steps are about to be taken to prevent the further pollution of the rivers. 1894Daily News 25 Apr. 2/2 One of the principal difficulties of freeing the river from pollution was that certain persons had prescriptive rights to pass their sewage into the Thames at Staines and some other places. 1934,1947[see atmospheric a. 2]. 1955Sci. Amer. May 63/3 As our economy uses more and more organic chemicals, air pollution by volatile organic compounds becomes more and more of a problem. 1969Financial Times 9 Jan. 4/6 The danger of ‘thermal pollution’ is greatest where electric and other power plants return to rivers and streams water that has been heated by between six and 16 degrees Centigrade. This often proves deadly to fish. 1970New Society 5 Feb. 209/3 At American universities, pollution has been a student rallying cry for some months now. 1970, etc. [see noise pollution s.v. noise n. 8]. 1975Physics Bull. June 256/1 Noise pollution from aircraft and motorways and the design of speech and music reinforcement of St. Paul's cathedral are two of the varied aspects of noise and sound which have occupied Mr Allen.
b. concr. Anything polluted.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. fol. 9 The Sunne..passeth through pollutions, and it selfe remaines as pure as before. 1870Bryant Iliad i. I. 17 The warriors purified the camp, And, casting the pollutions to the waves, They burned to Phœbus chosen hecatombs.
2. Ceremonial impurity or defilement; profanation of that which is sacred.
1382Wyclif Judith iv. 10 Lest weren ȝyuen ther childer in to prei,..and the holi thingus of hem in to pollucioun. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. lv. 72 They will make a precedent prayer to their soules to depart from their bodies in the interim, for fear she partake of the same pollution. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 355 Thir strife pollution brings Upon the Temple. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 194 The contrary to Consecration is Pollution, which is said to happen in Churches by Homicide.
3. Seminal emission apart from coition; self-pollution.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 11 Alswa here es forbodene all maner of wilfull pollusyone procurede..agaynes kyndly oys. c1440Alphabet of Tales 238 He had a pollucion of his sede. 1693tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Pollutio nocturna, an involuntary Pollution in the Night, caused by lecherous Dreams. 1878tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. VIII. 828 This kind of loss is called a pollution.
4. attrib. and Comb., as pollution control; pollution-free adj.
1961San Francisco Chron. 27 Mar. 32 Stronger water pollution control programs. 1969New Scientist 9 Oct. 90/1 Pollution-control measures are only an extra charge on the expenses of a company and have little direct return. 1978N.Y. Times 30 Mar. d14/4 A $150 million pollution-control program in that state.
1974Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 25 Apr. c2/3 Engineers for Japan's Honda and Mazda car makers have developed some of the world's most pollution-free auto engines which are getting wide attention in the United States.
Hence † poˈllutionate a. [cf. affectionate, compassionate, etc.], charged with pollution, foul; whence † poˈllutionately adv., foully.
1593Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 57 No Hog-sty is now so pollutionate as the earth of Palestine. Ibid. 146 Their transplendent iuyce so pollutionately employd. |