| 释义 |
polysemous, a.|pɒlɪˈsiːməs|
[Orig. f. med.L. polysēm-us (Dante), a. Gr. πολύσηµ-ος of many senses, f. πολυ-, poly- + σῆµα sign, σηµαίνειν to signify; in modern linguistic use, prob. reformed on polysemy + -ous.]
Having many meanings; spec. in Linguistics, = polysemic a.
1884Athenæum 17 May 628/2 What Dante himself, in his dedication to Can Grande, calls the ‘polysemous’ character of the poem. [Dante Epist. x. §7 Istius operis non est simplex sensus, immo dici potest polysemum, hoc est plurium sensuum.] 1931G. Stern Meaning & Change of Meaning iii. 32 Different meanings can be expressed by the same word, as instanced by crown or any other polysemous word. 1957N. Frye Anat. Crit. 72 The principle of manifold or ‘polysemous’ meaning, as Dante calls it, is not a theory any more..but an established fact. 1973Times Lit. Suppl. 8 June 640/2 The book begins with an essay..which makes the point that a work of thought is polysemous, that its meaning is not a message but rather the effect which it has on its readers. |