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单词 posture
释义 I. posture, n.|ˈpɒstjʊə(r)|
[a. F. posture (16th c. in Montaigne Ess. ii.), contr. from earlier F. positure, ad. L. positūra position, posture (so also It., Sp., Pg. postura): see positure.]
1. a. The relative disposition of the various parts of anything; esp. the position and carriage of the limbs and the body as a whole; attitude, pose.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 221, I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra Boy my greatnesse I' th' posture of a Whore.1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 124 The usuall forme of their posture at the Table.1674Playford Skill Mus. ii. 102 In the posture of your left hand observe this Rule.a1711Ken Serm. Wks. (1838) 179 He draws her in three distinct postures, like a captive, like a penitent, like a conqueror.1727De Foe Syst. Magic ii. viii. (1840) 388 By mutterings and conjurings, by postures and distortions.1804Abernethy Surg. Obs. 231 Restlessness, which caused a constant variation of posture.1879Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 155 In burials of the Stone Age the corpse was either deposited in a sitting posture or burnt.
b. Among animals, a particular pose which is a signal of a specific pattern of behaviour.
1940H. F. Witherby et al. Handbk. Brit. Birds II. 329 In terrifying posture feathers [of long-eared owls] are ruffled up.1953N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World ii. 7 Some of these movements and postures are not difficult even for the human observer to appreciate.1962Symp. Zool. Soc. No. 8. 71 A rat on the defensive in the upright posture does not look at its opponent.1964A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 282/1 Behaviour by which the plumage is exposed to the sun by special postures seems to be widespread in birds.1974I. C. J. Galbraith tr. Dorst's Life of Birds I. ix. 175 The sexes may be recognized by certain postures characteristic of each mate.
2.
a. The position of one thing (or person) relatively to another; position, situation. Obs.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xx. §5 In describing the fourmes of Vertue and Duty, with their situations and postures, in distributing them into their kinds, parts, Prouinces.1650Fuller Pisgah i. xi. 33 Three Provinces whose number and posture we find in the Evangelists.a1662Heylin Laud i. (1671) 63 He found..the Communion Table standing almost in the middest of the Quire, contrary to the posture of it in his Majesties Chappel.1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723) 269 An imaginary..Earth, whose Posture to the Sun he supposes to have been much different.1764Goldsm. Hist. Eng. in Lett. (1772) I. 44 None was found..to give intelligence of the forces, or posture of the enemy.1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 54 The position of the arms..and the connecting rods..in one line will prevent the frame..from moving out of the posture it was brought into.
b. Mil. A particular position of a weapon in drill or warfare. Obs.
1625Markham Souldiers Accid. 24 The three Postures or words of Command, which are vsed for the Musquet in the face of the enemie..are these—1. Make readie. 2. Present. 3. Giue fire.1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 262 He learned..how to handle the pike and musquet, and all postures belonging to them.
3. A state of being; a condition or situation in relation to circumstances. Also, spec. a military or political attitude; a condition of armed readiness.
In 19th c. chiefly in the posture of affairs, and a posture of defence; formerly used also of physical condition.
1642J. M[arsh] Argt. conc. Militia 11 To put the kingdome into a posture of warre.1642Ld. Willoughby in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 676, I could not but give your Lordship an account in how good a Posture I found the Trained Bands of Lincoln, which was far beyond my expectation.1659Clarke Papers (Camden) IV. 293 To acquainte your Honours with the present posture of affaires here.1666J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 192 The poor Servants and Slaves..reducing it [tobacco] to that posture wherein it is transported into Europe.1705tr. Bosman's Guinea 53 Orders came to repair and put it in a posture of Defence.a1741T. Chalkley Wks. (1766) 23 At Night we got our Ship into a sailing Posture.1793Smeaton Edystone L. §275 Everything put into the best posture for receiving a storm.1871Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 227 The present posture of affairs round Paris.1962Listener 29 Mar. 545/2 What is important about the Soviet posture is that the Soviet armed forces aim at flexibility.1964Ann. Reg. 1963 140 The public denunciations and rigidities of the cold war appeared to have been set aside in favour of more traditional diplomatic methods and more relaxed diplomatic postures.1974Times 5 Mar. 7/1 Renewed anxiety over Nato's conventional defences was expressed today..in the annual Pentagon ‘posture’ report to Congress.1976National Observer (U.S.) 1 May 16/3 DEA's mission is..to have foreign governments in a responsive posture.
4. fig. A mental or spiritual attitude or condition.
1642J. Taylor (Water P.) (title) An Apology for Private Preaching..whereunto is annexed..the Spirituall postures, alluding to that of Musket and Pike.1667Pepys Diary 3 Apr., Therewith we broke up, all in a sad posture.1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. vii. §3 [He] must..enter into his own Thoughts, and observe nicely the several Postures of his Mind in discoursing.1755B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sc. i. i. 5 (Not daring to appear in a Posture of Enquiry) they knew little or nothing of the true Nature of Things.1866Liddon Bampt. Lect. i. (1875) 5 He [Christ] insisted upon a certain morality and posture of the soul as proper to man's reception of this revelation.
5. attrib. and Comb., as posture book, applied to a drill-book: cf. 2 b; posture-man, one who throws his body into artificial attitudes: = posture-maker; so posture-girl.
1616B. Jonson Devil an Ass iii. ii. 38 Get him the posture booke, and's leaden men, To set vpon a table,..that hee may..shew her Finsbury battells.1711Addison Spect. No. 31 ⁋1 In one..there was a Rary-Show; in another, a Ladder-dance; and in others a Posture-man.1815Sporting Mag. XLVI. 267 Two..were dancerinas, or posture-girls.
II. posture, v.|ˈpɒstjʊə(r)|
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To place in position; to set. Obs.
c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. v. xxiii. 160 As pointed Diamonds being set, Cast greater lustre out of Jet, Those peeces we esteem most rare, Which in night shadows postur'd are.1656S. H. Gold. Law 41 They..have postured him in the place and condition he now stands.1677Grew Anat. Seeds iv. §22 The Seed is postured in much a like manner, and looks just like a couple of poynted Leavs with a very long Stalk.
2. To place in a particular attitude; to dispose the body or limbs of (a person) in a particular way.
a1628[see posturing below].1656S. H. Gold. Law 44 Both sides are Dilemma'd, and stand postured like Lots Wife.1820Keats Hyperion i. 85 And still these two were postured motionless, Like natural sculpture in cathedral cavern.
fig.1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. ii, There are first biennial Parliaments so postured as to be, in a sense, beyond wisdom.1890S. J. Duncan Soc. Depart. xii. 115 Three very gay little maids postured in the middle of the floor.
3. intr. To assume a particular posture of body; also, to put the limbs or body in artificial positions.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 102/1 Posturing..some people call it contortionists..is reckoned the healthiest life there is, because we never get the rheumaticks.1865Kingsley Herew. xxx, Laughing at the dottrel as they postured and anticked on the mole-hills.
4. intr. fig.
a. To act in an artificial or affected manner; to pose for effect.
b. To take up an artificial mental position.
1877Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. ii. 149 He..after having postured and played tricks in face of the bursting deluge, and given the government the final impulse into the abyss of bankruptcy, was dismissed.1880F. G. Lee Ch. under Q. Eliz. I. 53 Jewell..sometimes became witty, and occasionally postured as a buffoon.1884Pall Mall G. 11 Aug. 4/1 Burning for an opportunity to posture as a supple statesman.1889Spectator 7 Dec. 803/1 Not inventing imaginary moral burdens for the conscience, such as the duty of always so posturing to our fellow-creatures as to set them what we suppose to be a good example.
Hence ˈpostured, ˈposturing ppl. adjs.; ˈposturing vbl. n. (a) the action of the verb; (b) among birds the use of particular poses as signals of specific patterns of behaviour.
a1628Grevil Sidney (1652) 149 With constant and obedient posturing of his body to their Art.1650H. More Observ. in Enthus. Tri., etc. (1656) 129 Going on their heads, as if they were not inverted but rightly postured plants, or walking stipites.1851[see 3].1861Dickens Gt. Expect. xix, After I..had gone through an immensity of posturing with Mr. Pumblechook's very limited dressing-glass, in the futile endeavour to see my legs.1872O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. i, What a statue gallery of posturing friends we all have!1898G. Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 22 What postured statutes barred his tread.1929H. E. Howard Introd. Study Bird Behaviour i. 17 Posturing..is regarded as a manifestation of the affective aspect of the functioning of the sexual response.1940H. F. Witherby et al. Handbk. Brit. Birds I. 8 Display and Posturing.—Aerial evolutions..are a feature of courtship [of the raven].1953N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World ii. 7 In general, the movements playing a part in posturing are based on flattening or raising of the plumage as a whole, on eye movements and on the attitude of head, neck and wings.1973R. A. Hinde in D. S. Farmer et al. Avian Biol. III. viii. 493 Ambivalent Posturing. Sometimes the bird adopts a posture that simultaneously expresses both tendencies.
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