| 释义 |
▪ I. branch, n.|brɑːnʃ, -æ-|
Forms: 3 bransch, 3–6 brance, 4 bronch, 4–6 braunche, 4–7 branche, braunch, 5 brawnche, 3– branch.
[a. F. branche branch:—late L. branca paw of an animal.]
I. A material offshoot.
1. A portion or limb of a tree or other plant growing out of the stem or trunk, or out of one of the boughs; in a more specific sense, a branch is understood to be smaller than a bough and larger than a shoot or spray.
a1300Cursor M. 1321 He.. sau..a mekil tre, Wid branchis fele of barc al bare. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 487 A bronch of olyue. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2681 Sche quakyth As doth the braunche that sepherus shakyth. c1449Pecock Repr. i. vi. 29 As the sprai cometh out of the braunche, the braunche out of the bouȝ. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. 82 A stark brance of ane Aik tree. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 433 From Branch to Branch the smaller Birds with song Solac'd the Woods. 1704Pope Autumn 75 Now golden fruits on loaded branches shine. 1873Morley Rousseau I. 169 To construct hovels of branches and clay.
2. transf.
a. Anything analogous to a limb of a tree, in being a lateral extension or subdivision of a main trunk; e.g. of a mountain range, a river, a road or railway, an artery or vein, etc.
1297R. Glouc. 152 Þe oþer hadde sene branches..And toward þe Yrische see..þei drowe. 1603R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 221 Therein are saide to be three and twenty braunches of the mount Atlas. 1696Whiston Th. Earth ii. 104 Tho' the particular place..be now under Water, and a Branch or Bay of the Great Ocean. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 99 The branches, or smaller drains are from twenty to forty, or fifty feet a-part. 1791Act 31 Geo. III c. 65 (Preamble), To make and maintain One other Rail or Waggon Way, or Stone Road, with Branches therefrom. 1831R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 644 From the aorta therefore arise secondary trunks, branches, twigs and ramuscules in great number. 1831in N. & Q. (1868) II. 102/1 The railroad is not supposed to answer vastly well, but they are making a branch to Warrington. 1840,1846[see branch-railway, -line in sense 12]. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xiv. 276 The vast army fled far through the eastern branch of the plain. 1874Boutell Arms & Arm. ix. 173 From these guards curved branches proceed..to the pommel. 1878F. Williams Midl. Railw. 359 It is a branch of the Great Northern.
b. U.S. spec. A small stream or brook.
[1624John Smith Hist. Virginia ii. 23 Here doth the river divide it selfe into 3 or 4 convenient branches.] 1663in North Carolina Col. Rec. (1886) I. 20 That Parcell of land..Beginning at a small creek or Branch. 1796B. Hawkins Lett. 25, I came to a branch covered with reeds. 1832J. Hall Leg. West (1833) 27 He proceeded cautiously towards a rivulet, or in the vernacular of the country, a branch, that meandered along the foot of the hill. 1835W. Irving Tour Prairies 188 Most of the ‘branches’, or streams, were dried up. Ibid. 307 In ‘branch’ or brook water. 1917C. Mathewson Sec. Base Sloan v. 67 An' there's a branch close by it too, mighty nice tastin water, Mas Wayne.
c. One of the subdivisions of a deer's horn; a ‘start,’ antler, or shoot; transf. a horn anciently worn as part of a woman's head-dress.
1485Bk. St. Albans E. iiij, Too braunchis first pawmyd he most haue. 1598J. Manwood Lawes Forest iv. §6 (1615) 46 In a Bucke they say [of the antlers], Bur, Beame, Braunch, Aduancers, Palme, and Spellers. 1661Lovell Hist. Anim. The horns are only on the Males, and have 6 or 7 branches. 1847Tennyson Princ. Concl. 98 A shout rose again, and..shook the branches of the deer.
1483Caxton G. de la Tour D viij, Many of them caste away their braunches and hornes.
d. One of the arms of a candelabrum or chandelier. Hence † A chandelier, esp. of the kind used in churches. Obs.
[1476Will (Somerset Ho.), Ad sustentacionem luminis beate marie virginis vocati le Branche.] 1525Churchw. Accts. St. Dunstan's, Canterb., Taperys that where sparyd of the braunche before the Rode. 1552Huloet, Candlestycke called a braunche. Candlestycke with thre braunches or lightes. 1709E. W. Life Donna Rosina 135 A Chrystal Branch fill'd with Wax Candles. 1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. III. xxix. 180 You may find how long a branch is which hangs down from the roof of a church.
e. poet. The human arm (or hand). rare.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iv. 18 What sterne vngentle hands Hath..made thy body bare Of her two branches.
†3. A branch-like figured pattern in embroidery or ornamental work: cf. branch v. 6, branched 2 b.
1606Peacham Art Drawing 35 In diapering..maintaining one branche or the same work throughout.
†4. A definite complex structure or form, as the characteristic form of man or any animal.
1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xxviii. 68 The Particles of the Seed..agitated only by the Heat of the womb..fall into the Branch of a Livewight. Ibid. The Divine Shape of..Man is alwaies one and the same..How could that Branch be formed without the Mind?
II. Figurative applications suggested by the relation of a branch to the tree.
5. Connected with the notion of a ‘genealogical tree’.
a. One of the portions into which a family or race is divided according to the differing lines of descent from the common ancestor; hence a division of a nation, or of a ‘family’ in any fig. sense, such as that of a group in scientific classification.
a1300Cursor M. 5657 (Gött.) Þat branch [Cott. MS. brance] of kin cald iuus was, þat cam of iacob sonis iudas. a1581Campion Hist. Irel. viii. (1633) 24 Cast out by the collaterall braunches of Cham. 1793Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 135, I do not flatter myself, that the English branch of the Jacobin family is a jot better than the French. 1839Thirlwall Greece I. 147 They are Minyans; a branch of the Greek nation. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 219 Both the branches of the great House of Austria sprang to arms.
†b. A child, descendant; cf. scion. Obs. exc. in humorous use; (quot. 1807 contains an allusion to Psalm cxxviii. 3). Cf. olive-branch.
1535Coverdale Jer. xxiii. 5, I wil rayse vp the rightuous braunch of Dauid. 1577Holinshed Chron. II. 12/1 Bastolenus a branch of Japhet..brought thither the same kind of speech. 1605Camden Rem. 93 Robert the sonne of Maldred, a braunch of an olde English familie. 1753Watts Coronat. Day xiii. 49 Poet. Wks. 1782 VII. 150 Mark that young branch [footnote, Prince William] of rising fame. 1791Boswell Johnson (1816) I. 22 Of which [family] the poet was a branch. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 478 Now of that vine he'd have no more increase, Those playful branches now disturb his peace.
c. In devotional literature applied to Christ, with allusion to Isa. xi. 1, Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12, etc.
1535Coverdale Zech. vi. 12 Beholde, the man whose name is the braunche. 1719Watts Hymns i. l. ii, He [God] makes the Branch of promise grow. 1831Wesley's Hymns Supp. No. 650 Branch of Jesse's stem, arise.
6. a. With express or implied reference to a metaphorical tree, root, or stock: One of the consequences deducible from a general principle; one of the effects resulting from a cause.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 131 b, Which is..the thyrde braunche in the tree of grace. 1719Watts Hymns i. lvii. v, Wild and unwholesome as the root Will all the branches be. 1756Burke Subl. & B. Wks. 1842 I. 40 This branch rises..from terrour, the common stock of every thing that is sublime.
b. to destroy (anything) root and branch: to destroy it utterly, to destroy both the thing itself and all its effects; originally suggested by the wording (derived from Mal. iv. 1) of the London Petition of Dec. 11, 1640 for the total abolition of episcopal government (see quot.). Hence, root-and-branch petition, root-and-branch bill, this petition, and the bill embodying its proposals, laid before parliament in 1641; root-and-branch party, the party by which the bill was supported; also (with more general meaning) root and branch policy, reform, a ‘radical’ policy or reform involving the total abolition of some existing institution.
[1611Bible Mal. iv. 1 The day that cometh shall burn them up..that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 1640Petition in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1721) IV. 93 That the said government, with all its dependencies, roots, and branches, be abolished. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. viii. ii. §6 It was vain to strike at the branches, whilest the roote of all Hereticks doth remain.] 1641Lord Say & Sele in Ho. Lords in Cobbett Parl. Hist. (1807) II. 806 The question..is not, Whether episcopacy..shall be taken away root and branch. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. (1843) 94/1 Sir Harry Vane, and shortly after Mr. Hambden..were believed to be for root and branch; which grew shortly after a common expression. 1655Lestrange Chas. I, 184, The Scotish fires had..burnt up to nothing Episcopacy both root and branch. 1867Morley Burke 180 The root and branch policy of the Tudors. Ibid. 237 Privilege and immunity were then cut up root and branch. 1884Gardiner Hist. Eng. IX. xcvi. 299 The Root-and-Branch party knew well that they could not..count on a majority.
c. In medieval theology, one of the subordinate classes coming under the category of any one of the seven deadly sins, or of any venial sin.
a1300Cursor M. 26363 Gastly sin [es]..lust and pride, And þair bransches þat springes wide. 1340Ayenb. 9 Þer by zome bronches þet ne byeþ naȝt dyadlich zenne. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋15 Of this roote [pride] springen general braunches; as ire, envye, accidie. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 264 Ypocrisie is a braunche of pruyde. 1615Hieron Wks. I. 603 The raging sins of the first Table, as well as the more notorious branches of the second.
7. a. A division of a subject; a subdivision of a general concept or notion; a department of any study, pursuit, or employment; freq. in phraseological combinations, (where department may be substituted), as branch of activity, industry, study, etc. Also branch of the revenue, branch of the prerogative, etc.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xi. xl, As to the fourth part, Pronouncyacyon, I shal it shewe anone..Wyth many braunches of it. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 66 The sisters three, and such branches of learning. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvi. 141 Fidelity..a branch of naturall Justice. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. (1843) 114/1 Thus fell that high court [the star-chamber], a great branch of the prerogative. 1712Steele Spect. No. 288 ⁋3 Indian Silks were formerly a great Branch of our Trade. 1727Swift Gulliver i. vi. 66 Their learning..flourished in all its branches. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters Pref., One branch of quackery. 1762Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxvii. 109 The king's revenue lay under great debts and anticipations; those branches granted in the year 1669 and 1670 were ready to expire. 1813Jane Austen Pride & Prej. iii. 10 She was obliged to seek another branch of the subject. 1839Thirlwall Greece I. 239 The Phœnicians..introduced letters, along with other branches of knowledge.
b. One of the divergent directions along which a line of thought may be followed out; a division of a complex proposition, question, argument, discussion, demand, legislative enactment, etc.
1542–3Act 34–35 Hen. VIII, v. §3 It is conteined in the..statute, within diuers articles and branches of the same. 1632Star Chamb. Cases (1886) 102, I thinke these as branches of the first charge are charged in the bill. 1696Whiston Th. Earth iv. v. 377 The first Branch of this Proposition. a1700in Rushworth Hist. Coll. III. ii. ii. 980 [heading] The Branch of a letter from the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to Dr. Hall..dated..the 11th of November 1639. Ibid. 1347 (heading, an. 1640) A Branch of the Lord Digby's Speech about Episcopacy. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) 1, A branch [of discourse], caput. 1818Cruise Digest VI. 307 The express declaration of the testator in almost every branch of his will.
8. A component portion of an organization or system, a part of a larger unity. branch of the legislature, one of the houses or chambers into which the legislative body is divided.
1696Whiston Th. Earth Introd. 11 The bare Earth..is but one of the Members or Branch. 1712Addison Spect. No. 287 ⁋5 A mixt Government consisting of three Branches. 1768Blackstone Comm. IV. 258 This branch of the legislature, which represents the people. 1839J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. xiii. (1847) 150 The Roman Church was a sound and uncorrupt branch of the Catholic Church.
9. A local office of business, subordinate to the main or head office, as the ‘branch’ of a bank or other establishment.
1817Petition in Parl. Deb. 215 This London Union Society..establishing branches and affiliations. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 257 Important banks, each possessing numerous branches.
III. 10. The certificate held by a brother of the Trinity House; also that given by the Trinity House to pilots who have passed an examination as to their competence. Cf. branch-pilot in 13.
1865Esquiros Cornwall 237 He received a branch, the name given to a certificate bearing the signature of the Society.
IV.
11. In various techn. senses [chiefly after Fr. branche]: in Arch. the rib of a Gothic vault; in Zool. (see quot. 1881); in Mech. the beam or axle of a pump or similar machine; also, a bolt or strap with arms; in Harness-making, a pair of parallel levers passing through the ends of a curb-bit, and provided with rings or loops for the curb-chain, etc.; in Fortification, the wing of a horn- or crown-work; also, one of the boyaux of a zigzag approach. The word is also used of the metal piece on the end of a hose, to which the nozzle is screwed (also, the hose itself); and of each of the sides of a horse-shoe.
1659J. Leak Water-wks. 17 The said Levers shalbe also fitted to two arms or branches. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §38 There were two large branches fixed near the center, for taking hold of the two sides of a large upright piece of timber. 1838Penny Cycl. XII. 296/1 The defenders of their branches could not have avoided firing upon one another. 1881Nature XXIV. 463 Branches—The cell-bearing portions of the zoarium of Glauconome..or Synocladia. 1884E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship i. v. 18 The branches should be long or short, as the rider wishes a mild or a severe bit. 1897Daily News 22 Nov. 7/3 Engineer Heather..ordered his men to drop their ‘branches’ and run. 1945S. Spender Citizens in War 46 Two firemen may then have to stand for hours holding the ‘branch’..from which the water proceeds. 1959R. Collier City that wouldn't Die viii. 132 Swing your branch to the left, son—give the Shoe Lane corner a drink.
V. Comb. and attrib.
12. General relations:
a. (in sense 1), objective with ppl. adj., vbl. n., or agent-noun, as branch-bearing, branch-gatherer; locative and instrum. (poet.), as branch-charmed, branch-embellished, branch-rent; attrib. (pertaining to a branch), as branch-bud; also branch-like adj.;
b. (in sense 2) attrib. (having the character of a branch), as branch-line (of railway), branch-road, branch-root, branch-vein;
c. (in sense 9) as branch bank, branch-establishment, branch-office.
1796Boston Directory 302 *Branch Bank, State street. 1832Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. I. 162/3 The conductors of the branch banks give no loans..without consulting with their masters.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 56 Pearserthnut..is in leafe and *braunch bearing like to Cicer.
1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 370 The deciduous *branch-buds of Bryum annotinum may also be considered as organs of reproduction.
a1821Keats Hyperion, Tall oaks, *branch-charmed by the earnest stars.
1597Drayton Mortimer. 110 Notingham..Crowne of the beautious *branch-embellish'd soyle.
1483Cath. Angl. 41 A *Brawnche gederer, frondator.
1852Tupper Proverb. Philos. 167 With dull malignant stare watcheth the *branch-like boa.
1846Penny Cycl. Supp. II. 667/2 When..in working *branch lines, a carriage must be sent through for the accommodation of only two or three passengers.
1885Law Rep. XXIX. Chancery Div. 219 The company had no *branch office of its own in England.
1840Act 3–4 Vic. xcvii. §18 Effecting communication between such railway and any..*branch railway.
1820Keats Lamia 13 Vales deflower'd, or forest-trees *branch-rent.
1831Deb. Congress 1 Mar. 830 The opening of *branch roads. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes I. iv. 149 Except when a branch-road joins the main one, there is seldom more than one track of rails.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. & Ferns 362 *Branch-roots of Dracæna reflexa..have a thoroughly typical structure.
1858W. Ellis Visits Madagasc. ix. 242 At the adjacent *branch station..we remained a week.
c1400in Rel. Ant. I. 190 Fro ‘basylica’..A *branche veyn spryngeth up ful bolde.
13. Special combinations: branch-bottom (in U.S.), see quot.; branch-building a., building in branches; branch-chuck (Mech.), a chuck having four branches turned up at the ends, and furnished with screws; branch-coal, a provincial name for anthracite; branch house, an offshoot of a religious community, business firm, etc.; branch-island, an island beside a river formed by an anabranch; branch library, a library other than the main one in an area; hence branch librarian; branch-pilot, a pilot who holds a Trinity House certificate; branch-point Math., a point in the complex plane at which two or more branches of a function of a complex variable coincide; † branch-stand v., ‘to make a Hawk take the Branch, or leap from Tree to Tree, till the Dog springs the Partridge’ (Phillips, 1706); branch wines, a translation of Pg. vinos de ramo, wines made for home consumption; branch-work, ornamental figured patterns (cf. 3).
1880New Virginians I. 82 The land being what is called *branch-bottom, i.e. alluvial in character.
1868Wood Homes without H. xxvii. 514 We shall take first the *branch-building mammalia.
1840K. H. Digby Mores Cath. x. i. 9 Cisteaux, the mother house of the order, [was] founded..in 1098... La Ferté was the first *branch house. 1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. vi. lxi. 346 There was a branch house at the west end.
1834J. R. Jackson in Jrnl. R. Geogr. Soc. IV. 79 Thus, such branches of a river as after separation re-unite, I would term anastomosing-branches; or, if a word might be coined, anabranches, and the islands they form, *branch-islands.
1938H. A. Sharp Branch Libraries iii. 62 A superintendent of branches..is necessarily a mediary between the chief and the *branch librarian.
1862Mrs. Gaskell Let. 16 June (1966) 689 Would it be much trouble for you to enquire from him [sc. Mr. Mudie] whether he has any *Branch-Library in Paris..? 1927Cmd. 2868 (Publ. Libr. Rep.) 66 The branch library is the most important form of library extension.
1864Times 10 Dec., The first *branch pilot who offered his services..was bound to be accepted.
1878Cayley in Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. IX. 32 There are certain points V called *branch-points (Verzweigungspuncte), such that to each point V there correspond two united points..and n-2 other distinct points. 1966E. G. Phillips Topics Complex Analysis ii. 20 On traversing loop A in the positive sense, the straight pieces have no effect on f (z) since they do not contain a branch point.
1833C. Redding Hist. Mod. Wines viii. (1836) 226 The wine country of the Douro is again subdivided..into, first, Factory wines..and secondly, *Branch wines.
1702W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant ix. 32 Intermixed with *Branch-works that make a glorious shew. 1842Tennyson Pal. Art 95 Branch-work of costly sardonyx.
▪ II. branch, v.
[f. prec. n.: cf. F. brancher.]
I. intr.
1. To bear or put forth branches; sometimes with forth, out. Also fig.
1382Wyclif Ecclus. xxxix. 19 Floureth floures, as lilie; ȝyueth smel, and brauncheth in to grace. 1552Huloet, Braunchen, or haue braunches, frondeo. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. i. 27 There rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot chuse but braunch now. 1759tr. Duhamel's Husb. ii. i. (1762) 127 Gave the earth round these plants a good stirring before they branched. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 478 They branch even before they reach the ground.
2. transf. and fig. To throw out branches or offshoots; to separate into branches, ramify. Freq. const. from, into. Now almost always with out.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. ix. (1495) 54 The fyfthe synewe braunchyth and comyth in bowes to the Instrumentes of towchynge. 1756Burke Subl. & B. Introd. Wks. I. 129 What subject does not branch out to infinity? 1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. iii. (1872) 31 It branches, therefore, into a twofold division. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. i. v. §32 (1875) 117 Consequences..that go on branching out more widely as years progress.
b. To spring out, as a branch or branches from the stem or root; to deviate from an original direction, strike off in a new path; to diverge from a central point; in mod. use chiefly with adv. out, off, less freq. away.
c1400Destr. Troy 8750 Beamys of bright sun, þat braunchis olofte. 1711Addison Spect. No. 247 ⁋2, I have known a woman branch out into a long dissertation upon the edging of a petticoat. 1799Scotl. described (ed. 2) 13 Many inferior ranges, here and there, branch out from them on all sides. c1811Fuseli Lect. Art v. (1848) 463 If it branch not out of the subject. 1839J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. xi. (1847) 112 From this point..branched most of the great roads into the interior. 1870Max Müller Sc. Relig. (1873) 163 A very early concentration of speech from which these dialects branched off. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 212 The Foss Way..branched off from the Eastern gate. 1884Macm. Mag. Oct. 431/2 An excellent street..branches away from the quay, and leads into a vast square.
†3. To spring, arise, or descend from a common stock or parentage; also, to be branched (in the same sense). Obs.
1583Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 18 That from thee Troians should branch a lineal ofspring. 1609Hieron Wks. I. Ded. A ij, All those young plants, which..haue branched from you both. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 544 These Butlers are branched from Sir Raph Butler. 1639Fuller Holy War iii. xviii. (1840) 146 They were a younger house of the Waldenses, and branched from them.
II. trans.
4. To divide (anything) into branches; to spread out (anything) in the manner of branches.
1700W. King Transactioneer 10 The ends of the Twigs are branched into bunches of Flowers. 1795Southey Joan of Arc i. 48 The dark yew..branch'd there its naked roots. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 221 Jewels..Sprinkled about in gold that branch'd itself Fine as ice-ferns.
5. fig. To arrange or set out in branches. arch.
1628Prynne Cens. Cozens 10 We branch the matter of this Booke into points of Doctrine and substance. 1673Lady's Call. i. v. §32, I shall not need to branch out devotion into the several parts. 1789Bentham Princ. Legisl. xviii. §56 The whole system of offences..is branched out into five classes. 1810Month. Rev. LXII. 496 If a Gothic story be branched out in the forms of the Shakspearean drama.
6. To adorn or embroider with gold or needlework representing flowers or foliage. Cf. branch n. 3. Also fig.
1596Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 19 The traine whereof loose far behind her strayd, Braunched with gold and perle. 1611Fletcher Philast. v. iv. 37 May the Moths branch their Velvets. Ibid. Branch me his skin in flowers like a sattin. 1859Tennyson Enid 631 Enid fell in longing for a dress All branch'd and flower'd with gold.
7. To furnish with branches or branching horns. Also fig.
1633Ford Broken Hrt. ii. i. 250 The city housewives..Cull, kiss, and cry sweetheart, and stroke the head Which they have branch'd. |