| 释义 |
break-through, breakthrough|ˈbreɪkθruː|
[f. phr. to break through: see break v. 56; cf. G. durchbruch.]
1. An act of breaking through (a barrier of any kind); spec. Mil., an advance penetrating a defensive line or the like; also fig., esp. (a) U.S. a sudden increase in prices or values; (b) a significant advance in knowledge, achievement, etc.; a development or discovery that removes an obstacle to progress. Also attrib.
1918Daily Express 5 Nov. 1/2 The attempted break⁓through for which the English and French have again been striving on a front of over thirty-seven miles was frustrated. 1921A. Lunn Alpine Ski-ing vii. 98 A break-through into a crevasse can be instantly checked. 1936Mind XLV. 248 Barriers have to be erected having negative valence if a break-through be attempted. 1937A. L. Rowse Sir R. Grenville vii. 154 Drake had captured 200,000 ducats of the King's property..in his break-through into the South Sea. 1944Times 8 Feb. 4/4 British tanks..have been forced to renounce their break-through attempt. 1949Amer. Speech XXIV. 174 A strong and sudden increase [in the market] is a breakthrough. 1957Economist 23 Nov. 736/1 The break-through to industrial prosperity began with the First Industrial Revolution. 1958Listener 11 Sept. 376/2 The technological break-through which allowed both the United States and the U.S.S.R. to produce H-bombs within a year of each other.
2. Special Comb.: breakthrough bleeding, bleeding from the uterus occurring between a woman's menstrual periods, esp. as a side-effect of some contraceptive pills.
1958G. Pincus et al. in Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. LXXV. 1336 In about 8 per cent of women..a breakthrough bleeding occurred before the nineteenth day of medication. 1962[see spotting vbl. n. 5]. 1963J. H. Burn Drugs, Med. & Man (ed. 2) XV. 156 When oestrogens (such as stilboestrol) are used alone.., the lining membrane of the uterus..is not maintained intact during the intervals between the periods, and ‘break-through’ bleeding occurs. 1968J. H. Burn Lect. Notes Pharmacol. (ed. 9) 93 The function of the progestogen is to prevent ‘break-through’ bleeding in the mid-cycle. 1974M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. xxiv. 427 Breakthrough bleeding or failure to menstruate may also occur. 1983Oxf. Textbk. Med. I. x. 85/1 Breakthrough bleeding as well as contraceptive failure can occur in women on rifampicin or enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants. |