| 释义 |
science|ˈsaɪəns|
Forms: 4 sienz, cience, ciens, 4–5 siens, syence, syense, 4–6 scyence, sciens(e, 4, 6–7 sience, 5 scians, 5–6 syens, 6 sienc, scyens, 6–7 scyense, 4– science.
[a. F. science = Pr. sciensa, Sp. ciencia, Pg. sciencia, It. scienza, ad. L. scientia knowledge, f. scient-em, pr. pple. of scīre to know.]
1. a. The state or fact of knowing; knowledge or cognizance of something specified or implied; also, with wider reference, knowledge (more or less extensive) as a personal attribute. Now only Theol. in the rendering of scholastic terms (see quot. 1728), and occas. Philos. in the sense of ‘knowledge’ as opposed to ‘belief’ or ‘opinion’.
a1340Hampole Psalter Cant. 500 Ald thyngis deport fra ȝowre mouth: for God of sciens is lord, and till him ere redyd the thoghtis. c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. vii. (1868) 59 Þe soule whiche þat haþ in it self science of goode werkes [L. sibi mens bene conscia]. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 2697 Therfor ye trewly ber the name Cherubin, fful of scyence And of dyvyne sapyence. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 361/2 Whereof saynt Paule cryeth hymself, O altitudo diuitiarum sapientie & scientie dei. O the heyght and depenes of the ryches of the wysedome and scyence of god. 1601Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 103 Plutus himselfe,..Hath not in natures mysterie more science, Then I haue in this Ring. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 680 O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant, Mother of Science. 1678Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. 36 Some of our Opponents resolve Gods certain prescience of sin into the infinitude of his science. 1697tr. Burgersaicius' Logic ii. xx. 99 The word science is either taken largely to signifie any cognition or true assent; or, strictly, a firm and infallible one; or, lastly, an assent of propositions made known by the cause and effect. 1700Rowe Amb. Step-Mother ii. ii. 852 What makes Gods divine But Power and Science infinite. 1725Pope Odyss. ii. 198 For lo! my words no fancy'd woes relate: I speak from science, and the voice is Fate. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Science, Divines suppose three kinds of Science in God: The first, Science of mere Knowledge... The second, a Science of Vision... The third, an intermediate Science. 1753Johnson Adventurer No. 107 ⁋18 Life is not the object of Science: we see a little, very little; and what is beyond we can only conjecture. 1882Seeley Nat. Relig. 260 Though we have not science of it [supernaturalism] yet we have probabilities or powerful presentiments.
†b. Contrasted or coupled with conscience, emphasizing the distinction to be drawn between theoretical perception of a truth and moral conviction. Obs.
1620T. Scott God & King (1623) 84 This my Sermon..is perhaps tost by censure and science for a while, but scarce touched by conscience, or drawne into practise. 1637Abp. Laud Sp. Star-Chamber 14 June 62 The Author is clearely conceived..to have written this Book wholly..against both his science and his conscience. 1654Owen Doctr. Saints' Persev. xi. 249 A wilfull perverting of it, contrary to his own science & conscience.
2. a. Knowledge acquired by study; acquaintance with or mastery of any department of learning. Also † pl. (a person's) various kinds of knowledge.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1289 Wyth alle þe coyntyse þat he cowþe..De-uised he [salomon] þe vesselment,..Wyth slyȝt of his ciences, his souerayn to loue. 1390Gower Conf. II. 82 And Heredot in his science Of metre, of rime and of cadence The ferste was of which men note. c1400Destr. Troy 5524 Epistaphus..a discrete man of dedis, dryuen into age, And a sad mon of sciens in the seuyn artis. c1440Gesta Rom. xxxiv. 132 (Harl. MS.) No man myght be likenid to him in no kynne sciens. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 16 Clerkis of hye science, the quhilkis had the grete dignities in haly kirk. c1475Partenay 107 As rose is aboue al floures most fine So is science most digne of worthynesse. 1538Bale John Baptist in Harl. Misc. (1744) I. 105 You boast your selues moch, of ryghteousness and scyence. 1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. ii. xxx. (1568) 138 b, The auncient women were more esteamed for their sciences, then for their beauties. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates I. 16 Giue Johne Knox and ze affirmis zour selfis lauchful be ressoun of zour science [etc.]. 1738Gray Propertius ii. 52 Be love my youth's pursuit, and science crown my Age. 1781Cowper Conversation 14 As alphabets in ivory employ, Hour after hour, the yet unletter'd boy, Sorting and puzzling with a deal of glee Those seeds of science call'd his A B C.
b. Trained skill. Now esp. (somewhat jocularly) with reference to pugilism (cf. 3 c); also to horsemanship and other bodily exercises.
1785G. A. Bellamy Apol. (ed. 3) IV. 156 She could by no means be said to surpass Mrs. Yates, who joined hard⁓earned science to her other great qualifications. 1793W. Roberts Looker-on No. 33 (1797) II. 111 Mr. Powell, the fire-eater, is a singular genius; and Mendoza has more science than Johnson. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 22 Molineux sparred neatly early in the fight, but he lost his science after he had been a good deal punished. 1889Field 12 Jan. 41/2 It was most disappointing to their huntsman to have the cup thus dashed from his lips when it only required a kill to render complete as fine an exhibition of science as could possibly be seen.
c. fig. to blind with science (slang): to confuse by the use of polysyllabic words or involved explanations (see also quot. 1937).
1937Partridge Dict. Slang 64/2 Blinded with science. A catch-phrase applied by brawn defeated by brains: Australian and New Zealand: C. 20. 1948― Dict. Forces' Slang 1938–45 18 Blind with science, to explain away an offence, a mistake, by talking at great length and very technically, thus dazzling one's interlocutor into non-pursuance of the matter. (Mostly Army.) 1973Daily Tel. 17 Oct. 14/6 We are also more familiar..with the tendency for people to be blinded by science and to succumb to ‘expert’ medical opinion, however quackish. 1977Time Out 17–23 June 11/3 It's very easy to coast and blind the office with science.
3. a. A particular branch of knowledge or study; a recognized department of learning.
In the Middle Ages, ‘the seven (liberal) sciences’ was often used synonymously with ‘the seven liberal arts’, for the group of studies comprised by the Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, Astronomy).
13..Seuyn Sag. (W.) 48, I wil that ye teche him euyn The sutelte of science seuyn. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 1122 As yonge clerkes..Seken in euery halke and euery herne Particuler sciences for to lerne. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 7 Therfore he þat wole knowe what siurgie is, he most vndirstonde, þat it is a medicinal science. 1421Rolls of Parlt. IV. 158 Thre Sciences that ben Divinite, Fisyk, and Lawe. 1486Bk. St. Albans, Her. e iv b, Bott in thes borduris ther is a grete differens emong men pretendyng theym experte and wyse in thys sciens. 1509Watson Ship of Fools ii. (1517) A iij, It is they the whiche ben y⊇ leest experte in scyences, as in lawe. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 61 A philosophier of Athenes excellyng in all the mathematical sciencies. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 5 The good affeccion whyche I haue euer borne to the science of Cosmographie. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 57, I do present you with a man of mine Cunning in Musicke, and the Mathematickes, To instruct her fully in those sciences. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 795 Mexico is now an Vniuersitie, and therein are taught those Sciences which are read in our Vniuersities of Europe. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii, vi. §3 The right understanding of the principles of a science, is the ground why all things belonging to that science are understood. 1683Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 93 To Witt: a scool of Arts and Siences. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 59 And thus you have an honest system of the science called Magic. 1794Godwin Caleb Williams 1, I was taught the rudiments of no science, except reading, writing, and arithmetic. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 435 So Leolin went; and..toil'd Mastering the lawless science of our law. 1892Westcott Gospel of Life 89 Theology is the crown of all the sciences, and Religion the synthesis of all.
transf.1752Adventurer No. 9 ⁋10 Give us..that master of the science the celebrated Hoyle, who has composed an elaborate treatise on every fashionable game. 1770Burke Pres. Discont. 66 Underhand and oblique ways would be studied. The science of evasion, already tolerably under⁓stood, would then be brought to the greatest perfection. 1794Godwin Caleb Williams 20 Unpardonably deficient in the sciences of anecdote and match-making. 1810Syd. Smith Public Schools Wks. 1859 I. 188 His sister, who has remained at home at the apron-strings of her mother, is very much his superior in the science of manners. 1826Lamb Elia ii. Pop. Fallacies xvi, But facts and sane inferences are trifles to a true adept in the science of dissatisfaction. 1837Lockhart Scott I. iv. 128 Scott did not pursue the science of chess after his boyhood.
b. Contradistinguished from art: see art n. 8.
The distinction as commonly apprehended is that a science (= ἐπιστήµη) is concerned with theoretic truth, and an art (= τέχνη) with methods for effecting certain results. Sometimes, however, the term science is extended to denote a department of practical work which depends on the knowledge and conscious application of principles; an art, on the other hand, being understood to require merely knowledge of traditional rules and skill acquired by habit.
1678Moxon Mech. Dyalling 4 Though we may justly account Dyalling originally a Science, yet..it is now become to many of the Ingenious no more difficult than an Art. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 307 ⁋5 Without a proper temperament for the particular Art or Science which he studies, his utmost Pains and Application..will be to no purpose. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. Pref. 11 Previous to the year 1780, mineralogy, though tolerably understood by many as an art, could scarce be deemed a Science. 1834Southey Doctor cxx. (1862) 294 The medical profession..was an art, in the worst sense of the word, before it became a science, and long after it pretended to be a science was little better than a craft. 1907Hodges Elem. Photogr. 58 The development of the photographic image is both an art and a science.
c. the noble science (of defence): the art of boxing or that of fencing. Now jocular. Also, in mod. slang, the science. (Cf. sense 2 b).
c1588–1839 [see noble A. 9]. 1837Dickens Pickw. xlix, Up to that time he had never been aware that he had the least notion of the science [sc. fencing].
†d. A craft, trade, or occupation requiring trained skill. Obs.
c1480Childe of Bristowe 78 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 114 He gaf hym gold gret plenté, the child hys prentys shuld be, his science for to conne. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 67 Whan a virgyn begynneth fyrst to lerne to sewe in the samplar, that scyence to her as than semeth very harde. 1530–1Act 22 Hen. VIII, c. 13 That no..persones..shalbe enterpret or expounded hande craftesmen, in, for, or by reason of usyng any of the sayde mysteryes, or scyens, of bakyng, bruyng, surgery or wrytyng. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia iii. iv. (1895) 139 Husbandrye is a scyence common to them all ingenerall, both men and women, wherin they be all experte and cunnynge. 1576Lichfield Guilds (E.E.T.S.) 26 The Master, Wardens and Combretheren of the mystery, crafte, and Scyence of the Taylers of the Citie of Lichffelde. 1600Dekker Gentle Craft (1610) B 1 b, My iolly coze..Became a Shoomaker in Wittenberg, A goody science for a gentleman. 1660Boston Rec. (1877) II. 156 No person shall henceforth open a shop in this Towne, nor occupy any manufacture or Science, till hee hath compleated 21 years of age.
4. a. In a more restricted sense: A branch of study which is concerned either with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed facts systematically classified and more or less colligated by being brought under general laws, and which includes trustworthy methods for the discovery of new truth within its own domain.
1725Watts Logic ii. ii. §9 The word science, is usually applied to a whole body of regular or methodical observations or propositions,..concerning any subject of speculation. 1794Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 117 Philosophy must proceed in generalising those truths which are the object of particular sciences. 1860Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §131 (ed. 5) 281 Classification of the Sciences. Mathematics... Astronomy... Physics [etc.]. 1882Adamson in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 781/2 It may be said that in all sciences there are implied clearly defined notions, general statements or judgments, and methodical proofs.
b. with defining word.
The many conflicting systems proposed in recent times for the classification of the sciences, and the need frequently arising (apart from any formal classification) for a common designation applicable to a group of sciences that are related by similarity of subject or method, have given currency to a large number of expressions in which the word science is qualified by an adj. The application of these collocations, so far as it is not obvious, is explained under the adjs. Among the most prominent of the adjs. designating particular classes of sciences are: abstract, concrete, biological, descriptive, exact, experimental, historical, mathematical, mechanical, moral, mixed, pure, natural, physical. Also with preceding n., as life science, and combined with a prefix, as bio-, geo-, neuroscience. (See under the first element.)
1795Burke Let. to Earl Fitzwilliam Wks. IX. 1, I am not sure, that the best way of discussing any subject, except those, that concern the abstracted sciences, is not somewhat in the way of dialogue.
c. In phrases: science of art, science of expression, science of mind, science of religion(s), denoting esp. the application of scientific methods in fields of study previously considered open only to theories based on subjective, historical, or undemonstrable abstract criteria.
1828J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. IX. 140 The impugners of the school logic, as they term it, may be divided into two classes. The first class consists of men not untinctured with philosophy, including even some writers of considerable eminence in the science of mind. 1869W. James Let. 21 Jan. in R. B. Perry Tht. & Char. W. James (1935) I. 291 Some weeks ago I read the three last articles on ‘Science of Religions’ by Emile Burnouf in the Revue des deux mondes. 1886T. Paterson Mental Sci. 4 This confusion of opinion has led many to deny the possibility of any science of mind, beyond the physical or material facts of life. 1902W. James Var. Relig. Exper. xviii. 433 Of late, impartial classifications and comparisons have become possible... We have the beginnings of a ‘Science of Religions’, so-called. 1909D. Ainslie tr. Croce's Aesthetic (subtitle), As science of expression and general linguistic. 1933Burlington Mag. May 248/2 The great problem as to whether the science of art really is a science in the sense that the word is used in relation to natural science remains, however, unsolved. 1937H. Read Art & Soc. vii. 233 Though based on the science of art and a deduction from the whole range of relevant material, the facts in question are relative to the aesthetic sensibility. 1944J. S. Huxley On Living in Revol. iv. 45 The science of mind developed later than biological science. 1973N. Smart (title) The science of religion and the sociology of knowledge. 1976F. McDonagh tr. Pannenberg's Theol. & Philos. of Sci. iv. 256 Theology then comes under the general heading of a science of religion.
5. a. The kind of knowledge or of intellectual activity of which the various ‘sciences’ are examples. In early use, with reference to sense 3: What is taught in the schools or may be learned by study. In mod. use chiefly: The sciences (in sense 4) as distinguished from other departments of learning; scientific doctrine or investigation. Often with defining adj. as in 4 b.
In the 17th and 18th c. the notion now usually expressed by science was commonly expressed by philosophy.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 3 After solempne and wise writeres of arte and of science. c1400Mandeville (1839) xiv. 159 And ȝif ȝou lyke to knowe the Vertues of the Dyamand..I schalle telle ȝou: as thei beȝonde the See seyn and afferme of whom alle Science and alle Philosophie comethe from. c1440Gesta Rom. xxxiv. 112 He also hade a sone passyngly wyse ande witty,..ande no man myght be likenide to him in no kynne sciens. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxxi. 191 The Principles of naturall Science. 1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesy 9 Nothing spreads more fast than Science, when rightly and generally cultivated. 1744Akenside Pleas. Imag. ii. 127 Speak ye the pure delight, whose favoured steps The lamp of Science through the jealous maze Of Nature guides. 1759Goldsm. Bee No. 3 ⁋2 Nature was never more lavish of its gifts than it had been to her [Hypatia], endued as she was with the most exalted understanding and the happiest turn to science. 1857Henfrey Bot. §1 Botany is that department of Natural Science which deals with Plants. 1859Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 194 How strange it seems that physical science should ever have been thought adverse to religion! 1864Cobbold Entozoa 298 This species is new to science.
Comb.a1628F. Grevil Treat. Hum. Learn. xxvii, Strong instances to put all Arts to schoole, And proue the science⁓monger but a foole. 1857Reade Course of True Love 151 Casenower, the science bitten, had read all the books.
b. In modern use, often treated as synonymous with ‘Natural and Physical Science’, and thus restricted to those branches of study that relate to the phenomena of the material universe and their laws, sometimes with implied exclusion of pure mathematics. This is now the dominant sense in ordinary use. Also attrib., as in science-class, science-master, science-teacher, science-teaching.
1867W. G. Ward in Dubl. Rev. Apr. 255 note, We shall..use the word ‘science’ in the sense which Englishmen so commonly give to it; as expressing physical and experimental science, to the exclusion of theological and metaphysical. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. Introd. 14 An acquaintance with science or with the systematised knowledge of matter and its properties. 1895Educat. Rev. Sept. 25 Science-teaching is nothing, unless, it brings the pupil in contact with nature. 1913C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. vii. 253 Science is all the go nowadays... And Science is what we want. Science and Religion. 1946R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. 12 One more problem..remains to be mentioned, the problem of co-operation between archaeologists and workers in other sciences. 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Apr. 141/1 Science has become a major source of the power of civilized man. 1976Norwich Mercury 17 Dec. 3/8 Second year prizes—English,..mathematics,.. science,..history,..geography,..music. 1978Nature 10 Aug. 522/1 Funds for lunar sample analysis have remained roughly constant over the past few years and the programme has received praise for the high quality of the science conducted.
†c. Oxford Univ. Formerly applied to the portions of ancient and modern philosophy, logic, and cognate subjects, included in the course of study for a degree in the school of Literæ Humaniores. Obs.
1831Gladstone Diary in Morley Life (1903) I. 78 Examined by..Hampden in science. 1848J. H. Newman Loss & Gain iii. iv, Our men know their books well, but I should not say that science is their line. 1855M. Pattison Oxf. Studies in Oxf. Ess. 290 A new element of uncertainty came in, in the difference between taste and scholarship on the one hand, and attainment in Aristotle (science, it was called) on the other. 1884E. A. Freeman Let. (MS.) 10 Feb., I remember him years ago as a logic and science coach. I don't mean for cutting up cats, but what science meant then, Ethics, Butler, and such like. 1903Athenæum 7 Feb. 176/3 He had none of his brother's love for the Greek philosophy, then known as ‘science’.
d. Personified.
1742Gray Eton 3 Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry's holy Shade. 1862G. H. Lewes Let. 30 Aug. in George Eliot Lett. (1955) IV. 52 If the passions and impertinences of public speakers, and newspaper writers on both sides of the Atlantic are madly widening the wounds which each ought to strive to heal, it is some comfort to reflect that Science keeps aloof from such misplaced and unjustifiable criticisms. 1894A. Lang Cock Lane & Common-Sense 328 It is in this way that Science makes herself disliked. 1975J. Plamenatz K. Marx's Philos. Man viii. 218 Science recognizes that its hypothesis and theories are provisional and has criteria for deciding whether or not they should be discarded for better ones.
e. (Usually with capital initial.) U.S. = Christian Science.
1902‘Mark Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. 768 Does the Science kill a patient here and there? 1915E. B. Holt Freudian Wish 21 The ‘Science’ healer was immediately consulted. 1916H. Crane Let. 26 Jan. (1965) 3 Carry the science as far as you can. 1919― Let. 2 Apr. (1965) 15 Concerning me and my attitude toward Science. 1946Christian Sci. Jrnl. Dec. 616 We called on a practitioner to learn what this Science was. 1980A. Wilson Setting World on Fire ii. i. 51 Servants..live in a world of doctors and illnesses and death... Of course I wasn't in Science then. I believed all their nonsense.
6. man of science.
†a. A man who possesses knowledge in any department of learning, or trained skill in any art or craft. Obs.
b. In modern use, a man who has expert knowledge of some branch of science (usually, of physical or natural science), and devotes himself to its investigation.
1552in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. ii. 119 Here after is declared the names of all suche officers, men of Scyence, Artyficers, Craftismen, and other mynistres. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates I. 16 Sen the saidis lordis and gentilmen being men of science [etc.]. 1759Johnson 2nd Let. to Gazetteer 8 Dec., No man of science will deny that architecture has..degenerated at Rome to the lowest state. 1819Shelley Peter Bell 3rd iv. xix, It was his fancy to invite Men of science, wit, and learning, Who come to lend each other light. 1855Tennyson Maud i. iv. vii, The man of science himself is fonder of glory, and vain, An eye well-practised in nature, a spirit bounded and poor. 1890Le Gallienne G. Meredith 71 The man of science is nothing if not a poet gone wrong.
7. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 5 b) science-based adj.; science park orig. U.S., an area of land devoted to scientific research or to industrial enterprises connected with the physical sciences.
1962Economist 14 Apr. 187/1 An industry can be science-based, said Lord Hailsham, and yet do little or no actual research. 1965A. Farrer in J. Gibb Light on C. S. Lewis 28 Scientific formulae may be empirically verified, but no science-based picture of the sum of things is better than a symbol. 1970Daily Tel. 27 Apr. 3/8 Trinity College, Cambridge, is proposing to create a ‘science park’ on the north-east outskirts of the city. 1973Nature 22 June 430/2 In the United States, there are over 80 science parks,..but 27 of them are wholly limited to science-based industry. 1981Daily Tel. 31 July 8/3 A 116-acre science park to attract high technology-based firms, and provide hundreds of jobs, is to be established in Peterborough. Lynch Wood Science Park will also include conference and sports centres and a hotel. |