| 释义 |
septenary, a. and n.|ˈsɛptɪnərɪ, -iːnərɪ|
Also 7 septyn-, 8 septin-.
[ad. L. septēnāri-us, f. septēnī: see prec. and -ary.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining or relating to the number seven; forming a group of seven. septenary number, the number seven.
1601[Bp. W. Barlow] Defence 118 If the force of this argument lie in the septenarie nvmber [of the sacraments]. 1641H. L'Estrange God's Sabbath 29 This septenary number gained Authority from the creation of the world, because the first works of God were made in six dayes, and the seventh was dedicated to rest as sacred. 1674Boyle Excell. Theol. ii. iv. 167 To be able to reject the septenary number of the planets by the detection of the four satellites of Jupiter. 1694Motteux Rabelais iv. iv, Between whose Septenary Links [chainons septenaires],.. Rubies, Emeralds, and Unions were..set in. 1855Bailey Mystic, etc. 64 The septenary stars.
b. With reference to the division of time into periods based on the number seven, e.g. a week.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. iv. 212 This containeth but 27. dayes, and about 8. howres, which commeth short to compleat the septenary account. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 75. 1/1 So is one in seven in a Constant Septinary return. 1745R. James Med. Dict., Septana, a septinary Fever; that is, one which performs its Period in seven Days. 1848R. W. Hamilton Horæ Sabb. i. 16 That septenary notation of days which we call the week. 1866J. G. Murphy Comm., Exodus xvi. 23 Traces of the septenary division of time have been found among the Egyptians.
2. Consisting of seven lines. nonce-use.
1814Southey in Q. Rev. XII. 69 Lydgate..preferred the septenary stanza.
B. n. (Cf. hebdomad, heptad.)
1. The number seven.
1653H. More Conject. Cabbal. 161 The Hebdomad or Septenary is a fit Symbole of God, as he is considered having finished these six days Creation. 1690T. Burnet Th. Earth iv. iii. 148 Those constitutions of Moses that proceed so much upon a Septenary, or the number Seven.
2. A group or set of seven.
1594Mirr. Policy (1599) 223 The seuen gifts of the Holy ghost, the seuen orders of the Church, seuen workes of mercy,..with sundry other septenaries. 1614A. Roberts (title) A Sacred Septenarie, or the seven last wordes of our Sauiour Christ vttered vpon the Crosse. 1650Gell Serm. 8 Aug. 15 The Septenary of Planets. 1652Urquhart Jewel 231 The sacred septenary of the most highly-renowned men, for prudence and true wisdom. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies i. xv. 99 The Moon, which..runs from her Month to her Month by Septenaries. 1819G. S. Faber Dispens. (1823) I. 258 A septenary of erratic living animals which are the seven Worlds or seven Planets. 1847G. Soane New Curios. Lit. I. 296 Philo Judæus..tells us that nature delights in a septenary; the planets, he says, are seven; the Bear is composed of seven stars [etc.].
3. A period of seven years (occas. weeks, days).
1577–86Harrison England i. ix, The time of the pentarchie indured likewise 49 yeares, or seauen septenaries. a1639Wotton Surv. Educ. in Reliq. (1672) 78 Certain Periods, or Degrees of Change..every seven years; whereof the two first Septynaries..I will call the Obsequious Age. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. iv. 208 The dayes of men are usually cast up by septenaries. 1660tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. iii. v. 395 Septenaries of daies, or weeks, or months, or years, or ages? 1860O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xix, If Elsie could only outlive three septenaries, twenty-one years.
4. Mus. The seven notes of the diatonic scale.
1662Playford Introd. Skill Mus. i. i. 2 By these Three Septenaries is distinguished three several Parts, that the Scale is divided into. 1776Hawkins Hist. Mus. II. ii. viii. 214 To shew the analogy between the seven planets and the chords included in the musical septenary. 1782Burney Hist. Mus. II. 81 In completing the scale, or septenary.
5. Pros. = septenarius.
Chiefly applied to the English metre represented, e.g. by the verse of the Moral Ode and the Ormulum.
1887Horstmann S. Eng. Leg. Introd. p. ix, [MS. Egerton] generally shortens the lines from septenaries to Alexandrine verses, by omitting words [etc.]. 1891J. C. Parsons Eng. Versif. 80 A form..called the Septenary, with seven accents and fourteen syllables to the line. |