| 释义 |
casualty|ˈkæʒ(j)uːəltɪ, ˈkæzjuːəltɪ|
Also 5 caswelte.
[ad. L. casuālitas, on model of forms like royalty, fealty, penalty; the fuller form was casuality: cf. speciality, special-ty; see -ty.]
1. Chance, accident (as a state of things). ? Obs.
1423Jas. I. Kingis Q. xxii, Were it causit throu hevinly Influence Off goddis will, or othir casualtee. c1500Merch. & Son in Halliw. Nugæ P. 23, I have seyn men bothe ryse and falle, hyt ys but caswelte! 1548Wriothesley Chron. (1877) II. 6 Sainct Annes church..brente by casualtie of fire. 1639W. Whately Prototypes iii. xxxix. (1640) 34 Sometimes by meere casualty almost they light upon a very good servant. 1779Johnson Pope Wks. IV. 17 Combinations of skilful genius with happy casualty. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. 398 Of too much worth to be left to casualty.
2. a. A chance occurrence, an accident; esp. an unfortunate occurrence, a mishap; now, generally, a fatal or serious accident or event, a disaster. b. Mil. Used of the losses sustained by a body of men in the field or on service, by death, desertion, etc.
1494Fabyan vii. 336 By syknesse and other casueltyes, he loste moche of his people. 1530Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. II. 30 If any casueltie of deth..chaunced unto hym. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 16 Betwene the cuppe and the lyppes maye come many casualties. 1608Shakes. Per. v. i. 94. 1612 Rowlands Knaue Harts 29 Losses on Land, and casualties at Seas. 1655Fuller Hist. Camb. (1840) 20 Many sad casualties were caused by these meetings..Arms and legs were often broken, as well as spears. 1727Swift Country Post Wks. 1755 III. i. 178 Several casualties have happened this week, and the bill of mortality is very much increased. 1779Johnson L.P. Wks. 1816 XI. 73 He that runs against Time has an antagonist not subject to casualties. 1810Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. VI. 480 Not enough to provide for the casualties of the service. 1861Lond. Rev. 16 Feb. 168 The annual loss of property from casualties on our coast.
c. Used of an individual killed, wounded, or injured. Also fig.
1844A. W. Kinglake Eothen xvi. 226 Although there may have been some ‘casualties’ in the way of eyes black..and women ‘missing’, there was no return of ‘killed’. 1900W. S. Churchill London to Ladysmith 393 In spite of more than a hundred casualties, the advance never checked for an instant. 1916‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 144 Such casualties as could walk back walked. 1925E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 87 With half a dozen porters to wait for our return in case there should be casualties to carry down the glacier. 1956A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 198 The education of students at the university of Chicago was a war casualty.
†3.
a. State of subjection to chance (see casual 5); liability to accident; precariousness, uncertainty.
1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, xxv. Preamb., The casueltie of this worlde is suche & lyfe as uncertayne, etc. 1558Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xvi. 104 The casualtie of oure frayle life. 1668Marvell Corr. civ. Wks. 1872–5 II. 260 Because of the distance of our lodgings and the casualty of finding one another. 1812Monthly Rev. LXVII. 529 The casualty of public office, its distribution by accidental allotment..tended to form a gambling spirit.
†b. concr. A thing subject to chance. Obs.
1667Primatt City & C. Build. 6 Mines..in England, are for the most part very great casualties.
4. A casual or incidental charge or payment; spec. in Sc. Law, a payment due from a tenant or vassal on the occurrence of certain casual events. casualty of wards: feudal incidents accruing to superiors in ward holdings.
1529W. Frankeleyn in Fiddes Wolsey (1726) II. 166 Worthe two hundrethe markes a yere of standyng rents by⁓sids casualties. 1643Prynne Sov. Power Parl. ii. 57 The Chauncellor..alleaging that the King was much endebted, and that he had neede retaine such casualties to himselfe. 1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6378/3 His Majesty's Land Rents and Casualties in Scotland. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. (1817) 225 The King received the feudal casualties of the ward. 1887Pall Mall G. 4 Aug. 2/1 This right..the casualty of composition on the estate passing to a singular successor, was so irregular in its incidence, and so arbitrary, that it has been so constantly evaded, whether rightly or wrongly, as never to constitute an appreciable addition to the value of the feudal superior's income.
5. Mining. (See quot.)
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Casualty, in the tin-mines, a word used to denote the earth and stony matter which is, by washing in the stamping-mills, etc., separated from the tin ore, before it is dried and goes to the crazing mill. [In Phil. Trans. (1678) XII. 952, and Bradley Fam. Dict. (1725) called causalty.]
6. attrib., as in casualty ward, the ward in a hospital in which accidents are treated; similarly casualty nurse, casualty sister; casualty insurance (chiefly U.S.) = accident insurance (accident n. 10); casualty list, a list of the dead, wounded, etc. in an engagement or campaign; so casualty returns; casualty man = casual n. 3.
1836–7Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 147/1 We were conducted to the casualty ward in which she was lying. 1846Colburn's United Service Mag. May 127 Casualty Return. 1864Standing Orders, Dress Regul. Artillery 73 The casualty returns being the documents on which the correctness of Brigade Records mainly depends. Ibid. 173 (in List of Periodical Returns) Casualty list. 1885Barthol. Hosp. Rep. XXI. 89 The casualty department of St. Bartholomew's. 1887Beatrice Potter in 19th Cent. Oct. 489 A considerable number of men, possessing a preferred right to employment, act as an intermediate class between the permanent staff and the ‘casualty’ men. 1896Daily News 17 June 8/3 The casualty nurse. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 509/2 Another large class of casualty insurance applies to various forms of damage to property. 1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House p. xxii, The emotional strain, complicated by the offended economic sense, produced by the casualty lists. 1925W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xxix. 294 He performed three minor operations, with the..casualty-sister assisting him with critical and voiceless composure. 1958L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari i. 22, I have forgotten the precise extent of the casualty list but I remember there were..several horses among the dead.
¶ Erroneous for causality; cf. casual 8.
1635Swan Spec. M. (1670) 296 The same thing may be both a sign and a cause..And therefore when the stars are called signs, their casualty is not excluded. 1668Howe Bless. Righteous (1825) 51 Its casualty is that of an objective cause..that operates only as it is apprehended.
▸ Med. Also with capital initial. A casualty ward or department in a hospital (see sense 6); a hospital ward or department providing emergency assessment and treatment. Cf. accident and emergency n. at accident n. Additions.
1927J. E. Stone Hosp. Organization & Managem. v. 88 The casualty also has its own dispensary and a surgery for the supply of dressings. 1968J. Bell Death of Con Man iv. 46, I was in charge of—of your late nephew's case. In Casualty, I mean, after the accident. 1974P. White Let. 20 Jan. (1994) xii. 433 We rushed up to St Vincent's casualty where he spent about an hour and a half. 1990Health Educ. Jrnl. 49 161/2 Serious cases will be missed if too many patients are dissuaded from self-referring to casualty for trivial problems. 1998T. McHale Casualty (BBC TV post-production script) 13th Ser. Episode 1. 34 You don't come to casualty for a termination. |