| 释义 |
quantify, v.|ˈkwɒntɪfaɪ|
[ad. med.L. quantificāre (Du Cange), f. quant-us how great: see quantity and -fy.]
1. Logic. To make explicit the extent to which a term is referred to in a proposition, by prefixing all or some or an equivalent word to the term.
c1840Sir W. Hamilton Logic App. (1866) II. 261 Ordinary language quantifies the Predicate so often as this determination becomes of the smallest import. Ibid. 272 Let us..overtly quantify the subject..and say, All men are animals. 1864Bowen Logic v. 127 They further maintain, that the Predicate is never quantified particularly in a Negative Judgment. 1887[see indefinite a. 4].
2. To determine the quantity of, to measure.
1878Lockyer Stargazing 152 The magnification..of space, which enables minute portions of it to be most accurately quantified. 1882Piazzi Smith in Nature XXVI. 551 A meteorological spectroscope..may also..be able to quantify..the proportions of such aërial supply of water-gas. 1949Cape Argus 5 Nov. 5/4 It pleased them immensely..to hear him [sc. Winston Churchill] fall on Sir Stafford Cripps for having recently used the word ‘quantify’. 1962Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Nov. 875/1 Though we can list all these factors, we cannot quantify them. 1971I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth 40 Studies using the law of superposition and fossil faunas and floras could only produce a relative time scale, and efforts were made during the 19th and early 20th centuries to quantify it. 1971Country Life 3 June 1350/1 What is so often missing from the survey equation is..an adequate technique for quantifying the results. 1977Modern Railways Dec. 472/3 Railfreight's performance in chemicals transport is hard to quantify in terms of market share. 1979Dædalus Summer 76 Lear is quantifying love, confusing it with other things that can be measured.
Hence ˈquantifying ppl. a.
1847Sir W. Hamilton Let. to A. de Morgan 43 Logicians..have referred the quantifying predesignations plurimi, and the like, to the most opposite heads. 1955A. N. Prior Formal Logic 210 The presence..of..a quantifying element. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Jan. 104/4 Those who would expect the author..to have little regard for received wisdoms or sacred cows (or even quantifying historians) will not be disappointed. |