| 释义 |
quaternary, a. and n.|kwəˈtɜːnərɪ|
[ad. L. quaternāri-us, f. quaternī four together, by fours. Cf. F. quaternaire (1515).]
A. adj.
1. a. Consisting of four things or parts; characterized by the number four; † quaternary compound, a combination of four chemical elements or radicals. (This sense is now Obs. in Chem.)
quaternary number, usually = 4, but sometimes taken as = 10 (see B).
1605Timme Quersit. i. xi. 45 To appoynt a quaternarie number of elements, out of the quaternary number of the fower qualities. 1695F. Gregory Doctr. Trin. 63 We read what great respect Pythagoras and his sect had for their quaternary number. 1825T. Thomson 1st Princ. Chem. I. 37 Ammonia is a quaternary compound, consisting of 1 atom azote and 3 atoms hydrogen. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 14 The quaternary number of the divisions of the flower. 1872Oliver Elem. Bot. i. ii. 17 The nitrogen occurs combined with the same three elements, forming a quaternary compound.
b. Chem. Of ammonium and phosphonium ions and salts: in which the central atom forms four bonds to organic radicals; also applied to the central atom, and extended to analogous compounds of other elements. Of a carbon atom: bonded to four other carbon atoms.
1871Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXIV. 570 Hofmann considers that Drechsel and Finkelstein had tertiary and quaternary phosphonium salts under examination, and not a salt of the primary phosphine. 1871Chem. News 9 June 275/1 Quaternary substitution. 1903A. J. Walker tr. Holleman's Text-bk. Org. Chem. I. 46 A carbon atom which is only linked to one other carbon atom is called primary... If it is linked..to four, quaternary. 1910N. V. Sidgwick Org. Chem. Nitrogen ii. 22 The quaternary hydroxides are strong bases. 1951I. L. Finar Org. Chem. I. xxx. 622 Pyridine forms quaternary salts when heated with alkyl halides, e.g., pyridine methiodide or N-methyl-pyridinium iodide, C5H5N+·CH3{cb}I-. 1955J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 879 Quaternary ammonium germicides have received considerable attention in the past 10 years in relation to their use as sterilising compounds. 1972Cotton & Wilkinson Adv. Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) xiii. 390 The stibonium compounds are the most difficult to prepare and are the least common. These quaternary salts, excepting the hydroxides,..are white crystalline compounds. 1972Materials & Technol. V. x. 304 Among the more complex quaternary surfactants are some which include two quaternary nitrogen atoms. 1975Gutsche & Pasto Fund. Org. Chem. iii. 61 If it carries no hydrogen but is attached to four carbons it is called a ‘quaternary carbon’.
2. Geol. Used, with the sense of ‘fourth in order’, as an epithet of the most recent of the geological periods (following on the Tertiary), and of the deposits, animals, etc., belonging to it. Also absol.
1843W. Humble Dict. Geol. 216 Quaternary formations. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. viii. 198 The instruments of the Drift, or Quaternary deposits. 1871Darwin Desc. Man I. vii. 237 The quaternary race of the caverns of Belgium. 1880A. R. Wallace Isl. Life xxi. 448 Deposits which may be of Quaternary or even of Pliocene age. 1910Encycl. Brit. II. 344/2 The beginning of archaeology..may be broadly held to follow on the last of the geological periods, viz., the Quaternary. 1946L. D. Stamp Britain's Struct. & Scenery ii. 16 The Quaternary is not really comparable in duration or importance with the other great eras. 1977A. Hallam Understanding Earth 234 The Pleistocene is a subdivision embracing the period from the beginning of the Quaternary until 10,000 years ago.
3. a. Of or belonging to the fourth order or rank; fourth in a series. Also spec. (see quot. 1961).
1874H. W. Beecher Plymouth Pulpit II. 486 The first comprehensive determination breaks itself up into subsidiary determinations, so that the primary will becomes secondary, the secondary becomes tertiary, and the tertiary quaternary. 1924O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. vii. 96 A tertiary word may be further defined by a (quaternary) word, and this again by a (quinary) word. Ibid. 97 Quaternary words..may be termed sub-subjuncts. 1961J. Gottman Megalopolis xi. 576 One wonders whether a new distinction should not be introduced in all the mass of nonproduction employment: a differentiation between tertiary services—transportation, trade in the simpler sense of direct sales, maintenance, and personal services—and a new and distinct quaternary family of economic activities—services that involve transactions, analysis, research, or decision-making, and also education and government. Such quaternary types require more intellectual training and responsibility. 1973New Society 15 Nov. 386/3 The ‘tertiary’ sector contains at least three divisions—‘tertiary’ proper..; ‘quaternary’ (information exchange and decision-making); and ‘quinary’ (research, development and education). 1975J. B. Goddard Office Location in Urban & Regional Devel. ii. 11 The intra-urban location of head office functions and of independent firms in the quaternary sector.
b. Biochem. quaternary structure, the relative configuration of polypeptide sub-units in a protein molecule, being structure of an order higher than the tertiary.
1958J. D. Bernal in Discussions Faraday Soc. XXV. 14 (caption) Hierarchy of polymer complexes:..(d) quaternary structure (homogeneous type), linked groups of tertiary molecules, haemoglobin structure..; (e) quaternary structure (heterogeneous type)—linking of different types of ternary protein and primary ribonuclease, tobacco mosaic virus. 1964G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. iv. 81 The presence of the nucleic acid chain apparently increases the cohesion between sub-units in successive turns of the helical quaternary structure. 1977Lancet 26 Nov. 1116/1 The four glycoprotein hormones..possess a common quaternary structure characterised by two dissimilar polypeptide chains called the α and β subunits.
B. n.
1. A set of four (things); the number four.
quaternary of numbers, the Pythagorean τετρακτύς, or 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.
c1430Art of Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 8 Withdraw ther-for the quaternary, of the article of his denominacion twies, of .40., And ther remaynethe .32. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1310 The quaternarie is the first square or quadrate number. a1638Mede Wks. (1672) 654 In which Quaternary of Kingdoms..the Roman, being the Last of the Four, is the Last Kingdom. 1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 438 According to quaternaries, or septenaries [of days] after the nature of the disease. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 44 They are regarded with as much veneration as were the disciples of Pythagoras..when initiated into the sacred quaternary of numbers. 1845Day An. Chem. I. 141 Thus quaternary compounds may be split into several quaternaries with the same or a different radical.
2. Gram. In Jespersen's terminology: a word or phrase that belongs to the fourth order or rank.
1937O. Jespersen Analytic Syntax 121 The possibility of having quaternaries, quinaries, and so forth. 1946― Mod. Eng. Gram. V. i. 3 In other combinations we may have quaternaries or quinaries, e.g. a not (5) particularly (4) well (3) constructed (2) plot (1).
3. Chem. A quaternary ammonium compound.
1947Ann. Rev. Microbiol. I. 173 Jacobs and associates..studied the relation between structure and bactericidal effects in the hexamethylene tetramine groups. This was followed in 1928 by Hartmann & Kägi's work..with other quaternaries. 1955J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 880 The degree to which complexes of this kind will be found depends upon the particular quaternary used. 1968Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) XVI. 860 Some quaternaries form hydrates or other solvates. |