| 释义 |
▪ I. circumference, n.|səˈkʌmfərəns|
In 6 cercumferens, cyrcompherence.
[a. F. circonférence, or ad. L. circumferentia (also linea circumferens), f. circum round, about + fer-re to bear. The literal sense in L. would have been ‘a bearing (of anything) about’; but the word arose as a late literal transl. of Gr. περιϕέρεια rotundity, outer surface, periphery, n. of state f. περιϕερής turning round, round, surrounding.]
1. The line that forms the encompassing boundary, esp. of anything of a rounded form; compass, circuit. spec. in Geom. The curved line which forms the boundary of a circle or other closed curve; also, rarely, the aggregate of the sides of a rectilineal figure; periphery.
1393Gower Conf. III. 90 The cercle and the circumference Of every thing unto the heven. 1413Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. i. (1859) 70 In the circumference of eueriche of these cercles, was sette a lytel Cercle. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 249 The Spanyardes and Portugales compased the hole circumference of the worlde. 1570Billingsley Euclid i. def. xv. 3 A circle is a plaine figure, conteyned vnder one line, which is called a circumference. 1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. iv. 77 The spokes of a wheel moue faster neere the circumference. 1806Hutton Course Math. I. 37 Of a Circular Ring, or..the Space included between the Circumferences of two Circles. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. & Ferns 309 It thus embraces..the whole circumference of the node.
b. Measure or distance round.
1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 225 Of greater circumference then the heade of a man. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 1 Two fair eyes..of the circumference of a spangle. 1718Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlix. 65 Strabo calls Carthage forty miles in circumference. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 199 The circumference of the mass of land was nearly three miles.
2. In looser use:
†a. A part of the circumference, an arc. Obs.
1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 181 The crooked line which terminates the circle [is] the perimeter; and every part of that crooked line, a circumference or arch.
†b. The surface of a body having a circular or rounded section, e.g. a sphere, cylinder, etc. Obs.
1615Crooke Body of Man 71 From the Center to the Circumference of the body. 1627F. E. Hist. Edw. II (1680) 28 In the circumference of his Brain he cannot finde a way to lead him out. 1704Newton Opticks (J.), The bubble..seemed red at its apparent circumference. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 39 There is great heat in the bowels of the earth, which is constantly expanding from the centre to the circumference.
†c. Put for the whole circle. Obs. rare.
1667Milton P.L. i. 286 His ponderous shield.. Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the Moon.
3. gen. Compass, bound, enclosure.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. v. 113 To be compass'd like a good Bilbo in the circumference of a Pecke. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. ix. 49 A Civil War raging within the very Circumference of her Walls. 1857H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets II. i. 249 Wrapped in the little circumference of a tuft of grass.
4. That which surrounds, environment. rare.
1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §51 Every devil is an Hell unto himselfe; he..needs not the misery of circumference to afflict him. 1825Southey Tale Paraguay ii. 11 A wide circumference of woodlands waste.
†5. A circuit; a roundabout or circuitous course.
1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. 209 From Calys I haue set the cyrcuyte or the cercumferens of Europ..and am come to Calys agayn. c1600Distracted Emp. v. iv, in Bullen Old Pl. (1884) III. 259 What a lardge passage or cyrcompherence Theise prynces make to come unto the way Which lyes before theire nosses! 1647H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iii. xiv, Thus all things in distinct circumference Move about Him that satisfies them all. 1700Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 720 He took a circumference, and came upon the back of their camp and surprized them.
†b. Roundabout process, ado about a thing.
1666Third Advice Painter 27 Some Pattents pass with less circumference.
6. fig. (Usually opposed to centre n. 6, 11 b.)
1605Thynne Advocate in Animadv. Introd. 111 Which [clemency] from the centre of your bounty doth spreade it self into the circumference of all orders of your subjectis. a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet Wks. 1721 III. 167 Grief the circumference was, the centre joy. 1827Pollok Course T. ix, To send his glaring eye Beyond the wide circumference of his woe. 1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 430.
▪ II. cirˈcumference, v. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To form the circumference of, to encompass.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. ii. 57 Nor is the vigour of this great body included only in i[t]s selfe, or circumferenced by its surface. 1887Talmage in Voice 15 Dec. 7 The earth is diametered and circumferenced with discord. |