| 释义 |
signification|sɪgnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən|
Forms: 4– signific- (5 singn-), 5 signe-, 6 signifyc-; 4–5 signyfyc-; 4 sygnyfic-, 5–6 sygnifyc-, sygnyfyc- (5 -ffyc-), 6 sygnific-; also 4 -acioun, 5 -acyoun, -aciown, 4–6 -acion, -acyon (5 -asion).
[a. OF. signification, -aciun, etc., or ad. L. significātio, noun of action f. significāre to signify.]
1. a. The fact or property of being significant or expressive of something.
a1300Cursor M. 3380 Bot þai it did for sum reson, And thoru significacion. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 96 It es noȝt done withouten a grete significacion and a grete cause. c1450Merlin ii. 38 Send after alle the gode men of thi londe to se the bataile, for it hath grete singnificacion. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 471/2 He sayth that so it might in dede, yf yt the wycked Pope had not taken away the significacions of our sacramentes from vs. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxv. §5 Ceremonies destitute of signification are no better than the idle gestures of men whose broken wits are not masters of that they do. 1643Trapp Comm. Gen. ix. 14 The Rainbow hath in it two contrary significations, viz. of rain, and fair-weather. 1788Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 290/2 An additional character..is necessary, which has no signification when placed by itself.
b. Importance, consequence, significance. Now rare or dial.
1670Clarendon Hist. Reb. xv. §42 Who, as soon as they were removed,..were found to be of no signification, or to have influence upon any men. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 276 A station of life where..gold..would be of no value.., nay, not of signification enough to make a present of. 1760Impostors Detected I. Advt. 7, I met with the following MSS. which at that time I thought of little signification. 1794Godwin Caleb Williams 84 It is no signification putting your questions to us. We only do as we are directed. 1839Sir G. C. Lewis Gloss. Heref. s.v., Of no signification, of no importance. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., It's of no signification.
c. Semiotics. The process of signifying; the production of signs.
1946C. Morris Signs, Language & Behavior iv. 111 Since a sign can denote without its interpreter knowing whether or not it denotes..it is evident that signification and knowledge are not limited to that portion of the world which acts as a direct stimulus to an interpreter's behavior. 1957J. Maritain in R. N. Anshen Language i. v. 88 Animals make use of signs without perceiving the relation of signification. To perceive the relation of signification is to have an idea, i.e., a spiritual sign. 1973Screen Spring/Summer 94 Each of them is in other contexts the signifying substance of one or more signification systems other than the cinema. Ibid. 109 In cinema signification (the process of the production of signs) is described by Metz as always more or less motivated, that is non-arbitrary.
2. That which is signified by something; meaning, import, implication. Freq. const. of.
a. Of words, etc.; spec. in Semiotics (see quots. 1964 and 1976).
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxii. (Bodl. MS.), Tabula..is in one significacioun a mete borde. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 155 Cresus askede then cownsaile of his Goddes, whiche deceyuede hym by a worde equiuocate,..hauenge diuerse significaciones. c1465Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1866) 37 This worde Anima hath many significacions. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 417/1, I sayde..that this is trewe of the vsuall significacion of these wordes themselfe in the English tounge. 1588Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. ii. 10 b, Which are Greeke woordes of like signification. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. ⁋15 Diuersitie of signification and sense in the margine..must needes doe good. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. iv. 13 The Name Body is of larger signification than the word Man. 1718Free-thinker No. 62. 47 Care was taken, that the Children..should have such Names as were of an agreeable Signification. 1769E. Bancroft Guiana 206 The Fire Snake, as it is called, from the signification of its Indian name. 1844Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 1 The form of the word, its sound and spelling, and the signification. 1881Nature XXIV. 443 As one conversant with geography in any extended signification of the word. 1964C. Morris Signification & Significance i. 3 ‘Significations’..are not ‘entities’ in any objectionable sense, but certain describable aspects of complex behavioral processes in the natural world. 1976T. Eagleton Crit. & Ideology iii. 72 The text takes as its object, not the real, but certain significations by which the real lives itself—significations which are themselves the product of its partial abolition.
b. Of things, events, etc.
c1450Lovelich Merlin 2929 Thou behyhgtest forto tellen me here the signefycaciown of the dragowns tweyne. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon vi. 152, I shall expowne and declare vnto you the signyfycasion of this dreme. 1535Coverdale Daniel ii. 6 Shewe me the dreame and the significacion of it. a1610Healey Cebes (1636) 106 Much talke had wee about the signification of this portraiture, but none could conceive truly what it should intend. a1720Sewel Hist. Quakers To the King, To dig up Antiquities from the dark, by searching out the Signification of Statues and Inscriptions. 1794T. Taylor Pausanias' Descr. Greece III. 104 The signification, too, of the entrails gave them the highest reason to hope that the gods would be propitious to them. 1855Pusey Doctr. Real. Pres. Note A. 21 The natural signification is not changed on account of a signification annexed by the institution.
3. a. A thing, event, action, etc., which is significant or expressive of something.
13..Coer de L. 339 The tayle henge to the grounde: That was sygnyfycacioun The hethene folke to brynge doun. c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 159 That dremes ben significaciouns As wel of ioye as tribulaciouns. 1470–85Malory Arthur x. lxiii. 523 The whiche was a ful wonderful beest and a grete sygnyfycacyon, for Merlyn profecyed moche of that beest. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxxxvii. [clxxxiv.] 572 As he rode forwarde in the forest of Mans, a great sygnifycacyon fell to hym. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 233 Saint Luke, & S. Paule, vse manifest tropes, figures, and significations. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 14 Other Papists teach us, that in the masse is not the very same true and reall oblation, but onely a commemoration and signification of it. 1683Perswasive to Communion 26 Are not Kneeling, and lifting up the Eyes, significations of the Reverence we owe? 1849Lytton Caxtons 16 In all these fables, certain philosophers could easily discover symbolic significations of the highest morality.
b. in signification of, in token of. rare.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §31 Now is thin Orisonte departed in 24 parties.., in significacion of 24 partiez of the world. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) A 2 In signification of the will I have to doe unto your Lordship any acceptable service.
†c. A sign, mark, indication, trace. Obs.
1576Fleming tr. Caius' Eng. Dogges (1880) 5 (So that there be some signification of bloud shed) these Dogges..can disclose & bewray the same by smelling. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 98 They have nothing but small bunches—as it were, significations of their horns to-come. Ibid. 395 A great floud of waters..swept them all away, leaving no more behinde then naked and bare significations of former buildings.
†d. A sign, gesture, cry, etc., serving to indicate desire or feeling. Obs.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 112 By his gestures and movings they conjecture his meaning..; giving..ready obedience to his significations. 1691Ray Creation i. 43 No Cruelty could be exercised towards them, which is contrary to the doleful Significations they make when beaten or tormented.
4. a. An indication or intimation of something.
1426Lydg. De. Guil. Pilgr. 22234, I..Prayed hir..That sche wolde anoon devyse There-off by exposicyoun, A cleer sygnyffycacyoun. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 209 The creaciones of wondres be causede otherwhile to the significacion of thynges to comme. 1542Hen. VIII Decl. agst. Scottes B iij, All these..gyue suche signification of theyr arrogancy, as it is necessary for vs to oppresse it in the begynning. 1586Burghley in Leicester Corr. (Camden) 306 Comming to me with signification that he was to depart erly in the next morning. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients A 3 Feeling myself inspired with courage by the signification of your noble desire.., I stoutly fell to my taske. 1674Essex Papers (Camden) I. 238 You gave me an intimation of a..Letter coming{ddd}, I returne you many thanks for this signification. 1719Col. Rec. Pennsylvania III. 73 Until further Signification of his Majestys or their Excellencys Pleasure. 1741Middleton Cicero III. ix. (ed. 3) 15 Caesar..could never draw from the people any public signification of their favour.
b. spec. Notification in proper legal form.
1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 20 §5 Letters patentes..commaundyng such archebishop, to whom any such significacion shalbe made, to confirme the said election. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 299 Patents and commandements should be held in suspence and deferred, thirtie daies after signification and knowledge of them. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., Some Significations are to be made to the Person himself; or, at least, at his House. 1881Daily News 17 Jan. 5/1 It was contended that the statutory deprivation..displaced the old proceeding by signification to the Court of Chancery.
Hence signifiˈcational a.
1953H. H. Price Thinking & Exper. iv. 117 Our question concerning the ‘tied’ (as opposed to ‘free’) character of significational thinking. |