| 释义 |
▪ I. climax, n.|ˈklaɪmæks|
Also 6–7 cly-.
[a. L. clīmax, a. Gr. κλῖµαξ ladder, (in Rhetoric) climax. The two uses 3 and 4 are due to popular ignorance and misuse of the learned word; they are not mentioned in Johnson, nor in Todd 1818.]
I. Properly.
1. Rhet. A figure in which a number of propositions or ideas are set forth so as to form a series in which each rises above the preceding in force or effectiveness of expression; gradation.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 217 A figure which..by his Greeke and Latine originals..may be called the marching figure..it may aswell be called the clyming figure, for Clymax is as much to say as a ladder. 1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 94. 1681 R. Burthogge Argument (1684) 10 This is the Clymax; if Believers, then Christ's; if Christ's, then Abraham's Seed; if Abraham's Seed, then Heirs according to the Promise. 1748J. Mason Elocut. 29 In a Climax, the Voice should always rise with it. 1828Whately Rhet. in Encycl. Metrop. 264/1 The well-known Climax of Cicero in the Oration against Verres. 1876Gladstone Synchr. Homer 151 The whole passage as to the gifts of Agamemnon is in the nature of a climax.
†2. gen. An ascending series or scale. Obs.
1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. vi. 63 Expressions for the whole Climax of sensibility. 1793Burke Let. W. Windham in Corr. (1844) IV. 135 The top of the climax of their wickedness.
II. Popularly.
3. The last or highest term of a rhetorical climax.
1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Cockayne Wks. (Bohn) II. 65 When he adds epithets of praise, his climax is ‘so English’. 1865R. W. Dale Jew. Temp. xxiv. (1877) 275 This is the terrible close of the argument, the climax of the protracted appeal.
4. a. gen. The highest point of anything reached by gradual ascent; the culmination, height, acme, apex.
1789Trifler 448 No. XXXV, In the accomplishment of this, they frequently reach the climax of absurdity. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) v. Concl., Considering them [stage-coaches] as the very climax and pinnacle of locomotive griefs. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. (1858) Introd. 26 Jerusalem is the climax of the long ascent. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. iii. 76 He was..at the very climax of his prosperity.
b. Ecology. The point in the ecological succession at which a plant-community reaches a state of equilibrium with its environment, able to reproduce itself indefinitely under existing conditions. Also attrib.
1915Bull. Illinois State Lab. July 17 The succession of associations leading to a climax represents the process of adjustment to the conditions of stress, and the climax represents a condition of relative equilibrium. Climax associations..are the resultants of certain climatic, geological..conditions. 1916F. E. Clements Plant Succession vi. 105 Every complete sere ends in a climax. 1916[see association 12]. 1929Weaver & Clements Plant Ecol. iv. 75 On soils long formed the major portions of the area are usually covered with the stabilized or climax vegetation. 1952P. W. Richards Tropical Rain Forest i. 1 Evergreen forest is the climax vegetation of the equatorial climate. Ibid. iii. 40 Since the Tropical Rain forest is a climatic climax, it must, by definition, be in a state of equilibrium.
c. Physiol. = orgasm n. 2.
1918M. C. Stopes Married Love v. 50 In many cases the man's climax comes so swiftly that the woman's reactions are not nearly ready. 1949M. Mead Male & Female xiv. 294 The doctrine that women should have climaxes just like men. 1950[see clitoral a.]. 1963in A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex 65 Sexual intercourse may be pleasurable to and sought for by women who do not experience a climax.
▪ II. ˈclimax, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. properly.
a. intr. To ascend in a climax, rise by successive steps.
b. trans. To arrange in a climax or ascending gradation.
a1849Poe Peter Snook Wks. 1864 IV. 398 A masterly climaxing of points. 1861Macm. Mag. III. 444 This end [of G. Eliot's ‘Mill on the Floss’] is very fine. Towards it the tale has gradually climaxed.
2. popularly.
a. intr. To come to a culmination, to culminate.
b. trans. To bring to a culmination.
1835Marryat Pacha v, Guilt..which he had climaxed by the denial of his Redeemer. 1882Century Mag. XXV. 111 The excitement..climaxed suddenly in her presence. 1886Tupper My Life 182 Thus losing the splendid scenery climaxed by the Devil's Bridge.
Add:[2.] c. intr. To achieve sexual climax; = orgasm v.
1975R. H. Rimmer Premar Experiments (1976) i. 24 I'd rather have seen the same movie a few weeks later for one dollar and discovered what it was like to climax with him doing it to me. 1982S. Conran Lace iv. 228 After he climaxed, he kissed her gently on the lips. 1986C. Clarke Rasputin Letter i. 16 From the moment she opened her parachute, forty-five seconds later..she climaxed two, three, even four times. |