| 释义 |
comprehend, v.|kɒmprɪˈhɛnd|
[ad. L. comprehend-ĕre to grasp, seize, comprise, f. com- + prehendĕre to seize. The Fr. repr. of the L. is comprendre (cf. comprend); but OF. had also comprehender as a learned adaptation of the L., which may have been partly the source of this.
(The order of appearance of the senses in Eng. was not that of the original development in Latin: some senses, as 2, appeared early through literalism of translation: others, as 4, because a word was wanted for such at the time, while there was no such want in sense 1.)]
I. To seize, grasp, lay hold of, catch.
†1. trans. To lay hold of, to seize, to grasp; to ‘catch’, entrap. Obs.[Of late and rare occurrence.] 1584Cecil in Neal Hist. Purit. (1732) I. 426 The Inquisition of Spain used not so many questions to comprehend and trap their priests. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. ix. Repentance §7 Though thou art almost in the embraces of death, yet thou shalt be comprehended of immortality. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 216 They..comprehend the Veins about the throat.
†b. As an illiterate blunder for apprehend.
1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 25 You shall comprehend all vagrom men. Ibid. iii. v. 50 Our watch sir haue indeede comprehended two aspitious persons.
†2. To overtake, come up with and seize. Obs.[A literalism of translation.] 1382Wyclif Philipp. iii. 12, I sue if on ony maner I schal comprehende [Vulg. comprehendam, Gr. καταλάβω] and in what thing I am comprehendid of Crist Jhesu. 1557N. T. (Genev.) ibid., I folowe, if that I may comprehende that for whose sake I am comprehended of Christ Iesus. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 561 If any man do begin to follow after either of them..he is not able to comprehend or attain them with a Horse.
†b. To overtake or attain to (something aimed at); to compass, accomplish. Obs.
In 1485 perh. ‘aim, attempt’, or ‘undertake, take in hand’.
c1450Lonelich Grail xxxvi. 638 Neuere myht Comprehende no [MS. In] Mannes Miht Swich Anothir tombe to Make. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) Mary Magd. 446 Your servant to be, I wold comprehende. 1576Fleming Panop. Epist. 81 For that whiche I was not able to comprehend and performe, I thought good, first not to touche. Ibid. 273 Such..are not sufficient to compasse that, which is in our power to comprehend.
†3. absol. To catch hold and grow, as a graft. Obs. [So in L.]
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 37 Graffyng nygh the grounde Is best, ther easily thai comprehende. Ibid. v. 46 But first this craffes [grafts] wel must comprehende.
II. To lay hold of with the mind or senses.
4. trans. To grasp with the mind, conceive fully or adequately, understand, ‘take in’. (App. the earliest sense in English.)
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7463 Þarfor swa many payns tylle þam salle falle Þat na witt may comprehende þam alle. c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. iv. 165 [Resoun] comprehendeþ by an vniuersel lokynge þe commune spece [speciem] þat is in þe singuler peces. 1401Pol. Poems (1859) II. 104 Goddis privy domes man may not comprehende. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 13 The artikillis of the crede can nocht be comprehendit be natural reasone. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. To King, Able to compass and comprehend the greatest matters, and nevertheless to touch and apprehend the least. 1628Donne Serm. 1 Cor. xiii. 12 To comprehend is to know a thing as well as that thing can be known. 1755Young Centaur i. Wks. 1757 IV. 115 Those things which our hands can grasp, our understandings cannot comprehend. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 152 Those..do not comprehend the real nature of the crisis. 1886J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts vii, Voices are calling us to some great effort..But we do not comprehend their meaning yet.
b. with obj. clause.
1547Hooper Declar. Christ viii, Mari..could not comprehend how Christ was made man in here bely. 1771Junius Lett. xlvi. 246, I cannot comprehend how it can honestly be disputed. 1850Prescott Peru II. 63 He perfectly comprehended that the drift of the discourse was to persuade him to resign his sceptre. 1859Mill Liberty iii. (1865) 33/1 The majority..cannot comprehend why those ways should not be good enough for everybody.
c. To understand (a person).
1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxiv. 171, I expressed a hope that he did comprehend me. 1886Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 16 Without comprehending her, the soldiers crowded around her.
5. To grasp, take in, or apprehend with the senses, esp. sight. [L. comprehendere visu.]
c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. iv. 164 Þe touchinge cliuiþ and conioigneþ to þe rounde body and..comprehendiþ by parties þe roundenesse. Ibid. Þe wit comprehendiþ..þe figure of þe body of þe man þat is establissed in þe matere subiect. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 195 Say what the use, were finer optics giv'n, To inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav'n. 1867Howells Ital. Journ. iii. 14 The vision of Tasso could..comprehend the lady at her casement in the castle.
III. To take in, comprise, include, contain.
†6. To lay hold of all the points of (any thing) and include them within the compass of a description or expression; to embrace or describe summarily; summarize; sum up. Obs.
c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 903, I haue no wytte that kan suffyse To comprehende hir beautie. c1374― Anel. & Arc. 83 And shortly if she shal be comprehended, In her ne mighte no-thing been amended. 1382Wyclif Dan. vii. 1 The visioun..he wrytynge comprehendide in short word. 1611Bible Rom. xiii. 9. 1612 Bacon Ess., Empire (Arb.) 309 All preceptes concernyng kinges, are in effect comprehended, in those two Remembrances.
7. To include or comprise in a treatise or discourse: now more usually said of the book, etc.
1382Wyclif 2 Macc. ii. 24 To abregge in to oo boke, thingus comprehendid of Jason of Cyrenen in fyue bokis. 1443Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc.) 132 A some of mone that is comprehend in my wyll. c1530Egyngecourte 366 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 107 In this boke I cannot comprehende..y⊇ sege of Rone. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. Title-p., The second Volume comprehendeth the principall Navigations..to the South. 1709Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 252 'Tis a most pernicious Book, comprehending several strange Doctrines. 1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 267 The fourth chapter comprehends; 1st, The chief affections, etc.
b. To include in scope, application, or meaning.
c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋447 In þe name of þi neighboure is comprehended his enemye. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 170 Comprehendyng..in our prayer all the chirche of christianite. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 3 These two..though they be both comprehended vnder one name. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvii. 154 Poore, obscure, and simple men, comprehended under the name of the Vulgar. 1717Col. Rec. Penn. III. 38 Their..Circumstances are not Comprehended within the terms of his Majesties Proclamacon. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man 6 A single term to comprehend both divisions of the..period.
c. To include in the same category.
1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) II. xv. 203 Far from comprehending him or his sister in their father's misconduct.
8. Of a space, period, or amount: To take in, contain, comprise, include.
1393Gower Conf. III. 117 The signes..Eche after other..The zodiaque comprehendeth Within his cercle. 1535Coverdale 2 Chron. ii. 6 The heauens of all heauens maye not comprehende him. 1594Blundevil Exerc. i. v. (ed. 7) 14, 5 is comprehended in 48, 9 times. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. §4 The age which passed..comprehending a succession of six princes. 1675Hobbes Odyssey iv, As much as both his hands could comprehend. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. i. 179 Egypt comprehended anciently..a prodigious number of cities. 1878Tait & Stewart Unseen Univ. ii. §86. 96 The visible universe cannot comprehend the whole works of God.
b. transf. and fig.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 1638 As muche ioye as herte may comprehende. 1642Perkins Prof. Bk. iv. §261 Every exchange comprehends in it a condition. 1667Milton P.L. v. 505 Enjoy Your fill what happiness this happie state Can comprehend. 1713Guardian No. 1 ⁋5 All sorrows..are comprehended in the sense of guilt and pain. 1857H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets ii. 77 The higher works of art comprehend a fund of intellectual interest inexhaustible.
9. To enclose or include in or within limits.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. (MS. A.) 123 Þe..drie pelewe..schal comprehende þe tweie wete & bynde hem faste. c1400Three Kings Cologne 55 Seynt Elene comprehendide þis hille of Caluarie and þe sepulcre of Crist and oþer holy plaas in one faire chirche. 1535Coverdale Prov. xxx. 4 Who hath comprehended y⊇ waters in a garment? 1596Drayton Legends iii. 452 Some swelling source (Whose plentie none can comprehend in bounds). 1662Brooks Wks. II. 178 As able to comprehend the sea in a cockle⁓shell. 1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. vii. 73 To comprehend it within their dominions.
b. fig. To include in a measurement or estimate; to take into account.
1643Evelyn Diary 12 Nov., The church was..80 [foote] in height, without comprehending the cover. 1791Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 96 We mean to comprehend in our calculation both the value of the thing parted with, and the value of the thing received in exchange.
10. To contain as a line or surface; to encompass; esp. in Geom.
1535Coverdale 2 Chron. iv. 3 A metelyne of thirtie cubites mighte comprehende it aboute. 1570Billingsley Euclid i. def. xxi. 4 Vnder lesse then three lines, can no figure be comprehended. 1571Digges Pantom. iv. xxiii. E e ij, Icosaedrons comprehendyng cubes side is double in power to his comprehended Octaedrons side. 1717Berkeley Tour Italy 21 Jan., There was some external wall that comprehended both rows of pillars. 1764Reid Inquiry vi. §9 Wks. I. 147/2 The visible angle comprehended under two visible right lines. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 153 The upright pieces..which comprehend the panels.
b. To enclose or have within it; to contain; to lie around. ? Obs.
1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 10 A flat grauestone, comprehending the name of the defunct. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 183 Full of golden coloured Cloves..each of which comprehends a white bone. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 2 The Air, comprehending the Earth. 1807G. Chalmers Caledonia I. i. ii. 80 A stone coffin, comprehending a human skeleton.
IV.
†11. ? To take (together). Obs. rare.
c1485Digby Myst., Mary Magd. 412 We are ryth glad we haue yow here Ower covnsell togethyr to comprehend. |