| 释义 |
comprehension|kɒmprɪˈhɛnʃən|
In 5 -cion.
[ad. L. comprehensiōn-em a seizing, comprising, n. of action f. comprehendĕre to comprehend. Cf. F. comprehension (15th c. in Littré), which may be the origin of some Eng. uses.]
I. Inclusion, comprising.
1. The action of comprehending, comprising, or including; the fact or condition of being so comprehended or comprised in a treatise, classification, description, proposition, etc.
1541Wyatt Defence Wks. (1861) p. xxxviii, I should wish..that the king should be left out of the comprehension. 1543[see comprehense]. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 1 Questions are called infinite, whiche..are propounded, without comprehension of time, place, and persone. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xx. 6 In the Old Testament there is a close comprehension of the New, in the New an open discovery of the Old. 1644Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 98/1 A better education, in extent and comprehension far more large. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 175 ⁋3 The excellence of aphorisms consists..in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in a few words. 1858J. Martineau Studies Chr. 173 If in the one we see humanity at head-quarters in time, in the other we see it at head-quarters in comprehension.
b. Rhet. (See quots.)
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 107 b, Comprehension is when bothe the above rehersed figures [i.e. Repetition and Conversion] are..used, so that bothe one first worde must ofte be rehersed, and likewise al one last worde. What winneth the hartes of men? Liberalitie. What continueth the estate of a king? Liberalitie, etc. 1727–51Chambers Cycl., Comprehension, a trope, or figure, whereby the name of a whole is put for a part; or that of a part for a whole. 1755Johnson cites Harris.
c. Eng. Hist. Ecclesiastical inclusion; esp. the inclusion of Nonconformists within the Established Church by enlarging the terms of ecclesiastical communion.
1667–8Pepys Diary 5 Feb., An Act of Comprehension is likely to pass this Parliament for admitting of all persuasions in religion to the public observation of their particular worship. 1680Baxter Cath. Commun. (1684) 13 The restoring of Nonconformists, by..a Comprehension. 1738Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 277 The conference between the Episcopal and Presbyterian Divines about a Comprehension. 1828Lamb Let. to B. Barton 5 Dec., I am for a comprehension, as divines call it; but so as that the Church shall go a good deal more than half way over to the silent Meeting-house. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 495 The pertinacity with which the High Church party..refused even to deliberate on any plan of Comprehension.
2. The faculty or quality of comprehending; inclusive force; comprehensiveness.
1614Selden Titles Hon. 75 Those names..are of much narrower comprehension. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. III. 515 The Love of God..is of vast Comprehension. 1779–81Johnson L.P. Dryden Wks. II. 387 The affluence and comprehension of our language is..displayed in our poetical translations of Ancient Writers. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 73 Words..of the widest comprehension, or rather extending to the whole duty of a good and honourable man.
†3. A comprehensive arrangement, summation, summary of any matter. Obs.
c1600Rogers (J.), We must..fix on this wise and religious aphorism in my text, as the sum and comprehension of all. 1659Pearson Creed To Rdr., The Creed..is a brief comprehension of the objects of our Christian faith. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth II. 208 That grand idea..is the treasury and comprehension of all knowledge.
4. Logic. The sum of the attributes comprehended in a notion or concept; intension.
1725Watts Logic i. iii. §3 In universal Ideas it is proper to consider their Comprehension and their Extension. 1836Sir W. Hamilton Logic viii, The Internal Quantity of a notion,—its Intension or Comprehension, is made up of..the various characters connected by the concept itself into a single whole in thought. 1885Veitch Instit. Logic §238 In Comprehension, the individual..contains a sum of attributes.
II. Mental grasping, understanding.
5. a. The action or fact of comprehending with the mind; understanding.
15..Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) 10 For crafte nor for cuninge, [Cas]te never comprehencion. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 92 νοησις, Intelligence, which they make to be a comprehension of the first principes of Science. 1729Butler Serm. Pref. Wks. 1874 II. 8 The title of Sermons gives some right to expect what is plain and of easy comprehension. 1769Burke Late State Nation Wks. 1842 I. 109 Deficiency of temper and judgment, and manly comprehension of the publick interest. 1882Besant All Sorts 110 No men are so solemn..as the dull of comprehension.
b. The ability to understand a passage of text and answer questions on it, esp. as a school or psychological exercise; a test of this ability. Freq. attrib., as comprehension test, etc.
1921C. L. Burt Mental & Scholastic Tests iii. iii. 275 A comprehension test is best framed upon the principle of a ‘directions’ test. 1960P. E. Vernon Intelligence & Attainment Tests iv. 58 British Army & Navy psychologists during the war often used Comprehension, Vocabulary and Block Design [tests]. 1965W. H. N. Hotopf Lang., Thought & Comprehension v. 130 This contrasts with the current approach to the teaching of comprehension. One has only to think of the neat gobbets of factual writing of which most comprehension tests are composed to be aware of the difference. 1981C. Ward Preparing & using Objective Questions ix. 95 (heading) Setting comprehension and application questions.
6. The mental state or condition of comprehending (often viewed as a property which one may have); an adequate notion.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxiii. §1 The comprehension which she hath of God. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 39 Mechanicke and vulgar heads ascend not unto such comprehensions. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 429 A subject of which he has not the most distant comprehension. 1875H. Spencer First Princ. i. iv. §23. 70 What has changed your state from one of perplexity to one of comprehension? Mod. To attain to a full comprehension of the subject.
7. The faculty of grasping with the mind, power of receiving and containing ideas, mental grasp.
a1662Heylin Laud i. 211 A work..not to be entertained by a man of such narrow comprehensions, as were ascribed unto him..by one of the Peers. 1736Butler Anal. i. vii, A scheme, or constitution, beyond our comprehension. 1795Roscoe Lorenzo de' Medici x, Exhibiting..depth of penetration..and comprehension of mind. 1889H. B. Wheatley How to Catalogue 3 To think that every thing is to be brought down to the comprehension of the fool.
† III. 8. Physical grasping, compression. Obs.
1656More Antid. Ath. ii. ii. Philos. Writ. (1712) 45 Such a comprehension of the Particle [of air] as there is in the hairs of a lock of Wool. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 54, I must have made some slight efforts toward a closer comprehension of her hand. |