| 释义 |
▪ I. † condense, a. Obs.
[ad. L. condensus, f. con- + densus thick, dense.]
Dense, condensed.
1610W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. viii. 16 Distinguishing between open and rare soyles, and such as are condense and close. 1652Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Hist. Relat. 2 Tenacious and condence Materials. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 353. 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 69. 2/1 Your Breath is rendred..condense by the frigidity of the..Air. 1794Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 325 As from a diamond globe, with rays condense.
▪ II. condense, v.|kənˈdɛns|
[prob. ad. F. condense-r, ad. L. condensā-re, f. condens-us condense a.]
1. trans. To make dense, increase the density of; to bring the particles of (a substance) into closer aggregation, so that they occupy a smaller space; to reduce in volume; to compress, thicken, concentrate. Chiefly in Physics. (Mostly in passive.)
1477Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 77 Ayre condensed is turned into Raine, and water rarified becomes Ayre againe. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iii. (1520) 25b/2 Vyrgyll by connynge condescended [? condensed] or thycked the ayre. 1660Boyle New Expr. Phys. Mech. xviii. 130 Air..expanded or condens'd by the heat or cold. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 239 Sweet Honey some condense. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 146 A square phial may be broken by condensing the air around it. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 15 At times a person needs to condense his property into the smallest compass. 1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 243 The Borden process for condensing milk.
b. Optics. To bring (rays of light) to a focus or into a smaller space, so that the brightness is increased; to concentrate.
1787G. Adams Ess. Microscope 100 A lens..to collect and condense [the light] on the object. 1831Brewster Optics i. 9 The rays..fall upon the mirror MN, and by reflexion are condensed upon a small space at F.
c. Electr. To increase the amount or intensity of (a charge of electricity).
1782Volta in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 245 The metal plate..does actually condense or acquire a greater quantity of electricity. 1870R. M. Ferguson Electr. 94 In this manner, electricity of too low a tension to affect immediately the gold leaves can be condensed, so as to possess the power.
2. To reduce (a substance) from the form of gas or vapour to the liquid or (rarely) the solid condition, or from the state of invisible gas to that of visible vapour or cloud.
1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §5 The air was condensed into clouds. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. iii. note 1 (R.) The cold..by condensing, drives the vapours into clouds or drops. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 89 Carbonic acid gas..is not condensed at that degree of pressure and of temperature of the atmosphere in which we live. It remains in the state of gas. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 311 All the vapours which water will condense. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times xii. (1869) 391 To produce snow requires both heat and cold; the first to evaporate, the second to condense.
b. To contain in a condensed state.
1801Southey Thalaba ii. 25 A crystal ring Abdaldar wore; The powerful gem condensed Primeval dews, that upon Caucasus Felt the first winter's frost.
3. transf. and fig.
a. To bring together closely or in small compass.
1803Edin. Rev. II. 87 To condense and agglomerate every species of absurdity. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xvii, Condensed, the battle yelled amain. 1852Ld. Cockburn Jeffrey I. 142 By the young [Tories] they were viewed with genuine horror. This condensed them the more.
b. esp. To compress (thought or meaning) into few words; to reduce (a speech or writing) within smaller compass by conciseness of expression. Also absol.
1805N. Nicholls Corr. w. Gray (1843) 37 He..approved an observation of Shenstone, that ‘Pope had the art of condensing a thought’. 1854Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 419 People seem surprised at my power of condensing. 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 49 To have condensed them [his opinions] into the following plan.
c. To concentrate, intensify.
1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 125 The servile spirit of Scottish Parliaments..in the highest perfection, extracted and condensed. a1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ii. Power concentrated and condensed into the government of Rome.
4. intr. (for refl.) To become dense; to shrink into a smaller space, become reduced in volume.
1704Newton Opticks (J.), Vapours, when they begin to condense. 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. 17, 3 volumes of oxygen condense to form 2 volumes of ozone.
5. intr. of 2.
1655Culpepper, etc. Riverius i. i. 3 A hot and moist Liver..sends many vapours to the Brain, which there condense or grow thick. 1700Dryden Fables, Pythag. Philos. 384 Dew condensing does her form forego And sinks a heavy lump of earth below. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 57 Some of the moisture..in the room has condensed upon the glass.
fig.1674Govt. Tongue ix. §14 (1684) 154 When therefore the recollection of..fancied worth begins to make us aery, let us condense again by the remembrance of our sins. 1889Spectator 13 Apr., If those fancies, instead of ‘condensing,’ as they ought to condense, into healthy and robust imagination, persist in their puerile forms. |