| 释义 |
construction|kənˈstrʌkʃən|
Also 4–5 construccioun, 5–6 -cion, -cyon, 6 -tyon, -tione, etc.
[ad. L. constructiōn-em, n. of action f. construĕre to construe, construct. The F. construction is cited by Littré from 12th c., and may have been the immediate source.]
I. The action of constructing.
1. a. The action of framing, devising, or forming, by the putting together of parts; erection, building.
arch of construction: an arch built in the body of a wall or other structure, to relieve the part below it from superincumbent weight.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 19 The construccion of the cite of Rome. c1440Promp. Parv. 91 Construccyon or construynge, construccio. 1705Arbuthnot Coins (1756) 259 The Construction of Ships was forbidden to Senators. 1837H. Martineau Soc. in Amer. II. 186 From whence a [railroad] line is now in course of construction to the Hudson. 1849Freeman Archit. 198 Others have only an arch of construction above the flat lintel.
b. of immaterial objects, systems, organizations, etc.
1841Myers Cath. Th. iv. xxv. 302 The Mosaic system was the first construction of a special instrumentality for a special end.
c. The art or science of constructing.
1842–76Gwilt Encycl. Arch. Gloss., Construction..amongst architects is more particularly used to denote the art of distributing the different forces and strains of the parts and materials of a building in so scientific a manner as to avoid failure and insure durability. 1864C. Vaux Villas & Cottages 70 To study the capabilities and varieties of wooden construction. 1891Graphic 28 Feb., [The] Assistant-Controller of the Navy and Director of Naval Construction, who has designed the new ships.
2. a. The manner in which a thing is artificially constructed or naturally formed; structure, conformation, disposition.
1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 28 The Order and..Construction of their essential or organical Parts. 1791Gentl. Mag. LXI. ii. 769 To build it [a dry dock] with a timberfloor of a new and peculiar construction. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 461 The bad construction of the hospitals. 1866Engel Nat. Mus. i. 15 The rather unusual rhythmical construction of six bars in the first part, and eight in the second. a1871T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 331 Beneath the mandibles is situated another pair of jaws, of similar construction.
b. The mental building up of materials; constructive faculty.
1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. vii. 119 At last he burst forth with an immense deal of science and a great want of construction, a want which scientific men often experience.
3. Geom.
a. The action or method of drawing a figure for the purpose of solving a problem or proving a proposition.
1570Billingsley Euclid i. i. 9 Then is set the construction of suche things which are necessary ether for the doing of the proposition or for the demonstration. 1660Barrow Euclid i. ii, The construction, and the demonstration, are every where alike. 1840Lardner Geom. 133 Of the construction of equal and similar figures. 1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 57 Graphic construction for Resultant Acceleration.
b. Naut. ‘The method of ascertaining a ship's course by trigonometrical diagrams’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
1828J. H. Moore Pract. Navig. 41 By construction.
c. construction of equations: see quot.
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Construction of equations, is the method of reducing a known equation into lines, and figures; whereby the truth of the rule, canon, or equation, may be demonstrated geometrically.
d. transf.
1884tr. Lotze's Logic 123 A generic concept derived from experience, the inner organisation of which can only be represented imperfectly by description, not exactly by construction.
4. a. A thing constructed; a material structure; a formation of the mind or genius.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 424 The subterraneous constructions of Italy are as stupendous as those above ground. 1862M. Hopkins Hawaii 71 A number of other constructions were discovered. 1875Maine Hist. Inst. i. 11 The Brehon laws are in no sense a legislative construction.
b. A mechanical structure used in a stage setting, or forming the setting itself.
1924H. Carter New Theatre Soviet Russia 71 Instead of painted planes he [sc. Meierhold] uses constructions in volumes made of wood, iron and other suitable material. Ibid. 72 Construction as it is now understood as an aid to acting and nothing more..arrived in April, 1922. 1929― New Spirit Russ. Theatre 221 The bridge of Life and Death that forms the chief construction on the Japanese stage. 1929Encycl. Brit. XXII. 34/2 High platforms, skeletonized structures, inclined planes, all manner of bare, unsentimentalized construction provide the footing as well as the background for the actors.
c. Art. A sculptural creation, composed from a number of pieces, often of different material, and usually non-representational.
1944H. Read in Horizon July 63 Dear Gabo,..it is easier for me to sympathize with those lovers of art who but dimly apprehend the formal unity of one of your constructions. 1956F. Gore Abstract Art 30 Arp is opposed to the ‘technoid’ constructions of Mondrian. 1964H. Read Hist. Mod. Sculpture iii. 89 From 1914 onwards a group of artists in Moscow attempted to apply engineering techniques to the construction of sculpture, and the objects thus made were called ‘constructions’.
II. The action of construing, and connected senses.
5. Gram.
a. The action of syntactically arranging words in a sentence; ‘the putting of words, duly chosen, together in such a manner as is proper to convey a complete sense’ (J.).
1591Percivall Sp. Dict. E. iij, Construction is the apt ioining of words in framing of a sentence. 1612Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 52. 1657 J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 130 Prolepsis is also a figure of Construction. 1751Chambers Cycl., Construction..the arranging and connecting the words of a sentence, according to the rules of the language.
b. The syntactical connexion between verbs and their objects or complements, adjectives and their extensions, prepositions and objects, etc.
(In this Dictionary the principal constructions of verbs, adjectives, etc., are given under the various senses, marked Const.)
1530Palsgr. 137 There is nat a more straunger construction in all this tonge. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. lv. 20, I cannot tell whither the construction will beare it or no. 1640Sir R. Baker in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. i. 2 That stands in construction with all tenses. 1661Milton Accedence Wks. 1738 I. 620 Construction consisteth either in the agreement of words together..which is call'd Concord; or the governing of one the other in such Case or Mood as is to follow. 1767H. Walpole Narr. Rousseau 133 He changed the construction of the last phrase, though the thought remained exactly the same. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. Pref., Help towards the understanding of the more difficult constructions.
c. Heb. Gram. The relation of a n. in the construct state. See construct a. 2.
1762Parkhurst Heb. Lex. p. iv, A noun is said to be in Regimine or in Construction when it is in a particular relation to a noun following it.
†6. The action of analysing the structure of a sentence and translating it word for word into another language; construing, translation. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 161 John Cornewaile..chaunged the lore in grammar scole, and construction, of [i.e. from] Frenche into Englische. 1388Wyclif Prol. xv. 57 Whanne riȝtful construccioun is lettid bi relacion, I resolue it openli. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. x, To sewe his style in my translation Worde by worde like the construction After the maner of gramariens. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 362 She drew out hir petrarke, requesting him to conster hir a lesson..Thus walking in the alley, she listned to his construction. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §8, I have seene a grammarian..shew more pride in the construction of one Ode [of Horace] than the Author in the composure of the whole booke.
7. The construing, explaining, or interpreting of a text or statement; explanation, interpretation; meaning, sense.
1483Cath. Angl. 75 A Construccion, construccio, exposicio. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xiv. (1890) 47 Whan blanchardyn had wel loked and rede the verses..& well vnderstode theire sentence..the prouost axed hym yf he was counseylled for to fulfylle the construction of that texte. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 654/1 Al the question for the more part riseth..vpon the construccion thereof, that is to say..what was for that scripture the true sense and right vnderstanding. a1656Bp. Hall Breath. Devout Soul (1851) 169 What riddles are in that prophecy, which..undergoes as many constructions, as there are pens that have undertaken it. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 146 Those texts..will admit of some other construction. 1803Wellington in Owen Disp. 584 My construction of the tenor of the letter..may I hope prove erroneous.
8. a. Interpretation put upon conduct, action, facts, words, etc.; the way in which these are taken or viewed by onlookers; usually with qualification, as to put a good, bad, favourable, charitable (or other) construction upon.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretarie ii. (1625) 28 To admit me favourable and indifferent construction, of what I shall here unfold unto you by writing. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. iv. 50 O illegitimate construction! I scorne that with my heeles. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. iv. 12 To finde the Mindes construction in the Face. 1609Tourneur Fun. Poeme 313 The bitter censures of malignancies In managements so subject to construction. 1641Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 82 A charitable construction of each others acts and intentions. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative ii. 38 To put the best Construction might be, on such Irregular actions. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. III. 499 Some Good may be done, though at the Expence of Envy and ill Construction. 1828Scott F.M. Perth vii, Since such is the construction that is put upon my patience. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 126 Locke..guards himself..against any such construction.
b. † to make (a) construction: to give an explanation or meaning to; to explain or interpret in a certain way. Obs. to bear a construction: to allow of being explained in a certain way.
c1525Skelton Replyc. 152 Ye may soone make construction With right lytell instruction. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 232 There is shrewd construction made of her. 1620Bacon in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 259 III. 236, I humblye praye your Lordships to make a favourable and true construction of my absence. 1741Richardson Pamela I. 27 He would have made a less angry Construction, had I less deserv'd that he should do so. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi, Facts which would bear two constructions.
9. Law.
a. The explaining or interpreting of the words of a statute, deed, or other legal document.
1523Fitzherb. Surv. B iij b, To the declaracyon and constructyon of this statute, etc. 1649Selden Laws Eng. ii. xiii. (1739) 69 By the Resignation of Richard the Second, the Parliament might seem, in strict construction of Law, to be expired. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 226 By an equitable construction of the statute of Glocester. 1845Stephen Laws Eng. II. 63 The construction or interpretation of a contract. 1890Ld. Halsbury in Law Times Rep. LXIV. 3/2 The question..turns upon the true construction of the Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847.
b. A particular explanation or interpretation put upon a law, etc.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 1324 The true meaning of which statute, they did impugne and overthrowe by divers subtile and sinister constructions of the same. 1612Bacon Ess., Judicature (Arb.) 452 Iudges must beware of Hard Constructions, and Strained Inferences. 1827Jarman Powell's Devises (ed. 3) II. 329 The Master of the Rolls..adopted the latter construction. 1890Sir N. Lindley in Law Times Rep. LXIII. 690/1 Forcing upon this order a construction which would not be put upon it by those who are in the habit of dealing with orders in this form.
10. attrib. and Comb. in sense 1, as construction camp, construction car, construction material, construction timber, etc.; construction railway = construction-way; construction train, a train conveying materials for the construction or repair of railways; construction-way, a temporary railway laid down for use in the construction of a permanent railway, canal, or similar undertaking.
1796Nelson in Nicolas Disp. VII. p. civ, A Vessel..loaded with construction-timber. 1869C. L. Brace New West xiv. 184 Every stick of fuel, every railroad tie, and beam for trestle-work, must be carried on construction trains from these mountains. 1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxi. 397 Hitherto construction cars had been shoved across singly by hand. 1881Chicago Times 18 June, A construction train backing down to Elwood. 1884Century Mag. Oct. 843 Adventurers who had followed the construction camps on the Northern Pacific Railroad. 1900Daily News 8 Mar. 3/2 The armoured train and construction trains can now go beyond Crocodile Pools almost to Ramutsa. 1943J. S. Huxley TVA 55 (caption) The construction camp lies between the Freeway and the town. 1947L. M. Beebe Mixed Train Daily 298 The club car ‘Julia Bullette’ of the romantic Virginia and Truckee—was originally built as a construction car.
▸ construction paper n. N. Amer. a type of thick coloured paper used esp. in children's craft projects.
1902Daily Rev. (Decatur, Illinois) (Electronic text) 19 Dec. Baskets, sleds, and boxes made of *construction paper. 1963K. H. Seibel Joyful Christmas Craft Bk. i. 6 Construction paper in bright colors is available at art-supply stores. 2006Sunday News (Lancaster, Pa.) (Nexis) 5 Nov. g1 It was a drawing of a tree with the hand print of each family member cut out of construction paper. |