| 释义 |
contemplation|kɒntəmˈpleɪʃən|
Also 3–6 -cion, -cioun, etc.
[a. OF. contemplation, -cion, -ciun (12th c. in Littré), ad. L. contemplātiōn-em, n. of action from contemplāre to contemplate.]
1. The action of beholding, or looking at with attention and thought.
1480Robt. Devyll 32 Hys mother gave hym to the feende of hell In the houre of hys fyrst contemplacyon. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 48 The contemplation or beholding of the Serpent lift up. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 4 Aristomachus..in his fifty years contemplation of those Laborious Insects. 1858Holland Titcomb's Lett. ix. 85, I account a pure, beautiful, intelligent, and wellbred woman, the most attractive object of vision and contemplation in the world.
2. The action of contemplating or mentally viewing; the action of thinking about a thing continuously; attentive consideration, study. Const. of (also † upon).
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 9 Thay may noghte flye to lufe and contemplacyone of God. 1520Chron. of Eng. ii. 13/1 A contemplacyon of spyrytuall thynges. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 18 The sundrie contemplation of my trauells. 1660Barrow Euclid Pref., The noble Contemplation of the five Regular Bodies. 1752Johnson Rambler No. 208 ⁋14 The Mind of the reader is carried away from the contemplation of his own Manners. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 231 He seemed to be lost in the contemplation of something great.
b. Without reference to a particular object: Continued thinking, meditation, musing.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 272 Lerne logyk and lawe and eke contemplacioun. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 321 When would you..In leaden contemplation haue found out Such fiery Numbers? 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxviii. §6 A matter partly of contemplation partly of action. 1653Walton Angler i. 17 The very sitting by the Rivers side..will invite the Angler to Contemplation. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 35 They [the English] are impatient of genius, or of minds addicted to contemplation. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 72 In a state of deep contemplation beside a crevasse.
c. with a and pl.; sometimes, a meditation expressed in writing.
1506(title) Rychard Rolle..in his Contemplacyons of the Drede and Loue of God. 1615Crooke Body of Man 37 Then men first began to fall from those abstruse and transcendent contemplations. 1653Walton Angler 17 Offering to thee a short contemplation, first of Rivers, and then of Fish. Ibid. 19 Out of that holy Poet Mr. George Herbert his Divine Contemplation on Gods providence. 1709Steele Tatler No. 90 ⁋5 [This] threw me into a deep Contemplation. I began to reflect, etc. 1866(title) Contemplations on the Redeemer's Grace and Glory.
3. spec. Religious musing, devout meditation. (The earliest sense; very common down to 17th c.)
a1225Ancr. R. 142 Mid contemplaciun, þet is, mid heih & mid holi bonen bi nihte touward heouene. a1340Hampole Psalter xvii. 13 Lifted fra þe erth in til contemplacioun. c1386Chaucer Sompn. T. 185 Eli..In mount Oreb, er he had any speche, With highe God..He fastid, and was in contemplacioun. 1481Caxton Myrr. ii. xiv. 98 There he was alle the nyght in contemplacion and prayer. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 94 When holy and deuout Religious men Are at their Beades..So sweet is zealous Contemplation. 1717Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvi. 37 They never raise their eyes, and seem devoted to Contemplation. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 63 In days like these [a.d. 260]..the inducements to a life of contemplation are more than ever strong.
b. personified.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. x. 46 An aged holy man..His name was hevenly Contemplation. 1632Milton Penseroso 54 Him that yon soars on golden wing..The Cherub Contemplation. 1751Gray Ode on Spring iv, Contemplation's sober eye. a1806K. White Addr. Contempl. 51 Oh Contemplation! I do love To indulge thy solemn musings.
4. ellipt. Matter for contemplation; something to be contemplated or meditated upon.
1725Strype Ann. Ref. Pref., [How] these blessed things..were brought to pass, is another contemplation. 1759Johnson Rasselas xliv, Everything must supply you with contemplation. 1836H. Coleridge North. Worthies Introd. Ess. (1852) 20 The motion of the heavens is a sublime contemplation.
†5. The action of regarding or having respect to (a request, etc.); regard, consideration. Obs.
1450Marg. of Anjou in Four C. Eng. Lett. 8 By contemplacion of this oure praier. 1466Edw. IV in Paston Lett. II. 282 We desire and pray yow that for our sake and contemplation ye will be friendly..unto him. 1536in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. i. App. lxxvii. 185 Yee shal pray that Christ..at the contemplation of our prayers, may take them to the fruition of his glory.
†b. Request, petition. Obs.
c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xvii, Wich is hyghnes hath yeuen them at þe contemplacion off þer maisters, and ffor no reward off any seruice þat thai haue done. 1461–83Liber Niger Edw. IV in Ord. Roy. Househ. 19 By his lettres of contemplation to gette such benyfece. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 12 At the humble suite and contemplacion of his..well beloued wife. 1536Petition in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. xxxv. 256 If at your contemplation we cannot obtain grace of the said pension.
6. The action of taking into account, thinking of, or regarding; consideration, regard; view.
1673S. C. Art of Complaisance 73 Let fear of Calumny, move you to a little Complaisance to these, as the contemplation of interest to others. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 129 Life..begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother's womb. 1789Bentham Princ. Legisl. xvii. §6 Any given punishment so as it does but come into contemplation. 1819J. Marshall Const. Opin. (1839) 197 A corporation is an artificial being..existing only in contemplation of law.
7. Prospect, expectation; purpose, intention. in contemplation: in view (as a contingency looked for, or as an end aimed at). Cf. contemplate 4.
1659Hammond On Ps. lxxii. 347 The Seventy Second Psalm was composed in contemplation of Solomon's succeeding David. 1777Johnson Let. Mrs. Thrale 13 Aug., I dined yesterday with the Corporation, and talked against a workhouse which they have in contemplation—there's the word now. 1813Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary II. 202 Daily informed of passing events, projects in contemplation, etc. 1868F. Hall Benares 15 They were never executed in contemplation of circumspect perusal. |