| 释义 |
solstice|ˈsɒlstɪs|
Also 7 solsticke, solstist.
[a. OF. solstice (also mod.F.), ad. L. sōlstitium solstitium.]
1. One or other of the two times in the year, midway between the two equinoxes, when the sun, having reached the tropical points, is farthest from the equator and appears to stand still, i.e. about 21st June (the summer solstice) and 22nd December (the winter solstice).
c1250Gen. & Ex. 150 Two ȝeuelengðhes timen her, And two solstices in ðe ȝer. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 201 There is a welle..whiche floethe ouer with watere abowte the solstice of somer. Ibid. III. 51 Whiche Olimpias began in the solstice of wynter, when men of Grece begynne theire yere. 1549Compl. Scotl. vi. 50 The tropic of Cancer..is the solstice of symmyr... The circle of capricorne is callit the solstice of vyntir. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 269 At Lucern twice each yeere they make election of Senators.., namely, about each Solstice of the yeere. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 265 As we see in foxes about the brumal Solstice. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 214 This being the southern Solstice, for Winter I cannot call it. 1794R. J. Sulivan View Nat. I. 410 It is at the solstices that we have the lowest tides in the year. 1834M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. xiii. 99 It is estimated from the winter solstice, the middle of the long annual night under the poles. 1847Longfellow Evang. i. iv. 61 When the air is serene in the sultry solstice of summer.
b. spec. The summer solstice, or the heat of this.
1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §32 So when thy absent beames begin t' impart Againe a Solstice on my frozen heart, My winter's ov'r. 1692Washington Milton's Def. People i. M.'s Wks. 1851 VIII. 21 May the Gods and Goddesses, Damasippus, bless thee with an everlasting Solstice; that thou mayst always be warm. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 48 The solstice from the flock Ward off.
2. A solstitial point.
1601Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. iii. xx. 96 The Solstists or sun-steads and poles of the Zodiacke. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 227 A temperate heat.., which by his approach unto the solstice he intendeth. 1678Hobbes Decameron Wks. 1845 VII. 104 The distance between the equinoctial and the solstice, is not always the same. 1755B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 192/3 These two Points are called the Solstices. 1812Woodhouse Astron. ix. 65 The interval of time..between two appearances of the Sun in the solstices. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 214/1 Solstices, the points of the ecliptic which are highest above the equator.
3. fig. A turning, culminating, or stopping point; a furthest limit; a crisis.
a1631Donne Select. (1840) 105 A Christian hath no solstice..where he may stand still, and go no further. 1638Wilkins New World xiv. (1707) 114 Arts are not yet come to their Solstice. 1663Heath Flagellum (1672) 158 This being the Solstice of his Fortunes. 1860Emerson Conduct of Life, Culture Wks. (Bohn) II. 370 There is in every constitution a certain solstice.
4. transf. A standing still (of the sun).
1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §29 The Jewes that can beleeve the supernaturall solstice of the Sunne in the dayes of Joshua. |