| 释义 |
abundance|əˈbʌndəns|
Forms: 4–6 abundaunce, habundaunce, -ance; 5–6 boundance, haboundaunce, -ance; 4–7 aboundaunce, -ance; 4– abundance.
[a. OFr. abundance, abondance, hab-:— L. abundantia, n. of state f. abundant-em, abundant. The spelling habundance frequent in Fr. and Eng. from the 14th c. was due to the word being mistakenly supposed to be a derivative of habēre to have. An aphetic boundance, 5–6, was due to initial a being taken as the indef. art. quasi a boundance.]
1. Overflowing state or condition, overflow; superfluity; enough and more than enough: hence in a looser sense, plentifulness, copiousness.
1366Mandeville (1839) xiv. 152 There ben hilles where men geten gret plentee of manna, in gretter habundance than in any other contree. 1382Wyclif Mal. iii. 10 Ȝif y shal not opne to ȝou the gutters of heuen, and schal sheede out to ȝou blessyng vnto aboundaunce. 1446Henry Wallace iv. 347 A land of gret boundance. 1535Fisher Wks. (1876) 382 You shall be partener to the more plentuous aboundance of his loue. 1611Bible Ps. cv. 30 The land brought foorth frogs in abundance. 1796Bp. Watson Apol. for Bible 190 There were false prophets in abundance amongst the Jews. 1823De Quincey Lett. on Educ. (1860) i. 10 My thoughts on that matter are from the abundance of my heart.
2. a. An overflowing quantity or amount; a large quantity, plenty.
1340Ayenb. 261 Abundance and plenté of alle guode. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour (1868) 135 They shalle yeue accompte of thaire habundance of the worldely goodes that they haue had. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 148 What cracker is this same that deafes our eares With this abundance of superfluous breath? 1722De Foe Moll. Fl. (1840) 346 I ordered abundance of good things for our comfort in the voyage. 1824Dibdin Lib. Comp. 112 Abundance of valuable information.
b. Less correctly: A large number, very many.
1375Barbour Bruce x. 110 Quhar men mycht se So gret aboundance cum off fe, That it war voundir till behald. 1687T. Brown Saints in an Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 82 Abundance of worthless and fabulous scoundrels. 1751Fielding Amelia Wks. 1784 IX. xi. ii. 254 There are abundance..who want a morsel of bread for themselves and their families.
3. Plentifulness, or plentiful supply, of the good things of life; superfluity, affluence, wealth.
1382Wyclif Luke xii. 15 (Lea Wilson's MS.) Be war fro al coueytise, for not in þe aboundaunce of any man is his liif. 1535Coverdale 1 Chron. xxx. 16 O Lorde oure God, all this abundaunce..came of thy hande. 1611Bible Eccl. v. 12 But the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleepe. 1653Holcroft Procopious i. 17 Victory brings all to that side it enclines to. In your swords therefore consists your safety, and aboundance. 1857Bohn Handbk. of Prov. 305 Abundance, like want, ruins many.
†4.
a. Added to nouns: In abundance, in large quantity, or number. (Probably after the analogy of wine enough, ships enow.) Obs.
b. Adverbially before adj.: Very much, a great deal. Obs.
1675Hobbes Iliad 106 For ships abundance laden were come in. Ibid. 164 While spears abundance at him hurled were. ― Odyssey 103 Sheep & goats there lay Abundance sleeping. Ibid. 167 And wine abundance drink. 1710Swift Baucis & Phil. Wks. 1755 III. ii. 35 The ballads pasted on the wall..Now seem'd to look abundance better, Improv'd in picture, size, and letter.
5. In solo whist, a declaration by a player that he will take nine tricks single-handed. Also in Fr. form abondance.
1888Wilks & Pardon How to Play Solo Whist 8 Abondance. (Abundance.) An independent call to make nine tricks. 1890R. F. Green Solo Whist i. 3 Abondance, in which case the declaring player engages to make nine out of the thirteen tricks. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXV. 362/1 Abundance in the turn-up suit takes precedence over abundance in other suits. 1961Mervyn Jones Potbank xiii. 53, I went solo and was..criticized for my timidity. ‘You could have gone abundance with that lot.’
6. Ecology. (See quots.)
1905F. E. Clements Research Methods in Ecol. 314 Abundance, the total number of individuals in an area. 1932Fuller & Conard tr. Braun-Blanquet's Plant Sociol. iii. 30 Abundance is intended to express the plentifulness (number of individuals) of each species. 1957P. Greig-Smith Quant. Plant Ecol. iii. 61 Abundance (defined as mean density within occupied quadrats).
7. Physics. (See quots.)
1922F. W. Aston Isotopes ix. 111 In discussing the nuclear structure of elements the question of their relative abundance in nature is one of great interest. 1955Gloss. Terms Radiology (B.S.I.) 13 Relative abundance, the proportion of a given isotope in a particular specimen of an element, usually expressed as a percentage. 1962Nature 19 May 621/2 Although the masses of individual nuclides that constitute an element can be measured very accurately, their abundances in an element cannot be determined. |