| 释义 |
ramification|ˌræmɪfɪˈkeɪʃən|
[n. of action f. med.L. rāmificāre ramify, perh. after F. ramification (16th c.).]
1. The action or process of ramifying.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. xiii. (1765) 200 Ramification is the Manner in which a Tree produces its Branches. 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxi. (1794) 485 The mode and degree of ramification in leaves and branches. 1865Mozley Mirac. i. 207 The ramifications and migrations of the human race. 1881Westcott & Hort Grk. N.T. Introd. §12 Transmission ceases..to retain exclusively the form of diverging ramification.
b. The branches of a tree collectively.
1821Craig Lect. Drawing v. 283 This character..pervades..trunk, ramification, bark, and foliage.
2. A subdivision or single part of a complex structure analogous to the branches of a tree, esp. of veins, arteries, and other parts in animals and plants, and of rivers. Cf. branch n. 2.
1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. ii. 65 A ramification of the nervus intercostalis is also inserted into the Muscle of the Heart. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 122 In congelations..we frequently find curious ramifications, as on Glass-windows in winter. 1775Adair Amer. Ind. 284 From the small rivers..the far-extending ramifications are innumerable. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 56 The root..terminating in minute ramifications and filaments. 1834R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 14 All feathers are subdivided till the ultimate ramifications are exceedingly minute. 1879A. R. Wallace Australasia ii. 23 Like the Amazon, it sends out forks and ramifications.
b. transf. Of immaterial things.
1755Johnson Dict. Pref., When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications. 1800Colquhoun Comm. Thames Pref., The numerous ramifications of a Commercial intercourse of unexampled extent. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 596 One of the ramifications of the Whig plot had extended thither. 1866Duke of Argyll Reign Law i. (ed. 4) 27 Like all central truths, its ramifications are infinite. |