| 单词 | lesbian rule |
| 释义 | > as lemmasLesbian rule Lesbian rule n. a flexible (lead) ruler which can be bent to fit what is being measured; (figurative) something, esp. a legal principle, which adapts to fit the circumstances.Cf. Aristotle's description in Nicomachean Ethics (1137b30) of such a rule: see quot. 1869 at sense B. 1. [After post-classical Latin Lesbia norma (1556 in the passage translated in quot. 1559), the more common Lesbia regula (a1536 in Erasmus), and their model ancient Greek Λεσβία οἰκοδομία.] ΚΠ 1559 W. Bavand tr. J. Ferrarius Common Weale iii. vii. f. 50 Therfore Aristotle compareth it, to the Lesbiane rule [L. Lesbiae normae], pliable to all measures. 1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke ii. ii. 111 The composition and wonderful nature thereof is, as it were, a certaine example and Lesbian rule [L. regula Lesbia] of our worke. a1628 J. Preston New Covenant (1630) 233 Thou goest not by a straight rule, but by a leaden Lesbian rule. 1711 W. King tr. G. Naudé Polit. Considerations Refin'd Politicks v. 188 It [sc. artificial, politic Justice] is soft and pliant enough to accommodate itself as the Lesbian rule [Fr. la regle Lesbienne] to human and popular weakness. 1828 A. Herbert Nimrod I. iv. 279 If the parallelogram called jugerum be enclosed by a rope, or any other Lesbian rule, that rope must be bent at the angle B, to make the two sides AB and BC; but if the flexible rule be again straightened out, it will give the line ABC. 1856 Christian Remembrancer Oct. 504 The Lesbian rule, which had been unduly stretched in one direction, has suddenly collapsed in another. 2010 Oxf. Jrnl. Legal Stud. 30 99 It is necessary to be flexible, to adopt a lesbian rule, and rather than conforming the visual figures to the words, judgment can endeavour instead to adapt the words to the images that surround and subtend them. < as lemmas |
| 随便看 |
|
英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。