| 释义 |
dedication|dɛdɪˈkeɪʃən|
[a. OF. dédication, -cion (14th c. in Godef.), ad. L. dēdicātiōn-em, n. of action from dēdicāre to dedicate.]
1. a. The action of dedicating, the fact of being dedicated; a setting apart and devoting to the Deity or to a sacred purpose with solemn rites.
1382Wyclif Num. vii. 88 Thes thinges ben offrid in the dedicacioun of the auter, whanne it is anoynt. 1387Trevisa Higden VII. 351 Kyng William..commaundede nyh alle þe bisshoppes of Engelond þat þey schulde come to þat dedicacioun þe fiftenþe day of May. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. 165 William..aftir tyme that he had biggid the Cherch ageyn, desired that the Kyng schuld com to the dedicacion. 1643J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea viii. (1652) 292 Dedication is when I give a thing out of my own power, for a pious use, that I cannot make use of for anything again. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 296 The Monks..shave the upper part of their head by way of distinction from the Laity and for dedication. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xvii. 444 The founder prepared to celebrate the dedication of his city.
b. The form of words in which this act is expressed.
1520Caxton's Chron. Eng. iv. 38/1 He ordeyned the dedycacyon of the chirche every yere sholde be sayd. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 264 Metellus the Macedonian raised two porches..without inscription or dedication.
c. The commemoration of such an act; the day or feast of dedication (of a church).
Feast of the Dedication: the annual commemoration of the purification of the Second Temple by Judas Maccabæus.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xix. 87 When grete festez commez..as þe dedicacioun of þe kirk. 1483Cath. Angl. 93 Dedicacion, dedicacio, encennia. 1530Palsgr. 212/2 Dedication a feestfull day, dedicace. 1695Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 305 The dedication of churches should in all places be celebrated on the first Sunday of the month October.
2. fig. The giving up or devoting (of oneself, one's time, labour, etc.) to the service of a person or to the pursuit of a purpose.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 85 His life I gaue him, and did thereto adde My loue without retention or restraint, All his in dedication. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 577 A Course more promising, Then a wild dedication of your selues To vnpath'd Waters. 1841–44Emerson Ess., Experience Wks. (Bohn) I. 177 We need change of objects. Dedication to one thought is quickly odious. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 345 The dedication of himself to the improvement of his fellow-citizens.
3. The dedicating of a book, etc.; the form of words in which a writing, engraving, etc., is dedicated to some person.
1598Florio Dict. Ep. Ded. 1 This dedication..may haply make your Honors muse. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iii. §9 Neither is the modern dedication of books and writings, as to patrons, to be commended. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 136 ⁋6 Nothing has so much degraded literature from its natural rank, as the practice of indecent and promiscuous dedication. 1887Bowen Virgil, Eclogue vi. Argt., The Eclogue opens with a dedication to the Roman general Varus.
†4. Special appropriation. Obs.
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 225 It should seeme by the dedication of the name [Sheppey], that this Ilande was long since greatly esteemed either for the number of the sheepe, or for the finenesse of the fleese.
5. a. Law. The action of dedicating (a highway, etc.) to the public use.
1809Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Highway, A street built upon a person's own ground is a dedication of the Highway so far only as the publick has occasion for it, viz. for a right of passage. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 153 The dedication of a way to the public may be by writing or by words. 1883E. P. Wolstenholme Settled Land Act 28 Dedication to the public is a term generally applied to the act of throwing roads open to the use of the public.
b. Forestry. The assignment of land under certain conditions for the production of timber. Cf. dedicate v. 4 c.
1943Post-War Forest Policy 50 in Parl. Papers 1942–3 (Cmd. 6447) IV. 419 The act of dedication on the part of the owner would include the following undertakings:—(1) To use the land in such a way that timber production is the main object. (2) To work to a plan..approved by the Forest Authority. 1946Q. Jrnl. Forestry XL. 69 Dedication is a covenant under which both the owner of the land and the Government undertake certain obligations. 1950Ibid. XLIV. 53 It is just two years since the proposed Covenant of Dedication was published, and although the Society had always been strongly in favour of dedication, the covenant, as drafted, was received with considerable misgiving and distrust.
6. attrib. and Comb., as dedication feast, dedication festival; dedication cross, a cross painted or carved on a church or altar at its dedication; dedication day, the anniversary of the dedication of a church, observed as a festival.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 323 b, The feastes..of the patrone of the church, dedication day, and Relick-sonday. 1695Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 306 The primitive fair in Oxford was on the day of St. Frideswide, because it was the dedication day of the chief conventual church. Ibid. 308 The dedication feasts fell on those days. 1848B. Webb Continent. Ecclesiol. 57 Remains of..a dedication-cross. 1882Bloxam Gothic Arch. II. 155 We sometimes meet with dedication or consecration crosses imbedded in the external walls of churches.
Add:[2.] b. The quality of being dedicated in aims, vocation, etc. Cf. dedicated ppl. a. 1 b.
1954W. Faulkner Fable 344 The Germans, the best soldiers on earth today..the one people out of all the earth who have a passion and dedication not even for glory but for war. 1961J. F. Kennedy in N.Y. Times 10 Jan. 20/5 Were we truly men of dedication? 1979P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard iii. 216 But to renounce the world in this way requires the ultimate discipline... My admiration is mingled with regret that, by comparison, my own dedication is halfhearted and too late. 1986R. Barnard Political Suicide xi. 117 He..became convinced that the nurses..had an unanswerable case... He went around saying that the State had been capitalizing for years on their dedication. |