| 释义 |
deficiency|dɪˈfɪʃənsɪ|
[f. as prec.: see -ency.]
1. a. The quality or state of being deficient or wanting; failure; want, lack, absence; insufficiency.
1634E. Knott Charity maintained v. §9 The Doctrine of the total deficiency of the visible Church, which..is maintained by divers chief Protestants. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. v. 188 Scaliger finding a defect in the reason of Aristotle, introduceth one of no lesse deficiency himselfe. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 246 Escheats..arising merely upon the deficiency of the blood, whereby the descent is impeded. 1793Beddoes Math. Evid. 62 We may make up, by continued attention, for their deficiency of original acuteness. 1797M. Baillie Morb. Anat. Pref., Patients often explain very imperfectly their feelings, partly from the natural deficiency of language. 1865Grote Plato I. i. 83 These particles might be in excess as well as in deficiency.
b. with a and pl.: An instance of this condition; something wanting; a defect, an imperfection.
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. 116 That there is a deficiency in the Merits of Christ. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 53 They discover the flaws and deficiencies of the latter. 1736Butler Anal. i. v. Wks. 1874 I. 92 Nature has endued us with a power of supplying those deficiencies, by acquired knowledge. 1817J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 184 The battle..proved the existence of a deficiency in the latter quarter. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, II. vii. 168 This consciousness of his own deficiencies is an interesting trait in his character. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1876) I. i. iii. 127 Where art has to supply the deficiencies of nature.
c. Math. deficiency of a curve: the number by which its double points fall short of the highest number possible in a curve of the same order.
1865Cayley Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. I. No. iii, It will be convenient to introduce the term ‘Deficiency’, viz. a curve of the order n with ½(n - 1)(n - 2) - D double points, is said to have a deficiency = D. 1893Forsyth Theory of Functions 356 The deficiency of a curve is the same as the class of the Riemann surface associated with its equation.
d. The amount by which the revenue of a state, company, etc. falls short of the expenditure; a deficit; hence deficiency act, deficiency bill, deficiency law (i.e. one to meet such a deficiency); the amount by which the assets of a debtor fall short of his liabilities; hence deficiency account, deficiency statement. (For quots., see 2 below.)
e. Genetics. = deletion 3.
1916C. B. Bridges in Genetics I. 150 Deficiency... Tests showed..that a small section of the X in the bar region had become genetically non-existent! 1917Ibid. II. 445 The general term ‘deficiency’ is used to designate the loss or inactivation of an entire, definite, and measurable section of genes and framework of a chromosome. 1956New Biol. XX. 41 A deficiency arises when a chromosome is broken in two spots and the two end pieces join up to form a new chromosome from which the middle piece is missing... Large deficiencies, by which many genes have been removed from the cell, act as dominant lethals. Smaller deficiencies act as recessive lethals. 1969G. W. Burns Sci. Genetics xii. 220 Probably the best known disorder to be associated definitely with a chromosomal deficiency in man is the ‘cri du chat’ or cat-cry syndrome described by Le Jeune (1963).
2. attrib. and Comb., as deficiency disease, a disease caused by the lack of an essential or important substance in the diet; usu. = avitaminosis; deficiency payment, a subsidy paid by the government to farmers to cover differences between market prices of agricultural produce and minimum prices guaranteed by the government. See also 1 d above.
1887Daily News 26 Oct. 6/8 None of the debtors have as yet filed deficiency accounts.
1912C. Funk in Jrnl. State Med. XX. 341 (title) The etiology of deficiency diseases. 1914Lancet 15 Aug. 460/1 If pellagra is a deficiency disease its relation to maize is similar to that of beri-beri to rice. 1933Discovery July 234/1 The relief of deficiency diseases by the ever-increasing number of vitamins. 1968M. Pyke Food & Society ii. 17 Expensive multivitamin tablets protect the well-fed people who can afford them against deficiency diseases they will never experience.
1719W. Wood Surv. Trade 168 A considerable Sum of Money arising by the Deficiency Law.
1932Act 22 & 23 Geo. V c. 24 §1 If, in any cereal year, the..average price of..wheat is less than the standard price, every registered grower shall..be entitled to receive..a payment (hereinafter referred to as a ‘deficiency payment’) representing..the difference..between the said average price and the standard price. 1963Ann. Reg. 1962 462 Britain's system of support for home agriculture (by means of deficiency payments). 1969Times 13 Jan. 11/2 Although the primary intention at Oxford was to look at alternatives to the present deficiency payment system as a means of farm support, other problems kept intruding.
1887Pall Mall G. 30 Nov. 9/1 The bankrupt was then questioned upon his deficiency statement. |