| 释义 |
sterilize, v.|ˈstɛrɪlaɪz|
[f. sterile a. + -ize. Cf. F. stériliser.]
1. trans. To cause to be unfruitful; to destroy the fertility of.
1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth ii. 101 Why therefore may we not as well suppose the other part of the Sentence, the Sterilizing the Earth, was also suspended? 1737Savage Of Publ. Spirit 204 No, no—such wars do thou, Ambition, wage! Go, sterilize the fertile with thy rage! Whole nations to depopulate is thine. 1810Southey in Edin. Ann. Reg. I. i. 147 An experiment to sterilize the country for one year. 1891Spectator 4 Apr., Gambia is worth far more to the French than the French right to sterilise the French shore of Newfoundland is to the English.
absol.1910Margoliouth in Expositor Mar. 216 The practice of sowing with salt, in order to sterilize, is alluded to in the Old Testament.
2. To deprive of fecundity; to render incapable of producing offspring.
1828in Webster. 1905,1910[implied in sterilization].
3. Biol. To render (organs) sterile.
1891Hardwicke's Sci.-Gossip XXVII. 77/1 Its ray-florets..besides doubling or semi-sterilising themselves, have attained a broad stripe of yellowish white up each strap-shaped corolla.
4. fig. To make mentally or spiritually barren; to render unproductive, unprofitable or useless; to deprive of result; to render harmless.
1880J. A. Symonds in H. F. Brown Biog. (1895) II. 168 Men who might have written excellent books are sterilised by starting with fastidious conceits. 1887Chamb. Jrnl. 19 Feb. 114/1 That prodigious find of 1882 seems to have almost sterilised 1883 so far as treasure-trove is concerned. 1911F. Harrison Autob. Mem. II. xxiii. 60 M. Grévy being sterilised by office,..power fell to M. Gambetta. 1939Economist 8 July 64/2 The Reich Government..is evidently thinking a good deal more of its own commercial ambitions in East Europe and..of ways and means of breaking up the embryonic ‘Peace Front’ by sterilising Poland as an anti-German military power.
5. To render free from micro-organisms.
1878Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. 297 Schwann..sterilised the flask by boiling. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 69 The milk should be sterilised.
absol.1877Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter Air (1881) 229 In the one case five minutes' action completely sterilizes.
6. Econ. To inhibit the use of resources in order to exercise control over the economy, esp. to control the balance of payments by taking offsetting action to hold down the money supply.
1930Economist 3 May 1007/2 The directors conclude a somewhat discursive report with remarks upon the wastefulness of sterilised gold, which they regard as one of the principal causes of the fall in commodity prices. 1935A. D. Gayer Monetary Policy & Econ. Stabilization ii. 32 By the consistent utilization of the devices of ‘offsetting’ and ‘sterilising’..the total media of payments were regulated independently of her [sc. America's] resources. 1936Sun (Baltimore) 6 June 16/1 Such action would be aimed primarily at sterilizing the mobile gold received from abroad. 1938Times 15 Feb. 14/2 No more gold will be ‘sterilized’ by the Treasury. 1942Sun (Baltimore) 11 Feb. 1/3 Such a technique would ‘sterilize’ the money..; that is, keep it from building up the nation's purchasing power. 1944Ibid. 3 Apr. 9/3 WPB suggested..that legislation be proposed to ‘sterilize’ such reserves to keep them from affecting the economy. 1968R. A. Mundell International Econ. x. 149 The practice of ‘sterilizing’ the monetary effects of foreign exchange (or gold) purchases and sales has become widespread as countries look for means of adjusting the balance of payments other than that implicit in price level (or interest rate) adjustments. 1977C. & D. S. Ammer Dict. Business & Econ. 180 Even though the United States is no longer on the gold standard, the term [sc. sterilization] continues to be used with the understanding that not gold but other reserves..are being sterilized.
7. Town Planning. To preserve (a piece of land) from building or other development.
1935A. P. Herbert What a Word! i. 18 The Townplanners and Green-Belters, when they propose to ‘sterilize’ a given area, mean that it shall not be sterile, that it shall produce nothing but vegetation and natural life, as opposed to buildings. 1937Times 27 July 11/2 The council have also accepted offers to sterilize, free of compensation, the attractive Duncombe Farm estate at Ivinghoe, comprising 64 acres, on the understanding that there will be no building on the adjoining land. 1942Rep. Comm. Land Utilisation in Rural Areas 71 in Parl. Papers (Cmd. 6378) IV. 497 The term ‘green belt’..has come..to mean a belt of open land..to be ‘preserved’ from building (or, as is often said, ‘sterilised’). 1973Town & Country Planning Nov. 495 Any urban growth entailing the phased development of land would become impossible under site-value rating, except given some action to sterilize the land concerned, which would be precisely contrary to the aim of stimulating development.
Hence ˈsterilized ppl. a.; ˈsterilizing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1846Blackw. Mag. LX. 13 The sudden sterilizing of districts previously fruitful. 1847H. Miller First Impr. Eng. xi. (1857) 177 New crops of them..appear as fast as the surface is relieved from its sterilizing burden. 1866Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iii. 155 Nothing is so sterilizing as retirement, when [etc.]. 1877Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter Air (1881) 133 A sterilized infusion..remained sterile. 1880‘Vernon Lee’ Stud. Italy iv. i. 146 He had the intense, blind, sterilising love of antiquity of the men of the fifteenth century. 1888Sat. Rev. 2 June 641 The chief certain result..was the sterilizing..of French political capacity. 1891G. S. Woodhead Bacteria 399 Sterilized vessels for the reception of various media. |