| 释义 |
▪ I. degrade, v.|dɪˈgreɪd|
Also 5 degrate, -grayd, 6 -graid, 7 di-.
[ME. a. OF. degrader (12th c.), occasionally desg-, = Pr. de-, desgrader, Sp. degradar, It. degradare:—late eccl. L. dēgradāre, f. de- I. 1, down, from + gradus degree.]
1. trans. To reduce from a higher to a lower rank, to depose from († of) a position of honour or estimation.
c1325Song of Yesterday 11 in E.E.P. (1862) 133 Hou sone þat god hem may degrade. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 175 Schir Ihon the balleoll..was king bot a litill quhile..degradyt syne wes he Off honour and off dignite. a1400–50Alexander 2670 Darye..semblis his knyȝtis..And gessis him wele..to degrayd þe grekis maistir. 1624Massinger Parl. Love v. i, Thou dost degrade thyself of all the honours Thy ancestors left thee. 1641Sir E. Dering in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 295 Neither you here, nor Mr. Speaker in the House can degrade any one of us from these Seats. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iii. §2 They degraded him from the very title of a Philosopher. 1788Reid Aristotle's Log. iv. §3. 80 An affirmative may be degraded into a negative. 1874Holland Mistr. Manse xii. 56 Change That would degrade her to a thing Of homely use and household care. 1876J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. II. iii. vii. 342 The man who made this boast was himself degraded from his high estate.
2. a. spec. To depose (a person) formally from his degree, rank, or position of honour as an act of punishment, as to degrade a knight, a military officer, a graduate of a university.
Cf. disgrade, which in 15–16th c. was the more usual word to express legal and formal degradation.
c1400Destr. Troy 12576 The grekes..Ordant hym Emperour by opon assent, And Agamynon degrated of his degre þan. 1508Kennedy Flyting w. Dunbar 397, I sall degraid the, graceles, of thy greis. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 43 He then..Doth but vsurpe the Sacred name of Knight..And should..Be quite degraded, like a Hedge-borne Swaine. 1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 65 Whether Sr Fra. Michell shalbe degraded of his knighthood for parte of his punishment or noe? 1628Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 277 His censure was to be degraded both from her ministry and degrees taken in the University. 1709Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 206 The University of Dublin having expell'd and degraded Mr. Forbes. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 351 The soldier who..is guilty of any other act of cowardice, should be degraded into the rank of a husbandman or artisan.
b. To inflict ecclesiastical degradation upon; to deprive of his orders.
1395Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 37 He that..blasfemith God in othere manere be deposid or degratid if he is a clerk. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlvii. 313 The first day of march after was sir william taillour preest degrated of his preesthode. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xii. 268 To the Bisshoppe was giuen authoritie..to put Priestes from the Priesthode: and to degrade theim, when thei deserue it. 1681Baxter Apol. Nonconf. Min. 39 Magistrates might degrade ministers. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. x. 268 A priest could not be degraded but by eight bishops. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 284 He was formally degraded from the priesthood.
3. To lower in estimation; to bring into dishonour or contempt.
c1500Lancelot 749 Hyme thoght that it his worschip wold degrade. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 470 Ladie Venus ȝe sall neuer degraid In word, nor deid, nor neuer do hir deir. 1771Junius Lett. liv. 285, I will not insult his misfortunes by a comparison that would degrade him. 1844Emerson Lect. Yng. Amer. Wks. (Bohn) II. 306 The aristocracy incorporated by law and education, degrades life for the unprivileged classes.
4. a. To lower in character or quality; to debase.
1650T. Froysell Gale of Opport. (1652) Ep. Ded., At this news the Ruffler is sodainly dismounted, and his courage degraded. 1755Johnson, Degrade..to reduce from a higher to a lower state, with respect to qualities. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. cxviii, How low avarice can degrade human nature. 1776Adam Smith W.N. iv. viii. (1869) II. 235 English wool cannot be even so mixed with Spanish wool as to enter into the composition..without spoiling and degrading in some degree the fabric of the cloth. 1857Kingsley Two Y. Ago (1877) 432 So will an unhealthy craving degrade a man. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 41 This custom has been the ruin of the poets, and has degraded the theatre.
b. To lower or reduce in price, strength, purity, etc.; to reduce or tone down in colour (cf. degradation2).
1844Cobden Speeches (1878) 73 He proposed to degrade prices instead of aiming to sustain them. 1855tr. Labarte's Arts Mid. Ages ii. 72 How to degrade the tones with this single enamel colour. 1873E. Spon Workshop Receipts I. 320/1 To prevent its greenish tint degrading the brilliancy of dyed stuffs, or the purity of whites.
5. a. Biol. To reduce to a lower and less complex organic type. b. Physics. To reduce (energy) to a form less capable of transformation. c. Optics. To lower in position in the spectrum; to diminish the refrangibility of (a ray of light) as by the action of a fluorescent substance.
1862,1876[see degraded ppl. a. 2]. 1870Rolleston Anim. Life 139 Annelids degraded by the special habit of parasitism.
d. Chem. and Biochem. To make (a molecule) simpler in structure; to split into a number of simpler molecules.
1935Tipson & Stiller in Harrow & Sherwin Textbk. Biochem. ii. 85 Zemplén has used a fundamentally different method to decide the point of union of the two hexose units in a reducing disaccharide. By degrading the reducing component till it no longer forms an osazone, he has determined the constitution of lactose..and other sugars. 1958Ballentyne & Walker Dict. Named Effects & Laws 192 Weerman degradation. An α hydroxy or α methoxy amide may be degraded to an aldehyde containing one less carbon atom by the action of a cold aqueous solution of sodium hypochlorite. 1963Union Carbide Stockholder News Sept. 1/1 The detergents..can be quickly destroyed or degraded in sewage systems to non-detergent-like products. 1970Nature 26 Dec. 1313/1 Most body proteins are continually degraded and resynthesized. The protein content of various organs must represent the net balance between synthesis and degradation over some period of time.
6. Geol. To wear down (rocks, strata, cliffs, etc.) by surface abrasion or disintegration.
1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 101 These agents [water and air] gradually..decompose and degrade the exterior of strata. 1863A. C. Ramsay Phys. Geog. i. (1878) 6 The quantity of material degraded and spread in the sea by these united means is immense.
7. intr. To descend to a lower grade or type; to exhibit a degradation of type or structure; to degenerate.
1850Tennyson In Mem. cxxvii, No doubt vast eddies in the flood Of onward time shall yet be made, And throned races may degrade. 1863Kingsley Water Bab. 77 If he says that things cannot degrade, that is change downwards into lower forms. a1864Dana in Webster s.v., A family of plants or animals degrades through this or that genus or group of genera.
8. a. Cambridge Univ. To postpone entering the examination in honours for the degree of B.A. for one year beyond the statutory time; also occas. at Oxford University. (Now disused.) Now at Cambridge, to take a specified examination when one is above the standing prescribed for it.
1829Camb. Univ. Cal. (1857) 24 That no person who has degraded be permitted, etc. 1869Daily News 13 Nov., To grant permission to students who have degraded or who wish to degrade to become candidates for University scholarships or for any other academical honours during their undergraduateship. 1880Eagle Mag. (St. John's Coll., Camb.) XI. 189 G. S., Scholar, has obtained permission to ‘degrade’ to the Tripos of 1881. 1906Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 29 May 654/2 John O. Aglionby..was granted permission to degrade till Trinity Term, 1907, and to offer Modern History.
b. See quot. 1883; at Oxford University, to supplicate for a lower degree than that for which one originally entered.
1883Encycl. Dic., Degrade,..to take a lower degree than one is entitled to;..to descend from a higher to a lower class. 1921Oxford Univ. Registry Acc. Bks. 4 Nov. (MS.), Wing, J. L... Degrading to B.Litt. {pstlg}1.
▪ II. degrade, n.|dɪˈgreɪd|
[f. the vb.]
A piece of timber containing defects; also, the production of defects resulting in a lowering of the ‘grade’ or quality of the timber.
1922R. C. Bryant Lumber 242 This practice..has the disadvantage of producing a higher per cent of ‘degrades’, because the lumber as it leaves the kiln is bone-dry. 1953Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 7 Aug. 1202/1 A thesis entitled ‘A study of degrade in oak logs due to ‘ambrosia’ beetles’. 1970Timber Trades Jrnl. 21 Mar. 61/1 Strips 4½ in. wide by 1 in. thick have been dried without excessive degrade at starting temperatures up to 66°C..coupled with an initial humidity of 75%. |