| 释义 |
demarcation|diːmɑːˈkeɪʃən|
Also demarkation.
[ad. Sp. demarcacion (Pg. demarcação), n. of action from demarcar to lay down the limits of, mark out the bounds of, f. de- = de I. 3 + marcar to mark. So F. démarcation (1752 in Hatzf.), from Spanish. First used of the linea de demarcacion (Pg. linha de demarcação) laid down by the Pope in dividing the New World between the Spanish and Portuguese.]
1. The action of marking the boundary or limits of something, or of marking it off from something else; delimitation; separation. Usually in phr. line of demarcation.
a. lit. (a) originally in reference to the meridian dividing the Spanish from the Portuguese Indies.
The bull of 4 May 1493 ‘sobre la particion del oceano’ fixed the Line of Demarcation at 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Isles; the ‘Capitulacion de la particion del Mar Oceano entre los Reyes Catolicos y Don Juan Rey de Portugal’, of 7 June 1494, definitely established it at 370 leagues (17½ to an equatorial degree) west of these isles, or about 47° long. W. of Greenwich in the Atlantic, and at the anti-meridian of 133° E. long. in the East Indies. The word occurs in the latter document ‘dentro de la dicha limitacion y demarcacion’. Navarrete Viages II. 121.)
1727–52Chambers Cycl., Line of Demarcation, or Alexandrian Line. 1760–72tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) II. 142 Eastward it extends to Brasil, being terminated by the meridian of demarcation. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) I. iii. 206 The communication with the East Indies, by a course to the westward of the line of demarkation, drawn by the Pope. 1804Southey in Ann. Rev. II. 6 Ruy Falero wanted to bring the Moluccas on the Spanish side of the line of demarcation. 1849tr. Humboldt's Cosmos II. 655 As early as the 4th of May (1493) the celebrated bull was signed by Pope Alexander VI, which established ‘to all eternity’ the line of demarcation between the Spanish and Portuguese possessions at a distance of one hundred leagues to the west of the Azores.
(b) of other lines dividing regions.
1801W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. xi. 646 As if the whole North of Germany, within the line of demarcation might very conveniently become a separate empire. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 25 Nothing but precise demarcation of limits, and the intention of cultivation, can establish the possession. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. vi. (1858) 267 So completely was the line of demarcation observed..between Phœnicia and Palestine, that their histories hardly touch.
b. fig.
1776Bentham Fragm. Govt. iv. §36 Wks. I. 290 These bounds the supreme body..has marked out to its authority: of such a demarcation, then, what is the effect? 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 43 The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end, and resistance must begin, is..not easily definable. 1875Lyell Princ. Geol. II. iii. xxxvii. 327 Where the lines of demarcation between the species ought to be drawn. 1883Century Mag. Dec. 196/2 A strange demarkation between the sexes was enforced in these ceremonies.
2. attrib. demarcation dispute, demarcation rule, etc., in reference to the precise scope and kind of work laid down by trade unions for their members in their rules, a dispute occurring between two unions where such rules appear to conflict.
1930Monotype Recorder XXIX. 19 The amicable settlement of demarcation problems raised by developments in machines and processes. 1931Economist 14 Feb. 340/1 In engineering, as in many other British industries, the burden of labour costs has been inflated unduly by rigid demarcation rules. 1940R. Postgate Verdict of Twelve i. vi. 82 The enforcing of the rule book had already taken out of the hands of the members their power to start continual small strikes over ‘demarcation disputes’. 1963Ann. Reg. 1962 52 Demarcation dispute in the steel industry between the bricklayers' and steelworkers' unions over who should lay the dolomite blocks used to line furnaces. 1969Listener 30 Jan. 157/2 David Haworth's Observer report on a demarcation dispute in Barrow may be read as a classic story of an employer setting two unions against each other. |