| 释义 |
stimulant, a. and n.|ˈstɪmjʊlənt|
[ad. L. stimulantem, pr. pple. of stimulāre: see stimulate v. Cf. F. stimulant (18th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), Sp. estimulante, It. stimolante.]
A. adj. Having the property of stimulating.
1. = stimulating 1. Now rare.
1803Southey in Ann. Rev. I. 18 The adventurers had so much of what was stimulant as well as true to relate. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. vi, This is the celebrated ‘Law of the Forty Sous’; fiercely stimulant to Sansculottism. 1875Lowell Wordsw. Writ. 1890 IV. 354 Religious canticles stimulant of zeal.
2. Phys. and Med.
a. Exciting an organ, or the organism, to increased activity; quickening some vital function or process. Now more commonly expressed by stimulating (sense 2).
1772W. Falconer Ess. Bath Waters I. 399 Where the effects of the water, particularly the stimulant and astringent, are desired in their full extent. Ibid., Yet their stimulant qualities may prove too violent a shock for a tender frame to endure. 1788J. Brown tr. Elem. Med. I. 13 note, Those who have been accustomed to more stimulant meals. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 428 Ammonia is very pungent and acrid,..but when diluted by mixture with common air, agreeably stimulant. 1839Hallam Hist. Lit. ii. vii. §44. II. 316 We are now so accustomed to a more stimulant diet in fiction, that few would read it through with pleasure. 1861Bentley Man. Bot. 562 Aromatic, Carminative, Stimulant, and Tonic Umbelliferæ.
b. spec. Applied to alcoholic drinks. rare. (Cf. B. 2 b.)
1872J. G. Murphy Comm. Lev. x. 8–11 Abstinence from stimulant drinks.
c. Acting as a stimulus (see stimulus 3); exciting the functional activity of an organ. (Cf. B. 2 c.) rare.
1785Cullen Instit. Med. i. (ed. 3) 66 Whatever can excite the contraction of muscular fibres is called a Stimulus; and in general, the means of exciting contraction are called Stimulant Powers. 1788J. Brown tr. Elem. Med. I. 6 The same exciting powers..ought to be denominated stimulant, or stimuli.
B. n. Something that stimulates.
1. Something that rouses or incites to action; an incentive, a stimulus. Now rare exc. with some figurative notion of sense 2.
1794R. J. Sulivan View Nat. I. 30 A powerful stimulant to others, to employ their invention and ability. 1847G. Harris Life Hardwicke I. 354 The pecuniary remuneration in every office of this kind is the direct and immediate stimulant to exertion and enterprise. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 283 Even now the stimulants which he applied to his torpid and feeble party produced some faint symptoms of returning animation. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life ii. i. 44 The three intellectual pursuits—literature, science, and the fine arts—are all of them strong stimulants.
2. a. Phys. and Med. Something that temporarily quickens some vital process, or the function of some organ; a stimulant agent.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., Stimulants produce Pain, Heat, Redness. 1772W. Falconer Ess. Bath Waters I. 338 The Bath Waters are in general indicated as stimulants, in cases of languid motion. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 268 In disorders of an inflammatory nature, electricity, as it is a stimulant, should not be resorted to. 1831J. Davies Mat. Med. 134 Diffusible or general stimulants... Such..stimulating remedies as do not appear to act..on a particular organ, but the exciting action of which is equally felt throughout the whole economy. 1832Brewster Nat. Magic xiii. 347 The operation of this remarkable stimulant [nitrous oxide]. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 148 Pepper is a warm carminative stimulant. 1875H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 114 Cardiac stimulants..increase the..force of the circulation. 1882Edison in A. A. Reade Study & Stimulants (1883) 45 When so engaged I almost invariably chew tobacco as a stimulant. 1882A. J. Ellis Ibid. 46, I never took tobacco in any shape or form. For twenty-five years I have taken no sort of stimulant, not even tea or coffee. 1885Dr. Ranney in Harper's Mag. Mar. 641/2 The abuse of stimulants, in the form of alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee.
b. spec. Applied to alcoholic drinks.
1848Mill Pol. Econ. II. v. vi. 425 Among luxuries of general consumption, taxation should by preference attach itself to stimulants. 1859― Liberty v. 180 To tax stimulants for the sole purpose of making them more difficult to be obtained, is a measure differing only in degree from their entire prohibition. 1865Livingstone Zambesi xxi. 427 The..craving for stimulants. 1899A. C. Benson Life Abp. Benson I. i. 10 In one of his many serious illnesses he refused all stimulants.
c. Something that excites an organ to its functional activity. (Cf. A. 2 b.) rare.
1880Huxley Crayfish iii. 116 Sonorous vibrations..act as the stimulants of a special nerve.
Hence ˈstimulantly adv.
1814W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. LXXV. 161 Such sayings..when stimulantly expressed, are easily remembered. |