| 释义 |
dilution|dɪ-, daɪˈl(j)uːʃən|
[n. of action f. L. dīlūt- ppl. stem of dīluĕre to dilute: so in mod.F., adm. by Acad. 1878.]
1. The action of diluting; a making thin, fluid, or weaker by the admixture of water or other reducing substance; watering down.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxi. 161 Water..serving for refrigeration, dilution of solid aliment..in the stomacke. 1656Blount Glossogr., Dilution..a washing, or clensing, a purging or clearing. 1731Arbuthnot Aliments v. (R.), Opposite to dilution is coagulation, or thickning. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 106 The activity of the oxygen being tempered by dilution with nitrogen.
fig.1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 220 The Protestant dilution of the theological spirit. 1885Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxvi. 3 Strange dilution and defilement of Scriptural language!
2. Dilute condition.
1805W. Saunders Min. Waters 386 Owing to the state of very great dilution in which the earthy salt existed in this solution. 1827Faraday Exp. Res. No. 41. 226 Equal quantities..in the same state of dilution.
3. A thing in a dilute state, that which is diluted.
1861Emerson Soc. & Solit., Old Age Wks. (Bohn) III. 131 Tobacco, coffee, alcohol..strychnine, are weak dilutions: the surest poison is time. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) II. i. 18 A feeble dilution of the most watery kind of popular teaching.
4. The substitution of unskilled or semi-skilled for skilled workers.
1916Times 17 June 7/5 They had no objection to the Admiralty introducing dilution all round, but..they must ask..that the position of the skilled workers would not be unduly harmed. 1919Daily Mail Year Bk. 111/1 True, the dilution of labour includes the employment of a large contingent of unskilled men besides women. 1921Ibid. 60/2 Dilution by taking in unskilled and partially skilled men, and particularly ex-Service men. 1940Economist 24 Feb. 322/1 No decisions have been reached about the scale and conditions of dilution in general, female employment in particular, and retraining. 1964Times Rev. Industry Feb. 71/2 They may..sponsor dilution (more jobs for women at equal pay and quicker apprentice training). |