| 释义 |
duration|djʊˈreɪʃən|
[a. obs. F. duration, ad. late L. dūrātiōn-em, n. of action f. dūrāre to harden, endure: see dure v. Used by Chaucer, and then after 1600; not in Shakes.]
1. a. Lasting, continuance in time; the continuance or length of time; the time during which a thing, action, or state continues.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 1024 And yaf hem eke duracioun. c1386― Knt.'s T. 2138 That same prince..Hath stablissed in this wretched world adoun Certeyne dayes and duracioun [Corp., Petw., Lansd. dominacioun] To al that is engendrid in this place. 1614Jackson Creed iii. xxx. §5. 283 The actuall visibilitie of colours wholly depends vpon the light, as well for existence as duration. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 287 What is Duration, but the persevering of a thing in its existence? 1685Boyle Salub. Air 80 Their duration was unequal, some lasting ten or fifteen days, and others longer. 1711Addison Spect. No. 94 ⁋5 That Space of Duration which we call a Minute. 1783Cowper Let. 24 Feb., The peace will probably be of short duration. 1862Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. iv. 118 The average duration of human life in the agricultural districts is beyond that of the great cities.
†b. Lasting in use; endurance of wear; durableness, permanence. Obs.
1637Earl of Monmouth tr. Malvezzi's Romulus & Tarq. 139 That Magistracy in States is of duration, which is content to execute as a Minister, not to command as a Lord. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 380 Date..a Tree which both for quality, duration, and fruit is [etc.]. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 212 A Bason..of Ciment, is preferable to all for its Duration. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxxiv. 157 The brick..appears to be ill prepared for duration.
c. Phonetics. The quantity or length of a sound.
1888H. Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds 9. §21 A sound which can form a syllable by itself is called syllabic. Syllabicness implies an appreciable duration and force. 1933Bloomfield Lang. vii. 109 Duration (or quantity) is the relative length of time through which the vocal organs are kept in a position. 1957S. Potter Mod. Ling. iii. 60 Many degrees of length, duration or quantity may be detected by observation and experiment in most languages. 1962A. C. Gimson Introd. Pronunc. Eng. 24 We shall..refer later to the ‘long’ vowels of English such as those of bean and barn, as compared with the ‘short’ vowel in bin. But, in making such statements, we shall not be referring to absolute duration values.
d. The time during which a war lasts, used first of the 1914–18 war from the term of enlistment ‘for four years or the duration of the war’; esp. in phr. for the duration, until the end of the war; hence, for a long or an unconscionably long time. Also attrib.
1916Punch 12 July 51 ‘I've got a lot of contracts to finish.’ ‘How long will they take?’ ‘Oh, about three years—or the duration of the War.’ 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 86 Duration, for the, a phrase often used colloquially to express weariness and impatience. Men, for instance, whose relief was long overdue might be heard complaining, ‘Are we going to stop here for the duration?’ 1930Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Apr., Nothing so prosaic as ‘doing one's bit’ would have kept an Italian heart up ‘for the duration’. 1939Punch 1 Nov. 483/1 Miss Dodge's motor-bicycle..has been laid up for the duration. 1940New Statesman 19 Oct. 381 We have received a number of letters from country readers offering week-end hospitality for those who must work in London, or ‘duration’ hospitality for their children. 1941M. Treadgold We couldn't leave Dinah xi. 176 That ought to keep you busy for the duration. 1960L. Durrell Clea ii. iii. 157 The war had intervened... The Brigadier was pinned down..‘for the duration’.
†2. Hardening. Obs.
1612Woodall Surg. Mate (1653) 270 Duration is either when things mollified at the fire are set in a cold place to harden: or by boyling..do waxe hard. 1657Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 75 The doctrine of Mollition and Duration.
3. Comb., as duration-block (see quots.).
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xv. 610 The unit of composition of our perception of time is a duration, with a bow and a stern, as it were—a rearward- and a forward-looking end. It is only as parts of this duration-block that the relation of succession of one end to the other is perceived. 1935Mind XLIV. 33 There is no such thing as a simple present; the present, to use William James's expression, is a ‘duration-block’ made up of ‘succeeding’ parts.
Hence duˈrational a., pertaining to duration.
1881Spottiswoode in Nature No. 623. 549 The durational character of this former is very much more marked than that of this latter. 1930F. R. Blake in Curme Vol. Ling. Studies 38 There is only one temporal durational case. 1942Mind LI. 150 Only when they have been redigested and creatively synthesized as metaphysical derivatives of eternal action can their durational causality be discovered. |