| 释义 |
efface|ɛˈfeɪs|
[ad. F. effacer (= Pr. esfassar), f. L. ex out + facies face.]
1. To rub out, obliterate (writing, painted or sculptured figures, a mark or stain) from the surface of anything, so as to leave no distinct traces.
1611Cotgr., Effacer, to efface, deface, raze, blot, rub out, wipe away; to abolish. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 279 So coin grows smooth..Till Cæsar's image is effaced at last. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola ii. xxi, The ignominious images, painted on the public buildings..were effaced.
b. In wider sense: To cause to disappear entirely, do away with (a visible feature or object).
1843Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 105 The close of a cycle, when the sun was to be effaced from the heavens, the human race from the earth. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxiv. (1856) 192 Pools of water, which would be effaced again, soon after they were formed. 1870F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 83 The entrance through the tower has been effaced.
c. Cryst.
1823H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 214 A right square prism..may result from..an octahedron with a square base, by the concurrence..of the modifictions a and e..when those modifications efface the primary planes.
2. To expunge, erase (words or sentences) from a written composition or document. Now only in fig. sentences.
1737Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 279 Fluent Shakspeare scarce effac'd a line. 1805N. Nicholls Let. in Corr. w. Gray (1843) 40 The lines of Mason which were effaced and replaced by these. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 440 Perhaps the passions excited by the tyranny of James might make it impossible to efface the penal laws from the statute book.
3. fig. To obliterate, wipe out (a memory, a mental impression); to ‘blot out’, pardon, obtain oblivion for (an offence); to abolish, destroy (distinctive characteristics, etc.).
1490Caxton How to Die 21 That effacest..the synnes of theym that ben repentaunt. a1626Bacon in Webster, Efface from his mind the theories and notions vulgarly received. 1703Pope Thebais 822 'Tis thine t' efface With virtuous acts thy ancestor's disgrace. 1738Wesley Psalms li. i, In tender Mercy look on me, And all my Sins efface. 1857Buckle Civilis. viii. (1873) 456 An impression had been made upon the popular mind which it was hardly possible to efface. 1874Morley Compromise (1886) 194 If such a proposition is true, the world must efface its habit of admiration for the..heroes of the past.
4. fig. To cast utterly into the shade, reduce to virtual nonentity.
b. refl. [after Fr. s'effacer]. To reduce oneself to insignificance; to abandon or forfeit one's claim to consideration.
1716–8Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxvii. 143 Her beauty effaced everything I have seen. 1871M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. II. ii. 30 Amy Gray was..quite effaced. Mod. As a politician he has completely effaced himself by this act of imprudence.
Add:5. Obstetr. To distort (the cervix, umbilicus, etc.) to such an extent that it is unrecognizable or indistinguishable, usually through the distension of an adjacent organ in the course of labour. Chiefly in pass. Cf. *effacement n. b.
1913J. B. De Lee Princ. & Pract. Obstetr. vi. 120 The cervix is ‘taken up’, it is ‘obliterated’, it is ‘shortened’, it is ‘effaced’. The latter term is the one preferred by the author. 1955J. P. Greenhill De Lee's Obstetr. (ed. 11) x. 181/2 At the beginning of labor the cervix is considerably effaced and somewhat dilated in most women. 1972E. C. Hughes Obstetr.-Gynecol. Terminol. vii. 378 During this phase, the cervix becomes effaced but dilates only slightly. 1981S. Kitzinger Experience of Childbirth (ed. 4) ix. 217 The uterine muscles effacing and dilating the cervix. |