释义 |
technology|tɛkˈnɒlədʒɪ| [ad. Gr. τεχνολογία systematic treatment (of grammar, etc.), f. τέχνη art, craft: see -logy. So F. technologie (1812 in Hatz.-Darm.).] 1. a. A discourse or treatise on an art or arts; the scientific study of the practical or industrial arts.
1615Buck Third Univ. Eng. xlviii, An apt close of this general Technologie. 1628Venner Baths of Bathe 9 Heere I cannot but lay open Baths Technologie. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Technology, a Description of Arts, especially the Mechanical. 1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) I. 19 Questions in technology in all its branches. 1881P. Geddes in Nature 29 Sept. 524/2 Of economic physics, geology, botany, and zoology, of technology and the fine arts. 1882Mechanical World 4 Mar. 130/1 The Department of Applied Science and Technology. b. transf. Practical arts collectively.
1859R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 437 Little valued in European technology it [the chakazi, or ‘jackass’ copal] is exported to Bombay, where it is converted into an inferior varnish. 1864― Dahome II. 202 His technology consists of weaving, cutting canoes, making rude weapons, and in some places practising a rude metallurgy. 1949in W. A. Visser t' Hooft First Assembly World Council of Churches 75 There is no inescapable necessity for society to succumb to undirected developments of technology. 1958J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society ix. 99 Improvements in technology..are the result of investment in highly organized scientific and engineering knowledge and skills. 1971Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 10 Dec. 18/2 In the production of millions of children a year, it is not surprising that occasionally nature's complex technology should break down to produce an imbalance of hormones with masculinisation of the female foetus or feminisation of the male. 1975Ecologist V. 120/1 Guiding technological development effectively is not a matter of being for or against technology, which is the form the discussion usually assumes. c. With a and pl. A particular practical or industrial art.
1957Technology Apr. 56/1 It [sc. Chemical Engineering] is now recognized as one of the four primary technologies, alongside civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. 1960Electronic Engin. Mar. 148/1 Electronic data-processing for business is a young technology. 1969Listener 5 June 778/1 To compare one technology with another. 1979Computers in Shell (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 2 Highly complex problems involving the many technologies needed within the energy and associated industries. d. high-technology applied attrib. to a firm, industry, etc., that produces or utilizes highly advanced and specialized technology, or to the products of such a firm. Also (unhyphened) as n. phr. Similarly low-technology. Cf. high tech s.v. tech3 1.
1964S. M. Miller in I. L. Horowitz New Sociology 292 The youthful poor possess limited or outmoded skills and inadequate credentials in a high-technology, certificate-demanding economy. 1970Physics Bull. Apr. 146/1 ‘High technology’ industries demand huge capital and r and d investments. 1972Nature 28 Jan. 183/2 In high technology..errors in estimates of development cost are more serious in their effects. 1973Newsweek 18 June 92/2 As their old, low-technology industries wilt under the pressure of mounting labor costs. 1981Times 14 May 1/7 Export licences are required for a variety of high technology goods including computers, electronic equipment, chemicals, metals and building equipment. 2. The terminology of a particular art or subject; technical nomenclature.
1658Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus v. 70 The mother of Life and Fountain of souls in Cabalisticall Technology is called Binah. 1793W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XI. 563 The port-customs, the technology, and the maritime laws, all wear marks of this original character. 1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 252 An engine, called, in the technology of that day, fork. 1862Morn. Star 21 May, Aluminium, and its alloy with copper—which the manufacturers, with a slight laxity of technology, denominate bronze. †3. = Gr. τεχνολογία: see etym. Obs. rare—1.
1683Twells Exam. Gram. Pref. 17 There were not any further Essays made in Technology, for above Fourscore years; but all men acquiesced in the Common Grammar. 4. Special Combs.: technology assessment, the assessment of the effects on society of new technology; technology transfer, the transfer of new technology or advanced technological information from the developed to the less developed countries of the world.
1966Inquiries, Legislation, Policy Stud. Subcomm. Sci., Res., & Devel. (U.S. Congress: House: Comm. Sci. & Astronaut.) 27 We must be cognizant of what technology is doing to us—the bad as well as the good. Toward this end we would consider the exploration of legislation to establish a Technology Assessment Board—with the somewhat appropriate acronym TAB, since this would be its function. 1979Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Mar. 21 Unanswered questions are threatening to leave technology assessment a mere intellectual pastime.
1969Listener 24 July 106/3 This seems to show that Africa can use western techniques to her advantage, but only so long as the different cultural, intellectual and material contexts are kept firmly in mind when the technology-transfer is being planned. 1978Internat. Relations Dict. (U.S. Dept. State Library) 40/2 Technology transfer has been defined as ‘the transfer of knowledge generated and developed in one place to another, where it is used to achieve some practical end.’ |