| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈreading, n.1 Obs. rare.
(See quot. 1688.)
1580Lanc. Wills III. 36 Two payre of sheetes, th' one payre of canvas, th' other of redinge. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 107/1 Readings is a course sort of Cloth.
▪ II. reading, vbl. n.|ˈriːdɪŋ|
[f. read v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of perusing written or printed matter; the practice of occupying oneself in this way. Also with up, off.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxii. 169 Ðonne ic cume, ðonne beo ðu abisᵹad ymbe rædinge. a1225Ancr. R. 44 Redinge of Englichs, oðer of Freinchs, holi meditaciuns. Ibid. 286 Redunge is god bone. Redunge techeð hu & hwat me schal bidden. c1460Emare 550 As he stode yn redyng, Downe he fell yn sowenyng. 1534Starkey Let. to Cromwell in England (1878) p. ix, To trowbull you wyth the redyng of thys scrole. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. ii. xiv. (1674) 154 Politick Salt, which makes the Reading of History very delightful. 1710Steele Tatler No. 147 ⁋1 Reading is to the Mind, what Exercise is to the Body. 1771Junius Lett. xlvii. 248 In the course of my reading this morning I met with the following passage. 1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xiii, A little reading-up would, he felt assured, qualify him for matriculation. 1894Burn, etc. Steam Eng. User 55 The forms and the Reading off of Indicator Diagrams or Figures.
b. The extent to which one reads or has read; literary knowledge, scholarship. † Also pl.
1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. iii. 179 He is of no reading in comparison, that doth not acknowledge euery terme in those Letters to be autenticall English. a1700Dryden Poems (1822) I. 256 His knowledge more, his reading only less. c1700G. Grey Life M. Robinson (ed. Mayor) §25 He that had his writings had cause to question his great readings. 1724Swift Riddle, Without my aid..The scholar could not shew his reading. 1797Monthly Mag. III. 93/2 That information which a man of some reading might, with ease, have imparted. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. (1875) 9 Shelley had plenty of reading; Coleridge had immense reading.
c. Ability to read; the art of reading.
reading made easy: the title of various reading-books for children formerly in use. Still freq. in dial., usually in form readimadeasy (see Eng. Dial. Dict.).
1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 20 For your writing and reading, let that appeare when there is no neede of such vanity. 1810Crabbe Borough xxiv, Reading made easy, so the titles tell. 1827Scott Chron. Canongate Ser. i. iv, A very responsible youth..gied them lessons in Reediemadeasy. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 248 It..becomes a matter of the highest importance that every telegraphist should thoroughly master acoustic reading.
d. A single or separate act or course of perusal; also Sc. = read n.
1757Hurd Remarks on Hume's Essay 5 The Remarks..are such as occurred to him on a single reading of the Essay. 1786Washington Let. to Lafayette 10 May, Some petitions..could scarcely obtain a reading. 1825J. Wilson Noct. Amb. i. Wks. 1855 I. 9 The beuk must be a curious ane indeed, and you must gie me a reading o't. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 553 Sir Aylmer watched them all, Yet bitterer from his readings.
e. Computers. The copying, extraction, or transfer of data. Also with in, out. Also transf. Freq. attrib. Cf. read v. 5 h, 6 f.
1949E. C. Berkeley Giant Brains iv. 44 The reading of a hole in a column of a punch card is done by a brush of several strands of copper wire pressed against a metal roller. 1950High-Speed Computing Devices ix. 155 The input to the Tabulator is from a single feed with reading stations examining the two most advanced cards simultaneously. 1964F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers iv. 65 When the magnetised spot of wire passes under the reading head there will be a change of magnetic flux through the coils on the head. 1964J. Z. Young Model of Brain xiii. 217 We can thus say that the vertical lobe system is necessary for ‘reading-out’ of the memory as well as for ‘reading-in’. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing viii. 122 After a few milliseconds, the beginning of the tape block reaches the reading head and the buffer register in the channel starts to be filled with information.
2. The action of uttering aloud the words of written or printed matter. (Also with ref. to the manner in which this is done.) Also with aloud, out.
c961æthelwold Rule St. Benet xxxviii. (Schröer 1885) 62 ᵹebroðra ᵹereorde æt hyra mysum ne sceal beon butan haliᵹre rædinge. c1300Havelok 2327 Harping and piping,..Romanz reding on the bok. 1390Gower Conf. III. 31 Min Ere..Is fedd of redinge of romance. 1583Leg. Bp. St. Androis 103 Neather with preiching nor wt reiding, Tuke he that faythless flock in feiding. 1779G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. (ed. 2) II. 189 How frequently do we meet with men of great learning, whose reading gives one pain! 1828Scott F.M. Perth vi, I wish to hear reading, and could listen to your sweet voice for ever. 1878R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. viii. 228 It was genuine reading, not dramatic recitation. 1936F. R. Leavis Revaluation ii. 44 Here, if this were a lecture, would come illustrative reading-out—say of the famous opening to Book 111. 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day iv. 64, I don't remember much reading-aloud, before I could read to myself.
b. The delivery in this manner of a specified portion of matter; a single act or spell of this; also, the portion so read at one time. Also with aloud.
c961æthelwold Rule St. Benet ix. (Schröer 1885) 33 Man þreo rædinga ræde and þry ræpsas, and ealle þa ᵹebroþra þa hwile sittan. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 384 Agustinus us onwreah þissere rædinge andᵹit. c1175Lamb. Hom. 93 Ȝe iherden a lutel er on þisse redunge þat ðe halie gast [etc.]. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 On salmes, and on songes, and on redinges. 1382Wyclif Acts xiii. 15 Aftir the redinge of lawe and prophetis, the princes of the synagogue senten to hem. 1490in Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 290 In such place as the Mynisters of god may stond upon my body in the tyme of the Redyng of the gospellis. 1657Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 112 Regard is had to the more solemn times by select and proper readings. 1673True Worship of God 9 They had their weekly Readings of the Law of Moses. 1860Ellicott Life Our Lord iv. 158 The reading of the prophets was to begin, and the reading of the season was from the old Evangelist Isaiah. 1864Sharpe's London Mag. XXVI. 216 No reading should..last longer than ten minutes. 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day vii. 149 These were H. R. K.'s incomparable readings-aloud from Jane Austen, Thackeray, Dickens or the poets. 1974Listener 14 Mar. 347/2 The least we can ask from a reading-aloud of poetry we know is that it adds to our gain from private reading.
c. The formal recital of a bill (or some part of it) before a legislative assembly.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. §240 They called..for the bill..‘for the extirpation of episcopacy’, and gave it a second reading. 1702–3Atterbury Let. Misc. Wks. 1739 I. 164 The Bill about repairing Churches was thrown out by the Lords..at the first reading. 1783Hansard Parl. Hist. (1814) XXIII. 1224 That the Christmas recess should intervene before the second reading. 1858J. Bright Sp. India 24 June, Opposing the second reading of this Bill.
d. Sc. The act of reading a portion of Scripture to the members of a household, as a form of family worship.
1814Nicholson Poet. Wks. (1897) 67 (E.D.D.) Breakfast done, and reading bye. 1889Barrie Window in Thrums 193 I'll sit up till the readin's ower.
e. A social or public entertainment at which the audience listens to a reader. Cf. penny reading.
1787J. Cobb Eng. Readings 5 But tell me, Kitty, how did this rage for English Readings reach a town so far from London? 1813M. Edgeworth Let. 16 May (1971) 55 We have been to one of Mrs. Siddons readings—Measure for Measure... In settling with Sheridan she came short 10 or 12 thousand pounds and her Readings are to make up this defalcation. 1858Dickens Lett. 11 Sept. (1880) II. 71 After the reading last night we walked..to the railway. 1869Nation (U.S.) VI. 269/1 The intelligent classes in this country, who can read themselves, have little occasion for public readings. 1916Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Diary 12 Apr. (1971) 71, I went to the most remarkable Poets' Reading I have ever attended... I was moved by Mr de la Mare reading five poems of great beauty. 1953Ann. Reg. 1952 CXCIV. 377 The Hell scene in Shaw's Man and Superman had been staged with elaborate simplicity as a ‘reading’.
f. reading in (see read v. 13 a and 19 c).
1858Dale Clergym. Legal Handbk. (ed. 7) 35 margin. 1892Whitehead Church Law (ed. 2) 251 The church⁓wardens and some parishioners should certify that the reading in has been duly performed.
†3.
a. The act of lecturing or commenting upon some subject, esp. a law text; also, the matter of such lecture or comment, a commentary or gloss. reading of the sentences: (see sentence). Obs.
1517Black Bks. Lincoln's Inn (1897) I. 183 All such as be at the Bench and dwellyng in the town, schall come daily to the redynges. 1581Lambarde Eiren. Proheme (1588) 1 The Office and Duetie of Iustices of the Peace, after M. Marrow (whose learned Reading in that behalfe..is in many hands to be seene). 1598J. Manwood Lawes Forest ii. (1615) 28/2 Both Master Hesket and M. Treherne in their reading of the lawes of the forest. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xc. (1674) 121 The reading of good discipline in a famous University. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Readings are also used for a sort of commentary or gloss on a law text, passage, or the like, to shew the sense an author takes it in.
†b. Instruction by a tutor. Obs. rare—1.
1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 54 Two Crownes a moneth his Fencing, as much for Dancing, and no lesse for his Reading.
4. The act of interpreting or expounding. rare—0.
c1440Promp. Parv. 427/1 Redynge, or expownynge of rydellys, or oþer privyteys..interpretacio, edicio.
†5. a reading or in reading: Being read. Obs.
1535Coverdale 1 Macc. v. 14 Whyle these letters were yet a readinge,..there came other messaungers. 1566Child-Marriages 137 This respondent saieth, that the testament was written before this talk, and was then in readinge.
6. The form in which a given passage appears in any copy or edition of a text; the actual word or words used in a particular passage. various readings: (see various).
1557N. T. (Genev.) title-p., The Newe Testament..With the arguments,..also diuersities of readings. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. ⁋15 They..had rather haue their iudgements at libertie in differences of readings. 1699Bentley Phal. 281 If the Reading be not corrupted, this Oracle was given Olymp. lxxvi, 1. 1724A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 189 But this supposition..will not prove the two readings genuine. 1823Byron Juan vii. viii, ‘Fierce loves and faithless wars’—I am not sure If this be the right reading. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. App. 612 The readings of the manuscripts are so different that it is hard to tell their exact meaning.
7. a. Matter for reading, esp. with ref. to its quality or kind.
1706Swift To Peterborough, Ne'er to be match'd in modern reading, But by his name-sake Charles of Sweden. 1809[see light a.1 19]. 1840De Quincey Style i. Wks. 1853 XI. 175 It is in newspapers that we must look for the main reading of this generation. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 415 The books sold at railways are nearly all of the class best known as ‘light-reading’, or what some account light reading. 1885Pall Mall Budget 19 June 31/1 His account of the America is lively reading.
b. Printed or written characters; lettering.
1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 163 You will observe the cover has no reading on it, but only seven stars.
c. An extract from a previously printed source; in pl. freq. denoting a particular selection of such extracts intended to be read at one time or as a unit.
1835C. Fry (title) Daily readings. Passages of Scripture, selected for social reading. 1865Ctess. of Cawdor (title) Short Sunday evening readings selected and abridged from various authors. 1908Robinson & Beard (title) Readings in modern European history. A collection of extracts from the sources. 1931W. L. Valentine Readings in Exper. Psychol. p. xiv, The original purpose was to include as a single reading only a single experimental paper. 1947Mind LVI. 278 This joint work is intended to be read in conjunction with a companion volume of ‘readings’ culled from the classics of ancient and modern philosophy. 1972Sci. Amer. Feb. 117/1 The Science of Matter offers more than 160 samples, averaging a couple of pages each; A History of Medicine..gives us a couple of dozen readings some 10 or 12 pages in length.
8. That which presents itself to be read; spec. the indication of a graduated instrument.
1833Herschel Astron. ii. 83 The division and fractional part thus noted..is to be set down as the reading of the limb. 1838De Quincey Charles Lamb Wks. 1858 IX. 153 That pure light of benignity which was the predominant reading on his features. 1869W. B. Carpenter in Scientific Opinion 9 Jan. 174/1 note, Our third thermometer stood..at 45°..and its reading has not been taken into account.
b. So reading-off.
1808Sax in Phil. Trans. XCIX. 240 Taking a mean of the different readings-off for the true position of the wire. 1833Herschel Astron. §198 The same constant error of graduation, which depends on the initial and final readings off alone.
9. The interpretation or meaning one attaches to anything, or the view one takes of it; in recent use esp. the rendering given to a play or a character, a piece of music, etc., as expressing the actor's or performer's point of view.
1792A. Young Trav. France 37 There is a species of countenance here so horridly bad, that it is impossible to be mistaken in one's reading. 1814Morning Herald 14 Mar. in J. Agate These were Actors (1943) 31 Mr. Kean thought fit to leave out the whole of the first line in this declaration... This, in the saucy jargon of the day, may be called ‘a new reading’. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 151 Dogma..is ever producing new readings of the history. 1860Reade Cloister & H. lviii, She gave him her reading of the matter. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. II. iii. x. 94 By-the-by, that very word, Reading, in its critical use, always charms me. An actress's Reading of a chambermaid, a dancer's Reading of a hornpipe, a singer's Reading of a song, a marine-painter's Reading of the sea, the kettle-drum's Reading of an instrumental passage, are phrases ever youthful and delightful. 1882P. Fitzgerald Recreat. Lit. Man (1883) 112 His reading of Balzac's Mercadet..appeared somewhat airy and not tragic enough. 1929A. Carse Orchestral Conducting iii. i. 96 The personality of a conductor, the individuality of his readings..count for more than technical correctness. 1945H. Wood About Conducting 105 Every aspirant to a conductor's career should..make himself acquainted with the traditional readings of the classical repertoire. 1969Listener 13 Mar. 360/2 The structure of his film implies one reading of Isadora's life, while its content implies a quite contrary interpretation. 1977M. Allen Spence in Petal Park iv. 16 Someone turned him over..after death, I would say. The pathologist will tell us for sure, but that's my reading.
10. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib., as reading-circle, reading-class, reading clinic, reading day, reading excursion, reading habit, reading hour, reading-lamp, reading light, reading list, reading material, reading matter, reading party, reading play, reading rate, reading-readiness, reading scheme, reading society, reading-stand, reading-table, reading time, reading tour.
1871Mrs. Stowe Pink & White Tyranny xi. 124 They would get up their *reading-circles, and he would set her to improving her mind. 1926R. Macaulay Crewe Train ii. v. 118 A reading circle. You all study some book together, and meet and talk about it.
1838Marg. Fuller Wom. 19th C. (1862) 347 The forwardness of their minds has induced me to take both into my *reading-class.
1963R. I. McDavid Mencken's Amer. Lang. 320 Minton points out the spread of technical medical terminology to education, as clinic (yielding *reading clinic and speech clinic). 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxvi. 514 There should be a reading clinic or remedial centre in every L.E.A.
a1643Cartwright Ordinary iii. v. Song, A *Reading-Day Frights French away, The Benchers dare speak Latin. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 240 The Booke which in that grand reading day..will be Licensed or burnt.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxii, Jaunty young Cambridgemen..going for a *reading excursion.
1940R. S. Lambert Ariel & all his Quality v. 131 You could hear complaints..that broadcasting was undermining the *reading habit. 1963D. Pryce-Jones in Sissons & French Age of Austerity 212 The war may have enlarged the reading habits of a great many people. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxi. 304 The reading habit should be established early.
1809Campbell Gert. Wyom. ii. ix, A deep untrodden grot, Where oft the *reading hours sweet Gertrude wore.
1782Catal. Stock in Trade Benjamin Martin 14 A *reading lamp, with magnifying glass and shade. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. xxxix, I took up my reading-lamp and went out. 1908Mrs. H. Ward Diana Mallory ii. x. 212 She was bending over the fire..a reading-lamp beside her. 1960T. Cooper Winter's Day ii. v. 134 Do..switch off the big light; this reading-lamp on the desk is ample.
1936M. Allingham Flowers for Judge xix. 273 The green *reading light..shining down upon his papers. 1945Wilson & Wright Tomorrow's House xi. 116/2 Getting a decent reading light is by no means a matter of setting a table lamp on the night table. 1981L. Deighton XPD xli. 329 He had a small reading light by which to read the documentation.
1925Scribner's Mag. July 61/1 Books on fishing..should, in my opinion, have a place on every *reading list. 1981Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Feb. 136/4 The names of these daunting authors..make an occasional modest appearance on reading-lists.
1961Educ. in Scotland 1960 (HMSO) 44 A welcome increase in the provision of supplementary *reading material. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xvii. 253 Her first task is to assess the attainment level of every child and provide each with reading material of the right level of readability.
1848Thoreau in Union Mag. Aug. 79/2 An odd leaf of the Bible,..Emerson's Address on West India Emancipation..an odd number of the Westminster Review... This was the readable, or *reading matter, in a lumberer's camp in the Maine woods. 1884G. Allen Philistia III. 238 To supply the reading matter, the letterpress I think you call it. 1923R. Macaulay Told by Idiot ii. i. 68 Wise men and women would derive such pleasure as they could from the writings of others, without putting themselves to the trouble of providing reading matter in their turn. 1972‘E. Ferrars’ Breath of Suspicion xi. 185 I'm leaving the choice of some reading-matter for you to Bernard.
1785E. Sheridan Jrnl. (1960) i. 43 Yesterday evening we spent at Mr Vesey's—a sort of conversationé—and *reading party. 1860Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxvi, Others applied to know whether he would take a reading party in the long Vacation. 1930J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching & Bird Behaviour iii. 61, I was spending some of the spring vacation with a reading-party on the coast of North Wales. 1980D. Newsome On Edge of Paradise ii. 59 A meeting there with a reading-party was usually the prelude to some summer expedition abroad.
1729Fielding Author's Farce i. vii, Your *reading play is of a different stamp, and must have wit and meaning in it.
1960Bookseller 17 Dec. 2330/3 A ‘*reading-rate controller’.., an inverted T-square with the handle part moving down the page of a book,..is attached to a sloping desk... A ready reckoner shows the number of..[lines] read in a minute, and the pupil can set the speed of this and then try to read faster. 1975Broadcast 28 July 11/3 Our videodisc player's reading rate is 30 million bits per second.
1948,1956*Reading-readiness [see readiness 4 b]. 1964M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia iv. 15 Bound up with the problem of when a child should first receive formal instruction in reading is the notion of a state of ‘reading-readiness’. 1976Woman's Day (U.S.) Nov. 58/2 How can reading-readiness scores have meaning when reading experts are still debating what skills are needed for beginning reading?
1974Education & Community Relations Jan. 3 Several multiracial primary schools foresaw a major change ‘in the selection of *reading schemes and supplementary readers’. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) vii. 104 The reading scheme is at the centre of this material in most young children's early experience of reading.
1775T. Campbell Diary 21 Mar. (1947) 58 Strolled into the Chapter Coffee-house..remarkable for a large collection of books, & a *reading Society &c—I subscribed a shilling for the right of a years reading. 1797C. Toogood Let. in Polwhele Trad. & Recoll. II. 462 We meet now, in almost every town, with a reading-society. 1828M. O'Brien Jrnl. 28 Oct. (1968) iii. 21, I hope we shall manage the reading society, though we can only muster three members at Present. 1890G. B. Shaw in Star 28 Feb. 2/4, I repaired to the London Institution to see ‘The Shakespere Reading Society’ recite ‘Much Ado’.
1853Dale tr. Baldeschi's Ceremonial 119 The Assistant Priest carries to the Altar the cushion, or *reading-stand, with the Missal. 1885Mabel Collins Prettiest Woman xiii, Beside the bed was a reading-stand.
1794T. Sheraton Cabinet-Maker & Upholsterer's Drawing-Bk. II. iii. Pl. 44 (caption) A *Reading & Writing Table. 1855Trollope Warden ix. 134 A huge arm-chair fitted up with candlesticks, a reading table, a drawer, and other paraphernalia. 1875Carp. & Join. 130, I will now describe a large elevating reading table.
1591Black Bks. Lincoln's Inn (1898) II. 21 No Reader shall make anie dinner..but in the *Reading time.
1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs (1881) 223 They are on a *reading tour for the Long Vacation.
b. Special combs.: reading age, reading ability expressed in terms of the age (during the period of development) for which a comparable ability is calculated as average; reading-book, † (a) a book of church-lessons (obs.); (b) a book containing passages for instruction in reading; reading chair, a chair designed to facilitate reading; spec. one equipped with a book-rest upon one arm; reading-closet, one of the small compartments in the reading-room of a printing-office; reading-coat, a coat to wear while reading (? obs.); reading copy, a copy of a book that is usable although in less than perfect condition; reading-desk, a desk for supporting a book while it is being read, spec. a lectern; reading-glass, (a) a large magnifying glass for use in reading; (b) in pl., a pair of spectacles for use when reading; reading-hook (see quot.); reading-machine, (a) (see quot.); (b) a device for producing an enlarged, readable image from microform; (c) a device for automatically producing electrical signals corresponding to the characters of a text; reading notice U.S. (see quot. 1909); reading-pew, a pew from which the lessons are read in church; † reading-psalms, the prose psalms used for reading in church (obs.); reading room, a room devoted to reading, esp. one in the premises of a club or library, or intended for public use; also, the proof-readers' room in a printing-office (Jacobi 1888).
1921C. L. Burt Mental & Scholastic Tests iii. iii. 271 Consequently, a score of sixty words indicates a mental age for reading at ten;..according to the formula:—*Reading Age = (4 + Words / 10 ) years. Ibid., The reading ages of four and five pretend to little more than a conventional significance. 1945F. J. Schonell Psychol. & Teaching of Reading i. 21 There is always a great increase in eye movements as the reading material increases in difficulty for particular reading ages. 1952Anderson & Dearborn Psychol. of Teaching Reading i. 10 If the reading age is appreciably below the mental age, the child is regarded as a reading problem. 1961Guardian 28 Apr. 13/3 He looks a dissipated 20... His reading age is 8·2. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) ii. 11 There are at least a million adults with a reading age of below 9·0 who cannot read simple recipes.
10..Laws ælfric 21 in Thorpe Laws II. 350 Se mæsse⁓preost sceal habban..*rædingboc. 1050–73Charter in Thorpe Diplom. 430, ii forealdode rædingbec. c1315Shoreham Poems i. 1311 Þe bisschop, wenne he ordreþ þes, Þe redyng bok hym takeþ. 1840(title) The Church Scholar's reading book.
1803T. Sheraton Cabinet Dict. 17 Arm-chair for a library, or a *reading chair... These are intended to make the exercise easy, and for the convenience of taking down a note or quotation... The reader places himself with his back to the front of the chair, and rests his arms on the top yoke. 1853A. J. Downing Architect. Country Houses xii. 426 Fig. 218 is a reading-chair of a simple and good form,..having a desk for a book on one arm, and a stand for a candle on the other—both being..easily lifted out.., when not in use. 1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris iii. 54 There was a long table, and ranged on both sides, good reading chairs. 1977J. Hodgins Invention of World iii. 44 The tall green reading chair that had recipes..shoved under its cushion.
1886Referee 10 Jan. 1/2, I was getting an honest..living in the composing-room or the *reading-closet.
1830C. Wordsworth in Overton Life (1888) 51 Here I am, lying on my sofa, with my drab *reading-coat on.
1952J. Carter ABC for Book-Collectors 164 *Reading copy, a usually apologetic, but occasionally slightly defiant, term meaning that the book is not in collector's condition. 1977J. Wilson Making Hate iv. 52 The Just So Stories. I had an early edition, a torn reading copy, but quite clean.
1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 8 A piece of plank supported by a Post, which we understood was the *Reading Desk. 1775Johnson 10 Oct. in Boswell Life (1791) I. 502 In the reading-desk of the refectory lay the Lives of the Saints. 1838Lytton Alice ii. iii, A huge armchair, with a small reading-desk beside it.
1670Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 200 Dr. Barlow gave me a *reading-glass, pretium 40s. 1747Trembley in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 632 It would be..very inconvenient to hold it like a reading-glass in the hand. 1831Brewster Optics xxxviii. 320 Spectacles and reading glasses are among the simplest and most useful of optical instruments.
1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xli. 405 The green lamp is lighted, his *reading-glasses lie upon the desk. 1972G. Bill Villains Galore i. 1 Clara..needed reading glasses for all but the largest print.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Reading-hook, a book-marker, made of bone or ivory.
1897Sketch 26 May 181/2 The pattern being read from the draft by the *reading-machine on to the Jacquard band or tape by the skilled designer or pantagrapher. 1937M. L. Raney Microphotogr. for Libraries 76 There is today plenty of work for reading machines to do, since the entire contents of great libraries that have filming cameras lie open to order in so far as copyright allows. 1940A. Huxley Let. 14 Oct. (1969) 461, I would like to have..micro-photographs suitable for reading by means of a reading machine. 1959Library Resources & Technical Services III. 90 The average library user does not meet the microcopy until he has to use it on the reading machine. 1964Litho-Printer Aug. 34/2 Even optical reading machines, which are now entering the field of practicability cannot quite dispense with human work: they need clean copy, at least re-typed from edited manuscripts. 1965R. R. Karch Graphic Arts Procedures (ed. 3) xiii. 338 Specially-designed figures printed at the bottoms of bank checks are printed with ink capable of being magnetized and read by electronic reading machines for routing the checks to proper places. 1980J. Drummond Such a Nice Family viii. 38 Would you like us to fix up a reading-machine for you?.. It'll throw up an enlargement of the text.
1909Webster, *Reading-notice, in a newspaper or periodical, a paid advertisement so set up as to have the appearance of regular news or editorial or contributed matter. 1970R. K. Kent Lang. Journalism 109 Reading notice, an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine that is set in body type and in columns so as to appear the same as editorial matter.
1641R. Brooke Eng. Episc. i. vii. 38 To wrangle downe a Sophister,..or acquaint themselves with a *Reading-Pue, in the Countrey. 1662Pepys Diary 26 Oct., To church, and there saw for the first time Mr. Mills in a surplice; but it seemed absurd for him to pull it over his eares in the reading-pew. 1848Ecclesiologist Oct. 144 An open reading-pew and lettern.
1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. viii. 162 The like Order is observed in the Pointing of our *Reading Psalms. a1707Bp. Patrick Autobiogr. (1839) 150 The old translation of the reading Psalms.
1759Gray Lett. 8 Aug. (1853) 186, I often pass four hours in the day in the stillness and solitude of the *reading room [at the British Museum]. 1817Cobbett Wks. XXXII. 357 There are what are called Reading Rooms all over the kingdom. 1852Rock Ch. of Fathers III. i. 298 Saint Edmund kept a figure of our Lady in his reading-room.
Sense 1 e in Dict. becomes 1 f. Add: [1.] e. The action or an instance of inspecting and interpreting signs for the purpose of divination.
1867[see palm-reading s.v. palm n. 9]. 1877G. Stewart Fireside Tales 75 Although ‘reading out of the fire’..as well as cup-reading, was not new to the hermit, yet he knew little of these arts. 1960[see hand-reading s.v. hand n. 65]. 1963G. J. McCall in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 420/2 Hoodoo doctors—after careful spiritual ‘reading’ of the client—prescribe courses of action. 1975I. McEwan First Love, Last Rites (1976) 28 She had been doing a reading that afternoon and the cards were still spread about the floor. 1979V. S. Naipaul Bend in River ii. 28 He had given me a reading and had seen great things in my hand.
▸ reading frame n. Molecular Biol. the way in which a sequence of nucleotides is grouped into a series of consecutive, non-overlapping triplets for transcription or translation; (also) a nucleotide sequence that starts with an initiation codon, continues as a series triplets that encode amino acids, and ends with a termination codon.
1961F. H. C. Crick et al. in Nature 30 Dec. 1229/2 If the code is made of triplets, any long sequence of bases can be read correctly in one way, but incorrectly (by starting at the wrong point) in two different ways, depending whether the ‘*reading frame’ is shifted one place to the right or one place to the left. 1981E. D. Hanson Understanding Evol. iv. 103 Shifts in the reading frame of codon triplets, like nucleotide substitutions, may or may not cause a detectable mutation. 2004S. D. Smith in M. L. Rice & S. F. Warren Developmental Lang. Disorders xiii. 347 Mutations that are particularly disruptive..include insertions or deletions of DNA, which change the ‘reading frame’ of the codons so that the amino acid sequence that results is incorrect.
▸ reading group n. a group of people who meet regularly to discuss books they have selected to read; cf. reading circle n. at Compounds 1.
1906N.Y. Times 25 Mar. sm1/1 Plans were made to establish *reading groups, not only in St. Petersburg, but in all the large places in Russia. 1978S. Maitland After Ball was Over in Fireweed Oct. 83 You're one to talk. Who wouldn't join a Marxist reading group because he was an antiquated masculist, who couldn't recognise the glory of women in struggle? 1995Minnesota Monthly Jan. 14/1 A reading-group craze is underway, according to publishers, booksellers, and librarians, but it's hardly a new phenomenon. 2003E. Noble Reading Group 256 She had laughed when she told the reading group about it one evening when they'd finished talking about the book and moved on to the rest of the universe.
▪ III. reading, ppl. a.|ˈriːdɪŋ|
[f. read v. + -ing2.]
1.
†a. reading minister, etc., one who merely reads the lessons or service, without preaching; also Sc., one who reads his sermons (see read v. 19 d).
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 71 It were to be wished that all were preaching prelates, and not reading ministers only. 1650in Hodgson Northumberland (1835) III. iii. p. lv, Those who formerly had the Rectory of Haltwistle did mainteyne a reading Minister. 1744(title) Reading is not preaching, or a Letter to all reading Clergymen.
b. reading clerk, the designation of one of the clerks to the House of Lords.
1788Miss Rose in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 96 My brother William, then reading Clerk, came to us as soon as the House adjourned. 1817Parl. Deb. 16 The Lords were obliged to send this message by their Clerk-Assistant, and their Reading-Clerk. 1884Yates Recoll. I. ii. 66 Slingsby, who is reading-clerk in the House of Lords.
c. reading boy, a boy who reads copy aloud to the corrector of the press.
1808C. Stower Printers' Gram. 392 The eye of the reader should not follow, but rather go before the voice of his reading-boy. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 710/1 The reading department, sometimes called the closet, having for its occupants the reader and his reading-boy.
2. Given to reading; studious. Freq. in reading man, applied spec. to a University student who makes reading his chief occupation; and reading public.
1673Dryden Prol. Univ. of Oxford 31 In London..haughty dunces, whose unlearned pen Could ne'er spell grammar, would be reading men. 1759Hurd's Dial. Pref. 6 The learned assemblies of reading divines. 1797Monthly Mag. III. 266/1 During my residence at the university, and a constant intercourse with both reading and non-reading men [etc.]. 1831Blackw. Mag. Jan. 94/2 The ‘reading public’, then, had little to do with the lower orders. 1837Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar Ded. (1844) 1 His attempts to be brought out into the reading world. 1877M. W. Chapman in Harriet Martineau's Autobiogr. III. 99 The reading public..were longing to express their grateful acknowledgements. 1885J. Martineau Types Eth. Th. II. ii. iii. §1. 517 Its..literary merits secured it immediate attention on the part of reading men. 1916E. Pound Let. 17 Nov. (1971) 99 That many-eared monster with no sense, the reading public. a1936Kipling Something of Myself (1937) iii. 47 Our reading public..were..as well educated as fifty per cent of our ‘staff’. 1962M. McLuhan Gutenberg Galaxy 132 There was no reading public in our sense... Under manuscript conditions an author would..have no public. An advanced scientist today has no public. 1975S. Schoenbaum W. Shakespeare xi. 120 A dramatist had least to say about..publication... He strove, after all, to please audiences in the theatre, not a reading public. |