| 释义 |
Titan1|ˈtaɪtən|
[a. L. Tītan, -ānem, name of the elder brother of Kronos, and ancestor of the Titans; also in poetry his grandson, the Sun-god = Hēlios; a. Gr. τῑτᾱ́ν, in pl. τιτᾶνες, the Titans, a race of gods expelled by Zeus out of heaven. So F., Sp. Titan, Pg. Titão, It. Titano, Du., Ger. Titan.]
1. Used (chiefly in poetry) as a name for the Sun-god, Sol, or for the sun personified.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. 5416 Þe dede cors to carien in-to toun Of worþi Hector, whan Titan went doun. 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. Prol. 33 The assiltrie and goldin chair of price Of Tytan, quhilk at morrow semis reid. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. x. 25 Let Titan rise as early as he dare. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 2 The third of April at Titans first blush [ed. 1634 early in the morning] we got sight of Porto Santo. 1708J. Philips Cyder i. 10 Then wo to Mortals! Titan then exerts His Heat intense, and on our Vitals preys. 1911Sir E. Ridley in 19th Cent. May 870 Till flaming Titan nigh to either Pole Beheld thy empire.
2. a. Gr. Mythol. In sing. The ancestor of the Titans: see etymology above. In pl. a family of giants, the children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gæa (Earth), who contended for the sovereignty of heaven and were overthrown by Zeus.
1667Milton P.L. i. 510 Th' Ionian Gods..Titan Heav'ns first born With his enormous brood, and birthright seis'd By younger Saturn. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., This war lasted ten years; but at length the Titans were vanquished; Jupiter remained in peaceable possession of heaven, and the Titans were buried under huge mountains thrown on their heads. 1858Bushnell Serm. New Life ii. (1869) 19 A race of Titans broken loose from order amd warring on God and each other. 1908G. K. Chesterton Orthodoxy viii. (1909) 258 The Titans did not scale heaven; but they laid waste the world.
b. transf. and allusively, usually denoting a person (mountain, tree, etc.) of gigantic stature or strength, physical or intellectual, a ‘giant’; sometimes, one who belongs to the race of ‘giants’ as distinct from the Olympians or ‘gods’.
1828Scott F.M. Perth xxvii, The clan of Titans seemed to be commanded by their appropriate chieftains—..Ben Lawers, and..Ben Mohr. 1829― Anne of G. vi, The sun was just about to kiss the top of the most gigantic of that race of Titans [the Swiss mountains]. 1838Emerson Addr., Lit. Ethics Wks. (Bohn) II. 205 Men looked..that nature..should reimburse itself by a brood of Titans. 1870Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 260 The ranks of great men are properly divisible, not into thinkers and workers, but into Titans and Olympians. 1903J. Stewart Dawn in Dark Cont. i. 22 The weary Titan need not complain too much.
c. Applied descriptively to machines of great size and power; e.g. a dredger, crane, etc.
1876Daily News 30 Oct. 6/4 A novel kind of dredger is in use, consisting of a centrifugal pump, called a ‘Titan’, which raises the sand together with a certain proportion of water, and discharges it in the barges. 1894Times 29 Jan. 14/2 A titan steam crane will be mounted on deck for moving any of the heavy parts for examination or repair. 1911Encycl. Brit. IV. 479 These sloping blocks are laid by powerful overhanging, block-setting cranes, called Titans, which travel along the completed portion of the break⁓water, and lay the blocks in advance.
3. Astron. Name of the largest of Saturn's satellites.
1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 252 The diameter of Titan, the largest satellite,..is..more than half the diameter of the Earth. 1878Newcomb Pop. Astron. iii. iv. 353 The smallest telescope will show Titan.
4. attrib. or as adj.; transf. Titanic, gigantic.
1697Dryden æneid vi. 782 The rivals of the Gods, the Titan race. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. i, As though..hurled from the hands of Titan giants! 1858N. J. Gannon O'Donoghue, etc., Lines on Late War, Such hands as theirs have more than Titan strength. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xx. 139 The Titan obelisk of the Matterhorn. 1860C. Sangster Hesperus, etc. 53 Titan strength and queenly beauty.
b. attrib. and Comb. (chiefly in sense 2), as Titan-born, Titan-like adjs.; also (from 1) † Titan beam, a sunbeam.
a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 44 Whilst eagles stare on Titan beams. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. cv, Their steep aim Was, Titan-like, on daring doubts to pile Thoughts which should call down thunder and the flame Of Heaven. 1839Bailey Festus xxvii. (1852) 467 Thoughts which were once my masters, now I hold In retributive bondage, Titanlike. 1847Emerson Poems (1857) 45 Titan-born, to hardy natures Cold is genial and dear. 1904Speaker 28 May 206/2 The Trip-shake and Tumble-tread of Titan-footed Reels. |