| 释义 |
triangulation|traɪæŋgjʊˈleɪʃən|
[ad. med.L. triangulātiōn-em (Abelard, a 1142), n. of action from *triangulāre to triangulate. So F. triangulation (1835 in Dict. Acad.).]
The action or process of triangulating.
1. The tracing and measurement of a series or network of triangles in order to survey and map out a territory or region, spec. by measuring the angles and one side of each triangle (cf. trilateration). Freq. attrib., as triangulation point (also fig.).
1818Blackw. Mag. III. 463 The English triangulation, begun by General Roy. 1826T. Drummond in Phil. Trans. CXVI. ii. 334 Slieve Snaght, the highest hill of Innishowen,..forms an important point in the triangulation, which connects the North of Ireland with the western islands of Scotland. 1863A. C. Ramsay Phys. Geog. xxxi. (1878) 550 The triangulation of Scotland for the Ordnance Survey. 1864J. Hunt tr. Vogt's Lect. Man Index, Triangulation of the skull.
attrib.1923Geogr. Rev. XIII. 465 The recent remarking of the Meades Ranch Station calls attention to the unique importance of this triangulation point. 1947A. R. Hinks Maps & Survey (ed. 5) ix. 172 The methods of trigonometrical survey..divide themselves into the following sections: 1. Determination of mean sea level... 9. Transference of the triangulation points to the plane-table sheets. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Apr. 494/1 Dispassionate yet sensitive, his Lenz..deservedly became the triangulation-point for a whole generation.
2. a. Division of a rectilinear figure into triangles.
1891Cent. Dict., Triangulation, 1. A making triangular; formation into triangles.
b. Math. (See quot. 1956); also, the result of such a process.
1940Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XXVI. 360 This result is but one of the implications of a triangulation. 1956E. M. Patterson Topology v. 89 Triangulation..is the process of dividing up a [topological] space into pieces which are homeomorphic with the interior of a triangle or its analogues in other dimensions. 1974McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 412/2 These developments [in topology] were highlighted by the solutions in 1969 of the annulus conjecture..and of the triangulation problem for manifolds. 1977Sci. Amer. Oct. 113/1 A triangulation that represents a minimal five-chromatic map cannot have any vertices with fewer than five neighbors.
▸ Polit. (orig. U.S.). The action or process of positioning oneself politically between traditional left-wing and right-wing standpoints; cf. third way n. 2.
Coinage of this sense is usually attributed to Dick Morris, a one-time adviser to former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
1995Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 15 June a11/2 With an eye on the 1996 presidential contest, Clinton is practicing a bit of political triangulation—charting his own course by playing off both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress to win re-election. 1997New Republic 24 Feb. 28/2 The next step was what Morris insisted on calling ‘triangulation’..: devising a position for Clinton that was located between the positions of the two parties in Congress. 2001Newsweek 27 Aug. 33/1 The art of modern politics is triangulation—finding a middle ground between right and left. |