| 释义 |
generalize, v.|ˈdʒɛnərəlaɪz|
(Not in Johnson.)
[f. general a. + -ize. Cf. F. généraliser.]
To make general.
1. trans. To reduce to general laws; also, to form into a general concept; to throw into a general form; to give a general character to.
a1751Bolingbroke Ess. Hum. Knowl. v. Wks. 1754 III. 432 The mind..makes it's utmost efforts to generalize it's ideas. 1776G. Campbell Philos. Rhet. (1801) I. i. v. 112 An original incapacity of classing and (if I may use the expression) generalising their perceptions. 1785Reid Int. Powers v. iii. 450 Sometimes the name of an individual is given to a general conception, and thereby the individual in a manner generalised. 1798Edgeworth Pract. Educ. (1811) I. 373 By degrees we may teach children to generalize their ideas, and to perceive that they like people for being either useful or agreeable. 1812Shelley Proposals Pr. Wks. 1888 I. 265 None are more interesting than those..that generalize and expand private into public feelings. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. 354 This fact is of much importance in generalizing our knowledge of the temperature of the globe. 1829Jas. Mill Hum. Mind I. ix. 215 Generalizing those names, so as to make them represent a class. 1849Lewis Infl. Author. Matt. Opin. ix. §1. 286 Causes which do not admit of being generalized. 1864Bowen Logic viii. 245 Whilst the form of reasoning itself, to which it properly applies, has never been generalized. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 69 He [Plato] generalizes temperance, as in the Republic he generalizes justice.
b. To designate by a general name.
1842Tait's Mag. IX. 210 It is not often marriages take place in a family where the daughters are only generalized as ‘the So-and-So's’. 1855H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. xi. (1878) 541 The processes, which we generalise under the names of wit and humour.
2. trans. To infer (a conclusion, law, etc.) inductively from particulars.
1795W. Seward Anecd. II. 342 Sir Joshua Reynolds (who with great propriety and acuteness called in the aid of metaphysics to generalize the principles of art). a1834Coleridge (Webst.), A mere conclusion generalized from a great multitude of facts. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. v. 306 The object of the geometrician is to generalize the laws of space. 1885Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 10 It was from Lapham's answers that he generalised the history of his childhood.
3. To draw general inferences from; to base a general law or statement upon.
a1828Nicholson (Webster) Copernicus generalized the celestial motions..Newton generalized them still more. 1832H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man (ed. 2) 193 The presence of fossils in particular strata was instantly generalized; and it became a well received theory..that every formation..contained the same organic remains, not to be discovered in those above or beneath. 1840Mill Diss. & Disc. (1875) I. 406 Knowledge is experience generalized. 1855Cornwall 105 Generalizing the various facts connected with the directions of the common faults. 1868Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 401 A remarkable power of generalising evidence and balancing facts.
b. Math. and Philos. To throw (a proposition, etc.) into a general form, of which the original becomes a particular case.
1812–16Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) I. 20 It is on this proposition, generalized..that the going of a clock or watch is taken for a measure of time. 1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 2 Generalising and connecting the laws of these properties. 1883A. Barratt Phys. Metempiric 216 This when generalised comes to be the question of the evolution of self-consciousness.
4. intr. To form general notions by abstraction from particular instances; to arrive at or express general inferences.
1785[see generalizing vbl. n.]. 1792D. Stewart Hum. Mind I. iv. §1. 158 This has led some philosophers to suppose..that we might have been so formed, as to be able to abstract, without being capable of generalising. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 203 The particulars from which we are to generalize. 1871Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 10 We can drop individual differences out of sight, and thus can generalize on the arts and opinions of whole nations. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. vii. 259 Some tribes..are unable to generalise as far as four. 1884Church Bacon iii. 59 He liked to observe, to generalise in shrewd and sometimes cynical epigrams.
5. Painting. To render the typical or general characteristics of (objects) rather than the individual peculiarities. Also absol.
c1817Fuseli in Lect. Paint. ix. (1848) 519 Titian..strove to generalise, to elevate or invigorate, the tones of nature. 1858Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 111 There never was anybody who generalized, since paint was first ground, except Opie, and Benjamin West, and Fuseli, and one or two other such modern stars.
6. To render indefinite; to efface or soften down the special features of.
1809H. More Cœlebs I. vii. 80 They were contented to generalize the doctrines of scripture. 1835Fraser's Mag. XII. 279 Travelling tends to generalise and rub off local habits, prejudices, and peculiarity of ideas. 1838Gladstone State in Rel. Ch. viii. §4 (1841) II. 267 We should first be called..to generalise and relax our obligation. 1889Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 381 The haze which softens and civilizes, perhaps I should say, artistically generalizes, all it touches.
7. trans. To bring into general use; to make common or familiar; to make generally known; to popularize. Also, to spread over the whole extent or surface in question.
1818W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XLVI. 403 A style of superstition which Rome..had deposited in the monastic libraries of Europe, was now generalized among the laity of the north by the efficacious industry of the press. 1824Blackw. Mag. XV. 15 The last forty or fifty years..claim also the credit..of extending and generalizing the use of the potatoe. 1887Sat. Rev. 3 Dec. 767 There has arisen a copious and very special literature..which has done much to generalize and enhance the public interest in the art and its professors. 1897[see generalized ppl. a.].
8. intr. To attend to general considerations. (Opposed to specialize.) rare.
1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 108 You see, Mr. Simple, it's the duty of an officer to generalise, and be attentive to parts only in consideration of the safety of the whole.
Add:[3.] c. intr. for pass. Of a theory, proof, etc. of something particular: to apply (more) generally (to), to have or admit of general application.
1972A. W. F. Edwards Likelihood v. 72 An alternative method, which readily generalizes to the case of many parameters. 1981Sci. Amer. Aug. 12/2 The proof generalizes in an obvious way to all disks smaller than 1 in diameter. 1988Dynamics & Stability of Syst. III. 26 Many of the results for the two and three bodies generalize to multibody structures and other modifications. |