| 释义 |
procreation|prəʊkriːˈeɪʃən|
[ME. a. OF. procreacion (14th c. in Littré), mod.F. procréation, ad. L. prōcreātiōn-em, n. of action f. prōcre-āre: see above.]
1. The action of procreating or begetting; generation, propagation of species; the fact of being begotten.
c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 204 Take hym a wyf..By cause of leueful procreacion Of children. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1576 Procreacioun Of children is, vn-to goddes honour. 1494Fabyan Chron. vi. ccvii. 220 Of this Wyllyams procreacion, it is wytnessed of Vyncent Hystoryall & other. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, The causes for the whiche matrimonie was ordeined. One cause was the procreacion of children. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 4 Twin'd Brothers..Whose procreation, residence, and birth, Scarse is diuidant. 1682T. Gibson Anat. 22 The parts..minister either to nutrition, for the conservation of the Individual; or to Procreation, for the conservation of the Species. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. vii. 114 As the word heirs is necessary to create a fee, so..the word body, or some other words of procreation, are necessary to make it a fee-tail. a1874Suckley in Coues Birds N.W. 11 The indispensable union of a pair for the purpose of procreation.
†2. That which is procreated; offspring, progeny.
1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 12 To the intente that his maiestie..might haue issue and procreation for the..suretie of this his realme. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xxvi. (1611) 183 No lesse monstrous then those deformed procreations and naturally deformed animals. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxiv. 131 The Procreation, or Children of a Common⁓wealth, are those we call Plantations, or Colonies.
3. transf. and fig. Origination, production, natural formation.
1578Banister Hist. Man i. 7 For the procreation of Sutures. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe Title-p., The Description and first Procreation and Increase of the Towne of Great Yarmouth in Norffolke. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 127 The procreation of peace..is the end of warre. 1671J. Webster Metallogr. iv. 74 In the procreation of Metals some Sulphureous matter doth intervene. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. ii. 95 This procreation is most rare; Of the old senseless way we're now well ridden. |