| 释义 |
reconstruction|riːkənˈstrʌkʃən|
[re- 5 a. Cf. F. reconstruction (Littré).]
1. a. The action or process of reconstructing.
1791Mackintosh Vindic. Gall. Wks. 1846 III. 30 It was theirs to decide..whether, from its ruins, fragments were to be collected for re-construction of the political edifice. 1848Gallenga Italy II. iii. 7 It was mainly with these views that Manzoni laboured at the reconstruction of his country's creed. 1878Huxley Physiogr. xvi. 268 The process of reconstruction of solids is not permanent.
b. U.S. Hist. Usu. with capital initial. The process by which after the Civil War the States which had seceded were restored to the rights and privileges of the Union; the period during which this process occurred. Also attrib.
A fuller treatment of this sense (also in derivative forms) may be found in M. M. Mathews Dict. Americanisms (1951).
1865Schurz in Hart Amer. Hist. (1901) IV. 454 As to what is commonly termed ‘reconstruction’, it is..the whole organism of southern society that must be reconstructed. 1880‘E. Kirke’ Garfield 34 After the war was over, and reconstruction completed, this same Southern political hierarchy came back into power in Washington. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 781/1 The Reconstruction Acts divided the seceding States into military districts. 1890C. L. Norton Political Americanisms 93 Reconstruction. After the Civil War the question of restoring the lately seceded States..became the leading civil problem of the time. The measures introduced into Congress were popularly known as Reconstruction Bills. 1949D. S. Freeman in B. A. Botkin Treas. S. Folklore p. x, The existing general pattern of Southern folklore probably was set in late ‘slave days’ and during the Reconstruction. 1967Freedomways VII. 133 In history the horrors of slavery are watered down and sketchily covered so as not to enrage the complacent black student, while the period following Reconstruction is covered as if the Negro had strangely disappeared from the face of the earth. 1978Names Mar. 106 In much of the South it [sc. the township] is an artifact of Reconstruction governments after The War.
c. The rebuilding of an area devastated by war. Also, the restoration of economic stability to such an area.
1925A. J. Toynbee Survey of Internat. Affairs 1920–23 1.39 Austrian reconstruction (scheme drafted; protocols signed). Ibid. 40 Hungarian reconstruction (collaboration decided on). 1933Radio Times 14 Apr. 75/1 Several grandiloquently named new departments of State, such as the Ministry of Supply and the extremely short-lived Ministry of Reconstruction. 1940Economist 31 Aug. 280/1 Those who did not find work before August 1st were assembled in reconstruction camps. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 172 All the women were free to return to their interrupted training, to resume their pre-war occupation or to help with the gigantic task of reconstruction. 1953P. C. Berg Dict. New Words 135/1 Reconstruction area, an area which has to be redeveloped as a whole, on account of war damage. 1974tr. Sniečkus's Soviet Lithuania 51 As soon as the nazis had been expelled, the working people plunged into the task of reconstruction.
2. An instance or example of reconstructing; a thing reconstructed.
1795Belsham Reign Geo. III, II. 247 A few of the largest [vessels] were re-constructions, having been first framed and sent over from Great Britain. 1798W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XXVI. 245 The cloaca maxima is suspected to be a reconstruction of the original common sewer of Rome. 1930Language VI. 185 The scarcity of material for dual forms to substantiate the I[ndo-]E[uropean] reconstruction is not surprising. 1937‘M. Innes’ Hamlet, Revenge! ii. vi. 166 You must do that reconstruction all over again. 1959Language XXXV. 423 No reputable linguist pretends that Proto-Indo-European reconstructions represent a reality. 1977M. Goulder in J. Hick Myth of God Incarnate iv. 65 As with the account I have given of Jesus, we are forming a reconstruction of history, and such reconstructions can never be more than probable.
Hence reconˈstructional a., of or pertaining to reconstruction; reconstructionary; reconˈstructionary a. (U.S.), of or relating to reconstruction; reconˈstructionist, (a) (U.S.), one who favours reconstruction; (b) one who reconstructs the past mentally (see reconstruct v. 2); also attrib. or as adj.
1864M. H. Throop Future 119 The act of secession extinguished the Union party as soon as it was adopted, except as a reconstructionist party. 1879Tourgee Fool's Err. xxiv. 148 The interest of the Southern leading classes will compel them to accept and carry out in good faith your reconstructionary idea. 1888J. C. Harris in Harper's Mag. Apr. 703/2 The Republican ‘reconstructionists’..barred the way. 1920G. S. Gordon Let. 21 Jan. (1943) 133 Now—in this reconstructional mood—Professors are no longer Scholars or Professors, but ‘Heads of Depts.’. 1925E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 vi. 131 These were undoubted signs of reconstructional work. 1949Wellek & Warren Theory of Lit. iv. 32 We must, these literary reconstructionists argue, enter into the mind and attitudes of past periods. 1958Archivum Linguisticum X. i. 8 The..prism of literature..may twist the actual sequence of events, as the reconstructionist is tempted to envision it. 1966M. Scriven in W. H. Dray Philos. Analysis & Hist. 255 The difference between this analysis and the reconstructionist approach. 1978Language LIV. 470 The reconstructional changes he suggested have withstood the test of time. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Apr. 262/2 Rationality, objectivity, universalism and abstract analysis are features of the reconstructionist approach.
Add:[1.] d. The reorganization of a public company, whereby it is wound up and immediately re-formed as a new company under similar ownership, for the purposes of redistribution of capital, etc.; an instance of this.
1871Law Rep. Equity Cases (Incorporated Council of Law Reporting) XII. 504 Sanctioning a scheme for the reconstruction of a company under liquidation, by a transfer of its assets to a new company to be formed for the purpose. 1930A. Palmer Company Secretarial Pract. xx. 269 The term reconstruction is applied to many schemes put forward by companies for the purpose of writing off capital which has been lost or has ceased to be represented by available assets. 1943Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. V. 280 ‘Reconstruction’..is normally used to refer to the transfer of the undertaking of a company to a new company with substantially the same shareholders as the old with the intention that the undertaking shall be continued. 1969in J. B. Saunders Words & Phrases legally Defined (ed. 2) IV. 275/1 Where an undertaking is being carried on by a company, and is in substance transferred, not to an outsider, but to another company, consisting substantially of the same shareholders,..there is a reconstruction. 1986Times 20 May 34/1 (Advt.), The successful candidate will ideally..have around two years post qualification experience in corporate and commercial law, including acquisitions, mergers and reconstructions and most types of commercial agreements. 1987Financial Times 19 May 9/7 PW, Mr Homan says, wishes to shift the emphasis away from simply the orderly disposal of assets towards reconstruction. |