| 释义 |
altitude|ˈæltɪtjuːd|
Also altytude.
[ad. L. altitūdin-em height, f. alti- (altus) high: see -tude. Cf. mod.Fr. altitude, not in Palsg. or Cotgr.]
1. gen. Vertical extent or distance; the quality of being high or deep, as one of the dimensions of space; height or depth.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 791 Her sydes longe, her altitude abounde [= abundant]. 1509Hawes Past. Pl. i. viii, This goodly picture was in altitude Nyne fote and more. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 53 The altitude, Which thou hast perpendicularly fell. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I, The gravity of the fluid..will be always proportional to the altitude or depth. 1821Craig Drawing ii. 63 It has neither form nor colour, nor altitude nor dimensions, and yet it is a flower.
2. Geom. The height of a triangle or other figure, measured by a perpendicular from the vertex to the base or base produced.
1570Billingsley Euclid vi. def. 4. 154 Figures to have one altitude and to be contayned within two equidistant lines, is all one. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., Triangles of equal bases and altitudes are equal. 1810Hutton Course Math. I. 286 A triangle is equal to half a parallelogram of the same base and altitude.
3. Height of the mercurial column in a barometer. ? Obs.
1664Power Exp. Philos. ii. 91 Its wonted pitch and altitude of 29 inches, or thereabouts. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The different altitudes of the mercury may arise from the different states of the air.
4. Height above the ground, or, strictly, above the level of the sea; height in the air, loftiness.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 146 Ane grit montane..of greit altitude. 1583Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 58 Theare was a toure..that in altitud euened Thee stars. 1727Swift Gulliver ii. i. 97 Trees so lofty, that I could make no computation of their altitude. 1773Brydone Sicily xxii. (1809) 225 The degree of altitude in the atmosphere. 1880Haughton Phys. Geogr. ii. 43 The Himalaya chain..has a mean altitude of about 18,000 feet.
5. Astr. The height of a body in the heavens expressed by its angular distance above the horizon.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §1 4, I wol clepe the heyhte of any thing that is taken by thy rewle, the altitude, with-owte mo wordes. 1594Blundevil Exerc. ii. (ed. 7) 117, 55 degrees, 56′ and 21{pp}..is the Meridian altitude of the Sunne for that day. 1678R. Holme Acad. Arm. ii. i. §77 Altitude is the height or elevation of the Pole or any other thing above the horizon. 1764Maskelyne in Phil. Trans. LIV. 371, I fixed the equal altitude instrument..against a strong post. 1849M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xviii. 172 The apparent altitude of the heavenly bodies is always greater than their true altitude.
6. a. sing. A point or position at a height above the ground or sea-level; a height. b. pl. Elevated regions; great heights.
1432–50tr. Higden (1865) I. 112 Þer was a towre in the altitude of the mownte of Syon. 1704Swift T. Tub iii. Wks. 1760 I. 49 Should immediately deliver himself up to ratsbane or hemp, or from some convenient altitude. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xv. (1856) 107 No mountain altitudes to furnish forth the increments of ice growth.
7. fig.
a. High degree or eminence of any quality or attribute.
b. High or exalted position in the scale of being, rank, power, etc.; hence His altitude = his Highness.
a1400Cov. Myst. 288 O! thou altitude of al gostly ryches! 1596Bell Surv. Popery iii. v. 279 Euen in the altitude of popedome. 1601Dent Pathw. Heaven 217 Oh the profoundnesse and altitude of Gods mercy! 1612Chapman Widdowe's Teares Plays 1873 III. 11 He comes armed with his altitudes letters. 1672Sir T. Browne Let. to Friend §27 (1881) 145 He that hath taken the true altitude of things. 1704Swift T. Tub (R.) He has exalted himself to a certain degree of altitude above them. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems I. 74 Rise, woman, rise To thy peculiar and best altitudes. 1858Bright Speeches 20 May 39 Men of that altitude.
†8. fig. in pl. Lofty mood, ways, airs, phrases. Obs.
1616Beaum. & Fl. Laws of Candy ii, This woman's in the altitudes. a1733North Examen 258 (D.) If we would see him in his altitudes, we must go back to the House of Commons..there he cuts and slashes at another rate. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. 232 From the nature of their conversation, there was no room for altitudes. 1782Johnson Lett. 293 (1788) II. 252 While you were in all your altitudes, at the Opera. 1803Lett. Miss Riversdale III. 7 You are getting into your English altitudes.
9. attrib. as altitude table; altitude chamber Aeronaut., a chamber in which the air pressure, temperature, etc., can be regulated to simulate conditions at different altitudes; altitude control (see quots.); altitude sickness, sickness brought on by ascent to a high altitude.
1935Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 909 A full-scale engine (Curtis D. 12) working in an altitude chamber.
1911R. M. Pierce Dict. Aviation 23 Altitude-control, the controlling-apparatus by which the altitude of an airship is regulated; the control by the manipulation of which the altitude-rudder is operated. 1919W. B. Faraday Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms 49 Altitude control, a device fitted to a carburettor or other part of induction system to obtain a correct mixture of the fuel gas at high levels. 1932Flight 5 Feb. 111/2 Limitation of the movement of the altitude control in aircraft might well be discontinued.
1920W. H. Wilmer Aviation Med. in A.E.F. 226 The euphoria which accompanies altitude sickness..robs the pilot of the opportunity of recognizing that he is in danger.
1907F. Ball (title) Altitude tables..designed for the determination of the position line at all hour angles without logarithmic computation.
▸ High altitude. Freq. in at altitude.
1933P. F. M. Fellowes et al. First Over Everest! 263 To increase the Power at altitude, it is necessary to force the mixture into the cylinders at a pressure exceeding that of the atmosphere. 1960Geogr. Jrnl. 1265 The long, narrow, heavily corniced ridge..is not only an Alpine problem at altitude but to descend is equally difficult. 1991Independent on Sunday 19 May 28/4 Sharpe was resting up last week after a trip to altitude in Boulder, Colorado. 2001N. Jones Rough Guide Trav. Health ii. 365 You are most at risk of sunburn between 10am and 3pm, at altitude, in equatorial countries and anywhere there is a large amount of reflected light. |