| 释义 |
▪ I. imprinting, vbl. n.|ɪmˈprɪntɪŋ|
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb imprint, q.v.; † spec. printing (of books) (obs.).
c1440Promp. Parv. 262/1 Inprentynge, inpressio. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cclvii. (1482) 336 Aboute this tyme [1455] the craft of enpryntynge was first founde in Magunce in Almayne. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 637 This yere one named Johannes Fauscius, a Germain, first found out the noble science of Imprintyng in the Citie of Mentz. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 480 b, The singular and most excellent Art of Emprinting. 1628in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 621 The imprinting of such as are written against them, and in defence of the Orthodox Church, are hindred.
2. Animal Behaviour. The establishment of a behaviour pattern of recognition and trust, usu. directed at its own species, during a critical period of susceptibility in a (young) social animal, esp. in birds.
1937K. Lorenz in Auk LIV. 262 This process of acquiring the biologically ‘right’ object of social reactions by conditioning them, not to one individual fellow-member of the species, but to the species as such, is so very peculiar that I have thought it necessary to use a particular word to describe it. I have called it ‘Prägung’ in German, which I propose to translate into English by the term ‘imprinting’. 1953J. S. Huxley Evolution in Action iv. 102 Young geese which have been hatched in an incubator will attach themselves to birds of other species or even to human beings and follow them about as if they were their real parents. This so-called ‘imprinting’ has to take place during a critical period soon after hatching, only takes a minute or so, and is then irreversible. 1967M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour i. 17 There may be ‘imprinting’ during the first year of life: the infant becomes attached to the dominant moving object in its environment, and does its best to follow that object. 1970Primate Behavior I. 130 Imprinting data suggest that in birds early experiences before or during a critical period can influence social attachment in a relatively permanent fashion.
▸ Genetics. Determination of the behaviour of a chromosome or the expression of a gene by its origin from the paternal or maternal genome. Freq. with distinguishing word, as genetic, genomic, etc.
Imprinting typically involves the inactivation (by methylation of DNA) of the allele received from one parent.
[1960H. V. Crouse in Genetics 45 1142 The ‘imprint’ a chromosome bears is unrelated to the genetic constitution of the chromosome and is determined only by the sex of the germ line through which the chromosome has been inherited.] 1966Chromosoma 19 266 For the problem of chromosome imprinting..it is important to know whether the limited chromosomes in the primary spermatocyte are exclusively of maternal origin 1975H. S. Chandra & S. W. Brown in Nature 17 Jan. 165/1 Crouse introduced the term imprinting to indicate the process by which differential behaviour of the members of a pair of homologous chromosomes is predetermined several to many cell generations before the stage in development at which resulting behavioural differences become obvious... Confusion from use of the same term in behavioural sciences can be avoided in genetics by use of the complete term, chromosome imprinting. 1984Differentiation 26 63 In imprinting, homologous chromosomes behave differently during development according to their parental origin. 1991Lancet 25 May 1288/1 Familial cases of Wiedemann–Beckwith syndrome..can show autosomal inheritance consistent with imprinting. 2000Daily Tel. 26 Sept. 11/2 The use of sperm alone is thought unlikely to work because development is governed by a process called imprinting, which marks the parental origin of a gene.
▪ II. imˈprinting, ppl. a.
[-ing2.]
That imprints: see the verb. In quot., † That imprints or impresses something on the mind, impressive (obs.).
c1592Bacon Confer. Pleas. (1870) 12 Him that would offer the most pleasing object to the most imprinting sence.
Hence † imˈprintingly adv. Obs., impressively.
1594Nashe Terrors of Night G iij, To the end their naturall..portions might be more imprintingly apprehended. |