| 释义 |
incubation|ɪnkjuːˈbeɪʃən|
[ad. L. incubātiōn-em brooding, n. of action f. incubāre to brood.]
1. The action of sitting on eggs in order to hatch them; the hatching of eggs by sitting on them. More widely, the protection of its eggs by an animal, or the provision of conditions that favour their development. Also, the embryonic development of an animal within an egg.
artificial incubation, hatching of eggs by artificial heat.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. vii. 120 Incubation alters not the species..as evidently appeares in the eggs of Ducks or Partridges hatched under a Hen. a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 304 Her Incubations by Degrees dispence Parts, Form, Life, Motion, Nutriment and Sense, Till they full grown, their Prisons open fling. 1835–6R. B. Todd Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 785/2 When the process of incubation begins [in the crayfish] the surface of the yolk is first seen to become covered with star-like or serrated spots. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. v. (1879) 91 Each cock bird will have its fair share in the labour of incubation. 1870Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 50 Observed in..the incubation of the Python. 1891W. N. Lane Poultry Farming 4 Artificial incubation is a cheaper method of hatching than the natural one. 1905J. Wyman in D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes I. xi. 170 Among the Siluroid fishes of Guiana there are several species, which, at certain seasons of the year, have their mouths and bronchial cavities filled either with eggs or young, and, as is believed, for the purpose of incubation. 1931J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xvi. 320 The period of incubation [of ray eggs] lasts from four and a half to nearly fifteen months. 1960T. H. Waterman Physiol. Crustacea I. xiii. 440 As in female vertebrates, the ovary of the crustaceans..secretes a hormone which prepares the mother for incubation. 1962K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyol. x. 299 To carry egg protection to its highest degree, some fishes have evolved various types of internal incubation or gestation. Ibid., In a Brazilian catfish..the male parent develops an enlarged lower lip to form a pouch in which labial incubation of the eggs takes place.
2. transf. and fig. Applied esp. to the ‘brooding’ or ‘moving’ of the Divine Spirit over the face of the chaos at the Creation (Gen. i. 2).
1614Raleigh Hist. World i. (1634) 5 Whether that motion..and operation, were by incubation, or how else, the manner is onely knowne to God. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iii. i. 247 Some assign a natural determined Cause of the first production of Mankind, namely, the due preparation of the fat and slimy Earth after a long incubation of Waters. a1679W. Gurnall in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 130 He who, by his incubation upon the waters of the creation, hatched that rude mass into the beautiful form we now see. 1731Tull Horse-Hoing Husb. (1733) 25 Many of the Pores or Interstices close up during the Seed's Incubation and hatching in the Ground. 1796Burke Regic. Peace ii. Wks. VIII. 258 The Dutch Republicks were hatched and cherished under the same incubation. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits xiv. (1857) 235 The mind became fruitful as by the incubation of the Holy Ghost. 1878Seeley Stein III. 437 The Middle Ages..were the age..if not actually of the greatest painting and poetry, yet of the incubation of both.
3. Path. The process or phase through which the germs of disease pass between contagion or inoculation and the development of the first symptoms.
period of incubation, the space of time occupied by this process, which varies greatly for different diseases, and in different circumstances.
1835G. Gregory Theo. & Pract. Med. i. vi. (ed. 4) 81 Period of incubation..The interval which elapses between exposure to malaria and the invasion of disease is liable to some variety. Ibid. ii. v. 149 Sometimes a degree of catarrhal affection is present throughout the whole term of incubation. 1876tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 137 The period of incubation of cholera lasts at least one week. 1885Daily News 30 Oct. 3/3 The period of incubation, i.e., the time from the infliction of the bite till the disease shows itself, is stated..to vary from 12 days..to one year and upwards, the average being from 44 to 75 days.
4. Gr. Antiq. The practice of sleeping in a temple or sacred place for oracular purposes.
1871Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 111 This place was celebrated for the worship of æsculapius, in whose temple incubation, i.e. sleeping for oracular dreams, was practised. 1884Encycl. Brit. XVII. 808.
5. The process, or an instance, of incubating anything, in a controlled or artificial environment (see incubate v. 3 b).
1928Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 3 Nov. 1338/1 The maturity-provoking hormone is definitely somewhat more stable to incubation in the presence of acid. 1938Biochem. Jrnl. XXXII. 450 Batches of 100 flasks of Czapek-Dox solution..were sown with..Helminthosporium leersii..and incubated in the dark at 24°. The rate of growth was slow and incubation was continued for 90 days... The mycelium was separated by filtration. 1969Clin. Sci. XXXVII. 409 Incubation of slices in uraemic serum had no effect upon glycogenolysis or on glycogen synthesis, but utilisation of glucose was inhibited. Ibid. 410 Slices from the same animal served for incubations both with uraemic and with control sera. 1971Nature 19 Nov. 154/1 An 18 h incubation of a copper strip in 2·5 ml. of saline solution alone yielded a Cu2+ concentration of 4 × 10—5 M.
6. attrib. and Comb. incubation drive, incubation-fever, incubation-period, incubation-process; incubation-patch, an area of the ventral surface of a bird's body that swells and loses its feathers during the incubation of eggs, as a way of providing them with the necessary warmth; usu. called a brood-patch.
1953N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xvii. 155 It is likely that his birds, by being robbed so often, had on the average a lower incubation-drive than our birds.
1954D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles III. 133 Colonel Meiklejohn suggests that this cock may have been suffering from incubation fever and built the nest to satisfy its craving.
1952J. Fisher Fulmar iv. 95 Fulmars have only a single incubation-patch, into which two eggs could probably not fit.
1879St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 712 In this case..the incubation period was two days. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 539 A specific bacillus which, introduced by feeding into mice, produces..illness and death after a definite incubation period. 1926H. M. Kyle Biol. Fishes 392/1 (index) Incubation period. 1940Jrnl. Biol. Chem. CXXXIV. 250 In a prolonged incubation period there was observed nearly complete hydrolysis. 1943Biol. Abstr. XVII. 2253/2 Av. incubation period was 380 hrs. at about 15·5°C [for the tide-pool cottid]. 1961E. Cameron Cockroach ii. 24 The incubation period [of Periplaneta americana] is a fairly long one, and varies a good deal according to the temperature, and the relative humidity of the environment. 1969A. Bellairs Life of Reptiles II. x. 444 The incubation period of eggs, from the time of fertilisation to that of hatching, is exceedingly variable. 1973Nature 30 Mar. 329/2 Following a 24 h incubation period, the medium and cells which had not stuck to the well surface were decanted.
1858–65Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xii. xi. IV. 262 The incubation-process may have uses for some of us!
Hence incuˈbational a., of or connected with incubation.
1849–52Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 1209/1 The cloaca..serves as a kind of incubational..pouch. |