| 释义 |
infection|ɪnˈfɛkʃən|
Also 5–6 en-.
[a. F. infection (13–14th c.), ad. late L. infectiōn-em (in St. Gregory in sense ‘infection, contagion’ of poison, heresy), n. of action from inficĕre to infect. (The en- form appears to be without French precedent.)]
†1. The action or process of affecting injuriously, or the fact of being so affected; corrupted or diseased condition. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xvi[i]. (Add. MS. 27944) lf. 84/1 If it [rheum in the eyes] is euel I-kept, þerof leueþ a litil mole and infeccioun. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 116 Þe ventriclis of þe brayn..ben of so greet nobilitie, þouȝ þat þer be neuere so litil infeccioun..þei ben depriued of her heelþe. 1557Paynel Barclay's Jugurth 31 Thyrdly ye infeccion of Justice whiche is no wher here among us, but clene exyled from our cytie. 1563W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 65 b, Gold never corrupteth by rust, because it is pure from poysonous infection. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. iii. i. (1651) 31 [Melancholy] a privation or infection of the middle cell of the Head.
†2. Contamination or corruption of air or water, rendering it apt or liable to generate or propagate disease; a morbific condition or quality of the atmosphere, etc. Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi. (1555), The enfection of theyr troubled eyre, He hath vanquished. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 232 What with savor of burnynge of townes, and infeccion of the ayre, corrupted by the multitude of dead carcases. 1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. ii. 154 For the bodies of the enemies, lest by the Aires infection, they should after their death prove hurtfull [etc.]. 1747Gentl. Mag. 480, I have long been of opinion, that the plague itself is caused by the air's being full of invisible animalcula, to which it owes its infection. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 146 Dr. Tissott..observes, that the Small-pox..does not propagate itself so much by contagion as by an infection of the air.
3. The agency, substance, germ, or principle by which an infectious disease is communicated or transmitted; morbific influence.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ii. (1555), He was so full of foul coruption, and eke so dredeful of infection. c1477Caxton Jason 75, I coude not so fast flee but that the terrible dragon cast upon me a gobet of the most detestable infeccion that neuer was. 1542Boorde Dyetary xxvii. (1870) 290 The syckenes is taken with the sauour of a mans clothes..for the infection wyl lye and hange longe in clothes. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 114 Even the houses and their ruins are receptakles of infection, and matter of corruption. 1722De Foe Plague 124 The infection may be in the very air. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, She had..taken the infection during her attendance upon him. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 530 Towards the end of the year 1694..At length the infection spread to the palace, and reached the young and blooming Queen. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. xix. 174 Seek protection As from a corpse that breeds infection.
b. pl. Morbific influences, principles, or germs.
1533Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 24 In a tyme of pestilence, if one beinge fastynge, doo chewe some of the leaues [of sorrel]..it meruaylously preserueth from infections. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 1 All the infections that the Sunne suckes vp From Bogs, Fens, Flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By ynch-meale a disease. 1885S. Cox Expos. Ser. i. ii. 26 That the air may be freed from poisonous infections.
4. The communication of disease, esp. by the agency of the atmosphere or water (hence, in strict use, distinguished from contagion, which implies communication by actual contact); the action or process of infecting; the fact of being infected.
1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 64 The kyng..kept no solempne Christmas, willyng to have no resort for feare of infeccion. 1618Latham 2nd Bk. Falconry xxviii. 129 The Rye, the Cramp, and the Craye..the best way will be for the keeper euermore to bee mindfull and carefull to preuent their infection, before any of them hath laid holde, or seazed on his Hawke. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 174 ⁋14 As a man suspected of infection is refused admission into cities. 1804Med. Jrnl. XII. 327 Whatever is observed in the artificial infection by inoculation, holds true in the natural infection. 1860F. Nightingale Nursing ii. (1861) 29 True nursing knows nothing of infection, except to prevent it.
5. Disease caused by infection; an infectious disease; a plague, epidemic, pestilence; † formerly sometimes, A disease, a seizure with disease.
1563Baldwin in Mirr. Mag. Cc j b, God him selfe will fyght with enfections and erthquakes. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 238 note, Lecherie..loathsome for the foule infections which it breedeth: as the spanishe pocke [etc.]. 1577Earl of Leicester in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 273 The infection in Oxford and the Country falleth out to be onely at the Assizes gotten. 1593Nashe 4 Lett. Conf. 50 There would more gentle Readers die of a merrie mortality..than there haue done of this last infection. 1680–90Temple Ess., Learning Wks. 1731 I. 169 As an Infection that rises in a Town, first falls upon Children or weak Constitutions. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 26 We were crowded together enough to bring an infection among us. 1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 493 Sometimes indeed a slight infection may be carried off in a few days, by bathing the parts in warm milk and water. 1844Thirlwall Greece lxvi. VIII. 429 He found himself shunned in public places as an infection.
6. Moral contamination; vitiation of character or habits by evil influences; an instance of this.
a1529Skelton Bk. 3 Fooles, Lechery..is..full of enfeccion and bytterness, for it distayneth the soule of man. 1582in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 67 Heathen Poets..from which the youth of the realme doth rather receive infection in manners than advancement in virtue. 1697tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. II. 76 The Cares and Affairs of the World..corrupt Men by an Infection, that is almost unavoidable. 1794Gifford Baviad 345 If yet there be One bosom from this vile infection free. 1828W. Sewell Oxf. Prize Ess. 46 We dread the infection of mean and degraded objects.
7. Corruption of faith or loyalty by heretical or seditious principles; communication of harmful opinions or beliefs.
1529More Dyaloge i. 29 b, Bringynge vp of some newe fangell heresies to the infeccion of our olde faythe. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 36 b, Contamynate wyth that sedicious infeccion. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 465 This man, by the infection of the Earl of Leicesters party, was carryed so far [etc.]. 1719Young Busiris ii. i, Thou hast a heart that swells with loyalty, And throws off the infection of these times. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 444 A regard for the public peace, and for the preservation of the church of Christ from infection.
8. Internat. Law. Contamination by illegality; the communication to a ship or cargo of liability to seizure, from association with hostile or contraband cargo, etc. (cf. infect v. 6 b).
1879Woolsey Introd. Internat. Law (ed. 5) §189 In 1744..a regulation freed neutral ships from the infection of the hostile cargo.
9. The ‘catching’ and diffusive influence or operation of example, sympathy, and the like, in the communication of feelings or impulses from one to another; = contagion 5.
1616R. C. Times' Whistle iii. 1098 The infection Of thy high leveld thoughts lets thee not see The ougly face of thy deformity. c1630Milton Passion 55 And I..Might think the infection of my sorrows loud Had got a race of mourners on some pregnant cloud. 1715–20Pope Iliad vi. 645 There, while her tears deplored the godlike man, Through all her train the soft infection ran. 1873Black Pr. Thule xiv, The infection of his warm and poetic enthusiasm.
†10. The process of moistening, colouring, etc. by immersion or infusion (cf. infect v. 1). Obs. rare.
1657Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 59 Tincture or infection is neere akin to humectation. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies i. ii. 7, I find Fire to spit at the infection of Salt or Water.
11. Celtic Gram. Alteration of a sound under the influence of a neighbouring sound.[Cf.1853Zeuss Gramm. Celtica I. 3 Evolutione quam nos dicemus infectionem.] 1872Stokes Goidelica 112 As to infection of the initials. Of vocalic infection, or, as Irish grammarians call it ‘aspiration’... Of nasal infection of tenues, or, as Irish grammarians call it, eclipsis. 1883M'Swiney tr. Windisch's Irish Gram. §16 The purity of the vowels undergoes infection or alteration, owing to the influence the vowels of the neighbouring syllables exercise over each other. Ibid. §17 Infection takes place most frequently by means of the slender vowels.
¶12. Humorously misused for affection, liking.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 133 He hath a great infection sir, as one would say, to serue. 1598― Merry W. ii. ii. 120 Her husband has a maruellous infection to the little Page.
13. attrib. and Comb.
1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 215 Infection experiments carried out upon animals. Ibid. 538 The toxic products of the infection-carriers.
Add:[4.] b. transf. The action of a computer virus in infecting a computer; the fact or state of being so infected; a case of this.
1984Finch & Dougall Computer Security 144 First we examine the infection property of a virus and show that the transitive closure of shared information could potentially become infected. 1985Sci. Amer. Mar. 16/2 The viral infection..has already happened on a small scale. 1989N.Y. Times 30 May c1/5 Infections by viruses, programs that can secretly spread between computers and alter or destroy data, have increased dramatically. |