| 释义 |
▪ I. initial, a. and n.|ɪˈnɪʃəl|
Also 6 iniciall, inytiall.
[ad. L. initiāl-is, f. initi-um beginning: see -al1. In some early instances perh. immed. a. F. initial, inicial (13th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to a beginning; existing at, or constituting, the beginning of some action or process; existing at the outset; primary; sometimes = elementary, rudimentary.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 73 b, The iniciall feare, that is to say, the feare of good begynners. 1534Whitinton Tullyes Offices i. (1540) 4 There is..a meane Offyce or inytiall, also a perfyte Offyce. 1665Glanvill Scepsis Sci. xiv. 95 Our initial age is..capable of any impression from the documents of our Teachers. 1665Evelyn Diary (1827) IV. 138 He is past many initial difficulties. 1789Belsham Ess. I. xii. 227 The initial paragraph of Dryden's well-known poem. 1812Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) I. 55 The square of the initial velocity. 1833Herschel Astron. iv. 169 The vernal equinox being the initial point of longitudes. 1880L. Stephen Pope ii. 58 Pope would seem to have been almost in the initial stage of mental disease.
b. Math. initial line: the line from which the angle is reckoned in polar co-ordinates (see co-ordinate B. 2); also called the axis.
1844Hymers Int. Calc. (ed. 3) 195 θ the angle made by ρ with the initial line.
c. Bot. Applied to cells from which a mass of tissue is formed by successive division.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 40 The Initial cell is not the Mother-cell of the stoma, but divides further, once or several times in succession. Ibid. 108 This layer of cells, which relatively to the cork-formation may be called the initial layer, is the epidermis itself in certain cases of normal development of Dicotyledons. 1885G. L. Goodale Phys. Bot. (1892) 105 The cells from which these primordial layers or masses of nascent tissues arise are known as initial cells.
d. Math. initial condition, each of a set of conditions giving the values (initial values) of dependent variables or their derivatives for a single set of values of the independent variables.
[1834W. Hamilton in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CXXIV. 250 No general solution has been obtained assigning (as a complete solution ought to do) 3n relations between the n masses.., the 3n varying coordinates.., the varying time t, and the 6n initial data of the problem, namely, the initial coordinates.., and their initial rates of increase..; the quantities called here initial being those which correspond to the arbitrary origin of time. ] Ibid. 273 The problem of integrating these [differential] equations consists in proposing to assign, by their means, six relations between the time t, the masses m1 m2, the six varying coordinates..and their initial values and initial rates of increase.1890A. R. Forsyth Theory Differential Equations I. iii. 82 He [sc. Jacobi] shewed that the introduction of ‘initial values’ of the variables..renders it possible to take the integrals of the first subsidiary system in a form, which leads immediately to the transformation of the equation. 1902Ibid. IV. i. 4 The conditions, as to the arbitrarily assigned values to be acquired at ζ by w and its derivatives, are called the initial conditions; the values are called the initial values. 1920H. T. H. Piaggio Elem. Treat. Differential Equations iv. 53 As t usually denotes time and x and y rectangular coordinates, a condition such as z = 0 when t = 0 is called an initial condition, while one such as z = 0 if x = 0, or if x = l, or if y = x, is called a boundary condition. 1957L. Fox Numerical Solution Two-Point Boundary Probl. i. 5 Boundary-value problems can always be solved in theory, and often in practice, by a combination of initial-value problems, the extra initial conditions being chosen more or less arbitrarily but finally adjusted to satisfy the prescribed boundary conditions. 1968Fox & Mayers Computing Methods for Scientists & Engineers iii. 30 We need two conditions, and here there are two main possibilities. In the first, giving the so-called initial-value problem, we are provided with two adjacent values ys and ys + 1 for some s, or possibly ys and some linear combination of ys - 1, ys, and ys + 1... The second possibility, giving the so-called boundary-value problem, is the specification say of y0 and yn, the values at the two ends of some range.
2. a. Standing at the beginning of a word, paragraph, or division of a book or writing, or of the alphabet: as an initial letter.
In old manuscripts frequently, and in modern printing occasionally, the initial letters at the heads of paragraphs or sections are made large and more or less ornamental.
1622S. Ward Christ All in All (1627) 9 The α and Ω..two Letters..the principall, initiall, and finall of the Alphabet. a1714Burnet Hist. Ref. an. 1559 (R.) At the end of every section, the initial letters of his name that had translated it, were printed, as W. E...for Will. Exon. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 32 In the initial letter are the portraits of the King sitting on the throne delivering the patent to the Earl [etc.]. 1845Graves Rom. Law in Encycl. Metrop. 781/1 The work has been usually cited by numbers, not by initial words. 1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 101 Vasari intimates that the initial or large-letter writing was a distinct occupation about 1350.
b. initial teaching alphabet, a 44-letter phonetic alphabet, originally known as the ‘Augmented Roman’ alphabet, devised by Sir James Pitman (b. 1901) to assist the teaching of reading and writing.
1962J. A. Downing I.T.A. Reading Exper. (1964) 14 Sir James Pitman's new Initial Teaching Alphabet..has been evolved from his grandfather's ‘Phonotypy’ and from the ‘Nue Spelling’ of the Simplified Spelling Society. 1964Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 19/1 The initial teaching alphabet scheme, in use experimentally for three years to make children read more easily, is to get a Government grant.
B. n.
†1.
a. An initial stage or element of something; a beginning. Obs.
a1655Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 313 Unregenerate man..having no initials of true repentance. 1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 81 A seminal or ideal disease, inserted into the very initials of life. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace ix. 206 Now it feels the very initials of eternal rest in itself. 1839Bailey Festus ix. (1852) 122 The initial and conclusion of the world.
†b. An elementary book on some subject of study. Obs.
1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Crit. Hist. 2 Which..however pretended..to be the easiest and most adapted Initials, yet 'tis certain they are far surpass'd by our Oxford Grammar.
2. a. An initial letter (see A. 2); esp. (in pl.) the initial letters of a person's name and surname.
1627Ussher Lett. (1686) 383 There being but 22 of them [letters]..without any difference of Initials and Finals. 1735E. Curll in Pope's Lett. I. Suppl. 24 P. T. are not, I dare say, the true Initials of your Name. 1829Lytton Disowned v, Honest Folk..don't travel with their initials only. 1858Masson Milton I. 610 It has not his full name appended to it, but only the initials ‘J. M.’
b. attrib. Relating to, or carried on by means of, initials.
1735E. Curll in Pope's Lett. I. Suppl. 24 An Initial Correspondence betwixt E. C. and P. T., and betwixt A. P. and E. C.
c. initial-word, an acronym.
1939Jrnl. Inst. Journalists Jan. 19/3 For one man who says ‘London County Council’ a thousand say ‘Ellceecee’, and euphony demands..that this curious initial-word, and L.M.S. and F.J.I., should all be preceded by ‘an’.
3. Mus. Each of the prescribed notes (usually called absolute initials) on which a Plain-song melody may begin in any given mode.
1880W. S. Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 3 The choice of the first note [of a Plain Chaunt Melody] is not left entirely to the Composer's discretion. He can only begin upon one of a series of sounds, selected from the Regular or Conceded Modulations of the Scale..These sounds are called Absolute Initials. Their number varies in different Modes..In the following Table, the letters enclosed in brackets denote the more unusual Initials.
4. Bot. An initial cell (cf. A. adj. 1 c).
1914M. Drummond tr. Haberlandt's Physiol. Plant Anat. ii. 84 A stratification of the meristem due to the vertical seriation of the initials is sometimes evident. 1938Nature 10 Dec. 1042/2 Douin..has now shown that P. asplenioides develops axillary branch initials, the upper developing into normal branches. 1955Jrnl. Ecol. XLIII. 51 Two small..trees, bearing catkin initials, were transplanted. 1970Raven & Curtis Biol. Plants ii. 129/2 These initials, or growth-initiating cells, appear to surround a group of cells in which no cell division takes place.
▸ initial public offer n. Stock Market = initial public offering n. at Additions.
1968Times 23 May 27/5 (advt.) Subscriptions were received for a total of {pstlg}8,184,414, which is a record for an *initial public offer by a U.K. Unit Trust. 2001Far Eastern Econ. Rev. 8 Feb. 7 Malaysia's biggest initial public offer since 1997.
▸ initial public offering n. Stock Market the first public issue of shares in a particular company; abbreviated IPO.
1920N.Y. Times 16 Aug. 19/6 (advt.) *Initial public offering of Continental Guaranty Corporation. 2002Business Week 9 Sept. 36/2 Shares of hot initial public offerings..could be flipped in hours or days at great profit.
▪ II. initial, v.|ɪˈnɪʃəl|
[f. prec. B. 2.]
trans. To mark or sign with initials; to put one's initials to or upon. Hence iˈnitialed (-alled) ppl. a., iˈnitialing (-alling) vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1864in Webster. 1865Daily Tel. 16 Nov. 7/6 They were initialled by the magistrate. 1866Pall Mall G. 1 Dec. 7 A clerk..initialed it as evidence that the work had been brought home. 1883Hall Caine Cobw. Crit. iii. 65 An initialed note to an article in the Edinburgh. 1884Pall Mall G. 4 Oct. 4/1 The desirability of adopting the initialling system. 1884Sir E. E. Kay in Law Times Rep. LI. 315/1 The deletion was initialed in the margin with the initials of the persons who signed the agreement. |