| 释义 |
▪ I. vocabulary, n.|vəʊˈkæbjʊlərɪ|
Also 6 -arye, 7 -arie.
[ad. med.L. vocābulāri-us, -um, f. L. vocābulum vocable n.: see -ary1. Hence also It., Sp., Pg. vocabulario, F. vocabulaire (1481). Cf. vocabular n., vocabuler.]
1. a. A collection or list of words with brief explanations of their meanings; now esp. a list of this kind given in an elementary grammar or reading-book of a foreign language.
Longer vocabularies are usually arranged alphabetically or according to subject-headings. In philological grammars and readers the vocabulary is commonly termed a glossary.
1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 427/1 Then must he with his translacion make vs an Englishe vocabularye of his own deuise too. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 55 Maister Heskins fareth as hee were halfe madde, sending vs to the Vocabularies, Calepines, and Dictionaries. 1611Cotgr., Vocabulaire, a Vocabularie, Dictionarie. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. ix. 355 This is the proper signification of the word, [it is] thus used in Scripture by the Septuagint, [and] Greeke vocabularies thus expound it. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. 260 A vocabulary made after this fashion, would, perhaps, with more ease, and in less time, teach the true signification of many Terms. 1741Watts Improv. Mind (1801) 41 It is necessary that we should be furnished with Vocabularies and Dictionaries of several sorts. 1816Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire ii. (1818) 65 From our visitors I procured a vocabulary of their language. 1857T. Wright (title), A Volume of Vocabularies. Ibid. Pref., One of the most valuable of the later vocabularies here printed. 1884Bradley Latin Prose Composition 353 General Vocabulary. Ibid., The Latin words in this Vocabulary are not necessarily equivalent to the English.
fig.1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 598/1 As I wene it is expounded in god almightes vocabulary.
transf.1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacrae i. i. §3 Otherwise all the use of words is to be a meer vocabulary to the understanding, and an Index to memory.
b. Const. of. (Passing into the sense of ‘list’.)
1821J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metric Syst. (1871) iii. 145 A vocabulary of new denominations was annexed to every weight and measure belonging to it. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn) 137 He heard a vocabulary of dishes enumerated with grace and fluency [by the French cook]. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xvi. 309 The most complete vocabulary of arms..in the Old Testament is taken from the panoply of a Philistine warrior.
c. Naut. (See quot.)
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 714 Vocabulary, the system of naval signals based on Sir Home Popham's improvements.
2. a. The range of language of a particular person, class, profession, or the like.
Used with limiting terms (possessives, adjectives, etc.).
1753H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 20, I wore out..my vocabulary with commending. 1782F. Burney Cecilia viii. v, Let nerves be discarded from the female vocabulary. 1815J. Cormack Abol. Fem. Infanticide Guzerat x. 196 The almost infinite labours of an individual, from whose vocabulary the word impossible seems to have been excluded. 1851Palgrave Norm. & Eng. I. 2 An Innocent, in Shakesperian vocabulary, signifies an Idiot. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xxix, The actor..had erased the words ‘ought’ and ‘ought not’ from his vocabulary as completely as most of his contemporaries.
b. Const. of (some quality, feeling, etc.).
1770Cumberland West Indian iv. x, In the vocabulary of modern honour there is no such term. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xii. 129 His eloquence becoming more and more..vituperative, until it has exhausted either his strength or his vocabulary of invective. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 5 The rank vocabulary of malice and hate. 1884J. Sharman Hist. Swearing v. 80 The more religion appeals to the senses, the more fecund has been the vocabulary of oaths.
c. With a, or without article.
1837Emerson Addr., Amer. Schol. Wks. (Bohn) II. 181 If it were only for a vocabulary, the scholar would be covetous of action. 1892C. Taylor Witness of Hermas to Four Gosp. 130 On the principle that vocabulary is an indication of an author's literary sources. 1898T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin v. i, ‘To repeat one's words’, I said quietly, shows a limited vocabulary.
3. The sum or aggregate of words composing a language.
1782V. Knox Ess. cxiv. (1819) II. 285 The Latin Fathers..wrote..well enough to preserve a skill in the construction and vocabulary of the language. 1841Borrow Zincali II. ii. iii. 107 It is no longer a sealed language, its laws, structure, and vocabulary being sufficiently well known. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. i. 4 The largest infusion that the vocabulary of one European tongue ever received from another. 1882A. W. Ward Dickens vii. 206 He recognised his responsibility..in keeping the vocabulary of the language pure.
4. fig. A set of artistic or stylistic forms, techniques, movements, etc.; the range of such forms, etc., available to a particular person, etc.
1917G. B. Shaw How to become Musical Critic (1960) 291 As far as mere grammar and vocabulary go, there is nothing more in the statue scene from Don Juan, which threw open the whole magic realm of modern orchestration..than in the exquisite little song of Cherubino. 1949Ballet Ann. III. 109/2 Repetitions, lengthy passages, obscure symbols and movements..which ever aim not only at enriching the classic vocabulary..but at uplifting the mind. 1959Listener 10 Dec. 1042/2 The extraordinary vocabulary of the latest works with their untrammelled blossoming in space, their hectic and at times almost hysterical proliferations of bumps, bulges, bags. 1960Economist 22 Oct. 369/2 No country is likely to be able to rely purely on its own ‘vocabulary’ of styling; but British manufacturers..might be glad to escape the dependence on Italian and Swiss fashion leadership in car bodies. 1967‘La Meri’ Spanish Dancing (ed. 2) vii. 86 Important is the fact that with the Pavane a vocabulary of steps appeared for the first time in dance history. 1972E. Lucie-Smith in Cox & Dyson 20th-Cent. Mind II. xiv. 474 Cubism is no longer ‘analytic’ but ‘synthetic’. That is, it aims to create, by means of a consistent vocabulary of form, a universe which parallels the real one. 1977New Yorker 25 July 62/2 Together the two enlarged the vocabulary of lawn tennis and laid the foundation for the all-court game. 1977M. Girouard Sweetness & Light vii. 176 During the 1880s the Bedford Park vocabulary was being taken up by speculative builders and put to every kind of use. 1980Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Feb. 165/1 The vernacular building, employing the simple vocabulary of wall, sloping roof, door and small window, results in a national display of tranquil richness.
▪ II. voˈcabulary, a. rare.
[f. L. vocābul-um vocable n. + -ary.]
Of or pertaining to words; composed of, or concerned with, words.
1616Bullokar Eng. Expos., Vocabularie, of or belonging to words, which consisteth onely of words. 1903Daily Chron. 21 April 6/3 The vocabulary code compiled by the International Bureau of Telegraphic Administrations. 1909Westm. Gaz. 28 May 2/1 Treating it as a vocabulary quarrel to which it would be childish to attach any importance. |