| 释义 |
inscription|ɪnˈskrɪpʃən|
[ad. L. inscriptiōn-em, n. of action from inscrībĕre to inscribe. Cf. F. inscription (Rabelais, 16th c., in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. The action of inscribing; the action of writing upon or in something. (In quots. fig.) rare.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. i. (1821) 410 These we may call the truths of natural inscription. 1748Hartley Observ. Man ii. i. 45 The Law of first Inscription.
2. concr. That which is inscribed; a piece of writing or lettering upon something; a set of characters or words written, engraved, or otherwise traced upon a surface; esp. a legend, description, or record traced upon some hard substance for the sake of durability, as on a monument, building, stone, tablet, medal, coin, vase, etc.
1538Leland Itin. I. 96 Inscription could I find none yn these Stones. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vii. 14, I will suruay the inscriptions, backe againe: What saies this leaden casket? 1667Evelyn Diary 19 Sept., I obtain'd the gift of his Arundelian Marbles, those celebrated and famous inscriptions Greeke and Latine, gather'd with so much cost and industrie from Greece. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 28/2 Queen Elizabeths shilling had..this Inscription, Posui Deum Adjutorem meum. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol 10 Apr., A brazen column..was erected..there is no sign of its having ever had any inscription. 1821Byron Two Foscari ii. i. 226 'Tis perhaps as true as most Inscriptions upon tombs. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 53/1 It bears on one side the head of Ferdinand with the inscription Ferdinandvs [etc.]. 1842Brande Dict. Sc., etc. 833/1 The words around the border of the coin form what is termed the legend, those in the middle the inscription. [B. V. Head in Let., Numismatists make no distinction between ‘Inscription’ and ‘Legend’.]
fig.1643Milton Divorce Introd. (1851) 11 Nor is this yet the highest inscription that will adorn so religious and so holy a defence as this. 1859Dickens T. Two Cities i. v, Hunger was the inscription on the baker's shelves written in every small loaf of his scanty stock of bad bread.
3. spec.
a. A short piece of writing placed at the beginning of a book or other composition, descriptive of its nature, contents, authorship, etc.; a title, heading, superscription. (Now rare or Obs. as distinct from 2.)
b. A brief dedication of a book or work of art to a person (see inscribe 2 b); the superscription of a letter.
a1400Wyclif's Bible Gen. Prol. 39 (MS. Trin. Coll. Dubl. A. 1. 10) The firste psalme to no man is asigned, for..what other man is vndirstonden in the firste but the firste geten, that inscripcioun worthili schuld not be necessarie. 1529More Dyaloge i. Wks. 174/2 Many bokes be ther that haue false inscripcions, and ar not the bokes of them that they be named by. 1598Florio, Indice,..also the inscription or title of a booke. 1649Alcoran p. vi, Mahomet..divided it into many Chapters, to which he gave what inscription he thought good: he most commonly intituleth them with words that are in their first line. 1742Richardson Pamela IV. 451 And now-and-then a Letter passes on both Sides, by the Inscription and Subscription of which, they remind one another, that they have been once in their Lives at one Church together.
c. In early Music, A motto or sign, or combination of both, placed at the beginning of an enigmatical canon, to indicate (often itself enigmatically) the manner of its resolution.
1880W. S. Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. s.v., In the second Agnus Dei of his ‘Missa L'Ami baudichon’, [Josquin des Prés] intimates that the Tenor is to be silent, by the pretty Inscription, ‘Agnus secundum non est cum grege.’..Some of Hobrecht's Inscriptions are very obscure..‘Decimas reddo omnia quæ possideo’ shews that the (unwritten) Bass must sing a Tenth below the Discant.
4. Anat. A marking upon some organ or part produced by another in contact with it; esp. a marking on the fleshy part of a muscle where a tendon crosses it.
1578Banister Hist. Man iv. 62 The fift [muscle]..marcheth obliquely towardes the thombe, with many inscriptions, and ceaseth at divers Tendons. c1720W. Gibson Farrier's Guide i. vi. (1738) 80 Having only Inscriptions answerable to the winding Convolutions of the Brain. 1872Humphry Myology 7 Its fibres are partially interrupted by a tendinous inscription, and it is joined beyond that point by a portion of the muscle arising from the ischium in which there is no tendinous inscription.
5. Geom. The action of inscribing one figure in another: see inscribe 3.
1570Billingsley Euclid iv. Introd. 110 This fourth booke intreateth of the inscription..of rectiline figures. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. i. (1701) 9/2. 1842 De Morgan Diff. & Int. Calc. 303 It is the condition of a polygon's inscription in a circle that its successive angles should be [etc.].
†6. Civil and Sc. Law. An accusation or challenge at law made under the condition that if it were false, the accuser would undergo the same punishment that would have been inflicted on the accused if found guilty. Obs.
Sometimes inscription appears to refer to the accusation (see Inscriptio in Du Cange), sometimes to the undertaking of the accuser: cf. Cotgr. Fr. Dict., ‘Inscription en faux, a challenge of, or exception against the truth of an Euidence; a testimonie or vndertaking to prove it false, entred in Court’.
1479Acta Audit. 93 (Jam.) The said James has drawin himself, landis, and gudis, souerte to the kingis hienes for the said inscriptioune. 1674Sir G. Mackenzie Laws & Cust. of Scotl. xix. §8 (1699) 227 Which inscription was only necessar in atrocius, but not in lighter crimes. Ibid., Inscriptions were only necessar, to the end the pursuer might be punished, if he were found Guilty of Calumny. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 24 Inscription is an obligation made in writing whereby the Accuser binds himself to undergo the same Punishment, if he shall not prove the Crime which he objects to the Party accused..as the Defendant himself ought to suffer, if the same be prov'd.
7. Comm. The action of inscribing stock; in pl. inscribed stocks: see inscribed 1 b.
1797Hist. in Ann. Reg. 85/2 Penury and misery burst forth. The inscriptions, which were at forty, fell to ten; the armies were left without pay. 1809R. Langford Introd. Trade 55 The second description of Russian Stock is called 6 per Cent. Inscriptions. 1884Pall Mall G. 14 Aug. 5/1 The Bank of England..in its desire to move with the times..has been undertaking the inscription of a number of colonial loans.
8. Comb.
1859H. L. Smith in Archæol. Cant. XI. 108 Only the labels..and inscription-plate remain. 1861F. Hall in Jrnl. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 320 Dismissed by the inscription-writer, with nine stanzas of vague encomium.
9. inscription maritime [Fr.], the French naval system of recruiting; a list of men who may be called to serve in the French navy.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 499/1 This arrangement is purely for the embodiment of the men of the Inscription Maritime. Ibid. XXXI. 103/1 For the purpose of the Inscription Maritime the Newfoundland fisheries were kept up at considerable expense to the nations. 1905Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 10/1 A system called ‘maritime inscription’, which..furnishes a contingent of about 4,700 naval recruits every year. |