| 释义 |
irritation|ɪrɪˈteɪʃən|
[ad. L. irrītātiōn-em, n. of action from irrītāre irritate v.1: cf. F. irritation (14–15th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
The action of irritating, or condition of being irritated.
†1. The action of stirring up or provoking to activity; incitement. Obs. exc. as transf. from other senses.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xix. (Arb.) 56 Therefore was nothing committed to historie, but matters of great and excellent persons and things that the same by irritation of good courages..might worke more effectually. 1612–15Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xiv. vii, If it had not beene for his proud irritation, the people had in the morning before ceased from that bloody pursuit of their brethren. a1859De Quincey (Webster 1864), The whole body of the arts and sciences composes one vast machinery for the irritation and development of the human intellect.
2. Excitement of anger or impatience; exasperation, provocation, vexation, annoyance.
1703Duke of Queensberry in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 238 One sort of people are pleased, and the other have got no irritation. 1796Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 380 Jacobinism which arises from penury and irritation, from scorned loyalty and rejected allegiance. 1818A. Ranken Hist. France VI. i. 58 Any new taxation..might excite general irritation. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 6 The Lacedaemonian expresses a momentary irritation at the accusation.
3. Path. (and Med.) Excitement of a bodily part or organ to excessive sensitiveness or morbid action; the resulting condition.
1685Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. vi. Wks. V. 212 The fibres..being distended or vellicated by the plenty or acrimony of the peccant matter, will, by that irritation, be brought to contract themselves vigorously. 1702J. Purcell Cholick (1714) 113 Subject to the greatest Irritations, Heart-burnings, and Vomiting. 1799Med. Jrnl. II. 126 If it allay..the cough and irritation of the lungs. 1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 119 In some states of the stomach..even farinaceous food excites acrimony and irritation. 1876Bartholow Mat. Med. (1879) 536 External irritation, utilized for the relief or cure of internal maladies, is entitled counter-irritation.
4. Physiol. and Biol. The inducement of some vital action or condition (as motion, contraction, nervous impulse) in an organ, tissue, etc. of an animal or plant by the application of a stimulus.
1794E. Darwin Zoon. I. xviii. §15. 209 We come now to those motions which depend on irritation. Ibid. 210 Not only those parts of the system, which are always excited by internal stimuli,..but the organs of sense also may be more violently excited into action by the irritation from internal stimuli, or by sensation, during our sleep than in our waking hours. 1855Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §20 (1864) 57 When irritation is applied to the hemispheres, as by pricking or cutting. 1875Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 782 Periodic movements of the mature parts of plants and movements dependent on irritation. Ibid. 784 In the case of irritable stamens..the insects that visit the flowers cause the irritation. a1899J. Caird Fundamental Ideas Chr. II. xxi. 276 Irritations and molecular changes of tissue are transformed into the feeling of shimmering light or ringing sound. |