| 释义 |
ˈwavelength
Also wave length, wave-length.
[f. wave n. + length n.]
1. a. The distance between successive peaks or maxima of a wave; esp. this as a distinctive feature of the radio waves used to carry a particular programme service.
1850Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1849 ii. 11 It was well known..that Fraunhofer had most accurately measured the wave lengths of seven of the principal fixed lines in the solar spectrum. 1871Schellen Spectrum Anal. §18. 59 The rays of shortest wave⁓length, namely the violet. 1881Broadhouse Mus. Acoustics 66 The fork..condenses..a bulk of air equal in length to the wave-length of its own pitch. 1907V. Cornish in Geogr. Jrnl. Jan. 25 The water may commonly be seen to..grow in the space of a few yards to a uniform wave-length of about 2 feet. 1925Scribner's Mag. July 47/2 He swung the dials round to where he could receive the commercial wave lengths. 1950Engineering 24 Mar. 337/3 The reasons for changes in the wavelengths of European broadcasting stations..are explained. 1971Daily Tel. 18 Jan. 7/4 His experts have also juggled wavelengths to make air space for both Radio 1 and the commercial network. 1977P. B. & J. S. Medawar Life Sci. i. 20 Ordinary light microscopy has the disadvantage that nothing can be seen that is smaller than the wavelength of visible light.
b. Electromagnetic waves of the wavelength described.
1915R. A. Houston Treat. Light xxv. 449 He assumes the existence of an enclosure containing a great number of Hertzian oscillators all radiating and absorbing the same wave-length. 1937Jenkins & White Fund. Physical Optics xii. 277 Substances are said to show selective reflection when certain wave-lengths are reflected much more strongly than others. 1982Sci. Amer. Aug. 52/1 Most ultraviolet wavelengths..cannot penetrate the earth's atmosphere.
c. The distance between adjacent heights or hollows in a body with a wave-like surface.
1958Spectator 31 Jan. 133/3 The wavelength of the corrugations [on Persian roads] is considerably larger than the pace of a sheep or goat. 1977Sci. Amer. Apr. 30/1 Nearly constant winds blow across the basin with such force that they pile up sand dunes as much as 150 kilometres long with wavelengths of three to five kilometres, clearly visible in satellite pictures.
2. fig. with allusion to radio reception, implying (esp. mutual) understanding; esp. in phr. to be on the same wavelength (as someone else), to understand each other.
1927Amer. Speech II. 276/2 Have one's wave length, know one's sentiments. 1929A. E. Housman Let. 16 Feb. (1971) i. 276 Only the archangel Raphael could recite my poetry properly, but..you would do it quite nicely, and I shall try not to set up interfering wave⁓lengths. a1936Kipling Let. in C. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) xx. 509 Every man has to work out his creed according to his own wave-length, and the hope is that the Great Receiving Station is tuned to take all wave-lengths. 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Sept. 617/3 She finally comes to believe that she is the only person in Riverville who was ‘born civilized’ and that nobody else there is of her own ‘wavelength’. 1947T. S. Eliot Milton 12 It is only in the period that the wave-length of Milton's verse is to be found. 1959Economist 6 June 919/2 Editors and publishers..have to..find the wave⁓length of their..readers. 1964H. Waldock in Barcelona Traction, Light & Power Co. Case (Internat. Court of Justice) II. 112, I do not think that it would assist the Court if I were to deal with every contention advanced by our opponents in their Observations and Conclusions; for on some points we are really not on the same wave⁓length. 1976Ld. Home Way Wind Blows ii. 27 In September A. W. Whitworth took over, and I like to think we were soon on each other's wave-length. 1983D. Dunnett Dolly & Bird of Paradise xiii. 168 We weren't on the same wavelength really... He was clever. And my thoughts are easy to read.
3. Special Comb.: wavelength constant = propagation constant s.v. propagation 8.
1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 902/2 Wavelength constant. 1963[see propagation constant s.v. propagation 8]. |