| 释义 |
▪ I. annihilate, ppl. a. arch.|əˈnaɪhɪlət|
Forms: 4–7 adnichilat(e, 5–6 adnychyl-, 6 adnihil-, 6– annihilate.
[ad. L. annihilāt-us pa. pple. of annihilā-re: see annihil. As in other instances (see -ate) this ppl. adj. originated a vb. of same form, which eventually displaced the earlier annihil; of this vb., annihilate was for some time used as pa. pple., but was at length displaced by the regular annihilat-ed, retaining only its adj. use, which is now also arch.]
= annihilated.
1. Reduced to nothing, blotted out of existence.
1388On 25 Art. in Wyclif's Wks. (1871) III. 484 Þat þai clepen adnichilat or brouȝt to nouȝt. 1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W.) iii. xxiv. 325/1 Yf a brother Relygyous haue all his wyll mortefyed and adnychylate. c1510More Picus Wks. 1557, 18/2 If the world were adnihilate and turned to nought again. 1624Heywood Gunaik. ii. 65 The sollace of life, is by such a restraint opprest, and by degrees adnichilate. 1795Southey Joan of Arc I. 531 All sense of self annihilate, I seem'd Diffused into the scene. 1839Bailey Festus Proem. 7 Earth's Millennial foretaste, ill annihilate.
†2. Made null and void, of no effect. Obs.
1544Act 35 Hen. VIII, i, I repute the same [othe] as vayne and adnichilate. 1553–87Foxe A. & M. (1596) 78/1 Whereby all such errors and opinions..maie be made frustrat and adnihilat.
▪ II. annihilate, v.|əˈnaɪhɪleɪt|
For forms see prec.
[f. prec., superseding the earlier annihil from Fr.]
1. To reduce to non-existence, blot out of existence
a. things material.
1599A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physic 112/2 Till the wormes be totally annihilatede or consumede. 1660R. Coke Justice Vind. 22 God..can annihilate all the Universe in a moment. 1772Pennant Tours Scotl. (1774) 151 The vestiges of the Roman camp..are almost annihilated. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. III. vi. ii. 387 The substance of the bread and wine was actually annihilated—nothing existed but the body and blood of the Redeemer.
b. things immaterial, actions, qualities, conditions of existence.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 166 Idlenes annihilateth and corrupteth the goodnes of nature. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. Ded. 1 Who make profession in word.. but in deed and effect do annihilate..the power and efficacie thereof. 1727Pope, etc. Art of Sinking 100 Ye Gods! annihilate but space and time, And make two lovers happy. 1813Wellington in Gurwood Disp. X. 473 That event has totally annihilated all order and discipline.
c. Theol. To destroy the soul (as well as the body).
1634Habington Castara (1870) 114 Death..not annihilates, but uncloudes the soule. 1702tr. Le Clerc's Prim. Fathers 306 Justin Martyr and St. Irenæus believed that after a certain time they [the Wicked] should be annihilated. 1728De Foe Magick ii. ii. 273 God can no more be the author of evil, than he can annihilate himself, and cease to be.
d. spec. in Physics, to convert (a sub-atomic particle) into radiant energy. Freq. in pass. Cf. annihilation 3.
1930Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. XXVI. 362 It is easy to see from the laws of conservation of energy and momentum that an electron and proton cannot annihilate one another with the emission of only a single photon. 1938Physical Rev. LIII. 126/1 The two quanta radiation produced when a positron is annihilated at rest. 1977S. Weinberg First Three Minutes iv. 80 Nuclear reactions, in which a fraction of the mass of atomic nuclei is annihilated. 1978Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. ix. 257 The most spectacular property of matter–antimatter pairs is that when a particle and its antiparticle come together, they annihilate each other, producing an energy E = 2mc2, where m is the mass of each particle. That is, all their mass is converted into energy.
2. To make null and void, make of none effect, annul, cancel, abrogate (laws, treaties, rights, etc.).
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cliii. 421 That shulde breke or adnychilate..the alyances that hath been sworne. 1579W. Fulke Confut. Sander 558 To adnihilate the sacraments ministred by heretikes. 1665Glanvill Sceps. Sci. Addr. 5, To annihilate all such arguments. 1767Junius Lett. xv. 65 These..rights..you can no more annihilate than you can the soil to which they are annexed. 1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. viii. 235 Annihilate law, and moral order is no more.
3. To treat as non-existent, set at nought. arch.
1542Becon Pathw. Prayer Wks. 1843, 180 How were the singular merits of Christ's death..adnihilated and set at nought. 1599Broughton's Lett. vii. 21 The effect and affection of men..Pharisaically ἐξουθενεῖν, to annihilate all others. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 186 Who has thought proper to usurp your name, and annihilate your exploits. a1843Southey Amat. Poems Sonn. iii. Wks. II. 119 For Love annihilates the world to me!
4. To extinguish virtually; to reduce to silence, powerlessness, or humiliation.
1630Naunton Fragm. Reg. (1870) 57 By a joynt conspiracy to ruine the House, and altogether to annihilate it. 1683Brit. Spec. 226 An Omnipotent Power to create and annihilate Kings. 1771Burke Corr. (1844) I. 317 He has been not only ready, but earnest even, to annihilate himself. 1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. lxxxiii, Thou who with thy frown Annihilated senates.
5. To destroy the collective or organized existence of anything, by reducing it to its elements; to put an army to utter rout, etc.
1808Wellington in Gurwood Disp. IV. 115 We only wanted a few hundred more cavalry to annihilate the French army. 1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. iii. 50 Near the mouth of the Nile Nelson annihilated the fleet of Napoleon.
6. intr. To dwindle to nothing, become extinct.
1787T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 203 Their calling is, in fact, annihilating.
7. intr. Physics. Of a sub-atomic particle: to undergo annihilation; to combine with its antiparticle so that the mass of both is transformed into radiant energy.
1952Physical Rev. LXXXVIII. 1435/2 This is the anticipated behavior if the original particles were positive electrons which annihilate in flight. 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Nucl. Energy 32/1 Under appropriate conditions colliding positrons and electrons may not annihilate instantly but may form the system known as positronium. 1979Nature 29 Mar. 406/1 It is assumed that in the collision an anti-quark of the (qq) sea in one hadron annihilates with a quark in the other hadron resulting in the creation of a lepton pair. |