| 释义 |
modify, v.|ˈmɒdɪfaɪ|
Also 4–7 modefie, -fy(e.
[a. F. modifier (14th c.), ad. L. modificāre, -ārī to limit, moderate, f. mod-us mode: see -fy.]
†1. trans. To limit, restrain, keep within bounds and measure. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. III. 157 A king after the reule is holde To modifie and to adresce Hise yiftes upon such largesce That he mesure noght excede. Ibid. 233 The reule of Policie, Wherof a king schal modefie The fleisschly lustes of nature. c1440Promp. Parv. 341/1 Modyfyyn, or settyn yn mene cowrse of resone.
†b. To appease, assuage. Obs.
1430–40Lydg. Bochas ix. xxxi[i]. (1494) G iij b, Tyrauntys hertis thys vertue doth appese, Modefyeth their cruell fell wodenesse. 1433― St. Edmund ii. 857 Thus kan the lord..The rage of beestis appese and modifie. 1546Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. i. xi. 21 b, [Orpheus] by the swetenes of his armony delited and modefied the grosse hartis and rude myndes of men.
†c. refl. To control one's feelings. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 639/2, I modyfye, I temperate, je me modifie...What thoughe he speke a hastye worde you muste modyfye your selfe.
2. To alter in the direction of moderation or lenity; to make less severe, rigorous, or decided; to qualify, tone down, moderate. (Tends to merge in the wider sense 4.)
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1684 Wherfore to shapen þat they shal nat dye He wolde his firste purpos modifye. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 24376, I..prayed hym..that he wold..modefyen his vengeaunce, and to with-drawe his lugement. c1480Henryson Test. Cress. 299 The pane of Cresseid for to modify. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiv. (Percy Soc.) 174 Your hasty dome loke that ye modefy. 1610Donne Pseudo-martyr 184 For so Mariana modefies his Doctrine, that the Prince should not execute any Clergy man, though hee deserue it. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iv. xxv, The great has terrour for its basis; which, when it is modified, causes that emotion in the mind, which I have called astonishment. 1813Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) X. 382 Upon the whole I conceive that it would be best for the court to modify their sentence. 1819Byron Juan ii. lxiii, They did their best to modify their case. 1859Lang Wand. India 402 There is generally a light breeze to modify the heat. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 264 In fairy tales..inconsistencies are..modified and softened down. 1873M. E. Braddon Milly Darrell xii, I suppose that medicine was intended to modify those attacks of sickness from which she has suffered so much.
3. a. Philos. To determine (a substance or other entity) into a particular ‘mode’ or modes; to give (an object) its particular modality or form of being.
a1643S. Ward in Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. vi. 191 That the previous Concurse of God, as the first cause, doth according to its mode modifie and determine al the actions of second causes. 1678Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. vi. 190 He doth by a particular efficacious concurse so modifie and determine the entitative act, as that the natural specification and individuation thereof may be ascribed to him as the God of Nature. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Modify,..In Philosophy, to give the Modality or manner of Existence. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Spinozism, Whence it follows, that the substance modified by the square figure cannot be the same substance with that modified by the round figure.
†b. gen. To differentiate into a variety of forms; to distinguish or diversify by investing with specific characteristics. Obs. (merged in 4).
1669Holder Elem. Speech 32 They [‘letters’] modify and discriminate the Voice without appearing to discontinue it. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xviii. §3 Sounds..are modified by diversity of notes of different length put together, which make that complex idea called a tune. Ibid. §6 Some others of the simple ideas..have been thus modified to a great variety of complex ideas. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 278 More than twice Seven Plates are differently Modified to invite the Palate to Luxury. 1704Newton Opticks (1721) 101 And therefore the differences of these Colours from one another do not arise from the different Confines of Shadow, whereby Light is variously modified, as has hitherto been the Opinion of Philosophers. 1777Sir W. Jones Ess. Imit. Arts Poems, etc. 207 As the passions are differently modified in different men.
4. To make partial changes in; to change (an object) in respect of some of its qualities; to alter or vary without radical transformation.
1780Burke Corr. (1844) II. 387, I confess I see no cause to change, or to modify, my opinion on that subject. 1791Fearne Cont. Remainders (ed. 4) I. 108 Words of limitation operate by reference to or connection with other words, and extend or modify the estate given by those other words. 1798Malthus Popul. iii. vii. (1806) II. 211 Others employ themselves in modifying the raw materials of nature into the forms best suited to the gratification of man. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 184/1 Measures of improvement so often mutilated, or, as the word is, ‘modified’ [by the House of Lords]. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 321 There are, however, some important parts of his character still to be noted, which will greatly modify this estimate. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. iv. 18 The Crown must either assent to or reject bills in Parliament, but cannot modify them. 1878Huxley Physiogr. xvii. 273 The agents which are now at work in modifying the crust of the earth.
b. To alter so as to adapt (to). rare.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 514 Every medical man..will know how to modify its dose and formula to the existing circumstances of his patient.
5. Scots Law. To assess, decree (a payment of money, a fine, costs); to award (a payment) to a person; esp. to determine the amount of a parish minister's stipend. † Also absol.
1457Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 51/1 Vnder sik payne and vnlawe as þe barone or lorde sall modify. 1524Extracts Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 108 To pass and modefy the provest and Johne Colisonis expensis. 1539Ibid. 160 The provest and bailzeis..modefiit ane mendis for the said myspersonyng, as efter followis. 1569Acts Gen. Assemb. Ch. Scotl. (Maitland Cl.) I. 164 Every Superintendent..shall modifie the stipends, augment or diminish the same, as occasione shall serve. 1583Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 598 [The Lords of Council therefore] modifiis to hir the sowme of twentie schillingis to be paid to hir. 1632Lithgow Trav. viii. 351, I receiued in compensation of my abuses..fifty Florentine Crownes of gold, being modified by the Duke him selfe. 1752J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 118 May it therefore please your Lordship..to modify the Sum for which your Petitioners are to find Bail. 1754Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 53 A commission of Parliament was appointed..for..modifying stipends to ministers out of the teinds. 1833Act 3 & 4 Will. IV c. 46 §117 Such penalty..may be recovered by summary complaint to the sheriff..with such expences therefor as shall be modified by him. 1838W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Modification, The stipend..must be modified in grain or victual, and paid in money.
6. Gram.
a. To limit or qualify the sense of (a word, phrase, or sentence).
1727–41[see modificative n.]. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 72/1 The usual effect of adjectives..is to modify or particularise a general term. 1845Encycl. Metrop. I. 70/1 The adverb..is used to modify an adjective, or a verb, or another adverb.
b. To change (a vowel) by ‘umlaut’.
1845J. M. Kemble in Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 138 The short u continues to represent the Gothic u..where it has not been dulled into o, or modifed by a following i or ë into y.
7. Cryst. (See quot.)
1823H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 24 The new planes produced by decrements are denominated secondary planes, and the primary form, when altered in shape by the interference of secondary planes, is said to be modified on the edges or angles on which the secondary planes have been produced. Ibid. 96 Crystals rarely present themselves under their respective primary forms; they are usually modified by new planes, producing secondary crystals. |