| 释义 |
▪ I. multiple, a. and n.|ˈmʌltɪp(ə)l|
Also 6 Sc. multipill (?), 8 (rare) multuple.
[a. F. multiple, ad. late L. multiplus (cf. duplus double) = L. multiplex (see multiplex). The word is rare before the 19th c. exc. in A. 1 and B. 2.]
A. adj.
1. Math.
a. That is a multiple (see B. 2); † that is some multiple of.
1714Barrow Euclid vii. Def. 20 Numbers are proportionall, when the first is as multiple of the second, as the third is of the fourth. 1727–52Chambers Cycl. s.v., Multiple ratio, or proportion, is that which is between multiple numbers. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 564/2 marg., Formulæ for multiple and sub-multiple angles.
b. multiple proportion, multiple ratio: the proportion or ratio existing between a quantity and some multiple of it, or between several multiples of it. law of multiple proportions (Chem.): see quot. 1876.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Multiple Proportion, is when the Antecedent being divided by the Consequent, the Quotient is more than Unity. 1795Hutton Math. Dict. s.v., Duple, triple, &c. ratios; as also subduples, subtriples, &c., are so many species of Multiple and Submultiple ratios. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. I. 151 Dalton's ideas concerning multiple proportions. 1876Armstrong in Encycl. Brit. V. 468/1 It is often the case that elements combine together in several proportions; whenever this occurs the several proportions in which the one element unites with the other invariably bear a simple relation to one another. Thus 1 part by weight of hydrogen unites with 8 parts by weight of oxygen, forming water, and with 16 or 8 × 2 parts of oxygen, forming peroxide of hydrogen... This law is known as the law of combination in multiple proportions.
c. Printing. multiple mark (see quot.).
1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., Multiple mark.—A sign in arithmetic, thus ×.
2. a. Consisting of or characterized by many parts, elements, or individual components; having many origins, results, influences, issues, or the like; manifold. With pl. n.: Many and various.
1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. vii. 25 That Kings should bow down their necks under the double or rather multiple yoke of Pope and Archbishops. 1662Petty Taxes x. §13 Why should not the solvent thieves and cheats be rather punished with multiple restitutions than death, pillory, whipping, &c.? a1734North Lives (1826) I. 427 It introduced two reports instead of one, and multuple attendances. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. vii. (1858) 29 Doublets of fustian, under which lie multiple ruffs of cloth. 1859Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 230 You overrate the importance of the multiple origin of dogs. 1876Haeckel's Hist. Creation II. 45 The multiple, or polyphyletic, hypothesis of descent. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §327 This problem is essentially determinate, but generally has multiple solutions. 1886Sat. Rev. 12 June 801/1 The intention of the Government to abolish the multiple vote which now belongs to the larger ratepayers.
b. multiple shop, multiple store: one of several shops of the same kind belonging to the same firm, opened in different localities. Cf. chain store.
1903J. Hazelip Multiple-Shop Accounts 1 There is considerable difference in the class of business carried on by multiple-shop firms. 1909Westm. Gaz. 10 May 9/4 Some of the multiple shops..have been retailing at 9s. 4d. sugar which has cost them 14s. 7½d. to buy. 1927Daily Tel. 14 Mar. 4/7 The multiple shops..have reduced their prices in accord with the drop in wholesale prices. 1929E. Gill Art-Nonsense 315 Politics and social guidance are left to..novelists, multiple-store keepers, manufacturers of motor-cars. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Sept. 504/3 An Introduction to Music is another of what might be called the multiple-stores books which aim to provide everything for the music-lover. 1963N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) ii. 46 There's a rash of boarding establishments and a multiple store. 1965Modern Law Rev. XXVIII. 553 The new multiple shops and shopping centres in both the United States and England. 1972N. Marsh Tied up in Tinsel vi. 140 There's no joy down your way: big multiple stores robbery.
c. multiple occupancy, multiple occupation = multi-occupation.
1971Guardian 11 June 12/3 There is a certain amount of substandard accommodation largely created through multiple occupation. 1973Times 26 July 4/6 Probably 100 to 120 families are breaking the regulations applicable to multiple occupancy houses. 1975Times 30 Aug. 13/6 Perhaps Mr Cutler..would like to relax controls on houses in multiple occupation so that even more people can share a bath.
3. In technical use:
a. Anat., Zool., and Bot. multiple allele or multiple allelomorph: any allele which is located at a genetic locus known to have three or more alleles; multiple factor: any gene which acts in concert with other, non-allelic, genes to control the expression of a character; multiple fission: the division of a cell into more than two daughter-cells.
†b. Chem. Of salts: Containing many ‘ingredients’ or radicals.
c. Astron. (multiple star: a cluster of stars forming apparently one system.)
d. Path. Involving many parts, etc. multiple myeloma [tr. G. multiples myelom (J. von Rustizky 1873, in Deutsche Zeitschr. f. Chirurgie III. 163)], = myelomatosis; multiple sclerosis, a chronic, progressive, demyelinating disease in which sclerosis occurs in patches in the brain and spinal cord, which chiefly affects young adults, and is often manifested initially as mild attacks with varying symptoms followed later by successive remissions (often long-lasting) and relapses, but typically leading to weakness and paresis of the lower limbs, intention tremors in the upper limbs, disturbed sight and speech, emotional changes, and mental deterioration; also called disseminated sclerosis.
e. Physics. (multiple echo, multiple image: see quots.)
f. Electr. (multiple arc: a compound electric circuit; multiple telegraphy: a system by which many messages may be sent over the same wire.)
g. Applied to mechanical contrivances or operations in which there are many parts of the same kind or in which the same action is many times repeated. h. Math. (See quots.) i. In the Kantian philosophy: That is a manifold. rare. j. Statistics. Involving the joint effect on the variable under investigation of two or more other variables. k. multiple use: = multi-use a.
a.1752J. Hill Hist. Anim. 20 The Monoculus, with multiple and capillaceous antennæ. 1831Macgillivray tr. Richard's Elem. Bot. 109 The bulb is sometimes simple... Or it is multiple, when several small bulbs are found collected under the same envelope. Ibid. 319 Multiple fruits are those which result from the aggregation of several pistils contained in the same flower. 1848Quain's Anat. (ed. 5) 972 The fangs of all the molar teeth are multiple. 1887Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 5) 239 The corolla is usually composed of but one whorl of petals,..but in some flowers there are two or more whorls..in which case it is called multiple. 1912E. A. Minchin Introd. Study Protozoa vii. 120 In most cases, probably, of multiple fission the nucleus contains a centriole, and..the centriole multiplies by fission a number of times without the nucleus as a whole becoming divided. 1913Amer. Naturalist XLVII. 234 (heading) The Himalayan rabbit case, with some considerations on multiple allelomorphs. 1915R. Pearl Modes Res. Genetics i. 21 In recent developments of Mendelian theory it has been a common practice to assume the existence of multiple factors as the causal agents of a single character. 1938A. F. Shull Heredity (ed. 3) xi. 103 (heading) Multiple alleles. 1945E. Altenburg Genetics v. 83 Members of several gene pairs which act in a cumulative way on a trait are known as multiple factors. 1948Nature 30 Oct. 684/1 (heading) Multiple allelomorphs in colour vision. 1971J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xl. 585 Fourteen different systems of blood antigen genes are known... The most familiar of them are three multiple alleles known as GA, GB, and G, the first two being both dominant to G. These genes are often called simply A, B, and O. 1972Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. LXIX. 2346/1 Organisms dividing by multiple fission can be used to study the initiation and control of cytokinesis, because those unique events essential to cytokinesis are separated from events of the cell cycle that pertain to DNA synthesis, mitosis, or cytoplasmic growth.
b.1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 628/2 M. Magellan thinks, that the aphronitrum is not only a triple but a multiple salt. 1865Mansfield Salts 55 A double salt will be indicated by a single cross,..the cross being repeated for multiple salts of higher degree.
c.1850J. P. Nichol Archit. Heavens 207 Multiple stars and groups like the Pleiades. Ibid. Contents p. xxi, Multiple systems. 1867H. Macmillan Bible Teachings i. (1870) 17 The double and multiple stars shine with differently-coloured light.
d.1851Paget Lect. Tumours vii. 78 Multiple ossifications of tendons, muscles, and other tissues. 1872T. Bryant Pract. Surg. 255 Sometimes they [sc. sublingual cysts] are multiple, and on several occasions on opening one cyst I have seen a second within. 1877tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XII. 708 Abscess of the brain is either single or multiple. Ibid. 852 Multiple cerebro-spinal sclerosis. 1887Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Mar. 681/1 Multiple Peripheral (Alcoholic) Neuritis in Women. 1885J. Ross Handbk. Dis. Nervous Syst. xx. 674 (heading) Multiple sclerosis of the brain and spinal cord (disseminated or insular sclerosis). 1897Trans. Path. Soc. XLVIII. 169 (heading) General lymphadenomatosis of bones, one form of ‘multiple myeloma’. 1904Multiple myeloma [see myelomatosis]. 1917Jrnl. Nervous & Mental Dis. XLV. 454 In multiple sclerosis we had been in the habit of considering the disease incurable and although there might be a remission for a number of months or years, it could not be looked upon as a cure. 1957S. L. Robbins Textbk. Path. xxxii. 1311/2 Studies on animals with injections of nervous tissue and adjuvants may yet prove to be important in multiple sclerosis, but no worker has yet reproduced a convincing replica of the disease. 1961Lancet 5 Aug. 290/1 On paper electrophoresis, macroglobulinæmic sera yield patterns which are indistinguishable from those found in multiple myeloma. 1966Multiple myeloma [see myelomatosis]. 1971New Scientist 7 Jan. 6/1 Multiple sclerosis is the commonest disease of the nervous system in northern Europe and the USA. 1972C. E. Seiverd Hematol. for Med. Technologists (ed. 4) xxxvii. 667 Myeloma means marrow tumor; thus, multiple myeloma may be interpreted as simply meaning many tumors of the bone marrow. Multiple myeloma is also referred to by the following terms; myelome, plasmocytoma, plasma cell myeloma, myelomatosis, and Kahler's disease.
e.1727–52Chambers Cycl. s.v. Echo, A multiple echo may be made, by so placing the echoing bodies, at unequal distances, as that they may reflect all one way. 1863Atkinson tr. Ganot's Nat. Philos. §193 Multiple echoes are those which repeat the same sound several times; this is the case when two opposite surfaces..successively reflect sound.
f.1873F. Jenkin Electr. & Magn. iv. §7 With a long circuit of great external resistance large cells, or many of them joined in multiple arc, will fail to give us strong currents. 1877Athenæum 21 July 84/1 An apparatus designed for multiple telegraphy, in which vibrations from a number of forks at the sending end were to be taken up by corresponding forks at the other end. 1879G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone 50 A practical system of multiple telegraphy. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 124/1 Delaunay's multiple telegraph.
g.1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1496/2 Multiple bolt, an arrangement by which a number of bolts are simultaneously moved. 1879Engineering XXVII. 506 Multiple wood-boring machine. Ibid. XXVIII. 195 Multiple drilling machine for rails. 1891Syd. Soc. Lex., Multiple staining, dyeing tissues for microscopical examination with more than one staining agent.
h.1841D. F. Gregory Ex. Diff. & Int. Calc. xi. 460 Multiplication of several definite integrals together, so as to obtain a multiple integral. 1842De Morgan Diff. & Int. Calc. 379 Multiple points are those in which two or more branches of the curve pass through the same point. 1879Salmon Higher Plane Curves 32 A curve may..have multiple tangents; or, in other words, that there may be lines which touch the curve in two or more points, or which have with the curve a contact of the second or higher order.
i.1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 176/1 The multiple matter presented by experience. Ibid. 176/2 The matter of mathematics is the multiple object of space and time.
j.1903Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CC. 3 (heading) On the fundamental theorem in multiple correlation. 1938A. E. Waugh Elem. Statistical Method xi. 318 Problems that involve the determination of the relationship between one variable and several other variables acting together are called problems of multiple correlation. Ibid. 321 The multiple-regression equation must obviously be altered so that we can account for changes in all the independent variables. 1958M. Argyle Relig. Behaviour iii. 18 An alternative procedure for estimating the relative weight of different variables influencing percentages is multiple regression. 1971Brit. Med. Bull. XXVII. 22/1 A multiple regression study showed that..both water calcium and rainfall made significant contributions to the variance of cardiovascular death-rates between the towns studied. 1972T. H. & R. J. Wonnacott Introd. Statistics for Business & Econ. xiv. 350 Whereas the partial correlations measure the significance of regressors one by one, the multiple correlation R measures the significance of all the regressors at once.
k.1969Gloss. for Landscape Work (B.S.I.) v. 16 Multiple use, the use of land for more than one purpose, resulting in a modification in the methods of maintenance, for example, water catchment areas also used for cattle grazing or for forestry. 1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 505 (caption) SALwall..incorporates a multiple-use double wall.
4. Comb.
a. as multiple-valued adj.; multiple-annular, of many rings;
b. in phr. with n. used attrib., as multiple-beam, multiple contact, multiple tender; multiple-access = multi-access s.v. multi- 3; multiple-aspect, applied to a colour-light railway signal capable of displaying at least three aspects; multiple-choice, applied to an educational or psychological test in which the subject is asked to select his answer from several items; multiple-colour = multi-colour; multiple cylinder = multi-cylinder s.v. multi- 3; multiple-disc, applied to a kind of friction clutch consisting of a row of co-axial discs, fixed alternately to the driving and the driven parts, which may be brought in contact to transmit the drive from the one to the other; multiple-phase = multi-phase a.; multiple-unit, of, pertaining to, or designating a train having a number of coaches provided with engines all of which can be controlled by a single driver; also as n., a coach of this kind.
1966New Scientist 27 Oct. 160/3 This valuable experience..has..enabled us to take in our stride the ‘*multiple-access’ problem of how to serve a large number of control consoles apparently simultaneously. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing ix. 130 A control program for a multiple access system must be able to identify a subscriber who requires service, find out which program he needs, and put him in the queue, if any.
1902Scotsman 3 Jan. 7/6 A wonderfully complex, spiral, or *multiple-annular, nebula.
1932Proc. Inst. Railway Signal Engin. i. 57 (heading) Railway colour light signalling in relation to manual block and *multiple aspect signals. 1963Kichenside & Williams Brit. Railway Signalling iii. 24 In colour-light areas, a multiple-aspect signal cannot display a ‘green―clear’ indication unless the next signal is showing at least a ‘caution’ if not a ‘clear’ aspect also. Ibid. 25 In colour-light areas..every multiple-aspect signal serves as a distant, home and starting signal at the same time. 1970Railway World Dec. 524 Multiple-aspect colour-light signalling with continuous track circuiting will be installed.
1945Proc. R. Soc. A. CLXXXIV. 41 A *multiple beam interferometric procedure..can be used as a powerful method for revealing the details of the surface topography of approximately flat crystal planes. 1966D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. i. 25 This may be done most simply by placing a half-silvered plate in contact with the specimen, when either two-beam or multiple-beam interference patterns may be obtained.
1928Orleans & Sealy Objective Tests xiii. 220 Facility in framing optional answers for a *multiple-choice question comes with practice. 1959J. Barzun House of Intellect 268 A basic defect of multiple choice tests: that they call for choices but not for reasons for choices. 1967Observer 26 Nov. 1/4 In the American ‘multiple-choice’ examinations the candidate marks one of a number of possible responses to a question, instead of writing an essay on it.
1899Daily News 16 Feb. 5/1 His scheme of *multiple-colour illumination.
1889Electr. Engineer 19 Apr. 310 The secondary coil is sub-divided into a number of sections connected with a *multiple contact switch.
1888J. F. Wilson & D. Grey Mod. Printing Mach. x. 201 The large *multiple-cylinder machine erected by Colonel Hoe in 1848 for the Parisian daily paper La Patrie.
1906,1909*Multiple disc [see disc-clutch (disc n. 8)]. 1967Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 124/1 Flange-mounted converter automatically changing over from multiple-disc clutch..to converter, operation, then again operation through multiple-disc clutch when moving on foils.
1891Times 28 Sept. 13/6 A self-exciting *multiple-phase alternator of 80 volts electromotive force.
1878Encycl. Brit. XVI. 731/2 (art. Money) When the state fixes the ratio between these metals a new system has come into existence, which has been called the *multiple tender system.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 93/1 The train operated by two or more motor cars under a common secondary control. This..is called the ‘*multiple unit system’. 1955Oxf. Jun. Encycl. VIII. 366/2 In Britain ‘in-built’ motive-power units have proved more popular than separate locomotives. These have ‘multiple-unit’ control, that is, one driver can control the current supply and braking throughout the whole train. 1967Economist 21 Jan. 202/1 In October 1965 an agreement was reached between the railway management and the unions on single-manning for passenger and long-distance freight locomotives (and multiple-unit trains that have no loco as such). 1970Railway World Dec. 540 At times of peak traffic, nine-car formations composed of two three-car multiple-units and three additional trailers are often seen.
1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 197 Hence we do not get a *multiple-valued potential at Q.
c. Special collocations: multiple birth Med., the birth of more than one child at a single confinement; multiple exposure Photogr., the repeated exposure of the same frame of a film so as to produce superimposed images; multiple image, a composite image comprising two or more superimposed or adjacent images originally distinct (e.g. resulting from the repeated reflection of light, the reception of television signals that have travelled from the transmitter by different paths, or the simultaneous showing of several scenes on a cinema screen); multiple personality Psychol., a dissociative condition in which an individual's personality is apparently split into two or more sub-personalities, each of which may become dominant and then is relatively distinct and complete; multiple pregnancy Med., a pregnancy which would normally result in a multiple birth; multiple resistance Med., resistance of a micro-organism to the action of more than one antibiotic; so multiple-resistant adj.; multiple shift Industry, a double or treble shift (sense 12); freq. attrib.; multiple switchboard Teleph. (see quot. 1932); multiple twin, (a) Telephony, a cable with a number of cores each of which consists of four wires arranged as two twisted pairs twisted together; usu. attrib.; (b) Cryst. , a twinned crystal composed of alternating lamellæ whose relative orientations are all governed by the same twin law; multiple valve Electronics, a multi-electrode valve.
1826Edin. Jrnl. Med. Sci. II. 366 (heading) Memoir upon multiple or twin births. 1841Lancet 9 Jan. 549/1 (heading) Statistics of multiple births. 1966Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. XCIV. 490 (heading) Pregnancies following treatment with human gonadotropins with special reference to the problem of multiple births. 1968Guardian 3 Oct. 9/2 Multiple births, enormously distressing to the mothers.., are becoming rarer. 1971Hellman & Pritchard Williams' Obstetr. (ed. 14) xxv. 657 Some marriages appear to have an inordinately high frequency of multiple births. Greulich reported the case of a 35-year-old mother who in nine births delivered six pairs of two-egg twins and three single children.
1923F. A. Talbot Moving Pict. xxvii. 382 The perfection of the various devices for accomplishing multiple exposures rendered this manifestation of novelty in photography..easy of ready accomplishment. 1968Listener 18 Jan. 81/2 Multiple-exposure photograph of American mechanical claw used for scraping up samples of the moon's surface.
1863Atkinson tr. Ganot's Nat. Philos. §416 Multiple images formed by glass mirrors. 1963A. F. Abbott Ordinary Level Physics xxv. 313 (heading) Multiple images formed by a thick glass mirror. 1965Multiple image [see freeze v. 4 f]. 1971Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iii. iii. 23 Multiple image; double image; ghost, a defect apparent in reproduction in which an additional outline (ghost), or succession of outlines (multiple image), of prominent features of a picture may be observed displaced from the correct position of the outline by a noticeable amount. 1972L. D. Giannetti Understanding Movies iii. 100 Multiple images, widely seen at Expo 67, will probably be the next modification of editing... Multiple image film-making does not intensify a movie's sense of realism,..but tends to emphasize the expressionistic aspects of film art.
1901Proc. Soc. Psychical Res. XV. 466 Cases of multiple personality are not very uncommon, but, so far as I know, no attempt has been made to determine the relation which the different personalities bear to each other. 1906M. Prince Dissociation of Personality i. 3 The disintegration resulting in multiple personality is only a functional dissociation of that complex organization which constitutes a normal self. 1942‘M. Innes’ Daffodil Affair i. 38 ‘And did you say dissociation?’ ‘Yes. What is sometimes called multiple personality.’ 1967M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour iii. 56 Everyone has a number of ‘sub-personalities’..—cases of multiple personality are an extreme of what is universal.
1857Bullock tr. Cazeaux' Midwifery 238 The term, compound or multiple pregnancy, has been applied to that in which two or more fœtuses are enclosed in the uterine cavity. 1964Obstetr. & Gynecol. XXIV. 819 (heading) Size and number of umbilical vessels, a study of multiple pregnancy in man and the armadillo.
1952S. K. R. Clarke et al. in Lancet 7 June 1132/1 Besides these organisms, called here ‘completely resistant’, there have appeared staphylococci with what may be called ‘multiple resistance’ —i.e. resistant to several of these drugs. 1960Brit. Med. Jrnl. 2 Jan. 11/2 It cannot be assumed..that multiple resistance and enhanced virulence are necessarily associated. 1972Med. Microbiol. & Immunol. CLVII. 142 (heading) Antimicrobial resistance of the genera Proteus, Providencia and Serratia with special reference to multiple resistance patterns.
1960Brit. Med. Jrnl. 2 Jan. 17/1, 23 of the fatal infections were due to multiple-resistant strains. 1961Lancet 29 July 248/2 It would prevent the selection and breeding of multiple-resistant strains.
1926Rep. R. Comm. Coal Industry I. 175 in Parl. Papers (Cmd. 2600) XIV. 1 (heading) Advantages of multiple shifts. 1946M. Dobb Wages (rev. ed.) iii. 62 Where it is practicable to introduce a multiple-shift system—two or three working-shifts a day instead of one—the same economy could be obtained together with the employment of additional workers. 1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting vii. 208 Costs arising out of multiple-shift working.
1891J. Poole Pract. Telephone Handbk. viii. 148 (heading) Multiple switch-boards. 1932T. E. Herbert in E. Molloy Pract. Electr. Engin. V. 1865/2 A switchboard in which the subscribers' circuits are repeated at several points so as to make each subscriber accessible to every operator is known as a multiple switchboard. 1969S. F. Smith Telephony & Telegr. A iv. 98 The need for a series type of multiple connexion which these jacks require on a multiple switchboard has certain disadvantages.
1922Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 709/1 In..the ‘multiple twin cable’ the centre of yarn is dispensed with, and the cable consists of a number of 4-wire cores. 1932Amer. Mineralogist XVII. 360 The diamond multiple twin..is from South Africa. 1959J. W. Freebody Telegr. vi. 173/2 With the multiple-twin type [of cable] the paper insulated conductors are first twisted into pairs and two such pairs are then twisted together to form the two pair core or quad. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. V. 208/1 The width of the lamellae in multiple twins of plagioclases is usually about 1 mm and smaller.
1929Wireless World 6 Mar. (heading) A Loewe multiple valve for mains operation. 1968Radio Communication Handbk. (ed. 4) ii. 20/1 The trend is to make radio equipment as compact as possible and it is therefore convenient to take advantage of the special multiple valves which have more than one unit contained in a single envelope.
B. n.
†1. = multiplie. Sc. Obs. (Perh. an error.)
1577–95Descr. Isles Scot. in Skene Celtic Scot. (1880) III. App. 437 In all the small burnis of this Ile are multipill of salmond and other fisches.
2. a. Math. A quantity which contains another quantity some number of times without remainder. Thus, 4 is a multiple of 2; 6, of 2 and of 3.
least or lowest common multiple (L.C.M.): the least quantity that contains two or more quantities some number of times without remainder; e.g. 12 is the L.C.M. of 2, 3, and 4.
1685tr. Milliet's Elem. Euclid v. 209 If the multiple of the first exceed that of the second, the multiple of the third will also exceed that of the fourth. a1696Scarburgh Euclid (1705) 181 If the Antecedent be not..a Multiple of the Consequent. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages viii. i. (1819) II. 401 The preference given to twelve, or some multiple of it, in fixing the number..of judges. 1823J. Mitchell Dict. Math. & Phys. Sci. s.v., To find the least common Multiple of several Numbers. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. vii. 81 Their breadth either twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, or some other multiple of twelve paces.
b. In chemical use (cf. A. 2 b).
1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 112 If one number be employed to denote the smallest quantity in which a body combines, all other quantities of the same body will be multiples of this number. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (1862) III. 28 Containing a certain additional number of multiples of the hydrocarbon C2H2. 1881Lubbock in Nature 1 Sept. 409/2 Nearly all atomic weights are simple multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen.
c. fig.
1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 171 According as we..take each man as an integer, of which the race is a multiple [etc.]. 1869Lecky Europ. Mor. (1877) I. 89 No multiple of the pleasure of eating pastry can be an equivalent to the pleasure derived from a generous action.
3. In the Kantian philosophy = manifold n. 2 a.
1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 176/1 The understanding, which subsumes the given multiple into unity.
4. Teleph.
a. A section of a multiple switchboard containing one jack for each subscriber.
1905A. C. Booth in M. Maclean Mod. Electr. Pract. VI. iii. ii. 110 The line shown..is already engaged by the insertion of a plug on the first multiple. 1948J. Atkinson Herbert & Procter's Telephony (new ed.) I. x. 195/1 In general, a multiple is designed so that the best compromise between vertical and horizontal reach is obtained when the switchboard is equipped with the ultimate number of lines.
b. in multiple. Of calling jacks: (connected) between the same pairs of wires, so enabling the same connection to be made at different points.
1943A. L. Albert Fund. Telephony viii. 174 The calling jacks of each section must be connected in parallel or multiple with the calling jacks of every other section. 1969S. F. Smith Telephony & Telegr. A iv. 98 The bush of the jack will be connected to the exchange battery via the plug inserted in one of the other jacks with which it is connected in multiple.
5. A multiple shop or store (see A. 2 b above).
1951in Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 4) 1115/1. 1957 Economist 5 Oct. 60/1 The multiples have also been ahead in adjusting their range of shoe styles. 1966New Statesman 29 July 156/1 A businessman, stating..that he had sold ‘self-owned multiple to avoid capital gains tax’. 1972House & Garden Feb. 100/4 Some of the small merchants..do a good business with Cape growths. The large multiples..are missing the opportunity.
6. An inexpensive work of art mass-producible by industrial methods.
1968Times 26 Mar. 7 The artist who becomes interested in multiples takes the first step towards involving himself with the demands of technology. 1970[see graphic n. 3]. 1971P. Dickinson Sleep & his Brother ii. 36 The one touch of art—a bronze and bulbous paperweight, vaguely post-Brancusi—had the look of one of a large issue of multiples. 1973J. A. Walker Gloss. Art, Archit. & Design since 1945 141 The idea of Multiples was first suggested by Agam and Jean Tinguely. They put their idea to the Parisian gallery dealer Denise René in 1955 but none were produced until 1962.
Add:[A.] [4.] [c.] multiple launch rocket system Mil. (orig. U.S.), a long-range rocket launcher capable of firing salvoes of up to 12 rockets, each containing several hundred bomblets.
[1970Army Nov. 29/1 (heading) The case for a multiple rocket launcher system.] 1978Washington Post 25 Apr. a13/5 The multiple launch rocket system..is but one of several alternatives to the neutron warhead, defense officials said. The first generation of the rocket would fall free like an artillery shell. But later versions..could have guidance inside each warhead for pinpoint accuracy. 1983Christian Science Monitor 24 May 23/1 For the ‘close-in battle’ they propose ‘some 1,000 salvos of multiple launch rocket systems with terminally guided warheads’. 1991Independent on Sunday 24 Feb. 2/3 On the Saudi border with Kuwait and Iraq, shelling by British and US multiple-launch rocket systems and howitzers was described as ‘the most intense yet’.
mutliple rocket launcher Mil. (orig. U.S.), a rocket launcher capable of firing salvoes of rockets (abbrev. MRL s.v. *M III 6 a).
1945Iron Age 3 May 104/1 The first multiple rocket launcher mounted on tanks was fired at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds Oct. 27 1943. 1968E. Vilim tr. I. A. Slukhai Russian Rocketry 39 By the middle of 1938..work began on a ground-based multiple-rocket launcher intended for 24 missiles. 1992N. N. Schwarzkopf It doesn't take Hero xvi. 300 His arsenal included some of the best weapons the international arms bazaar had to offer: Soviet T-72 tanks, South African 155-mm heavy artillery, Chinese and Soviet multiple rocket launchers,..the list went on and on.
▪ II. multiple, v. Teleph.|ˈmʌltɪp(ə)l|
[f. multiple a. and n.]
trans. To make (a circuit) accessible to operators at more than one point on a switchboard or switchboards; to provide or employ duplicates of (a device) for this purpose.
1906Bell & Wilson Pract. Telephony (ed. 4) ix. 108 At the outgoing end the lines are multipled three times on every two sections, so that every operator has every line almost directly in front of her. 1932T. Sherratt in J. A. Fleming Electr. Educator (ed. 2) III. 1194/1 The trunks are multipled to the contacts of a number of line switches, so that several subscribers can gain access to the same trunks. 1942Knight & Prickett Poole's Telephone Handbk. (ed. 8) xii. 312 Each answering jack and lamp is multipled every four, six, or twelve panels according to traffic requirements. 1969S. F. Smith Telephony & Telegr. A iv. 96 It is sufficient..to multiple the jacks without also multipling the calling indicators or lamps.
▪ III. multiple
variant of multiplie Sc. Obs. |