| 释义 |
Neptunian, a. and n.|nɛpˈtjuːnɪən|
[f. L. Neptūni-us, f. Neptūnus Neptune + -an. Cf. F. neptunien.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to the sea-god Neptune, or to the sea. rare.
1656Blount Glossogr. 1848G. B. Cheever Wand. Pilgrim xxxiii. 204 A social Neptunian pic-nic of this sort.
2. Geol. Resulting from, produced by, the action of water. (Opposed to volcanic or plutonic.)
1794Kirwan Elem. Min. I. 425 Mountains of Neptunian origin are distinguished by their materials. 1805West's Antiq. Furness 374 The progress of this neptunian process is very curious. 1857Dufferin Lett. High Lat. 194 Layers of trap, alternating with Neptunian beds.
b. Based upon the view that certain geological formations are due to the action of water.
1802Edin. Rev. I. 206 A destruction of the primitive mountains..is deducible from the Neptunian..hypothesis.
3. Of or belonging to the planet Neptune.
a1849Poe Mellonta Tauta Wks. 1864 IV. 299 A fine view of the five Neptunian asteroids. 1885A. M. Clerke Pop. Hist. Astron. 114 No further Neptunian or Uranian satellites can be perceived.
B. n.
1. = Neptunist 2.
1799Charac. in Ann. Reg. 329/2 In general he was a Neptunian, that is to say he attributed the changes the earth has undergone to the operation of water. 1822Cleaveland Min. & Geol. (ed. 2) II. 723 Neptunians and Vulcanists.
2. An inhabitant of the planet Neptune.
1870Proctor Other Worlds 173 The Neptunians would be wholly unable to see Uranus.
Hence Nepˈtunianism, belief in, or advocacy of, the Neptunian hypothesis.
1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 69 By a singular coincidence, neptunianism and orthodoxy were now associated in the same creed. |