| 释义 |
normal, a. and n.|ˈnɔːməl|
[ad. L. normālis, f. norma (see prec.): cf. F. (15th c.), Sp., It. normal, It. normale.]
A. adj.
1. a. Right (angle), rectangular. rare.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 55 Those determined bounds of the hair, which are called by our Barbars the Normal Angels. 1901Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 53 The angle not being suited to either a right angled (normal) or half-normal bend.
b. Standing at right angles; perpendicular.
a1696Scarburgh Euclid (1705) 15 To which therefore It is said to be a Normal Line. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Normal, the same with Perpendicular, or at Right Angles, and 'tis usually spoken of a Line or a Plane that Intersects another Perpendicularly. [Also in Phillips (1706), Chambers, etc.] 1879Newcomb & Holden Astron. 203 The line ZN′, perpendicular to HR, and therefore normal to the earth at Q. 1882Engineering 13 Jan. 24/1 These being in directions always normal to the surface of the pulsating sphere—that is to say, in lines radiating from its centre.
2. a. Constituting, conforming to, not deviating or differing from, the common type or standard; regular, usual. (Common since c 1840.)
Blount Glossogr. (1656) gives ‘Normal, right by rule, made by the square or Rule’.
1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 216 Two superior groups, which he denominates normal or typical. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Med. xii. 135 Temperature of the body normal. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 54 The veining, whose normal direction would be transverse to the glacier. 1877Brockett Cross & Crescent 28 War seemed to be its normal condition.
b. Chem. (i) Of a salt: containing no acidic hydrogen.
1860W. A. Miller Elements Chem. (ed. 2) II. x. 338 The most usual form of salt, in which 1 atom of a protoxide is united with 1 atom of an acid to form the normal salt. 1869Roscoe Elem. Chem. 189 If all the replaceable hydrogen in an acid is exchanged for metal, a normal salt is said to be formed. 1915P. W. Oscroft Adv. Inorg. Chem. iv. 38 It must not be understood that normal salts are always neutral bodies with regard to their action with litmus; this is far from being the case. 1965B. J. Moody Comp. Inorg. Chem. xiii. 188/2 Both sodium sulphate and trisodium orthophosphate are normal salts.
(ii) Of (the concentration of) a solution: having one gramme-equivalent of solute per litre.
1863F. Sutton Syst. Handbk. Volumetric Anal. 19 The normal solutions prepared on the gramme system are equally applicable for that of the grain, and vice versâ. 1892Cooley Cycl. Pract. Rec. s.v., A so-called ‘normal’ (or ‘N.’) solution is one which, at a temperature of 16° C., contains per litre the hydrogen equivalent of the active reagent weighed in grammes. 1915P. W. Oscroft Adv. Inorg. Chem. v. 48, 25 c.c. of a caustic potash solution required 15 c.c. of a normal sulphuric acid solution for neutralization. 1955C. R. N. Strouts et al. Analyt. Chem. I. xii. 258 A solution of one-tenth normal strength is designated as N/10. 1967R. Fulton Course in Titrimetric Anal. ii. 7 Normal solutions are more widely used [than molar solutions].
(iii) (Composed of molecules) containing an unbranched chain of carbon atoms in an alkane molecule or alkyl radical.
1869C. Schorlemmer in Proc. R. Soc. XVII. 373, I had obtained the normal propyl alcohol by this method. 1871― Ibid. XIX. 487 The first group, which I called normal paraffins, contain the carbon atoms linked together in a single chain. 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 557/2 Normal paraffins, in which no carbon atom is combined with more than two other carbon atoms. 1932I. D. Garard Introd. Org. Chem. ii. 20 At average room temperature, those normal paraffin hydrocarbons containing four carbon atoms or less are gaseous, and those from five to seventeen, liquids. 1968J. A. Monick Alcohols iii. 86 If the [parent] hydrocarbon consists of an unbranched carbon chain, the equivalent primary alcohol is called normal.
c. Physics. Of, pertaining to, or being a mode of vibration in which every particle executes simple harmonic motion at the same frequency and in phase (or 180° out of phase).
1867Thomson & Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. ii. 274 There are in general..i distinct determinate displacements, which we shall call the normal displacements, fulfilling the condition, that if any one of them be produced alone, and the system then left to itself for an instant at rest, this displacement will diminish and increase periodically according to a simple harmonic function of the time, and consequently every particle of the system will execute a simple harmonic movement in the same period. 1877[see mode n. 4 c]. 1927Toft & Kersey Theory of Machines xiv. 362 Any type of oscillation other than a normal mode may be considered as being the sum of a number of motions each of which is a normal mode. 1942Synge & Griffith Princ. Mech. vii. 209 The periods and frequencies of normal modes are called normal periods and normal frequencies. 1962P. J. & B. Durrant Introd. Adv. Inorg. Chem. viii. 229 There may be several normal vibrations of different frequencies characteristic of a given molecule. 1971Amer. Jrnl. Physics XXXIX. 484/2 The major purpose of this paper is to determine .. the normal-mode longitudinal-vibration frequencies of the chain.
d. Geol. Applied to a fault and to faulting in which the relative downward movement occurred in the strata situated on the upper side of the fault plane. So normal-faulted adj.
1876A. H. Green Geol. xi. 382 The direction of the hade in a normal fault. 1878J. LeConte in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts XVI. 99 Thus arise two distinct slips: In the one, the more common or normal, the strata drop on the hanging-wall side of the fissure, in the other or reverse fault, the strata on the hanging-wall side is slidden up and over the other side by the sheer force of the horizontal pressure. 1902Jrnl. Geol. X. 873 Orographic blocks may..display an arrangement in zigzags or en échelon, which it is difficult to explain upon any other basis than that of normal faulting. 1944A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. vi. 79 Normal faults involve an extension of the faulted beds. 1974Flint & Skinner Physical Geol. iv. 293/2 Normal faults are caused by tensional forces that tend to pull the crust apart, and also by forces tending to expand the crust by pushing it upward from below. Ibid. 294/1 In the Earth's crust are many zones that have been deformed repeatedly by normal faulting. 1975Nature 1 May 22/2 This part represents a tensional arm..bifurcating into normal-faulted shear zones south of Sinai.
e. Statistics. = Gaussian a. b.
1893K. Pearson in Nature 26 Oct. 615/2 As verification note that for the normal probability curve 3µ22 = µ4 and µ3 = 0. 1894― in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CLXXXV. 72 A frequency-curve, which, for practical purposes, can be represented by the error curve, will for the remainder of this paper be termed a normal curve. 1897Proc. R. Soc. LXII. 176 A random selection from a normal distribution. 1920[see Gaussian a. b]. 1928T. C. Fry Probability & its Engin. Uses viii. 244 Both the Binomial and the Poisson Laws, under suitable conditions, approach the Normal Law as a limit. 1938A. E. Waugh Elem. Statistical Method vi. 94 Many phenomena of biology, economics, psychology, education, etc., even though not exactly normal in distribution, can be described roughly by the normal curve. 1951Dixon & Massey Introd. Statistical Anal. v. 63 Many practical problems have statistical answers based on the ‘assumption’ that the distribution of the population is normal... The truth of this assumption may be checked by plotting the sample cumulative-percentage points on normal-probability paper. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 211/1 One of these [alternatives for small samples] consists simply in plotting the individual sample values..on ‘Normal-probability’ graph paper—this is a special graph paper whose vertical scale has been ‘stretched’ in such a way that the S-shaped cumulative Normal curve is transformed graphically into a straight line.
f. Med. Of a saline solution: containing the same concentration of sodium chloride as the blood.
1895Jrnl. Physiol. XVIII. 50 Neither can the injection of normal saline be of much benefit. 1924L. Clendening Mod. Methods Treatment ii. 153 Normal salt solution given in subcutaneous areolar tissue (beneath the breasts or in the thighs) or intravenously is very frequently used in surgical shock. Ibid., In normal salt solution with glucose any concentration could be used, without hemolysis. 1970F. N. Douglas Essentials Pharmacology in Clinical Nursing iii. 22 Physiologic normal saline (0·9 per cent) is used for treating dehydration in the absence of acidosis.
g. Physics. normal state = ground state (ground n. 18).
See also sense 2 i.
1914[see N I. 4 b]. 1922A. D. Udden tr. Bohr's Theory of Spectra ii. ii. 32 All the atoms exist in that stationary state in which the value of the energy is a minimum. This state I shall call the normal state. 1952R. W. Ditchburn Light xvii. 550 The atom very quickly makes a transition back to the normal state re-emitting the radiation. 1963G. F. Lothian Electrons in Atoms iii, Mercury atoms have quantized energy levels..above the normal or ‘ground’ state.
h. spec. = heterosexual.
1914E. M. Forster Maurice (1971) xxii. 106 Against my will I have become normal. I cannot help it.
i. Physics. Pertaining to or characteristic of a substance that is not in the superconducting state.
1927Nature 3 Dec. 818/2 The resistance became normal at a certain critical value of the magnetic field. 1938D. Shoenberg Superconductivity i. 4 Apart from the loss of resistance the metal appeared to have identical properties both in the superconducting and normal states. 1955H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 119 The theory describing the normal state when the absolute temperature tends towards zero is extremely simple. 1968C. G. Kuper Introd. Theory Superconductivity i. 6 An upper bound for the resistance in the superconducting state can be established. If Rn is the resistance of the specimen when normal, then R/Rn -15.
j. normal forest, a collection of trees at various stages of development, organized to provide a regular yield of timber.
1928R. S. Troup Silvicultural Systems i. 1 With the object of ensuring future sustained yields the ideal of the normal forest has been created. Such a forest contains a regular and complete succession of age-classes..in correct proportion, density, and distribution... The normal forest can hardly be said to exist in reality; rather it should be regarded as an ideal to be aimed at. 1962C. E. Hart Practical Forestry vi. 109 The term normal forest is used for a forest or woodland or group of woodlands containing a regular and complete succession of age classes, from the youngest to the oldest.
k. Physics. Applied to a component of a superfluid that is regarded as not having the properties of a superfluid and as co-existing at the atomic level with a component that does have them, in a proportion that decreases with decreasing temperature.
1947L. Tizas in Physical Rev. LXXII. 842/2 The density [of the Bose-Einstein liquid]..will be subdivided into two parts: ρ = ρn + ρs where ρn is the density connected with the ‘molecules’ of the gas and ρs refers to the ‘background’ in which the molecules are moving. The subscripts refer to ‘normal’ and ‘superfluid’, a terminology which will be explained below. Ibid. 853/2 In this ‘anomalous’ region [sc. between about 1°K and 2·19°K] the liquid is a mixture of a normal component (like helium I) and a superfluid component. 1967J. Wilks Properties of Liquid & Solid Helium iii. 39 Two baths of liquid helium II..at slightly different temperatures..are connected by a fine capillary. The capillary almost completely inhibits the flow of the normal fluid, on the other hand the superfluid having zero viscosity, may pass freely. 1975Nature 10 Apr. 480/3 At a finite temperature the superfluid phase [of 4He] behaves like a mixture of two fluids: a ‘normal’ component, behaving like an ordinary viscous liquid..; and a ‘superfluid’ component,..closely associated with the atoms in the Bose condensate.
3. normal school [after F. école normale (1794)], a school for the training of teachers. Also ellipt.
1834Edin. Rev. LIX. 491 The system of Primary Schools, which the French..have..denominated Normal. 1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc. 1089/1 Normal schools form a regular part of the establishments for education in many Continental states. 1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 199/2 Polly..had been a pupil in the Normal School. 1888Nat. Educ. Assoc. U.S. Addresses & Proc. 1887 478 We say that normal-school training is as essential to good teaching as the work of a medical school to the physician. Ibid. 502 A course of normal instruction. 1925in P. W. Slosson Great Crusade (1931) xv. 431 Unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities, normals, and all other public schools..to teach..that man has descended from a lower order of animals. 1939H. G. Wells Holy Terror iv. i. 359 An increasing number of women are taking up professions now; at architecture, catering, various industries, normal teaching..they are practically as good as men or better. 1960P. E. Burrup Teacher & Public School Syst. iv. vii. 275 ‘Normal Schools’ for the preparation of teachers..have been replaced by teachers' colleges, liberal-arts colleges, and universities, each with a college of education. 1960Curtis & Boultwood Introd. Hist. Eng. Educ. xii. 277 In that year [sc. 1836] a normal school of design was established. Ibid. 278 The Normal School of Design became the Royal College of Art in 1896.
4. Philos. normal form (see quot. 1950).
1948Mind LVII. 173 He [sc. Boole] introduced two notions which are of the greatest importance, namely, that of a truth-function and that of a normal form. 1950L. M. Hammond et al. tr. Hilbert & Ackermann's Math. Logic i. §3. 11 (heading) Normal form for logical expressions. Ibid. 12 Any combination of sentences can be brought into a certain normal form by means of equivalence transformations;..this normal form consists of a conjunction of disjunctions in which each component of the disjunction is either an elementary sentence or the negation of one. 1952Mind LXI. 564 The procedure is to be applied to normal forms, reduction to which is a matter of propositional logic. 1965E. J. Lemmon Beginning Logic 189 Normal forms have a certain interest in connection with the truth-table method, since they provide an independent test as to whether a wff is tautologous, contingent, or inconsistent; and they are also used in certain proofs of the completeness of the propositional calculus. 1973J. J. Zeman Modal Logic viii. 117 The normal-form theorem holds for systems LSi° and LSi.
B. n.
†1. A regular verb. Obs. rare—1.
1530Palsgr. 394 If the verbe in this tonge be nat a normal.
2. Geom. A perpendicular; a straight line at right angles to the tangent or tangent plane at any point of a curve or curved surface.
1727–38Chambers Cycl. s.v. Subnormal, The point in the axis of a curve, where a normal or perpendicular..cuts the axis. 1797Phil. Trans. LXXXVIII. 381 The lines so drawn..shall be normals to the parabolas at their intersections with the ellipse. 1816tr. Lacroix's Calculus 81 It is often more convenient..to consider the tangent and the normal, by means of their equation. 1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 676/1 How crystals might be represented..by their normals, that is, by lines drawn from the centre of the system vertical to the faces.
3. Physics. The average or mean of observed quantities.
1859Bache Discuss. Magn. & Meteorol. Obs. i. 4 The last mean thus obtained for each observing hour and each month has been called ‘the normal’. 1890Nature 9 Oct. 603 The barometer normals fall more as we approach the Antarctic.
4. a. The usual state or condition.
1890Daily News 11 Oct. 5/4 It does not require a very strong gale to..raise the level of the Neva three or four feet above its normal. 1896Current Hist. (Buffalo) VI. 373 The importation of raw sugars last year did not reach normal, or what it was in 1892. 1957M. Spark Comforters v. 114 She snapped back at him. And so, in his need for their relations to return to a nice normal, he said peaceably, [etc.].
b. ellipt. Normal temperature.
1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 149 The dictum..that in fever the organism is adjusted to a higher normal.
5. a. A normal variety of anything; that which, or a person who, is healthy and is not impaired in any way.
1894W. Bateson Study of Variation 17 For the belief that such races are descended from the putative normal scarcely ever rests on proof. 1901Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XII. 235 The blind rats learned the original task as well as the normals. 1908Daily Chron. 14 Oct. 4/4 We might divide them [sc. criminals] into three groups:—Normals, Juveniles and children; and The degenerate. 1916J. S. Haldane Organism & Environment (1917) iv. 102 The normals of anatomy are not mere physical structures, nor are the normals of physiology mere averages: they are manifestations of the life of an organism regarded as a whole. 1940Psychol. Bull. XXXVII. 425 Scales may be successively discovered and standardized on a reservoir sample of normals. 1964M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia vii. 40 Measuring the reaction time..in normals and in dyslexics. 1973Nature 12 Jan. 99/1 The response of lymphocytes from normals or leukaemics to low (7µg ml.-1) doses of PHA.
b. A heterosexual person.
1966New Statesman 29 Apr. 623/3 He [sc. Coward]'s working for the same kind of audience—Knightsbridge normals—and still going as near the knuckle as he thinks they can abide. 1971M. McCarthy Birds of America 304 A female clocharde had reason to shrink from ‘normals’.
Hence ˈnormalcy chiefly U.S. = normality; ˈnormalist.
1857Davies & Peck Math. Dict. 386 If we denote the co-ordinates of the point of contact, and normalcy, by x{pp} and y{pp}. 1878Bellingham tr. Haulleville's Aspects Cath. & Protestantism 184 The fellow-countrymen of Ovid, of Horace and of Virgil, were not all normalists. 1893Nation 30 July 47/1 Believers..in the mathematical normalcy of the female mind. 1920W. G. Harding in F. L. Allen Only Yesterday (1931) ii. 41 America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration. 1929G. N. Clark in S.P.E. Tract xxxiii. 417 If..‘normalcy’ is ever to become an accepted word it will presumably be because the late President Harding did not know any better. 1932G. K. Chesterton Sidelights ii. xiv. 182 Life in a modern town, whatever else it is, is not Normalcy. 1939John o' London's 9 June 369/1 That insistent normalcy of men who cannot afford to permit themselves to be thrown off balance. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 47/1 Professor Kinsey's surveys, with their economist-like normalcy charts. 1957V. J. Kehoe Technique Film & T.V. Make-up i. 17 On stage, where strong lights and distance of the actors from the audience wash out and flatten the features, make-up restores to the face the look of normalcy in both color and contour. 1965New Statesman 7 May 733/1 A kind of spectral normalcy. |