| 释义 |
polymorphous, a.|pɒlɪˈmɔːfəs|
[f. Gr. πολύµορϕ-ος (f. πολυ-, poly- + µορϕή shape) multiform + -ous.]
Having, assuming, or occurring in, many or various forms; multiform.
1. gen.
1823De Quincey Herder Wks. 1863 XII. 116, I still find it difficult to form any judgment of an author so ‘many-sided’ (to borrow a German expression)—so polymorphous as Herder. 1888M. Thompson in Literature (N.Y.) 22 Sept. 330 Hayne..did not take kindly to that flexible, elastic, polymorphous vehicle through which..our later poets deliver their imaginings. 1894Abp. Benson in Westm. Gaz. 22 Sept. 1898, 1/3 These terrors of a polymorphous religion in which a child is being taught in one standard by a Baptist, and in the next by a Congregationalist, and in the next by a Roman Catholic, and in the next by an agnostic, do not exist.
2. Nat. Hist., Biol., Path.
a. Having or occurring in several different forms in different individuals, or in different conditions of growth; having many varieties: as a species of animal or plant, the zooids of a compound organism, an eruptive disease, etc.
b. Assuming various forms successively; of changing form: as an amœba, infusorian, etc.
c. Passing through several markedly different forms in successive stages of development; having several definitely marked metamorphoses.
1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxv. (1794) 368 There is a species of Medicago called polymorphous or many-form. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 447 Infusoria. Microscopic animals, gelatinous, transparent, polymorphous, and contractile. 1856W. Clark Van der Hoeven's Zool. I. 56 Stentor... Body conical, from its contractility polymorphous. 1876Duhring Dis. Skin 55 The polymorphous erythemata. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 636 A polymorphous eruption accompanied by itching. 1928C. K. Ogden tr. Forel's Social World of Ants II. v. 337 The formicary is a society of females and their polymorphous derivative forms.
3. Chem. and Min. Crystallizing in two or more forms, esp. in forms belonging to different systems; dimorphous or trimorphous. Also, of or pertaining to polymorphism (sense 3).
1848Mem. & Proc. Chem. Soc. III. 57 (heading) On the relation in volumes between simple bodies, their oxides and sulphurets, and on the differences exhibited by polymorphous and allotropic substances. 1866Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 687 Polymorphism. A body is said to be polymorphous when it crystallises in two or more forms not derivable one from the other. 1895C. S. Palmer tr. Nernst's Theoret. Chem. i. iii. 86 The different kinds of crystals of a polymorphous substance, are to be regarded as different modifications analogous to the different states of aggregation. 1906J. P. Iddings Rock Minerals i. i. 19 Silica (SiO2) is certainly dimorphous and possibly polymorphous. 1964J. Sinkankas Mineral. for Amateurs vi. 170 Another polymorphous pair also shows marked though less striking differences in hardness: calcite (H 2½ - 3) and aragonite (H 3½ - 4).
4. Mus. Applied to contrapuntal compositions in which the subjects are treated in various ways, as by inversion, augmentation, diminution, etc.
1890in Cent. Dict. 1898in Stainer & Barrett Dict.
5. Psychol. Phr. polymorphous-perverse, polymorphously perverse (see next); so polymorphous perversity.
1909A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Sel. Papers on Hysteria ix. 191 The constitutional sexual predisposition of the child is more irregularly multifarious than one would expect, that it deserves to be called ‘polymorphous-perverse’, and that from this predisposition the so-called normal behavior of the sexual functions results through a repression of certain components. 1910― tr. Freud's Three Contrib. to Sexual Theory ii. 49 Under the influence of seduction the child may become polymorphous-perverse. Ibid., The child does not behave differently from the average uncivilized woman in whom the same polymorphous-perverse disposition exists. 1954W. Mayer-Gross et al. Clin. Psychiatry iv. 179 The active male and the passive female [homosexual]..adopt their homosexual behaviour as a pis aller, or, as frequently occurs, out of an abundance of sexual urge and interest and as part of a polymorphous perversity. 1954D. Riesman Individualism Reconsidered (1955) vi. xxii. 355 He [sc. Freud] makes the famous charge that children are ‘polymorphous-perverse’—that is, that their sexual life is not confined to the genital zone. 1963Auden Dyer's Hand 411 Three kinds of erotic life are possible... The polymorphous-perverse promiscuous sexuality of childhood, courting couples whose relation is potential,..and the chastity of natural celibates who are without desire. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVI. 610/1 Most people with a polymorphous-perverse personality are either nearly or wholly psychotic persons or nonpsychotic persons who, in sexual and nonsexual areas of living, are unable to develop lasting, affectionate relations with others. |