| 释义 |
▪ I. pregnancy1|ˈprɛgnənsɪ|
[f. pregnant a.2: see -ancy.]
1. a. The condition of being pregnant, or with child or young; gestation. Also transf., with reference to appearance: bigness, swollen shape.
1598Florio, Pregnanza, greatnes with child, pregnancie, a being great with childe or with yoong. 1691Ray Creation ii. (1692) 62 That extraordinary extension that is requisite in the time of their Pregnancy. 1777Watson Philip II (1839) 9 Those appearances, which gave rise to the belief of Mary's pregnancy, were found to be nothing but the approach of a dropsy. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 132 The phænomena of mania and pregnancy will very constantly impede the progress of pulmonary consumption. 1898Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 9/3 When Mr. Lawson Tait unravelled for himself the whole mystery of the broad ligament, the prevention of death in the awful catastrophe of tubal pregnancy was made clear to him. 1950Manch. Guardian Weekly 4 May 3/4 Since Packard abolished its regal proboscis and succumbed to the epidemic pregnancy of current American models [of automobiles].
attrib.1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 799 The ‘pregnancy kidney’,..the chronic form of renal disease dependent on pregnancy. 1906Athenæum 21 July 79/1 Mr. H. A. Rose..describes in two papers the pregnancy observances in the Punjab, of the Hindu and Mohammedan populations.
b. fig. (or in fig. context).
a1529Skelton Replycacion 371 Suche a pregna[n]cy Of heuenly inspyracion In laureate creacyon. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. vi. Wks. 1851 III. 122 Heresie begat heresie with a certaine monstrous haste of pregnancy in her birth. 1754H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 84, I have often announced to you a pregnancy of events, which have soon after been still-born.
2. transf.
a. Of the soil, etc.: Fertility, fecundity, fruitfulness; abundance.
1615G. Sandys Trav. i. 21 [Mt. Ida] Famous for the iudgement of Paris, and pregnancie in fountaines. 1759tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. vi. (1762) 13 [The earth] will acquire such a genuine and masculine pregnancy. 1878Masque Poets 48 He knows the utmost secret of the earth, The pregnancy of every blossom's birth.
†b. A germinating or vitalizing quality. Obs. rare.
1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 157 Like the eggs of an Ostrich in the dust; I do but lay them in the sun; their own pregnancies hatch the truth.
†c. The state or condition of being impregnated with some substance. Obs.
1666G. Harvey Morb. Angl. iv. 31 The blood..through its pregnancy with volatil aculeous salt.
3. a. fig. In reference to the mind: Fertility, productiveness, inventiveness, imaginative power; quickness or readiness (of wit).
1550Bale Eng. Votaries ii. 49 b, They perceyued in hym great copye of learnynge, pregnancy of wytt. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 192 Pregnancie is made a Tapster, and hath his quicke wit wasted in giuing Recknings. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 593 Henry the eight conceiued so good an opinion of his discreet comportement, and ingenious pregnancie, that he..made him his principall Secretary. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §267 He [Sir H. Vane] was chosen to cozen, and deceive a whole Nation..: which he did with notable pregnancy and dexterity. 1712Addison Spect. No. 309 ⁋12 The Diversions of the fallen Angels..are described with great Pregnancy of Thought. 1833Coleridge Table-t. 23 Oct., I scarcely know a more striking instance of the strength and pregnancy of the Gothic mind.
†b. esp. in reference to the young. Obs.
1599Broughton's Lett. v. 16 Certaine knowledge of the Archbishops great industrie, from his youth, not pregnancie alone. 1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 273 A pregnancy of judgment above his years. 1671Clarendon Dial. Tracts (1727) 290 He observes a pregnancy in his apprentice, which he cherishes and instructs. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) III. vii. iii. 306 Such youths as are remarkable for the pregnancy of their parts and goodness of disposition. 1852R. Williams Eminent Welshmen 342 [Thos. Morgan] was..a poor lad in a farmer's house, near Bridgewater, Somerset. The pregnancy of his genius was conspicuous, and the Rev. John Moore..offered him tuition gratis.
†c. transf. A youth of promise. Obs.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. 340 To select yearly one, or moe, of the most promising pregnancies out of both Universities, and to breed them beyond the seas. a1661― Worthies, Berks. (1662) i. 93.
4. a. In reference to speech, words, etc.: Latent fullness of meaning, significance, suggestiveness.
1841L. Hunt Seer ii. (1864) 59 Not that they want the same pregnancy in our language, but because they are neither so abundant nor so musical. a1884M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 63 The political pregnancy of certain words in these had excited my interest.
b. In reference to events, actions, etc.: Latent capacity to produce results, potentiality.
1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 401 The estate that was in them, was, by the statute, wholly transferred to serve the uses which were in esse, with a pregnancy and prospect to the contingent remainders, if they should arise in due time. 1883Seeley Expansion Eng. 144 The true test of the historical importance of events..is their pregnancy..the greatness of the consequences likely to follow from them.
5. Special Comb.: pregnancy test, a test to establish whether a woman (or female animal) is pregnant; so pregnancy testing.
1929Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 25 May 1746/1 Their ‘pregnancy test’..is based on the injection of urine into immature white mice. 1962L. Davidson Rose of Tibet 313 Forcible mating begun... Army doctors followed..to make pregnancy tests. 1977Private Eye 13 May 22/2 (Advt.), Pregnancy Test Service. Send small sample of urine & fee {pstlg}3 for reliable & strictly confidential results by first class return post (plain sealed cover). 1977Times 21 June 5/8 Scientists yesterday carried out pregnancy tests on a Colorado beetle found at the weekend on a rose bush in a garden at Peacehaven, Sussex.
1938Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. XXXV. 362 A review of the most recent work in pregnancy testing is presented. 1971Guardian 15 Apr. 22/4 An instant pregnancy-testing service is to be promoted in chemists' shops.
▪ II. † ˈpregnancy2 Obs.
[f. pregnant a.1: see -ancy.]
Cogency, force, weight, of an argument; clearness of evidence or proof; a weighty reason.
1649Milton Eikon. iii, All those pregnancies and just motives came to just nothing. 1650Vindic. Hammond's Addr. §10. 3 On purpose..to take off from the clearnesse, and the pregnancie of the probation. a1674Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 45 Illustrating his definitions by instances, as he often doth with great pregnancy. 1677A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. iv. (1704) 106 Whatever pregnancy there may be in the motives a judicious person doth allege. |