| 释义 |
biological, a. (and n.)|baɪəʊˈlɒdʒɪkəl|
[f. prec. + -al1.]
A. adj.
1. Of, or relating to, biology or (quot. 1874) ‘electro-biology.’
1859G. Wilson E. Forbes ii. 43 Natural History..the biological half of natural science. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. (1876) 555 The psychical phenomena manifested during the persistence of the Biological state. 1877W. Thomson Voy. Challenger I. i. 5 The physical and biological conditions of the sea-bottom.
2. In various specific combs.: biological assay (see assay n. 6 b); biological chemistry = biochemistry; biological clock, an innate mechanism that regulates various cyclic and rhythmic activities of an organism; biological control (see quot. 1930); biological hole, a cavity in a nuclear reactor designed to permit the placing of animals or plants near the core in order to test the biological effects of radiation; biological race, biological species (see quot. 1916); biological shield, a shield round a nuclear reactor or cyclotron as a protection against radiation; biological spectrum (see spectrum); biological value [G. biologische wertigkeit, K. Thomas 1909, in Archiv f. Physiologie 219]: of a protein (see quots.); biological warfare, warfare involving the use of toxins, germs, etc., harmful to plants, animals, or human beings; a more comprehensive term than bacteriological warfare.
1897A. B. Griffiths (title) Respiratory proteids. Researches in biological chemistry. 1957Encycl. Brit. III. 589/2 The terms ‘biochemistry’, ‘biological chemistry’ and ‘physiological chemistry’ are often used interchangeably.
1955Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XLI. 99 Such a biological clock would seem theoretically to be a necessary component in the mechanism of the normally precise rhythms of solar and lunar frequency. 1967Guardian 1 Sept. 16/4 We do not have one biological clock, but many working together, and after a long flight to east or west or after a change of working shift, they may take from one to five days to synchronize again.
1923Jrnl. Econ. Entomology XVI. 506 (title) What may we expect from Biological Control? 1926A. D. Imms in Ann. Appl. Biol. XIII. 402 (title) The biological control of insects and injurious plants in the Hawaiian Islands. 1930Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Dec. 1078/3 The saving of the copra industry is as complete an example of what is now called ‘biological control’, the subduing of a living pest by the introduction of a living enemy of the pest, as the saving of the citrus industry of California by the introduction of a lady-beetle from Australia.
1957Gloss. Terms Nucl. Sci. (A.S.A.) 19/2 Biological hole.
1916B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms (ed. 3) 50/1 Biological (races, or) species, those species which differ only by their physiological behaviour, being morphologically identical. 1941J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man v. 157 What are called ‘biological races’ of parasites adapted to different hosts. 1942― Evolution v. 166 Groups..remain separate in spite of the complete or almost complete absence of morphological differences. In many such cases (e.g. in ‘biological’ or ‘physiological races’), the allocation of specific rank must be a mere matter of opinion and convenience.
1953Times 31 Oct. 6/1 The reactor core would be enclosed in a mild steel shell within the biological shield. 1957Financ. Times Ann. Rev. Brit. Ind. 1 July 66/1 Reinforced concrete also provides the vital barrier against the insidious dangers of radiation. This ‘biological shield’ must totally enclose the reactor.
1902H. M. Ward in Ann. Bot. XVI. 236 Various names have been proposed for these physiologically, but as yet not morphologically, different varieties... Rostrup names them ‘Biological species’ (biologische Arten).
1924H. H. Mitchell in Jrnl. Biol. Chem. LVIII. 878 The ‘biological value’ of a protein, as the term was applied originally by Karl Thomas, referred to the utilization by the body of the products of protein digestion. Ibid. 901 The biological value of the protein is taken as the percentage of the absorbed nitrogen that is not eliminated. 1960A. E. Bender Dict. Nutrition 17/2 The biological value of a protein is the amount, when fed under standard conditions, that is retained in the body for synthesis of body protein. It is expressed on the percentage scale; 100% is the perfect protein.
1946Life 18 Nov. 118/2 Biological warfare, using scourges of disease and famine as weapons, is as dreadful as the atomic bomb and far more difficult to control. 1951‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids ii. 31 The United States Government took the suggestion seriously enough to deny emphatically that it controlled any satellites designed to conduct biological warfare directly upon human beings. 1959Biological warfare [see bacteriological warfare].
B. as n. (After chemical, chiefly in pl.) A biological product used for therapeutic purposes.
1921Lancet 5 Mar. 497/2 A report..to consider the effective control of therapeutic substances which cannot be tested by direct chemical means. On the analogy of ‘chemicals’ we propose, for want of a better term, to call these substances ‘biologicals’. 1937Times 28 July 16/5 The manufacture of fine chemicals and biologicals. 1957New Scientist 21 Nov. 12/3 In recent years there has been a shortage of these biologicals.
▸ biological clock n. colloq. the passage of time as it relates to reaching the natural end of the (optimal) reproductive period in a woman's (or occas. a man's) life, frequently represented as a notional clock.
1978Washington Post 16 Mar. b1/1 Isn't it interesting.., this business about the *biological clock..? They say..that it means nothing to them, that if the mood hits them to have a child, they will. 1989A. Beattie Picturing Will ii. xiii. 129 She was years younger than he, so it was nonsense..to talk about the ticking of the biological clock at twenty-nine. 2001N.Y. Times 15 Apr. iv. 4/2 For men in their 40's and 50's, who assumed they could defer parenthood to their later, quieter years, the possibility of a male biological clock is not a happy concept. 2005Courier Mail (Queensland, Austral.) (Nexis) 7 June 15 Young women are trying to defy their biological clocks by freezing their eggs for future use.
▸ biological invader n. (a) a pest or pathogen; (b) Ecol. a (species of) organism that comes to populate an ecosystem to which it is not native, usually to the detriment of the organisms originally inhabiting the area.
[1900Internat. Q. 291 The biological invaders of political economy must never forget that, while of its orthodox system hardly one stone can be left upon another..,the materials of the edifice are enough to ransom the economists from disgrace or oblivion.] 1939P. Knight Probl. of Insect Study 55 Cosmopolitan nations will have to pay for protection from *biological invaders. 1962Public Health Rep. 77 966/1 The bronchial tree fights chemical, physical, and biological invaders by secreting mucus and by the movement of its hairlike cilia, which sweep the invaders up the tree and into the throat, where they are swallowed. 1999D. Simon Return to Wholeness i. 23 Our immune system has a variety of different cells designed to disarm and disable any biological invader that may cause harm to us. 2003Columbus (Ohio) Disp. (Nexis) 27 Oct. 1 a, In 1978, experts in the United States, Canada and Mexico began studying how biological invaders arrive in wood and wood products, including packing material, crates and pallets.
▸ biological invasion n. Ecol. the spread of a (species of) organism into an area formerly free of it, usually with detrimental effects such as the displacement or extinction of local species, destabilization of the invaded ecosystem, etc.; an instance of this; cf. invasion n. 4.
1900Catholic World Jan. 470 Biological invasions... Biology's revenge on her step-sister sciences is the main portion of the great advance in the science of life during the half-century that is just closing. 1916Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 10 403 Europe is a terminal region in which from age to age many waves of *biological invasion have spent themselves. 2002National Wildlife (Electronic ed.) 1 Apr. Florida is suffering more from this biological invasion than any other state on the continent. More than 900 exotic plant species..have moved in, finding the state's mild climate, absence of enemies, and disturbed soils much to their liking.
▸ biological weapon n. a biological agent (esp. a pathogen) harmful to plants, animals, or people, deployed as a weapon of mass destruction; (also) a device for the targeted deployment, release, or dispersal of such an agent.
1918Mil. Surg. 42 529 Search for *biological weapons of attack. 1946Life 18 Nov. 130/2 Almost any biological laboratory, any brewery, distillery, or organic chemical plant can be used to produce *biological weapons. 1961N. Cousins In Place of Folly 54 If the war comes, the question will be academic whether a man is dying of encephalitis produced by a biological weapon or aplastic anemia produced by radiation. 2001Times 22 Oct. 5/1 Advances in genetic technology will soon allow terrorists to create a new generation of ‘designer’ diseases that are many times more powerful than today's biological weapons. |