| 释义 |
punctuation|pʌŋktjuːˈeɪʃən|
[ad. med.L. punctuātiōn-em, n. of action from punctuāre to punctuate. Cf. F. ponctuation (1540 in Hatz.-D.).]
†1. The pointing of the psalms; the pause at the mediation. Obs. rare.
a1539in Archaeologia XLVII. 56 Your dyvyne seruice to be treateably song..with good pause and punctuation. 1782Burney Hist. Mus. II. 18 note, The punctuation of the Psalms in the English Psalter, where a colon is constantly placed in the middle of a verse,..expresses this Mediatio, or breath-place.
2. The insertion of the vowel (and other) points in writing Hebrew and other Semitic languages (or those using a Semitic alphabet); the system of such points: = pointing vbl. n.1 2 b.
1659Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 230 The punctuation of the Hebrew Text was an invention of the Masorites. Ibid. 272. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 93/1 It is now generally considered..that the whole system of punctuation was first introduced by the Masorites. 1870J. F. Smith Ewald's Heb. Gram. 37 There was formed gradually in the Massoretic schools..a set of reading signs..the so-called punctuation. 1880Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) XI. 600/1 A means of preserving not merely the consonants of this text but the exact punctuation and intonation of the synagogue.
3. a. The practice, art, method, or system of inserting points or ‘stops’ to aid the sense, in writing or printing; division of written or printed matter into sentences, clauses, etc. by means of points or stops. The ordinary sense.
1661Boyle Style of Script. Pref. (1675) 13 That there pass no mistakes of the punctuation. For..if the stops be omitted, or misplaced, it does..oftentimes quite spoil the sense. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 263 The expectation of a settled Punctuation is in vain, since no rules of prevailing authority have been yet established. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 389 Punctuation is a modern art. The ancients were entirely unacquainted with the use of our commas, colons, &c. 1879Farrar St. Paul II. 248 note, On the punctuation of this..verse [Rom. ix. 5] a great controversy has arisen. 1895W. A. Copinger Trans. Bibliogr. Soc. II. ii. 113 As to punctuation..the Lactantius, printed at Subiaco in 1465, has a full point, colon, and note of interrogation.
b. transf. Observance, in reading or speaking, of the pauses, as indicated by the points or stops.
1807Robinson Archæol. Græca v. xvi. 489 They were enjoined to pay the most scrupulous attention to punctuation... They often read the Fables of æsop. 1863M. E. Braddon J. Marchmont II. ii. 25 The good woman's talk..rambled on in an unintermitting stream, unbroken by much punctuation.
c. fig. The repeated occurrence or distribution (of something); something that makes repeated or regular interruptions or divisions.
1914Sat. Even. Post 4 Apr. 12/1 The endless punctuation of ties led on and on until even the marshes rose and became level with the tracks. 1933E. O'Neill Ah Wilderness! i. 20 (Stage direction) The bang of firecrackers and torpedoes..continues at intervals..sufficiently emphatic to form a disturbing punctuation to the conversation. 1970H. Braun Parish Churches ix. 125 Vertical punctuation disciplines an elevation by sorting it out into orderly compartments and replacing confusion with a pleasant rhythm... Vertical punctuation is of course achieved by the pilasters, later becoming buttresses. Horizontal punctuation is primarily concerned with maintaining a sense of stability. 1977Times 16 Apr. 14/4 It requires a considerable resistance to evidence not to see the Reformation, the Enlightenment, nineteenth-century liberalism and the current decline as stages in a continuous process rather than punctuations in an otherwise stable history.
†4. The action (or result) of marking by pricking or puncturing. Obs. rare.
1777G. Forster Voy. round World I. 390 The punctuation which the natives call tattow.
5. Nat. Hist. = punctation 2.
1866E. C. Rye Brit. Beetles 107 The elytra exhibit very coarse punctuation.
6. attrib., as (sense 3) punctuation mark.
1860Prescott Elect. Telegr. 88 Forty-one indications, corresponding to the letters in the alphabet, the numerals, and punctuation-marks.
Hence punctuˈationist, one who practises, studies, or treats of punctuation (sense 3).
1871Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue xii. 553 The line..may end in the middle of a phrase where the most lavish punctuationist could not bestow a comma.
Sense 6 in Dict. becomes 7. Add: 6. Biol. Rapid or sudden speciation, as suggested by the theory of punctuated equilibrium; an instance of this.
1976Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CCLXXVI. 24 Both the punctuations and the equilibrium were imposed on the data by interpretation. 1981Nature 9 July 120/1 The geologically sudden appearance of robust australopithecines in South and East Africa between 2.1 and 2.0 Myr seems to represent an obvious example of punctuation.
punctuˈationist n., (b) Biol. = punctuationalist n.; also attrib. or as adj.; punctuˈationism n. = *punctuationalism n.
1981Nature 1/8 Jan. 13/1 One study known to me which does support the punctuationist view is that of Williamson on 21 species of fresh-water molluscs in the lake Turkana region of Africa. 1983Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Feb. 152/5 An introductory outline of the case for punctuationism is followed by a review of the fossil evidence relating to human evolution. 1986Observer 5 Oct. 25/3 ‘Punctuationists’—who argue that evolution characteristically occurs in short ‘bursts’ of tens of thousands of years, followed and preceded by long periods of ‘stasis’—are really only sophisticated gradualists. |