| 释义 |
ˈbreak point
Also with hyphen and as one word.
[break-.]
1. a. The place or time at which an interruption or change is made.
1878G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone 192 The break-point, where the current is interrupted. 1960R. M. Currie Work Study x. 116 When breaking the job down into elements..use audible points in the work, such as the snap of a switch,..as element break-points. 1977R.A.F. News 30 Mar.–12 Apr. 1/3 This choice will be open to those officers who decide to leave at either of the two ‘breakpoints’ rather than complete the full sixteen years. 1983N.Y. Times 11 Dec. vi. 142/1 There is a statistically significant association between fragile sites and breakpoints leading to chromosome rearrangements in cancer cells.
b. Computing. A place in a computer program where the normal execution of instructions would be interrupted, esp. by another program.
1948J. P. Eckert in Moore School Lectures 1946 30 June (1985) 441 In a test run, if the final answers did not agree with the correct answers for the test run, the operator would have recourse to a set of what were termed ‘break points’. 1960Cooke & Markus Electronics & Nucleonics Dict. 56/1 Break point, a place in a computer routine at which a special instruction is inserted to stop a digital computer for a visual check of progress, if desired. 1983Your Computer (Austral.) Aug. 63/1 Now, the return address is the address after the breakpoint, so we must decrement the program counter before storing it away.
2. a. = breaking-point s.v. breaking vbl. n. 8.; also, the point at which the situation in question changes, a turning point.
1959Times 22 May 9/2 Imports of woollen goods into the United States reached the ‘breakpoint’ of 13,500,000 lb. 1966Jrnl. Canad. Operational Res. Soc. 114 Break point, the critical level of combat capability, measured by some explicit function of game variables, below which the unit is considered unable to persist in its assigned mission. 1968Economist 17 Aug. 70/2 Chiefly at issue is the ‘break point’ for reducing commissions on such ‘volume’ transactions. 1983Christian Science Monitor 26 Aug. 17 It [sc. drought] has ruined crops, dried wells, and sent millions of peasants streaming into the region's already overtaxed cities. Last week, the situation reached breakpoint.
b. spec. in U.S. Law, a figure above which a fee for a non-profit-making lawyer would be excessive in relation to his overheads.
1983Federal Reporter (U.S.) (1984) DCCXI. 1136/2 The windfall aspect of the award would be eliminated by selecting $75 per hour as a ‘breakpoint’, and fees for plaintiffs' [counsel] would not be calculated at rates higher than the $75 per hour figure. 1984Legal Times 16 Jan. 9 When hours were correlated to income, Gary R. Lietz..commented, ‘The breakpoint of diminished returns on income appears after 54 hours per week’.
3. Lawn Tennis. A point which would win the game for the player(s) receiving service; the situation at which the receiver(s) may break service by winning such a point.
1975Tennis USA Apr. 20/3 When the match began, he had four break points against Jimmy in the second game but was unable to convert the opportunity. 1980Times 2 July 10/3 In the fourth game, Fibak had two break points. 1983M. Navratilova Tennis my Way 160 She used to throw examples of match situations at me and then explain what I should do..such as play aggressively at break point up, defensively at break point down. |