| 释义 |
abbreviation|əˌbriːvɪˈeɪʃən|
Also 5–7 abreviacioun, -ation.
[a. Fr. abréviation, ad. L. abbreviātiōn-em, n. of action, f. abbreviā-re: see abbreviate. The prefix in Fr. a- has been refashioned, after L., to ab-.]
1. The act of shortening, reducing in length.
1530Palsgr. 193 Abrevyation, abreviation. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent 233 (1826) Neither hath this our manner of abbreviation, corrupted the names of townes and places onely. c1590Horsey Travels (Hakl. Soc.) 156 With som small abreviacion and pronunciacion it [the Russian language] coms near the Polish. 1605Timme Quersitanus iii. 164 We come..to the causes of the conseruation, prolongation, destruction, and abreuiation of our life. 1824Southey Book of the Church I. 311 They might purchase a free passage through Purgatory, or at least, an abbreviation of the term.
2. The result of abbreviating; an abbreviated or reduced form; short summary, abridgement.
1460J. Capgrave Chron. 17 Of these thre sones grew al mankynde in this world, and be what order here schul ȝe have abreviacioun. 1589Nashe Dedic. to Brune's Menaphon (1880) 12 And heere could I enter into a large fielde of invective against our abject Abbreviations of Artes. 1791Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 180 Johnson's abbreviations are all distinct and applicable to each subject. 1865E. B. Tylor Early Hist. Man. iii. 52 To make a sort of abbreviation of this movement.
3. esp. A shortened form of a spoken word, or written symbol; a part of a word or symbol standing for the whole.
1727Swift Letter on Eng. Wks. 1755 II. i. 188 Most of the books we see now-a-days are full of those manglings and abbreviations. 1855Thackeray Newcomes (1872) iv. 35 Smiffle, it must be explained, is a fond abbreviation for Smithfield. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. I. App. 547 The latter form is clearly a mere abbreviation. |