| 释义 |
▪ I. segment, n.|ˈsɛgmənt|
Also 6 seagment, 7 segement.
[ad. L. segment-um, f. sec- (euphonically seg- before m), secāre to cut: see -ment.]
1. A piece cut or broken off; a fragment. rare.
1586J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie ii. 98 Antichrist..deuiseth by councels and synods hat all signes, images, seagments or reliques of holy men..should be adored. c1620A. Hume Brit. Tongue ii. v, This s sum haldes to be a segment of his, and therfoer now almost al wrytes his for it, as if it wer a corruption. 1704Ray Creation i. (ed. 4) 58 The Segments and Cuttings of some Plants. 1832Lytton Eugene A. i. i, He also quarrelled with him the oftenest and testified the least forbearance at the publican's segments of psalmody. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. xi, The truest segment of Chaos seen in these latter Ages!
2. a. Geom. A plane figure contained by a right line and a portion of the circumference of a circle. In full segment of a circle. Also, see quot. 1738.
In quot. 1626 loosely used for arc.
1570Billingsley Euclid iii. Def. v. 81 b, A section or segment of a circle, is a figure comprehended vnder a right line and a portion of the circumference of a circle. 1626Donne Serm. lxvii. (1640) 677 The earth it selfe being round, euery step we make upon it, must necessarily bee a segment, an arch of a circle. 1738Chambers Cycl. (ed. 2), Segment is sometimes also extended to the parts of ellipses, and other curvilinear figures. 1806Hutton Course Math. (ed. 5) I. 42 To find the Area of any Elliptic Segment. Find the area of a corresponding circular segment.
b. segment of a sphere: a solid figure bounded by a portion of the surface of a sphere and an intersecting plane.
1570Billingsley Euclid xii. Prop. xvi. 376 Of segmentes, some are greater then the halfe sphere, some are lesse. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Segment of a Sphere, is a part of it cut off by a Plane;..therefore the Base of such a Segment must always be a Circle, and its Superficies a part of the Surface of the Sphere.
c. A segmental portion of anything having a circular or spherical form.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. iv. 346 Even unto..such as live under the pole, for halfe a yeare some segments [of a rainbow] may appeare at any time under any quarter. 1700Dryden Ceyx & Alcyone 265 Indu'd with Robes of various Hew she flies, And flying draws an Arch (a segment of the Skies). 1837Brewster Magnet. 326 A frame..contains the segment of a glass cylinder.
d. Her. A bearing representing a portion of a circular object.
1828–40Berry Encycl. Her. I, Segment, one side only of a coronet, &c.
3. a. Geom. The finite part of a line between two points; a division of a line.
1617Speidell Geom. Extract. 24 Let BA be the greater segement giuen, and the whole line is required. 1885C. Leudesdorf Cremona's Proj. Geom. 53 Let us examine the relation which exists between the lengths of two corresponding segments AB, A′B′ [of two straight lines].
b. Acoustics. Each of the portions into which the length of a vibrating string, wire, etc. is divided by the nodes.
1863Atkinson Ganot's Physics 160 The part vibrating between two nodal points is called a ventral segment. 1870Everett Deschanel's Nat. Philos. 832 The division into segments is often distinctly visible when the string of the sonometer is strongly bowed. 1879[see node n. 6 a].
4. a. Each of the parts into which a thing is or may be divided; a division, section.
1762R. Lowth Introd. Eng. Gram. 157 A sentence or Member is again subdivided into Commas, or Segments. 1847Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. 236 By the second segment of the intellectual world understand me to mean all [etc.]. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women & B. I. ii. 22 Being unable to divide the orange into its segments, he ventures upon a great liquid bite. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. x. 307, I must..cease talk of pictorial and rhythmic efforts..and go back to give account of another segment of my learning.
b. Anthrop. An autonomous sub-branch of a lineage group which remains within the larger tribal or clan structure.
1940M. Fortes in Fortes & Evans-Pritchard Afr. Polit. Systems 243 A maximal lineage has an hierarchical structure. It consists of two or more major segments, each of a lesser span than the (inclusive) maximal lineage... Each major segment comprises lesser segments constituted on the same principle. 1950M. Gluckman in A. R. Radcliffe-Brown Afr. Systems of Kinship 169 The lineages within the clan are usually residential units. Their segments are cores of villages. 1977Hunter & Whitten Stud. Cultural Anthrop. xviii. 397/1 A hierarchical type of authority structure that rests on levels of increasingly inclusive tribal segments.
c. Linguistics. A unit forming part of a continuum of speech or (less commonly) text; an isolable unit in a phonological or syntactic system.
1943K. L. Pike Phonetics vii. 107 A segment is a sound (or lack of sound) having indefinite borders but with a center that is produced by a crest or trough of stricture during the even motion or pressure of an initiator. 1946B. Bloch in Language XXII. 237 A segment is a word or a sequence of words that does not occur alone as a pause-group in a major sentence. 1953C. E. Bazell Linguistic Form 7 Morphemic segments may frequently be classed together under one morpheme in the American sense, and considered from this standpoint are regarded as allomorphs. 1960E. Sivertsen Cockney Phonol. iv. 122 /ð/ may be manifested, not as a separate segment, but in the dental quality of a preceding apical segment whose phonemic norm is otherwise alveolar. 1964E. Palmer tr. Martinet's Elem. Gen. Linguistics i. 26 The word puerum, adequately characterized by the segment -um as the object of the verb. 1972W. Labov Language in Inner City iii. 99 As a rule the ordering of variable constraints within a segment is more regular than ordering across segments.
d. Computers. (See quot. 1954.)
1954Computers & Automation May 18/2 Segment, a part of a complete specific routine, which can be entirely stored in the internal storage and contains the coding necessary to automatically call in and transfer control to other segments. 1963Communications ACM VI. 391/2 Segments of a program could not be treated as independent entities. In general, a symbol name, if used in one segment, could not be used in another segment with a different meaning. 1969[see overlay n. 6]. 1977Hughes & Michtom Structured Approach to Programming v. 107 A segment is both a logical and physical subdivision of a module. Logically, it is a subfunction of the module's function. Physically, it is limited to the number of source-code lines that will fit on one printer page of source output (50 to 60 lines).
5. Bot. Each of the portions into which a leaf or other plant-organ is divided by long clefts or incisions.
1713P. Blair Misc. Observ. (1718) 104 Flowers..divided into five Segments. 1723― Pharmaco-Bot. i. 18 The Bottom Leaves generally consist of five Pair of Segments. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 Segment (lacinium), the small parts of a leaf, cup, or petal, included between the incisions. 1877Hulme Wild Flowers I. Summary 6 Borage... Calyx of five segments, very deeply cleft. 1880A. Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §4. 98 When a leaf is divided or parted and these primary lobes again lobed or cleft, the lobes of first order are called Segments (sometimes divisions or partitions), and the parts of these, Lobes.
6. Biol. and Embryol.
a. Each of the longitudinal divisions composing the body in some animals, esp. in the Articulata; a somite, metamere.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 297 Segment (Segmentum). The great inosculating joints of the body. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 127 Articulata. The third great division of the Animal Kingdom consists of animals which have their body or members composed of segments or articulated rings. 1872H. A. Nicholson Palaeont. xiv. 143 The body [in Arthropods] is composed of a series of segments or ‘somites’, arranged along a longitudinal axis.
b. A cell formed by segmentation.
1862Darwin Orchids v. 207 The three proper ovule-bearing cords or segments. 1882Vines Sach's Bot. 139 The other daughter-cell..appears..like a piece cut off from the back or side of the apical cell,..and is hence called the Segment.
7. Anat.
a. Each complete series of bones forming a vertebra of the spinal column; also, each of the three annular divisions of the cranium proper.
1844Owen Anat. Vertebr. Anim. iii. 42, I define a vertebra, as one of those segments of the endo-skeleton which constitute the axis of the body [etc.]. 1880Günther Fishes iv. 64 There is no trace of vertebral segments or ribs.
b. A division of the spinal cord and nerves.
1855H. Spencer Psychol. (1872) I. i. ii. 16 We find the nervous system formed of a series of centres, each sending fibres to the different organs of its own segment. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 623 Zoster on the face tends to follow the distribution of the three main peripheral branches of the ganglion rather than to be distributed over the supply of ‘root areas’ or segments’.
8. = segment (or segmental) arch (see 9 b).
1836Parker Gloss. Arch. (1850) s.v. Arch, The only forms used by the ancients were the semicircle, the segment, and ellipse, all of which continued prevalent till the pointed arch appeared. a1878Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) I. 146 The pointed arch had obtained universal predominance, though without involving the rejection of the semicircular or the plain segment.
9. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as (sense 6) segment-boundary, (sense 5) segment-leaf; segment-shell (see quot. 1862).
1893J. Tuckey Amphioxus 119 Thereby is introduced the later characteristic curvature of the *segment boundaries [of the mesoblastic somite].
1731Miller Gard. Dict., *Segment-leaves, are Leaves of Plants divided or cut into many Shreds.
1862F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 192 The *Segment Shell consists of thin cast iron cylinders, enclosing a series of segments of the same metal, cast separately, and built upon an iron disc.
b. In many combinations with the meaning segmental (sense 1), esp. in the names of mechanical appliances, parts of machinery, etc., indicating the shape of the essential or working part, as segment-arch, segment-rack, segment-roof, segment vault (see quots.); segment-gear, segment-saw, segment-valve, segment-wheel, segment-window (see Knight Dict. Mech. 1875 and Suppl. 1884).
1887Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict., *Segment arch.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 196 The..stretching-roller has its axle mounted in the *segment-racks.
1838Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 225/2 From these springs a *segment roof.
1776G. Semple Building in Water 123 Erect a competent Number of Pillars..and thereon turn *segment Vaults and Arches.
c. In Linguistics (see sense 4 c above).
1961F. W. Householder in Saporta & Bastian Psycholinguistics 20/2 Exact boundaries were not as important as some early workers thought; location of segment-centers is in general adequate. 1969Language XLV. 303 They would be stated in terms of component-sized entities (hypophonemes), however, not in terms of segment-sized entities (classical phonemes). 1971Archivum Linguisticum II. 135 The features of articles and the features of suffixes are extracted from this complex and distributed in their proper places by ‘segment transformations’ or ‘segmentalization’. 1978Language LIV. 47 Cf. Eng. svelte, sphere etc., whose initial clusters violate the segment-sequence constraints of English.
Sense 4 d in Dict. becomes 4 e. Add: [4.] d. Broadcasting. A division of time within which a discrete item may be broadcast; hence, a separate broadcast item, usu. one of a number which make up a programme. orig. U.S.
1946R. J. Landry This Fascinating Radio Business iv. 79 A radio program..is usually fifteen minutes, thirty minutes or sixty minutes in length although odd-length segments occur now and then. 1947H. Bettinger Television Techniques ii. 13 There are limitations imposed by the length of time that can be allotted to a given program segment. 1950H. J. Skornia et al. Creative Broadcasting ii. 8 The radio day is divided into time segments, determined by the audience available, and what the audience is doing. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 273 A ‘talk’ is a programme or programme segment which consists of one person talking at the microphone. 1976New Yorker 19 May 133/1 The ‘Today Show’ and ABC's ‘Good Morning America’ also ran segments on Carter. 1982‘E. McBain’ Beauty & Beast viii. 127 The television people..probably want to..tape you in Tampa for the eleven o'clock segment there. 1984N.Y. Times 1 Sept. i. 41/6 ABC, CBS and NBC shared the award for outstanding investigative journalism, for segments of news programs.
f. Marketing. One of a number of sections of a market each of which is distinguished by a different set of requirements.
1956Jrnl. Marketing XXI. 5/2 Recent introduction of a refrigerator with no storage compartment for frozen foods was in response to the distinguishable preferences of the segment of the refrigerator market made up of home freezer owners whose frozen food storage needs had already been met. 1964Harvard Business Rev. Mar. 83/1 Sound marketing objectives depend on knowledge of how segments which produce the most customers for a company's brands differ in requirements and susceptibilities from the segments which produce the largest number of customers for competitive brands. 1975Forbes (N.Y.) 15 Feb. 38/3 Arcata is well positioned in the growth segments of the market. 1980Chemical Week 23 July 29 A downturn in demand for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics, the most dynamic segment of the chlorine market, is a major factor in the slide in chlorine demand.
▪ II. segment, v.|sɛgˈmɛnt, ˈsɛgmənt|
[f. segment n.]
1. trans. To subject to the process of segmentation or division and multiplication of cells; to produce (new cells) by this process.
1859Todd's Cycl. Anat. V. 79/2 The whole yolk is segmented in mammalia. 1877Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. 50 The new cells which are successively segmented off from the terminal cell.
2. a. intr. Of a cell or ovum: To divide or split up and give origin to one or more new cells by the process of segmentation.
1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life Introd. 24 In some Rotifera, Crustacea, and Insecta one polar body only is formed, and the ovum then proceeds to segment.
b. Anthrop. Of a lineage group or clan: to divide into smaller autonomous branches within the larger social structure. Cf. sense 4 b of the n.
1940E. E. Evans-Pritchard in Fortes & Evans-Pritchard Afr. Polit. Systems 284 In the diagram below, A is a clan which is segmented into maximal lineages B and C. 1965P. C. Lloyd in M. Banton Polit. Systems & Distrib. Power 66 The Ngoni have a lineage structure which continually segments. 1974L. Mair Afr. Societies x. 127 All lineages segment in the course of generations.
3. trans. To divide into segments. Cf. senses 4 c, d of the n.
1872Humphry Myology 5 The caudal muscles therefore consist of a ‘dorsal’ and ‘ventral’ muscle on each side,..transversely segmented by the membranous septa and the vertebral processes running into it. 1878A. H. Green, etc., Coal iv. 121 The axis, prefiguring what in most vertebrates becomes segmented and ossified into the centra,..retains [etc.]. 1959E. M. Grabbe et al. Handbk. Automation, Computation, & Control II. ii. 130 A discussion of an automatic system which faces the problem of segmenting a program, either data or instructions, into pieces is given by this group. 1962C. O. Frake in Gladwin & Sturtevant Anthrop. & Human Behavior 75 How do we segment the stream of speech into category-designating units? 1969P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 202 No matter how much central memory is provided for a computer, it will always be possible to write a program too large to fit. The most common way to handle this situation is to segment the program into overlays. 1972W. Labov Language in Inner City ii. 50 Young black children frequently find it difficult to segment I'm into I am. 1977Hughes & Michtom Structured Approach to Programming vi. 122 A module..is segmented in the same hierarchical fashion that a system or program is developed.
Hence segˈmenting ppl. a. and vbl. n.
1912J. S. Huxley Individual in Animal Kingdom vi. 149 The blastomeres or separate cells of the segmenting egg. 1959E. M. Grabbe et al. Handbk. Automation, Computation, & Control II. ii. 130 It is imperative that a programmer be allowed to override any automatic segmenting and allocation system in order to provide increased efficiency. 1977Hughes & Michtom Structured Approach to Programming vi. 122 Segmenting is best handled at the stepwise refinement stage.
[3.] For ‘Cf. senses 4 c, d of the sb.’ read: Cf. senses 4 c, e, f of the n. (Further examples.)
1964Harvard Business Rev. Mar. 83/1 Once you discover the most useful ways of segmenting a market, you have produced the beginnings of a sound market strategy. 1981Times 18 Aug. 17/5 It segmented the market, dividing beer drinkers into categories and providing a beer and a price for each. 1988Media Week 2 Sept. 9/1 Dear suggested that it might be possible in future economically to publish titles aimed at local markets segmented not by geography but by interest groups. |