| 释义 |
situation|sɪtjuːˈeɪʃən|
Also 5 setuacyon, 6 syt-, situacion, sytuation, 6–8 scituation (7 citt-).
[a. F. situation († sit-, scituacion, etc., = Sp. situacion, It. situazione), or ad. med.L. situātio, n. of action f. situāre, f. L. situs site.]
I.
1. a. The place, position, or location of a city, country, etc., in relation to its surroundings.
1490Caxton Eneydos xii. 44 Haue in mynde..the setuacyon of thy cyte newely fowunded. 1530Palsgr. 270/2 Sytuacion of a towne, assiete. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 8 The situation of the cytie of Saba in Ethiopia vnder Egipt. 1596Warner Alb. Eng. x. lviii. (1602) 253 France,..whose Scituation so Spaynes scattred Realmes disioynes. 1636Davenant Platonick Lovers i. i, The scituation of this house hath but a while employed his eyes without. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 3 The same must be attributed to the Scituation of the Land. 1719W. Wood Surv. Trade 5 Our Native Riches and apt Scituation for Commerce. 1796C. Marshall Gardening iii. (1813) 26 The situation of a garden should be..rather low than high. 1842Cunningham Revels at Crt. 223 In one [plan] the situation of the music room is clear enough; viz. at the side of the stage.
b. Used without of (but implying this).
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 210 b, The Castell was kept agaynst them which for the situation was unprennable. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 677 The high situation upon an hill. 1665–6Phil. Trans. I. 262 As for the Scituation—he chooses that side or declivity of a Hill. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xix. II. 129 Their prison was an ancient palace,..the situation was pleasant, the buildings stately. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 243/2 The situation as a whole is far more beautiful than that of Jerusalem.
c. Without article.
1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 The chiefe cytie..is in situacion..much lyke vnto the cytie of Milayne. 1611Bible Ps. xlviii. 2 Beautifull for situation..is mount Sion. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 76 Places as eminent in scituation as she in sweetnesse of disposition. 1820Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. v. 119 Edinburgh is the finest town for situation in Europe.
d. With a (usually followed by an adj.).
1565Cooper Thesaurus, Positio campestris, a situation in a playne champion countrey. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 429 Westminster..had a pleasant situation amongst fruitfull fields and greene grounds [etc.]. 1663Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 133 We ought in the choice of a Scituation to regard above all things the Healthfulness of the place. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. x. 236 Manila itself is in a very healthy situation. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 246/1 Such a situation as might be agreeable..to the architect. 1808J. Webster Nat. Philos. 162 A fire burning in an open situation.
2.
†a. The place occupied by something; the site of a building, etc. Obs.
1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 25 Having sixtene fote of..the same grounde for the scituacion of the same conduicte heade. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xvi. 172 The Citie of Mexico is seated in the same Lake, although the Spaniards have filled vp the place of the scituation with earth. a1615Brieue Cron. Erlis of Ross (1850) 3 The said Erll founded an abbey at Farne, quhair the situation thereof yit does appeare. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 323 Pilasters of Stone, and Arches, would have taken up a great part of the Situation there.
b. A place, locality.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. 260 The pleasant scituation called Beaulieu. 1667Milton P.L. i. 60 He views The dismal Situation waste and wilde, A Dungeon horrible. 1716–8Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. I. xvi. 53 After passing these dreadful rocks, Dresden appeared to me a wonderfully agreeable situation. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 105 Sir William Soames being sent embassador to Constantinople.., Vosterman accompanied him, intending to paint the delights of that situation. 1823J. F. Cooper Pioneers xv, Two chairs were placed by the side of this comfortable situation.
3. a. Place or position of things in relation to surroundings or to each other.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxxviii, To be so tikled they would change their state And situation with those dancing chips. 1615Crooke Body of Man 31 From the scituation some are Anterior, some Posteriour. 1675Phil. Trans. X. 543 The scituation of these two conduits. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Resistence, The Resistence of a Body is always equal to the greatest Weight which it will sustain in a vertical Situation, without breaking. 1792Baron Munchausen i. 4, I fell..to the ground with fear; after waiting in this prostrate situation a few seconds, I heard a noise. 1813Southey Nelson II. 257 Her mizen-top,..in the then situation of the two vessels, was not more than fifteen yards from that part of the deck. 1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 177/1 In the three first situations the separation is sometimes called exhalation.
b. A place or locality in which a person resides, or happens to be for the time.
1615Chapman Odyss. xxiv. 21 Those soules Idols, that the weary dead Gaue vp in earth: which in a flowry Mead Had habitable situation. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 18 Boisterous weather..caused us to make all manner of Dispatch to get out of that Situation. 1788V. Knox Winter Even. I. ii. vii. 157 Apply in sickness to the best physician or apothecary within reach of your situation. 1817Malthus Popul. Pref. p. iii, It was written..from the few materials which were then within my reach in a country situation. 1825Scott Betrothed xi, Educated in a remote situation.
†4.
a. Direction, course. Obs.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. i. (Percy Soc.) 7 This is the waye and the sytuacion Unto the toure of famous doctrine.
†b. Surface. Obs. Cf. ground n. 6 b.
1558Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 9 Whan you wil gylte the parchemente, you shal geve it a grounde or sytuatyon wyth the white of an Egge or Gomme.
†5.
a. The action of situating. Obs.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. x. (Arb.) 98 By diuersitie of placing and scituation of your measures and concords.
†b. Settlement, occupation. Obs.
c1650Bradford Plymouth Plant. i. x. (Mass. Hist. Soc.) 88 They..found diverse cornfeilds, & litle runing brooks, a place (as they supposed) fitt for situation.
II.
6. a. The position in life, or in relation to others, held or occupied by a person.
1710Steele Tatler No. 169 ⁋4 That the very situation in a country-life does not incline men [etc.]. 1782Priestley Inst. Relig. I. Pref. p. xliii, In my present situation at Birmingham. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1806) I. xiv, His situation, at this printer's, was far better suited to him, than that..at the brewer's. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. viii, I am happy that my situation, as a soldier under command, altogether dispenses with my thinking of it at all.
b. A post of employment; a position in which one works for wages. situations vacant: jobs to be filled, spec. as advertised in a column or page of a newspaper; a newspaper column or page advertising jobs; also attrib. Also situations wanted.
1803G. Colman John Bull iii. ii. 36 Service? Nonsense..I'll put you into a situation in town. 1813Examiner 26 Apr. 265/1 He obtained the situation of army-agent. 1847De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun vii, A gallant young cavalier..offered to Catalina a situation amongst his retinue. 1885G. Allen Babylon xvii, I took a situation. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. iv. 73 Want ads..closely printed columns of advertisements of help wanted and situations wanted. 1931M. Allingham Look to Lady xx. 207 I'll be readin' the Situations Vacant before I know where I am. 'E aint even left me a reference. 1944M. Laski Love on Supertax ii. 14 ‘Is it Situations Wanted day?’..If so, give me the outside sheet.’.. The Duke pulled his newspaper to pieces. 1949E. Coxhead Wind in West i. 19 She began to look through the situations⁓vacant columns in the farming papers. 1967R. Rendell New Lease of Death ix. 88 Elizabeth Crilling sat..reading the Situations Vacant in last week's local paper. 1971D. Lees Rainbow Company ii. 29 An obvious commercial traveller reading the situations vacant column of the Telegraph.
7. a. Condition or state (of anything). ? Obs.
1710Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. 230 That which we esteem a Happiness in one Situation of Mind, is otherwise thought of in another. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 405 The land, at the end of the nine years, must be in a much better situation than before it was limed. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §148, I found the work now in the following situation.
b. Physical condition; state of health. In later use only spec. of women (see quots.).
1749Smollett Gil Blas (1797) I. 117 Examine the situation of my son, and prescribe what you shall judge proper for his cure. 1780Mirror No. 80, The change of situation from pimples and scales to a blooming complexion. 1792M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 95 People in a weak debilitated situation. 1829Scott Hrt. Midl. xv. note, That the woman should have concealed her situation during the whole period of pregnancy. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxvii, Mrs. Bunny's in an interesting situation..and has given the Lieutenant seven already.
8. Position of a person with regard to circumstances.
1728T. Sheridan tr. Persius (1739) Ded. p. iv, You are now in a Situation of taking two the most delightful Prospects that a generous Mind can have. 1768Blackstone Comm. iii. 162 Where undue advantage is taken of the plaintiff's situation. 1791Burke Corr. (1844) III. 353 Your situation is a situation of difficulty, and nothing but great patience can carry you through it. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. xvi. 342 How true is it that men in parallel situations necessarily move on similar principles. 1860Motley Netherl. I. i. 1 The difficulties of his situation increased.
9. a. Position of affairs; combination of circumstances. Also in mod. usage, preceded by an attributive word or phrase, and designating: (a) the state or general circumstances of something at a particular time, as coal situation, etc. (and which is acknowledged to change from time to time); (b) a particular state of affairs or occasion existing independently, as standing credit situation, crisis situation, etc.
Objections have been raised to both mod. usages, but the latter is often especially decried as an ugly and sometimes tautological formation.
1750Chesterfield Lett. ccxix. (1792) II. 343 Suppose that business and situations should..call Mr. Harte away from you. 1777Pitt in Almon Anecd. (1812) II. 302 This ruinous and ignominious situation..calls upon us to remonstrate in the strongest..language. 1828Scott F.M. Perth ix, He honoured his religion..by the morality which guided his conduct in all ordinary situations. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 15 In a situation of the utmost difficulty and peril. 1884Manch. Exam. 20 May 5/2 The financial situation is perceptibly clearer. 1934Times 22 Aug. 11/3 A popular dodge at present is to add the word ‘situation’ or ‘position’ to a noun; by this means apparently it has been discovered that the most pregnant meanings can be expressed with the least effort. The ‘coal situation’ remains unchanged; the ‘herring position’ is grave. 1935Jrnl. Pediatrics VI. 115 The group that is treated at the Children's Hospital,..may be received after an attempt has been made in an outlying home or hospital to make the best of a premature baby situation. 1941J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man ix. 193 A crab can react to various situations—a food-situation, a hunger-situation, a fear-situation, a sex-situation. 1952Amer. Speech XXVII. 13 Corn-shortage situation, draft-evasion situation. 1966[see least a. 1 e]. 1972Where Jan. 18/1 A school hall or playground, festooned with bunting, with colourful stalls and the sound of the tombola rolling, assumes less of an institutional atmosphere and more of a face-to-face primary group situation. 1973Art Internat. Mar. 26/1 What comes to such galleries is filtered through all kinds of art situations. 1975N.Y. Times 17 Sept. 47/3 We can run innovative or traditional programs here, whereas in an old-fashioned building the architecture limited us to traditional teaching situations. 1976Local Council Rev. Summer 3 (Advt.), These chairs are ideally suitable for multiple seating situations for use in Town Halls, Village Halls, Community Centres, etc. 1977H. Fast Immigrants i. 74 This is not a loan but a standing credit situation. 1978Oxford Times 13 Jan. 4/3 Unless catchment areas are re-drawn Lord Williams's school will go through a crisis situation for at least five years.
Phr.1856Merivale Rom. Emp. lxiii. (1865) VIII. 3 The senate at last was master of the situation. 1870M. Bridgman R. Lynne II. v. 111 He was..master of the situation.
b. A particular conjunction of circumstances (esp. one of a striking or exciting nature) under which the characters are presented in the course of a novel or play.
1779Mirror No. 31, The novellist who delineates characters by feigned circumstances and situations. 1790C. M. Graham Lett. Educ. 147 The conduct of her story is well conceived, her situations are in general natural. 1830W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 446 It has some striking scenes, but I think the ‘situations’ are produced by rather extravagant means. 1847Illustr. Lond. News 24 July 59/1 At the head of every scene is a description of the action, as a key to the musical situation. 1864G. A. Lawrence M. Dering i, It [a book] is wildly melodramatic, and full of ‘situations’ from end to end.
c. Without article (see quots.).
1779Sheridan Critic iii. i, This scene goes entirely for what we call situation and stage effect. Ibid., There's situation for you! there's an heroic group!
10. Horse-racing. One of the first three places in order of arrival at the winning-post; a place.
1871‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. 34 Saying that he could lay against Blue Bell,..and that he had a little more to lay out against Whistler for a ‘situation’. c1887‘Thormanby’ Men of the Turf 105 The three worst horses, probably, that ever monopolized the Derby ‘situations’.
11. Special combs.: situation comedy, a comedy (serial) in which the humour derives largely from the particular conjunction of characters and circumstances; situation ethics, morality, the belief that individual circumstances or particular situations may call for flexibility in the application of moral laws; situation report Mil. (see quot. 1918); also transf.; situation(s) room, a room set aside by a military or governmental agency for giving reports on the current state of any action, operation, etc.
1953TV Guide (N.Y. Metro ed.) 23 Oct. 19/1 Ever since I love Lucy zoomed to the top rung on the rating ladder, it seems the networks have been filling every available half-hour with another *situation comedy. 1967Listener 10 Aug. 161/1 The two best situation-comedy shows this country has ever produced are..Steptoe and Son and..Till Death Us Do Part. 1972Time 17 Apr. 39/1 NBC plans The Little People, about a Hawaiian pediatrician and his pediatrician daughter, and ABC has Temperature's Rising, about the chief surgeon in a big city hospital. Both shows will combine the medical genre with the situation-comedy formula.
[1950K. Rahner in Stimmen der Zeit CXLV. 330 (heading) Situationsethik und Sündenmystik.] 1955Cross Currents Winter 79/2 Father Rahner wished to demonstrate..that..*situation-ethics was the most modern and fashionable form of laxity; that it was..an attempt of half-Christians to dodge the effort demanded by the notion of morality and the rigor of the law, by appealing to ‘the situation’. 1966J. Fletcher Situation Ethics i. 26 Situation ethics goes part of the way with natural law, by accepting reason as the instrument of moral judgment while rejecting the notion that the good is ‘given’ in the nature of things, objectively. 1979B. G. Skinner Robert Exon vi. 56 The so-called Situation Ethics, where the Christian in a spirit of prayer and love decides for himself what is the right course of action to take.
1962Dict. Moral Theol. 801/1 *Situation morality, carried to extremes, must not be understood as an escape from the heavy burden of moral integrity.
1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 561 *Situation reports, reports designed to keep superior officers and neighboring units informed of the progress of events and any important changes in the situation or movement of their own or enemy troops. 1960Mag. Fantasy & SF (N.Y.) Nov. 58/1, I assume that I will be attacked, and decide to file a situation report. 1970C. Whitman Death out of Focus vii. 104 No doubt her precious father had telephoned her and given her the latest situation report. 1977W. H. Saumarez Smith Young Man's Country ii. 33 One regular chore was the ‘fortnightly confidential report’ to the District Magistrate, which was a general ‘situation report’ about anything interesting happening in the subdivision.
1967Sunday Times 21 May 7 The intelligence ‘*situation room’ will keep the 15 permanent ambassadors of the NATO countries and their key military commands more fully up-to-date on Russia's political and military build⁓up than they have ever been before. 1970M. Kelly Spinifex ii. 28 Hopkins was sitting on the edge of a table in the Situations Room. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 28 Aug. 2/5 In the Situation Room of the White House, Secretary of State Kissinger convened the Washington Special Action Group, a subcommittee of the National Security Council, to plot possible U.S. responses to the deaths. |