| 释义 |
combustion|kəmˈbʌstɪən, -tʃən|
Also 6 -yon.
[a. OF. combustion (14th c. in Littré), ad. late L. combūstiōn-em, n. of action f. combūrĕre; see combure.]
1. a. The action or process of burning; consumption or destruction by fire. (Not common in ordinary unscientific language.)
a1600Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. vii. §2 The combustion of his sanctuary..flaming before their eyes. 1609Bible (Douay) Num. xix. 17 They shal take of the ashes of combustion and of sinne. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. xxiv, The combustion of the Library of Alexandria. 1824Syd. Smith America Wks. 1867 II. 44 The faggots which each is preparing for the combustion of the other. 1867Chr. Remembrancer LII. 245 The combustion of incense.
†b. A conflagration, fire. Obs.
1611Bible Transl. Pref. 8 Catiline..that sought to bring it [Rome] to a combustion, or Nero..that did indeed set it on fire. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 47 Subiect it [Constantinople] hath bin to sundry horrible combustions. 1664G. Etherege Love in Tub iv. i, In combustions..To save their precious goods from raging fire.
†c. spec. The burning of a corpse, cremation.
c1611Chapman Iliad xxiii. 202 Nor more mourn at his burn'd bones, Than did the great prince to his friend at his combustions. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. (1736) 1. Solemn Combustion of Meneceus and Archemorus.
d. spontaneous combustion: the burning of a substance (or mass) from heat generated within itself; see spontaneous.
e. c. of money: ‘the old way of trying mix'd and base Money by melting it down’ (Kersey).
1695W. Lowndes Ess. Amendm. Silv. Coinage 5 A constitution was made, called the Trial by combustion. 1809Tomlins Law Dict. I. s.v. Combustio pecuniae, In the time of King Henry II a constitution was made, called the trial by combustion: the practice of which differed little or nothing from the present method of assaying silver.
2. a. The ordinary term in scientific use.
As all ordinary combustion consists in the energetic combination of a body with oxygen, with evolution of heat and light, this was alone contemplated in earlier definitions of the term; but since it has been known that similar phenomena attend the combination of other elements, e.g. that of hydrogen and metals with chlorine, bromine, and iodine, combustion has been defined more generally as ‘The development of light and heat accompanying chemical combination’. internal combustion engine, etc.: see internal a. 5.
Formerly, oxygen was regarded as essentially the supporter of combustion, the bodies which burned in it being called combustibles. Afterwards the former term was extended to all substances capable of forming vapours in which others can burn, as chlorine, bromine, iodine, sulphur; but since the same substance may sometimes act in both capacities, and since the vapours in question are actually consumed in the process, as truly as the so-called ‘combustible’, the distinction has gradually become obsolete. (Watts, etc.) Cf. comburent.
1477Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 64 Of such Combustion greate hardnes shall be. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 269 Combustion is ignition, converting bodies by burning them into Calx. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 171 It has long been ascertained, that combustion will not take place unless it be nourished by air. 1811Hooper Med. Dict. 220/2 s.v., The supporters of combustion known at present are..six. Oxigen gas, Air, Gaseous oxid of nitrogen, Nitrous gas, Nitric acid, Oxigenated muriatic acid. 1842Grove Corr. Phys. Forces (ed. 6) 76 Combustion being in fact chemical union attended with heat and light. 1853W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 47 Combustion, or the combination of a combustible with oxygen. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 106 Being neither combustible like the one, nor a supporter of combustion like the other.
b. In the sense of ‘combination of a body with oxygen’, the word has been applied to processes of oxidation unaccompanied by evolution of light, and not popularly considered as ‘burning’, such as take place in the tissues of organisms (internal combustion), in decomposing organic matter, etc.
1800Med. Jrnl. IV. 561 Every combination of an acid with other substances, is a process of combustion, which cannot take place without the combination of the oxygen with the combustible element. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 80 A kind of slow combustion goes on in the body. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 722 The decomposition of the non-nitrogenous reserve material and its combustion into carbon dioxide and water. 1882Syd. Soc. Lex., Internal combustion, those processes of oxidation..which effect the maintenance of the animal heat.
c. An operation consisting in the complete burning of a substance in a combustion-tube: used in quantitative analysis.
1863–72Watts Dict. Chem. I. 227 When the temperature required for a combustion is very high, the tube should be protected. 1885R. Christison in Life I. 273, I had successfully finished my first combustion.
†3. Path.
a. A burn;
b. inflammation. Obs.
1541Copland Guydon's Formul. T ij b, Vnguentum..merueylous to consolydate and drye the conbustyons and woundes of synewes. 1599A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 332 Take Lintseede..and applye it on the combustion. Some doe onlye annoynte the burne with Linteseede oyle. Ibid. 334/1 Heerewith annoynte the combustion both eveninge, and morninge. Ibid. 335/1 This draweth out the heate and combustion, and then it cureth. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iv. iii. ii, Cauteries or searings with hot yrons, combustions, boarings. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physick 68 Combustion of the joynts, will admit of no sharp remedies.
†4. Astrol. Obscuration of a planet or star by proximity to the sun. Obs. See combust a. 2.
1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 196 The darkenynge or hidynge of the starre..within 15 degrees of the Sonne..is called of many men Combustion. 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 44. 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. xxvi. 165 Her Dispositor was in his Detriment, and entring Combustion. 1743E. Stone Math. Dict. s.v., A Planet..not above eight Degrees and Thirty Minutes distant from the Sun..is said then to be combust, or in Combustion. 1721–97in Bailey.
5. fig. and transf.
a. with explicit reference to sense 1.
1639Fuller Holy War iii. i. (1840) 115 By their pious tears to quench the combustions in the empire. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. 87 This poured oil on the fire..and put all in combustion. 1778Robertson Hist. Amer. II. vi. 265 Where there were disappointed leaders ripe for revolt..it was not difficult to kindle combustion. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iii. i, In spiritual invisible combustion [mounts up] one authority after another.
b. Violent excitement or commotion, disorder, confusion, tumult, hubbub. (Exceedingly common in 17th and 18th c.)
1589Cooper Admon. 45 Seeking to set al in combustion with schisme. 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 63 Prophecying..Of dyre Combustion, and confus'd Euents. 1640–4in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 477 The House required the five Members to depart..to the end to avoid Combustion in the House. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 225 Armie against Armie numberless to raise Dreadful combustion warring. 1762Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. liv. 204 A new discovery..served to throw every thing into still greater shame and combustion. 1821Scott Kenilw. xi, The inn-yard was in a sort of combustion. 1846Prescott Ferd. & Is. I. v. 246 He again prepared to throw his country into combustion.
c. (with a and pl.)
1579Fenton Guicciard. (1599) 942 Fearing a greater combustion, they came to composition. 1649Milton Eikon. Pref. (1851) 334 The beginning of these Combustions [civil wars]. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 273, I heard a combustion among the women-servants. 1815Byron in Moore Life 382 Whitbread wants us to assess the pit another sixpence..which will end in an O.P. combustion.
6. Comb. combustion chamber, (a) a space behind a furnace in which the hot gases from a boiler-grate become consumed; (b) in an internal combustion engine, the space in or above the cylinder where the charge is compressed and ignited; also attrib.; (c) (see quot. 1950); combustion-tube, a tube of hard glass in which a substance may be reduced by combustion.
1854R. S. Burn Steam Engine iii. 90, d is the fire-door, ff the combustion-chamber. 1854English Mechanic LXI. 271/1 The combustion chamber allows of the mixture of the gaseous products of the two fires. 1863–72Watts Dict. Chem. I. 227 Combustion-tubes..the best are made of the hard Bohemian glass. 1877Fownes' Chem. II. 10 The mode of heating the combustion tube with red hot charcoal is the original process. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech. Engin. 80 Combustion chamber, that portion of a boiler flue in which the hot gases are burnt. 1908Westm. Gaz. 1 Oct. 4/2 Carbon deposits from the piston or combustion-chamber walls. 1937Discovery Sept. 269/2 The proper construction of combustion chambers. 1950Science News XV. 80 The third major item is the combustion chamber, which may include some means of lighting the propellants and certainly some means of injecting them; this chamber is the limiting factor in rocket design at the moment. |