| 释义 |
spontaneous, a.|spɒnˈteɪnɪəs|
[f. L. spontāne-us, f. sponte of one's own accord, freely, willingly. So F. spontané(e, It. spontaneo, Sp. and Pg. espontaneo.]
1. Of personal actions: Arising or proceeding entirely from natural impulse, without any external stimulus or constraint; voluntary and of one's own accord.
1656Hobbes Liberty, etc. (1841) 79 That all voluntary actions, where the thing that induceth the will is not fear, are called also spontaneous, and said to be done by a man's own accord. 1690C. Nesse Hist. & Myst. Test. I. 43 Her eating therefore was a spontaneous act. 1727De Foe Hist. Appar. i. (1840) 16 By apparition also I am to understand such appearances of these superior beings, as are spontaneous and voluntary. 1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. ix. 91 The spontaneous respect paid to the antiquity of their families. 1839Hallam Hist. Lit. ii. i. §29 The resemblance of natural disposition made it a spontaneous act of Muretus to fall into the footsteps of Cicero. 1868M. Pattison Academ. Org. 6 The movement was by no means a spontaneous one on the part of the House.
b. Of persons: Acting voluntarily and from natural prompting.
1732Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §21 It was needless to establish professors..while there are so many spontaneous lecturers in every corner of the streets. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. iv. 79 The ranks of a numerous body of men can never be filled up by spontaneous labourers of this sort.
c. Of utterances, etc.: Coming freely and without premeditation or effort.
1856N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 52 The privileged visitor..would..have heard from him..similar spontaneous expositions of Scripture. 1870Burton Hist. Scot. lxxii. (1873) VI. 265 A spontaneous thought which he could not help uttering. 1885Manch. Exam. 9 Sept. 3/1 The fun is never strained or beaten out, but is always fresh, spontaneous, and luxuriant.
2. Of motion: Arising purely from, entirely determined by, the internal operative or directive forces of the organism.
1659H. More Immort. Soul ii. ii. 126 Sense..must like⁓wise Imagine, Remember, Reason, and be the fountain of spontaneous Motion. 1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 334 Things that had sense and spontaneous motion. 1750G. Hughes Barbados iii. 61 Animals are sensitive organic Bodies, endued with spontaneous Motion. 1807J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 2 Vegetables..have in some instances spontaneous, though we know not that they have voluntary, motion. 1848Carpenter Anim. Phys. 17 These two functions,—sensibility and the power of spontaneous motion,—being peculiar to animals, are called the functions of animal life. 1880Bessey Botany 196 Living protoplasm has everywhere, under proper conditions, the power of spontaneous movement. 1882Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 871 These movements were termed ‘spontaneous nutations’.
3. Of natural processes: Occurring without apparent external cause; having a self-contained cause or origin.
In 19th cent. use esp. of chemical or physical changes: see quots. under (b).
(a)1664Power Exp. Philos. ii. 117 The Spontaneous Dilatation and Elastick Rarefaction of that little remnant of Ayr. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 114 A spontaneous production of Mankind may not possibly have been true. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 163 ⁋3 He expects every moment to be placed in regions of spontaneous fertility. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 200, I suppose there was no corn on it of spontaneous growth. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. v, The old man looked with horror at the spontaneous motion of the book. 1859Mill Liberty iv. (1865) 45/2 He suffers these penalties only in so far as they are..the spontaneous consequences of the faults themselves. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. 292 The spontaneous falling of the stones appeared more frequent this morning.
(b)1805Saunders Min. Waters 338 The spontaneous changes which this water undergoes. 1813J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 51 When inflammation occurs..without our being able to trace its production to the action of any obvious cause, it is termed spontaneous inflammation. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 561 The aqueous solution..is subject to spontaneous decomposition. 1861J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent. 182 The mode in which spontaneous fission occurs among many other forms of Actinozoa.
†b. spec. Of lassitude. Obs.
1675Owen Indwelling Sin ix. (1732) 105 A spontaneous Lassitude, or a causeless Weariness and Indisposition of the Body. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. 378 Its Symptoms are a spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weariness.
4. a. spontaneous generation, the development of living organisms without the agency of pre-existing living matter, usually considered as resulting from changes taking place in some inorganic substance. (Cf. equivocal a. 3.)
The possibility of such development, once generally accepted as a fact and subsequently rejected, has been a subject of debate in more recent times.
1656Cowley Pindar. Odes, Notes Wks. 1710 I. 278 The Generation of Serpents, which is Spontaneous sometimes. 1665Hooke Microgr. 141 For the Sea..affords as many Instances of spontaneous generations as either the Air or Earth. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Equivocation, Equivocal Generation,..which we also call spontaneous, was commonly asserted and believed among the antient Philosophers. 1835J. Duncan Beetles 194 Admitting the doctrine of spontaneous generation, it was necessary [etc.]. 1857Henfrey Bot. 543 The idea of a spontaneous generation of organic bodies is now exploded. 1882Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 944 The first and simplest plants had no ancestors; they arose by spontaneous generation.
fig.1870Max Müller Sci. Relig. (1873) 377 You see the spontaneous generation of mythology with every new name that is formed.
b. spontaneous combustion, the fact of taking fire, or burning away, through conditions produced within the substance itself; spec. the alleged occurrence of this fact in persons addicted to the excessive use of alcohol.
(a)1809W. Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. XXIII. 278 The spontaneous combustion of a large quantity of charcoal. 1863Watts Dict. Chem. I. 1093 The spontaneous combustion..of masses of tow, cotton, or rags saturated with oil. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 397/1 New⁓burnt charcoal, and particularly new ground charcoal, is very liable to spontaneous combustion.
(b)1795Repertory of Arts II. 424, I shall not pass over in silence the spontaneous combustions of human bodies. 1799W. Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. III. 305 The apparently spontaneous Combustion of living Individuals of the human Species. 1832Brewster Natural Magic xiii. 321 The extraordinary phenomenon of the spontaneous combustion of living bodies. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. Pref., It was shewn upon the evidence that she had died the death to which this name of spontaneous combustion has been given. 1882Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Combustion, Spontaneous combustion... In most of the cases recorded,..either they have been near a fire, or some suspicious circumstances suggestive of murder have been present.
5. Growing or produced naturally without cultivation or labour.
1665Hooke Microgr. 214 Spontaneous Vegetables seeming a food proper enough for spontaneous Animals. 1684Penn in Academy (1896) 11 Jan. 37/1, I have observed three sorts [of vines]... Thes are spontaneous. 1705R. Beverly Virginia ii. iv. (1722) 127 Whence they had their Indian Corn, I can give no Account; for I don't believe that it was spontaneous in those Parts. 1725Pope Odyss. ix. 125 Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour. 1760–2Goldsm. Cit. W. xxxi, Spontaneous flowers take place of the finished parterre. 1805Saunders Min. Waters 333 Except the turf, and some scanty heath, no spontaneous vegetation is to be seen. 1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 49 We passed ‘a spontaneous rye-field’. 1883Day Indian Fish 8 Fish cured with salt-earth, or spontaneous but untaxed salt.
b. Freq. with fruits, products, productions.
a1727Newton Chronol. Amended i. (1728) 183 These several colonies..fed on the spontaneous fruits of the earth. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 169 ⁋4 There are regions of which the spontaneous products cannot be equalled in other soils by care and culture. 1826Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 67/2 If the English were in a paradise of spontaneous productions, they would continue to dig and plough. 1839Hallam Hist. Lit. iii. iv. §96 When men lived on the spontaneous fruits of the earth. 1872Morley Voltaire 6 The self-raised spontaneous products of some miraculous soil.
c. Produced, developed, coming into existence, by natural processes or changes.
1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. 290 Constitutions abounding with a spontaneous alkali, ought to avoid alkaline Substances. 1779Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) IV. 2671/2 Mr. Wilcke..distinguishes it by the name of spontaneous electricity. 1826Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 28 Leaving a portion of matter unattenuated, to produce briskness, and, consequently, spontaneous fineness and flavour. 1846G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. II. 249 The urine which threw down a spontaneous sediment. 1862Marsh Eng. Lang. iii. 59 All the gorgeous spontaneous hues of sun-lit cloud.
6. quasi-adv. = next.
1667Milton P.L. vii. 203 Chariots wing'd..now came forth Spontaneous. 1720Pope Iliad xvii. 248 The stubborn arms..Conform'd spontaneous, and around him closed. 1780Cowper Progr. Error 364 But we, as if good qualities would grow Spontaneous, take but little pains to sow. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. xxxii, Till to her lips in measured frame The minstrel verse spontaneous came. |