| 释义 |
fam·i·ly
I. \ˈfam(ə)lē, ˈfaamlē, -li\ noun
(-es)
Etymology: Middle English familie, from Latin familia servants of a household, household including not only the servants but also the head of the household and all persons in it related to him by blood or marriage, from famulus servant; perhaps akin to Sanskrit dhāman dwelling place, dadhāti he puts, places — more at do I
1.
a. archaic : a group of persons in the service of an individual
< he had a great family, that is to say … many slaves who worked in his bronze foundry — Maurice Samuel >
b. : the retinue or staff of a nobleman or high official
< invited … to join his military family as aide-de-camp — H.E.Scudder >
c. : a group of people bound together by philosophical, religious, or other convictions : fellowship
< belongs to the Kantian family — W.E.Schlaretzki >
d. : a body of employees or volunteer workers united in a common enterprise
< reference is made not just to the administrators, but to every single member of the community hospital family — G.W.Gilbert >
2.
a. : a group of persons of common ancestry : clan
< let us assail the family of York — Shakespeare >
specifically : a group of persons of distinguished lineage
< the office has always been held by men of family — Oswald Banon >
b. : a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock : race
< the worldwide family of human beings — K.F.Mather >
3.
a. : a group of individuals living under one roof : household
< the family includes a poodle — TV Guide >
b. : the body of persons who live in one house and under one head including parents, children, servants, and lodgers or boarders; specifically : a group of persons sharing a common dwelling and table considered for census purposes to include at one extreme a single person living alone and at the other the residents of a hotel or the inmates of a prison
4. : a group of things having common features or properties: as
a.
(1) in the classification of languages of the eastern hemisphere : a number of related languages comprising all those held to be demonstrably descended from a single ancestral language that itself is not demonstrably related to any other language by descent from a common ancestral language
< the Afro-Asiatic language family >
(2) in the classification of languages of the western hemisphere : a number of related languages comprising all those held to be demonstrably descended from a single ancestral language believed to have existed approximately 5 to 25 centuries ago
b. : musical instruments having the same basic method of tone production
< the double-reed family >
< the viol family >
c. : a set of typefaces of the same name and basic design that are cast in various sizes, weights, and widths
< the Cheltenham family >
— compare font, series
d. : a closely related series of elements or chemical compounds:
(1) : a subgroup in the periodic table
< the chromium family >
(2) : radioactive series
< the radium family >
(3) : a homologous series of organic compounds
< the paraffin family >
e. : a group of rocks of the same general mineralogical and chemical composition
f.
(1) : a group of asteroids whose orbits have similar characteristics which remain little changed over long periods of time prob. because of their common origin
(2) : a group of comets whose aphelion points are near that of one of the major planets prob. as a result of successive gravitational encounters with the planet
g. : a group of soils that have similar profiles and include one or more series — called also soil family
5.
a. : the basic biosocial unit in society having as its nucleus two or more adults living together and cooperating in the care and rearing of their own or adopted children
< the association of adults … is the necessary nucleus of any family — Ralph Linton >
b. : one's children
< a young mother scouring her numerous family with flat pancakes of … river clay — Marguerite Steen >
c. : a male and female animal with their young
< the typical gorilla band has as many as five associated families — Weston La Barre >
6.
a. : a group of related plants or animals forming a category ranking above a genus and below an order, usually comprising several to many genera, but sometimes including a single genus of notably distinctive characters
b. in livestock breeding
(1) : the descendants or line of a particular individual especially of some outstanding female
(2) : an identifiable strain within a breed
c. : an ecological community consisting of a single kind of organism and usually being of limited extent and representing an early stage of a succession
7. mathematics : an infinite set — used of curves and surfaces
II. adjective
1. : of or relating to a family
< a strong family resemblance >
2. : adapted to family use or participation
< a family room >
< family dances >
III. noun
1. : a group constituting a unit of a crime syndicate (as the Mafia) and engaging in underworld activities within a defined geographical area
2. : a set of curves, surfaces, functions, equations, or expressions that differ in mathematical representation only in the values assigned to one or more parameters
3. : any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family
< a single-parent family >
IV. adjective
: designed or suitable for both children and adults
< family restaurants >
< family movies > |