| 释义 |
visual, a. and n.|ˈvɪʒjuːəl, ˈvɪz-|
Also 6–7 visuall.
[a. OF. visual (16th c., = Sp. and Pg. visual, It. visuale, OF. and F. visuel), or ad. late L. vīsuālis (rare) attained by or belonging to sight, f. L. vīsus sight, vision n.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of beams: Coming, proceeding, or directed from the eye or sight. Obs. or arch.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 1697 Þat of oure siȝt þe stremys visual May nat be-holde, nor I-sen at al,..How Appollo is in his chare schynende. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1362 It fareth with us in this case, as with those who would see a thing very farre distant; for of necessitie the visual beames of his sight doe faile before they can reach thereto. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. To Rdr., Trusting Authorities at second hand, and rash collecting..from visuall beam's refracted through anothers eye. 1671Milton Samson 163 For inward light alas Puts forth no visual beam.
b. visual line, the direct line from the eye to the object or point of vision; the line of sight.
1571Digges Pantom. i. xx. F ij b, Agayne my line visuall proceeding from D to H the subtill notche in the subtendente side of the angle, extendeth to my fifte staffe G. 1602Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618) III. 696 By meanes of the shadowes, or visuall lines, representing the said shadowes. 1667Sir R. Moray in Phil. Trans. II. 474 The Visual line that passeth from the Eye to the upper-side of the Mark. 1755Dict. Arts & Sci. s.v. Perspective, In drawing a perspective figure, where many lines come together, you may..draw the diagonals in red; the visual lines in black. 1850Nichol Archit. Heav. ii. iv. 135 Merely to indicate that they lie in almost the same visual line, or that their proximity is optical only, and not real.
c. visual ray, a ray proceeding from the eye to the object seen (cf. visual beam above), or in later use from the object to the eye.
1625N. Carpenter Geogr. Del. i. vi. (1635) 154 The visuall Ray wherein the sight is carried is alwaies a right line. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 620 The Aire, No where so cleer, sharp'nd his visual ray To objects distant farr. 1755Dict. Arts & Sci. s.v. Perspective, The point of sight..is the point where all the other visual rays..unite. 1779Phil. Trans. LXIX. 649 The great and varying refractions of the visual rays. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 710 Visual rays, are those which, passing through the transparent plane, render original objects visible. Principal visual ray, is that which passes through the axis or centre of the eye. 1840Lardner Geom. 203 If the visual ray from the upper extremity A′ coincide with the visual ray from the upper extremity of the other. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 475 The instrument will give us the angle formed by the visual ray with our base-line.
2. a. Of power or faculty: Pertaining or relating to, concerned or connected with, sight or vision. visual acuity, sharpness of vision; spec. as measured or expressed in terms of a definite scale (see quot. 1974).
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1345 As the one [sc. the sun] kindles, bringeth foorth and stirreth up the visuall power and vertue of the sense. 1798Wordsw. Peter Bell 918 The Spirits of the Mind Are busy..Upon the rights of visual sense Usurping. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. (1879) 13 That part of the Brain which is the instrument of our Visual Consciousness. 1889Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. VII. 665/2 Comparative researches upon the visual acuity of different parts of the retina. 1938R. L. Rea Neuro-Ophthalmology iv. 86 In the early stages [of papillœdema] there may be..full central visual acuity. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VII. 104/1 A visual acuity of unity indicates a power of resolving detail subtending one minute of arc at the eye; a visual acuity of two indicates a resolution of one-half minute..of arc.
fig.1828Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1860) I. 197 Language..when it becomes too copious,..altogether destroys the visual power [of the imagination]. 1849W. A. Butler Serm. vii. 114 Faith is the realizing power. Its the visual sense of the Spirit.
b. visual purple [tr. G. sehpurpur (app. first used by W. Kühne 1877, in Verh. d. Naturhist.-med. Verein zu Heidelberg I. 484)]: = rhodopsin.
[1877Nature 1 Feb. 296/1 These first observations of Kühne on the vision-purple (Sehpurpur), as he terms it.] 1878M. Foster Text Bk. Physiol. (ed. 2) iii. ii. 415 For the restoration of the visual purple, after it has been destroyed by light, the maintenance of the circulation of the blood through the tissues of the eye is not essential. 1921Proc. R. Soc. B. XCII. 232 A highly dilute visual purple may suffice for the requirements of photopic vision. 1953Sci. News XXX. 116 Although as many as six visual pigments have been recognized in different species, only one, visual purple, has been obtained from the human retina. 1983Guardian 4 Aug. 17/2 Retinaldehyde..is present in the retina of the eye combined with the visual pigment known as visual purple.
3. a. Of organs: Endowed with the power of sight; having the function of producing vision. Cf. optic a. 2.
1626Bacon Sylva §400 An Eye..hath beene thrust forth, so as it hanged a pretty distance by the Visuall Nerue. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 414 Michael..then purg'd with Euphrasie and Rue The visual Nerve [of Adam], for he had much to see. 1704Swift T. Tub xi, The virtue of the Visual nerve, which every little accident shakes out of order. 1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 228 An assemblage of several organs, all concurring to the production of a single result, constitutes an apparatus,—the visual apparatus, the digestive apparatus [etc.]. 1874tr. Lommel's Light 1 The visual organ, like every other special sense, possesses a peculiar form of sensibility. 1880Huxley Cray-Fish iii. 121 Each of these visual pyramids consists of an axial structure—the visual rod invested by a sheath.
b. Of the eye, or in phrases denoting this, as visual orb. Chiefly poet.
1725Pope Odys. i. 90 Neptune..Afflicts the chief, to avenge his giant son Whose visual orb Ulysses robbed of light. Ibid. ix. 454 Urged by some present god, they swift let fall The pointed torment on his visual ball. 1801Lusignan IV. 177 [She] complained that the light,..hurt the visual optic. 1877L. Morris Epic Hades ii. 221 By night when visual Eyes are blind.
4. a. Of knowledge: Attained or obtained by sight or vision.
In early use app. contrasted with book-knowledge.
1651Biggs New Disp. ⁋74 Mathiolus,..and other Herbalists, have hitherto been busied only about the features, and visuall knowledge of Plants, but all of them..describe vertues out of Dioscorides. 1903Conrad & Hueffer Romance iv. v. 270 These..were the only two men of whom she could be said to have more than a visual knowledge.
b. Carried out or performed by means of vision.
1849Robertson Serm. Ser. i. x. (1866) 155 The visual perception of His Form would be a small blessing. 1882Proctor Fam. Sci. Stud. 8 The visual test however is independent.
c. Of impressions, etc.: Received through the sense of sight; based upon something seen.
1833Sir C. Bell Hand (1834) 327 Were the eye fixed in the head..we should still be capable of comparing the visual impression with the experience of the body. 1840Mill Diss. & Disc. (1859) II. 103 The visual ideas, which thus become our main symbols of tangible objects. 1877M. Foster Physiol. iii. ii. (1878) 397 These two things we will briefly distinguish as visual sensations and visual judgments. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight iii. 37 All parts of the retina are not equally sensitive to visual impressions.
5. a. Of or pertaining to vision in relation to the object of sight; = optic a. 5, optical a. 2. Chiefly in special collocations as visual angle, visual axis, visual field, visual focus, visual point, visual range.
1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. ii, *Visual-angle, is the same with the Optick-Angle. c1790J. Imison Sch. Arts I. 205 The Visual or Optic Angle, is that which is contained under the two right lines drawn from the extreme points of an object to the eye. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. xii. 110 To-day's dinner subtends a larger visual angle than yesterday's revolution. 1873W. Lees Acoustics ii. iv. 66 The size of an object depends upon the magnitude of the visual angle.
1874Hartwig Aerial World xiii. 198 If the sun rises, the *visual axis sinks, and with it the rainbow.
1880W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 169 He perceives correctly the position of objects in the *visual field. 1927B. Russell Anal. Matter xii. 111 The sort of relation that will not do is illustrated if we take xy = zw to mean that xy and zw have the same apparent dimensions in the visual field of a certain observer. 1961G. E. M. Anscombe tr. Wittgenstein's Notebks. 1914–16 45 What is a uniformly coloured part of my visual field composed of?
1837Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 63 What may be called the *visual focus of a lens, or its distance from an object upon which we have adjusted its focus as a magnifier. 1867J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 156 The making of the actinic and visual foci coincident.
1679Moxon Math. Dict. s.v., The *Visual Point in Perspective,..is a point in the Horizontal Line, wherein all the Occular Rays unite. [Hence in Phillips, Harris, etc.]. 1755Dict. Arts & Sci. s.v. Perspective, Let the object you intend to delineate..be placed also on the right-hand of the visual point. 1842Francis Dict. Arts, Visual Point, the point of vision from which an object is viewed, synonymous with the point of sight.
1953R. Chisholm Cover of Darkness iii. 36 Reading the faces of cathode-ray tubes was a small part of the Observer's task. By description and instruction he had to get his Pilot to *visual range. 1965Observer 31 Oct. 1/1 ‘Visual range’—the distance one can see along the runway—is measured and passed to the pilot.
b. In general use.
1812Woodhouse Astron. xi. 91 Certain smaller corrections belonging..to some change in the position of the poles of the earth: or to causes merely visual and optical. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 158 It is indeed quite conceivable that, in beings of another race, the visual scale may be much larger than ours.
6. a. That is an object of vision or sight; capable of being seen; perceptible, visible.
1756Burke Subl. & B. iii. xxvi, A clear and settled idea of visual beauty. Ibid. iv. xv, Among many remarkable particulars that attended his first perceptions and judgments on visual objects. c1810Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 295 The second commandment expressly makes the worshipping of God in or before a visual image of him..idolatry. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxv. (1856) 313 Refraction, with its preternatural augmentation of the visual hemisphere, revisited us. 1869Tyndall in Fortn. Rev. 1 Feb. 237 Of all the visual waves emitted by the sun, the shortest and smallest are those which correspond to the colour blue. 1871― Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. vi. 223 The spectrum embraces three classes of rays—the thermal, the visual, and the chemical. 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 240 Which from the visual aspect of colour should appear almost black.
b. Of actions, conditions, etc. Also, characterized by visibility.
1828Carlyle Misc. (1840) I. 307 (Goethe) Everything has form, everything has visual existence; the poet's imagination bodies forth the forms of things unseen. 1840― Heroes ii. (1904) 69 That this so solid-looking material world..is a visual and tactual Manifestation of God's power and presence. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps v. §10. 145 The inclination may be seen by the eye, by bringing it [the wall] into visual contact with the upright pilasters. 1867–77G. F. Chambers Astron. i. i. 11 The period required to make a whole visual rotation.
c. Of signalling or a signal.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 424/1 Visual signalling was formerly carried on by semaphores. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 396/2 Visual signaling embraces flags, heliograph, torch, flash light, etc. 1906Times 20 Aug. 5/1, I proceeded as far..as ensured my being able to use visual signals to the signal station.
d. visual aid, illustrative matter designed to supplement written or spoken information; spec. in Educ. with reference to pictures, models, films, etc., as an aid to learning. orig. U.S.
1911P. Monroe Cycl. Educ. V. 734/2 The last century of schoolroom practice has been marked by a great increase in the use of natural objects, models, pictures, maps, charts, and other visual aids. 1938Rep. Physical Educ. & Film (Brit. Film Inst.) 1 The function of the film in education has been defined as that of a visual aid. 1958Economist 29 Nov. 764/1 The visual aids which the party's television programme used to good effect. 1967Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 14 Mar. (1970) 497 In one room they were using visual-aid machines for faster reading. 1980E. Blishen Nest of Teachers i. ii. 11 That most familiar of visual aids, an extremely tatty blackboard.
e. visual display (Computers) = display n. 1 c; visual display unit, a device for displaying on its screen data stored in a computer, and usu. incorporating a keyboard for manipulating the data; abbrev. VDU, vdu s.v. V 5 b.
1954Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery I. 57/1 Cathode ray tube equipment for providing external visual displays of information stored internally in the computer. 1967Klerer & Korn Digital Computer User's Handbk. i. 77 The importance of the use of machine-produced graphs and other types of visual displays can hardly be over emphasized. 1969Computers & Humanities IV. 83 For those interested in on-line text manipulation, there is special temptation in newer devices like cathode ray tubes (CRTs) or visual displays, or ‘scopes’, as they are variously called. 1971J. Anderson in B. de Ferranti Living with Computer vii. 59 With..the introduction..of visual display units..there has been a resurgence of interest in applying such techniques to medical recording. 1977R.A.F. News 11–24 May 7/2 When can we have our visual display unit? 1983Brit. Med. Jrnl. 23 July 271 Most of the comments relating to paper records apply to visual displays for data entry. 1984Times 16 Nov. 12/4 The latest scare comes from reports of women who worked on visual display units (VDUs) during pregnancy and went on to deliver handicapped babies or suffer miscarriages.
7. a. Of the nature of a mental vision; produced or occurring as a picture in the mind.
1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. I. iv. 76 The change of one visual image for another involves in itself no absurdity. 1845Carlyle Cromwell I. 88 Let the reader try to make a visual scene of it as he can. 1851Helps Comp. Solit. x. 192 When we are thinking or talking of a person, we recall some visual image of that person. 1875E. White Life in Christ i. v. (1876) 46 The deeper is the sense of incompetence even to imagine as a visual conception the mass of human beings who have tenanted it.
b. Carrying or conveying a mental vision or image.
1868Gladstone Juv. Mundi xiii. (1870) 469 The Greek Catalogue is charged throughout with what I may call local colour and visual epithets; epithets which..raise up a prospect or scene before the mental eye of a reader or a hearer.
B. n.
1. a. A visual ray: see visual a. 1 c.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. III. 2/2 Certain Rays which minister to the sight..are called Visuals. 1779Phil. Trans. LXIX. 649 The quantity of effects and of errors in the visuals proceeding from this last cause must be very different at different times.
2. = visualist 1.
1886Mind July 415 This division of men into visuals, audiles, motiles and indifferents, as we may respectively call them, if of great interest and importance. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 440 These variations depend..upon the question whether the patients are ‘auditives’ or ‘visuals’.
3. A visual image or display, a picture; spec. the visual element of a film or television production. Usu. pl.
1951Brit. Kinematogr. XIX. 110/1 A good deal has been done by..‘visuals’. 1959Times 4 Mar. 11/7 Exposition is particularly difficult on television—it gets confused by the visuals and the speaker's loose words. 1961Listener 19 Oct. 622/3 As the commentator's voice announced that allocations for shelters by the U.S. Government had been currently increased 700 per cent, we saw a visual of President Kennedy roaring with laughter. 1966J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants vii. 229 The Language Master..is a new transistorized machine into which can be fed visuals and reading matter on long cards. 1972Observer 16 Apr. 34/6 Written entries..should be typed, visuals (a maximum of 3ft square) carefully packed. 1974‘D. Craig’ Dead Liberty xxi. 125 The Finance lads liked your economics piece... We're getting some graphs and other visuals done. 1984Times 23 Jan. 7/1 There is more porn in the [cinema] subtitles than in the visuals. |
