| 释义 |
expectation|ɛkspɛkˈteɪʃən|
[ad. L. expectātiōn-em, n. of action f. exspectāre to expect.]
1. The action of waiting; the action or state of waiting for or awaiting (something). Now only with mixture of sense 2: Expectant waiting.
1550Bale Image Both Ch. B iiij, Dilygent Expectacion in the faith of Gods promyses. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 46 [You] haue sate The liue-long day, with patient expectation, To see great Pompey. 1605― Lear iv. iv. 23 Our preparation stands In expectation of them. c1667South Serm. Consecration (1715) 282 A daily Expectation at the Gate, is the readiest Way to gain Admittance into the House. 1675Bentley Pref. to Dryden's Mistaken Husband 250 This Play was left in Mr. Dryden's hands many years since..After Twelve years expectation, Mr. Dryden gave it to the Players. 1721–1800in Bailey. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvii. 221 After another hour of cold expectation they came again.
b. = expectant method: see expectant A. 2.
1689G. Harvey (title), The Art of Curing Diseases by Expectation. 1866A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 112 The treatment of a disease by expectation consists in watching carefully its progress, and meeting with appropriate measures unfavorable events as they arise. 1884in Syd. Soc. Lex.
c. attrib., as in expectation-week (see quot.).
1622Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 196 Sunday after Ascens. This is called Expectation-week for now the Apostles were..expecting the fulfilling of that promise of our Lord.
2. The action of mentally looking for some one to come, forecasting something to happen, or anticipating something to be received; anticipation; a preconceived idea or opinion with regard to what will take place. Phrases. against expectation, beyond expectation, contrary to expectation, † out of, etc. expectation.
1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 42 Expectatioun or loking for the blys of hevin. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 6 If dew successe..shoulde not chaunce according vnto theyr hope & expectation. 1563Fulke Meteors (1640) 70 b, Some perchance, would looke that wee..should entreat of..precious stones, which matter though it be out of our purpose..yet seeing it is not out of the expectation. 1563Golding Cæsar 149 When contrarye to theyr expectacion, our enemyes saw vs..return. 1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 220 If he do not doat on her vpon this, I wil neuer trust my expectation. 1603Daniel Panegyr. King lxi, Where mens expectations intertaine Hopes of more good. 1736Butler Anal. Introd. Wks. 1874 I. 2 Our expectations that others will act so and so in such circumstances. 1767Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 404 Nature, assisted by art, perfected a cure beyond expectation. 1792Anecd. W. Pitt III. xliv. 205 Is it.. within the utmost stretch of the most sanguine expectation, that [etc.]. 1851Robertson Serm. Ser. iv. iii. (1863) I. 22 Their attitude of Expectation—they were waiting for the coming of the Lord. 1874Green Short Hist. vi. 301 No accession ever excited higher expectations among a people than that of Henry the Eighth.
b. The looking for something as one's due (cf. expect 5 b); in pl. what one looks for or requires one's (mental) demands.
1655in Nicholas Pap. (1892) II. 225 Though those princes be punctuall in their expectations of compliments of that nature.
c. Supposition with regard to what is present or past. Cf. expect v. 6.
1793T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 548 The expectation that you are always from home prevents my writing to you. 1822E. Nathan Langreath III. 88 A fond expectation that the Duke had come in search of her.
3. The state or condition of expecting or mentally looking for something; the mental attitude of one who expects; expectancy. Formerly occas. in pl.
1538Starkey England i. i. 24 In such expectatyon they spend theyr lyfe. 1653Walton Angler i. 11, I am now become so full of expectation, that, etc. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 189 And yet was he degraded before his death, and in hourly expectation of the Hangman. 1667Milton P.L. x. 782 No fear of worse..would torment me With cruel expectation. 1745Fortunate Orphan 235 She is in the highest Expectations. 1772Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 99 Expectation begins to awake in the infant mind. 1827Pollok Course T. ix, Upon the tiptoe raised of expectation. 1864Spectator 454 Influences..that substitute the flutter of expectation for hope.
4. Ground or warrant for expecting; the condition of being likely, or entitled, to receive or experience something in the future.
1611Bible Ps. lxii. 5 My soule wait thou onely vpon God; for my expectation is from him. 1708Atterbury Serm. on Job xxii. (1723) II. 198 To whom can we betake our selves with greater Expectations to succeed in our Addresses?
b. pl. Prospects of inheritance or of profiting by testament.
1669Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 11 Lord Huntingtons marriage is as good as concluded with Sir James Langhams daughter, who gives 20,000l. downe, besides expectations. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scandal iii. iii, I have a rich old uncle..from whom I have the greatest expectations. 1837Lytton E. Maltrav. 45 O yes; I have what are called expectations. 1861Dickens (title), Great Expectations.
†c. = expectative B. 2. Obs. rare—1.
1536Latimer in 27 Serm. (1562) 9 b, Some brought forth Canonizations, some Expectations, some pluralities and vnions.
5. The state or condition of being expected; only in phrase in expectation.
1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 252 Desire..is a strange countrey..where corn is still in grass..and birds alwayes in the shell..all is there only in expectation. 1785Reid Int. Powers ii. xx. 271 Belief of good or ill either present or in expectation. 1832Webster s.v., A sum of money in expectation, when an event happens, has a determinate value before that event happens.
†6. of (great, etc.) expectation: affording ground for favourable anticipations; promising. Obs.
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. xii. (1590) 51 b You, borne so great a Prince, and of so rare, not onely expectation, but proofe. 1605Verstegan Dec. Intell. viii. (1628) 246 The worthiest names, were to bee giuen to such as were of worthiest expectation. 1788Lond. Mag. 423 He was so bred..and was of such expectation, that he looked like a miracle of a man.
7. That which is expected; the object of expectance; a thing expected or looked forward to.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 36 The hope and expectation of thy time Is ruin'd. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 379, I understand Why our great expectation should be call'd The seed of Woman.
8. The degree of probability of the occurrence of any contingent event.
1832Webster s.v., If the chances of receiving or not receiving a hundred dollars..are equal; then..the expectation is worth half the money. 1838De Morgan Ess. Probab. v. (1841) 97 The balance is the average required, and is known by the name of the mathematical expectation. 1848Wharton Law Lex., Expectation, in the doctrine of chances, is applied to any contingent event, upon the happening of which some benefit is expected. Ibid., The value of the expectation is..{pstlg}5.
b. expectation of life: (see quots.)
1725De Moivre Ess. Annuities, The expectation of life is that duration which may be justly expected from a life of a given age. 1796Hutton Math. Dict., Expectation of Life is the..number of years of life, which a person of a given age may, upon an equality of chance, expect to enjoy. 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 420 The expectation of life among the government annuitants.
Add:9. Special Comb.: expectation value Quantum Mech., the expected value of any observable property (e.g. position, energy, momentum) of a quantum-mechanical system.
1943W. Pauli in Rev. Mod. Physics July 177/2 They lead to the consequence that operators with only positive eigenvalues can have negative *expectation values. 1968G. Ludwig Wave Mech. i. iv. 49 The expectation value of A must then be calculated. 1978P. W. Atkins Physical Chem. xiii. 417 In order to extract this information we construct a quantity called the expectation value for the property of interest. |
