| 释义 |
plethora|ˈplɛθərə, plɪˈθɔərə|
Also (after F.), 6 pletore, 7 plethor. See plethory.
[a. med.L. plēthōra, a. Gr. πληθώρη fullness, repletion, f. πλήθειν to become full. In F. pléthore (16th c.). Bailey 1731 has the etymological pronunciation pleˈthōra; ed. 1742 and J. 1755 have ˈplethora.
plethora and plethory were app. sometimes viewed as derived from L. plētūs filled, plētūra repletion, plethora.]
1. Path. A morbid condition, characterized, according to the older writers, by over-fullness of blood or of any other humour (or of juices in a plant); according to later writers, by an excess of red corpuscles in the blood.
1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. C iv, The superhaboundaunce of humours..that the Grekes cal Plethora. Ibid. G iv, Of cacomye yt is coniunct wt the vlcere, or of Pletore, or of phlegmon. 1671Salmon Syn. Med. i. xliv. 99 The Antecedent Cause of Diseases is twofold, the one is called a Plethor or Plenitude. 1673Grew Anat. Roots ii. §16 Lest the Barque, being spongy, should suck it up too fast, and so the Root should be, as it were, surcharged by a Plethora. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. iii, Your character at present is like a person in a plethora, absolutely dying from too much health. 1851Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 317 When they [red corpuscles] are present in an amount much above the average, they seem concerned in producing the condition termed Plethora..which borders upon various diseases. 1877Roberts Handbk. Med. I. 17 The redness and turgidity of plethora.
2. fig. Over-fullness in any respect, superabundance; any unhealthy repletion or excess.
[1597Howson Serm. 24 Dec. 44 That πληθώρα, fulnes of blood in our Bishopricks. a1640Jackson Creed xi. xxxiv. §4 We are all subject to that πληθώρα whereof the Lord so often forewarned Israel.] 1700Bp. Patrick Comm. Deut. xxxii. 15 This was the lamentable effect of their plethora or fullness. 1835Marryat Olla Podr. xvii, We are..suffering under a plethora of capital. 1868Farrar Seekers i. ii. (1875) 27 A plethora of words. |
