stand on the shoulders of giantsとは 意味・読み方・使い方

動詞

stand on the shoulders of giants (三人称単数 現在形 stands on the shoulders of giants, 現在分詞 standing on the shoulders of giants, 過去形および過去分詞形 stood on the shoulders of giants)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To build on the discoveries of others before one.
   • 1675 February 5, Isaac Newton, “Newton to Hooke”, in H. W. Turnbull, editor, The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, Volume I: 1661–1675, Cambridge University Press, published 1959, page 416:

     If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.

   • 1987 January 27, Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address‎^[1]:

     In this 200th anniversary year of our Constitution, you and I stand on the shoulders of giants—men whose words and deeds put wind in the sails of freedom.

   • 2002, Sam Williams, chapter 10, in Free as in Freedom, →ISBN:

     "In the western scientific tradition we stand on the shoulders of giants," says Young, echoing both Torvalds and Sir Isaac Newton before him.

   • 2007, C. M. C. Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia‎^[2], page xv:

     It is useful, though, to remember the conclusion of the maxim: we stand on the shoulders of giants to see better and farther than they.

派生語

• stand on someone's shoulders

Further reading

• standing on the shoulders of giants on Wikipedia.