▪ I. exploratory, n.
(ɛkˈsplɒrətərɪ)
[f. exploratory a.]
1. ellipt. An exploratory operation. Med. colloq.
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §534/5 Exploratory, exploratory laparotomy. 1984 A. F. Loewenstein This Place 90 Now that he knows the result of my exploratory I'm sure he'll be much easier to live with. |
2. [By analogy with observatory; cf. *exploratorium n.] Professor R. Gregory's term: = *exploratorium n.; spec. the name of a science centre established in Bristol in 1984. Cf. *plore n.
| 1982 Times 17 May 3/2 [Professor Gregory's] scheme proposes the establishment of an ‘exploratory’, a centre at which visitors would learn about science not by looking at exhibits but by actually performing experiments, operating computers and using information banks. Ibid. 3/3 Professor Gregory, professor of psychology at Bristol University, got the name exploratory by analogy with observatory. 1986 R. Gregory Hands-On Sci. i. 11 As the usual museum terms, such as ‘exhibit’, are too passive for the Exploratory's ‘hands-on’ approach, we have coined the word ‘plore’, meaning a model, an experiment, or a problem to explore. 1988 Independent 1 Aug. 6/4 Professor Gregory wants to transform the castle and the buildings on site into an Exploratory. |
▪ II. exploratory, a.
(ɛkˈsplɒrətərɪ)
[ad. L. explōrātōri-us, f. explōrāre: see explore.]
1. Of or pertaining to exploration; connected with investigation or searching.
| 1651 Reliq. Wotton. (1685) 507 This is but an exploratory, and pretentative purpose between us. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. II. 183/1 When God seems to delay..before he comes with the mercy he promiseth, and we pray for; 'tis exploratory to faith. a 1711 Ken Div. Love Wks. (1838) 275, I renounce..all abuse of thy name..in..exploratory lots. 1828 Edin. Rev. XLVIII. 429 Early in this century..remarkable exploratory zeal arose. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VI. xlviii. 80 A new kind of military chaplet..to which he gave the name of the crown exploratory. |
2. a. Constructed or selected for exploration or observation (of the surrounding country).
| 1732 Hist. Litt. III. 500 At some distance were also exploratory Forts. 1774 Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 91 On the very summit of the hill is a small intrenchment, intended as exploratory. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. i. iv. 167 The Romans placed several posts, as exploratory forts, along the banks of the Forth. |
b. Undertaken for the sake of exploration, examination, or discovery.
| 1620 Jas. I in Reliq. Wotton. (1685) 495 Your imployment is, for the present, meerly exploratory and provisional. 1692 Bp. Hopkins Exp. Lord's Pr. 123 There is an Exploratory Temptation, to search out and discover what is in Man. 1825 Southey in Q. Rev. XXXII. 25 Herefordshire..a favourite scene of their exploratory travels. 1887 S. Ferguson Ogham Inscriptions 17 At present the study is exploratory rather than demonstrative. 1891 Spectator 11 July, An exploratory operation..to find out whether or not it would be possible to remove a tumour. |
c. Charged with the duty of exploration. Also (nonce-use), bent on exploration.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iv. v, Chalons sends forth exploratory pickets of National Volunteers. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxiii, An exploratory blackbeetle now and then was found immovable upon the stairs. |
Add: [2.] [b.] spec. in Med. Of an operation, surgery, etc.: carried out in order to determine the cause of symptoms; diagnostic. (Earlier and later examples.)
| 1844 Brit. & Foreign Med. Rev. XVIII. 467 M. Baudens, however, boasts that he ‘has given this operation more certainty, a precision, so to say, mathematical’, by the employment of exploratory acupuncturation. 1924 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Mar. 514/2 The operation of exploratory laparotomy is largely a recent development of surgery. 1987 Jrnl. Trauma XXVII. 806 Pneumopericardium associated with penetrating chest trauma warrants thorough exploratory surgery to rule out direct cardiac injury. |