| 释义 |
accountable, a.|əˈkaʊntəb(ə)l|
Also 6–7 accomptable.
[f. account v. + -able.]
1. Liable to be called to account, or to answer for responsibilities and conduct; answerable, responsible. Chiefly of persons.
a. (to a person, for a thing).
1583T. Watson Poems (1870) 134 He setteth them downe in this next page following, but not as accomptable for one of the hundreth passions of this booke. 1603Drayton Heroical Ep. (1619) Pref., I ought to be accountable of my private meaning. 1623Sanderson Serm. Ad. Mag. I. 10 (1674) 86 They stand accountable to him from whom they have received it; and woe unto them if the accounts they bring in be not..answerable to the receipts. 1688King's Decl. 14/2 I am nevertheless Accomptable for all Things that I openly and voluntarily..do or say. 1713Steele Englishm. No. i. 9 I am accountable to no Man, but the greatest Man in England is accountable to me. 1812Wellington in G.D. IX. 153 The officer commanding the company must be accountable to the volunteer for the residue of the sum. 1873W. Collins New Magd. (Tauchn.) I. xiv. 222 She is not accountable for her actions.
b. Also without to or for.
1642Declar. Lords and Comm. 9 Jan., 4 The Lord Lieutenant and Committee shall be accomptable. 1736Butler Anal. i. vi. 152 That he was in fact an accountable child. 1742Middleton Cicero I. Pref. 36 (ed. 3) The Consuls, whose reign was but annual and accountable, could have no opportunity of..erecting themselves into Tyrants. 1788Reid Active Powers i. v. 523 It is of the highest importance to us, as moral and accountable creatures. 1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. (1852) viii. 222 God has chosen also to sustain the character of a governor of accountable agents.
†2. To be counted or reckoned on. Obs.
1603–5Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1735) 286, I could do him accountable Pleasure and good Service. 1709J. Collier Ess. on Sev. Mor. Subj. i. 39 (ed. 6) Those who have not, must be Curates..or else lay by the use of their Priesthood; which I am afraid is not very accountable.
†3. Able to be reckoned or computed. Obs.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie (1869) 90 There is an accomptable number which we call arithmeticall (arithmos) as one, two, three.
†4. To be reckoned or charged; chargeable, attributable to. Obs.
1681Evelyn in Pepys Corr. 311 That I did not proceed with the rest is accountable to his successor.
5. Able to be accounted for or explained; explicable. (Cf. unaccountable.)
1665Glanville Scepsis Sci. 34 The proposed Instances are far more accountable then this before us. 1684T. Burnet Theo. Earth i. 20 A way of making the deluge fairly intelligible, and accountable without the creation of new waters. 1834H. Martineau Moral iii. 124 The progress of freedom has been continuous and accountable. 1869Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 207 There is another omission after verse 165, more accountable than this. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. III. xxxvi. 59 By George—it was a very accountable obstinacy.
b. With for.
1745Wesley Answ. Church 45 Every thing, which is not strictly accountable for, by the Ordinary Course of Natural Causes. 1862F. Hall Refut. Hindu Philos. Syst. 81 The phraseology..is accountable for only by the identity, under one aspect, of a property and that which is propertied. |