| 释义 |
discreet, a. (adv. and n.)|dɪˈskriːt|
Forms: 4–6 discret, 4–7 discrete, 6–7 discreete, 5– discreet, (5 discrett, dyscrete, 5–6 Sc. discreit, 6 disscrete).
[ME. discret, discrete, a. F. discret, -ète (12th c. in Littré), ‘qui se conduit avec discernement’, ad. L. discrētus, in late L. and Rom. sense: cf. It. and Sp. discreto ‘discreet, wise, wary, considerate, circumspect’ (Florio), ‘discreet, wise to perceiue’ (Minsheu). A doublet of discrete, differentiated in sense and spelling.
In cl. Lat., discrēt-us had only the sense ‘separate, distinct’, as pa. pple. of discernĕre, whence the corresponding mod.F. sense of discret, and Eng. discrete. The late L. sense, which alone came down in popular use in Romanic, seems to have been deduced from the cognate n. discrētiōn-em, originally the action of separating, distinguishing, or discerning, and then the faculty of discernment; hence the adjective may have taken the sense ‘possessed of discernment’.
In Eng., discrete was the prevalent spelling in all senses until late in the 16th c., when on the analogy of native or early-adopted words in ee from ME. close ē, as feet, sweet, beet), the spelling discreet (occasional from 1400) became established in the popular sense, leaving discrete for the scholastic and technical sense in which the kinship to L. discrētus is more obvious: see discrete. Shakespeare (1st Folio) has always discreet.]
A. adj.
1. Showing discernment or judgement in the guidance of one's own speech and action; judicious, prudent, circumspect, cautious; often esp. that can be silent when speech would be inconvenient.
a. Of persons.
1340[implied in discreetly]. c1386Chaucer Doctor's T. 48 (Ellesm.) Discreet she was in answeryng alway [so Heng.; Harl. & Corp. discret, 3 MSS. discrete]. 1388Wyclif Ecclus. xxxi. 19 Vse thou as a discreet and temperat man these thingis. c1440Gesta Rom. i. 4 The clerke..is a discrete confessour. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxii. 66 Gar ȝour merchandis be discreit, That na extortiounes be. 1534Tindale Titus ii. 5 To be discrete [so Cranmer & Geneva; 1611 discreet], chast, huswyfly. 1569J. Rogers Gl. Godly Love 180 A wife ought to be discret. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 145 To be silent and discreete in companye..is most requisite for a young man. 1598Florio, Discreto, discreet. 1644Milton Judgm. Bucer (1851) 332 We must ever beware, lest..we make our selvs wiser and discreeter then God. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 251 His wife being very reserv'd and discreet in her husbands presence, but in his absence more free and jolly. 1733Pope Hor. Sat. ii. i. 69 Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet. 1832W. Irving Alhambra II. 111 You are a discreet man, and I make no doubt can keep a secret: but you have a wife. 1839Thirlwall Greece. VI. 33 A well-meaning and zealous officer, but not very discreet or scrupulous.
b. Of speech, action, and the like.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 894 (943) So wyrcheth now in so discret a wyse, That I honour may haue and he plesaunce. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 84 Preyers of a parfyt man and penaunce discret. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 217/1 She aroos up with a glad visage a dyscrete tongue and wel spekyng. 1533Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. xix. (1539) 346 There is neyther meate nor drynke, in the use wherof ought to be a more discrete moderation, than in wyne. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. iv. iii. 19 A smooth, discreet, and stable bearing. 1608Bp. Hall Char. Virtues & V. 47 Not by flattery, but by discreet secrecie. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 550 What she wills to do or say Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. 1791Cowper Iliad xiii. 562 At length as his discreeter course, he chose To seek æneas. 1883Wills Mod. Persia 48 We maintained a discreet silence.
2. In Sc. applied more to behaviour towards others; hence, well-spoken, well-behaved, civil, polite, courteous; ‘not rude, not doing anything inconsistent with delicacy towards a female’ (Jam.).
[1727–46Thomson Summer 1370 Dear youth!..By fortune too much favoured, but by love, Alas! not favoured less, be still as now Discreet.] 1782Sir J. Sinclair Observ. Scot. Dial. 100 (Jam.) He is a very discreet (civil) man, it is true, but his brother has more discretion (civility). 1812A. Fuller Let. in Life C. Anderson vii. (1854) 198 You are what your countrymen call ‘a discreet man’. 18..Blackw. Mag. (O.), I canna say I think it vera discreet o' you to keep pushing in before me in that way. 1860Ramsay Remin. Ser. i. (ed. 7) 105 Discreet..civil, kind, attentive.
†3. Rare 16th c. spelling of discrete, q.v.
†B. as adv. = discreetly. Obs.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 101 Best advised, discreetest governed, and worthiest.
†C. n. A discreet person; a sage counsellor; a confidential adviser: applied to ecclesiastics; cf. discretion 8. Obs.
1528Roy Rede me (Arb.) 90 Wardens, discretes, and ministers, And wother offices of prelacy. 1533More Apol. xxii. Wks. 882/2 A great some remaining after al the spiritual folke sufficiently prouided for, then had it bene good that he hadde yet farther deuysed, how it would please him that his discretes should order the remanaunt. |