| 释义 |
superintendent, n. and a.|ˌs(j)uːpərɪnˈtɛndənt|
Also 6–9 -ant.
[ad. eccl. L. superintendent-, -ens, pr. pple. of superintendĕre to superintend. Cf. obs. F. superintendant (mod.F. surintendant), It. sopr(a)intendente, Sp., Pg. superintendente.]
A. n. One who superintends.
1. a. An officer or official who has the chief charge, oversight, control, or direction of some business, institution, or works; an overseer. Const. of, † over.
1588Kyd Househ. Philos. Wks. (1901) 264 These [servants] would I deuide into two formes..as the one of superintendents, surueighors, or work-maisters, the other of workmen. 1598Barret Theor. Warres iv. i. 92 Superintendent of all the Sergeants. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxvii. 103 One of those Super-intendents of Justice, that..are sent throughout the Provinces for to make report unto the King of all that passeth there. Ibid. lviii. 226 The Super-intendent over all the other Civil and Criminal Ministers. 1770Langhorne Plutarch V. 98 As his family, and particularly his daughters, wanted a proper superintendant. 1801J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 583 The new superintendent of the commercial relations between France and the United States. 1897Punch 17 July 22 Servant (to convalescent Curate, prop of the Sunday School). ‘Please, Sir, the Superintendent wants to know how you are.’ 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 678/2 The city board of education has as its executive officer a superintendent of schools.
b. transf. and gen.
1575Turberv. Faulconrie 371 Spaniels..are superintendantes and necessarie servantes both for the hawke and the falconer. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1313 He is the superintendant and reformer of mens language as touching the gods. 1624Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (ed. 2) 8 'Twas Seneca's fate, that Superintendent of wit. 1688Boyle Final Causes iv. 234 Without any particular guidance of a most wise Superintendent [sc. God].
c. spec. A head official who administers the affairs of a district; a governor.
1758J. Dalrymple Ess. Feudal Property (ed. 2) 10 The superintendants of Folkland, called Coples. 1770Cook Voy. round World iii. xii. (1773) 715 The superintendant of the island of Ourust. 1775Adair Amer. Ind. 252 Our first Indian super-intendant. 1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 113/2 A tract of coast..divided into islands respectively under the care of superintendents.
d. U.S. The conductor of a railway train.
1835Breck Recoll. (1877) 275 ‘Make room for the ladies!’ bawled out the superintendent.
e. A police officer next above the rank of inspector.
1832Observer 24 June 4/4 Mr. Thomas, the Superintendent of Police, F Division, came before..the presiding Magistrate. 1836Act 6 & 7 Will. IV, c. 13 §2 Inspectors, and Superintendents, Clerks, Chief and other Constables, Sub-Constables, and Officers [of the Royal Irish Constabulary]. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 337/1 All promotions in the [police] service up to the rank of superintendent are made from the next rank below. 1907G. B. Shaw Major Barbara Pref. 171 Those who pester our police superintendents with confessions of murder might very wisely be taken at their word and executed. 1936G. Heyer Behold, here's Poison iv. 71 Things are more serious than I had supposed. This is Superintendent Hannasyde, of Scotland Yard. 1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon viii. 150 Not at all, Superintendent. Partial deafness must be quite a handicap in your profession.
2. Eccl.
a. Adopted as an etymological rendering of Gr. ἐπίσκοπος ‘overseer’ (see bishop) of the N.T.; used controversially instead of ‘bishop’ by extreme Protestant reformers of the 16th century, and subsequently by Catholics with reference to bishops of the Church of England. Obs. exc. Hist.
1554T. Martin Traictise Marr. Priestes G iv, He [sc. Clement of Rome] speketh of Bishops and Archbishops, whom thei wold haue termed superintendentes and ministers. 1555Poynet Apologie 53 The word superintendent being a very latyn word made English by vse, should in tyme haue taught the peple by the very etymologie and proper signification, what thinge was ment when they hard that name which by this terme busshop, could not so well be donne. 1567Jewel Def. Apol. vi. ii. 597 Yee mighte easily haue knowen, that a Superintendente, is an Anciente name, and signifieth none other, but a Bishop. 1574R. Bristow Treat. Motives unto Cath. Faith xxxix. (1599) 152 b, Most ill,..and therefore euery where most despised,..most scorned [are] the Superintendents and Ministers themselues. 1589[? Lyly] Pappe w. Hatchet L.'s Wks. 1902 III. 403 [Martinists] studie to pull downe Bishopps, and set vp Superintendents, which is nothing else, but to raze out good Greeke, & enterline bad Latine. 1613F. T. Suppl. Discuss. Barlowes Answ. v. 206 heading, M. Barlow and his fellow-Superintendents proued to be no Bishops. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iii. v. (1650) 208 Writing to Titus the great Super-intendent of Crete. 1721Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ii. xxiii. 444 The very Name of Bishop grew odious among the People, and the Word Superintendent began to be affected. [1730C. Hayes tr. Sarpi's Beneficiary Matters xv. 46 The Bishop, as Super-Intendant and Pastor-General, might regulate the Distribution of Tythes.]
b. In certain Reformed churches on the Continent, a chief or presiding minister; spec. among the Lutherans, a minister who has control of the churches and pastors of a particular district.
Coverdale, 1550, uses super-attendent (see super- prefix 6 a).
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 160 The Senate appointed them a churche [at Strasburg], wherof Iohn Caluine was fyrste for certeine yeres the superintendent. 1564Stapleton tr. Staphylus' Apol. Pref. 7 b, Nicolaus Amsdorfius a famous Superintendent amonge the Lutherans. 1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) III. 1692/1 Henry Bullinger, chief Superintendent in the Citie of Zuricke. 1602Parsons Warn-word 44 b, A great Superintendent in Saxony. 1681Burnet Hist. Ref. II. App. 396 The Zuinglians had no Superintendents, for ought I can find; nor was Hooper ever called Superintendent, but Bishop. 1694Molesworth Acc. Denmark xvi. 253 There are six Superintendants in Denmark, who take it very kindly to be called Bishops, and My Lord. 1706tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. II. v. 128 The Ministers and Super-Intendants of Hereticks. 1879Encycl. Brit. X. 469/2 A synodal constitution for the Evangelical State Church was introduced in Prussia in 1875... The parishes..are grouped into dioceses.., presided over by superintendents, who are subordinate to the superintendent-general of the province.
c. In the Church of Scotland, a minister chosen to preside over and visit the parochial ministers of a particular district, to direct its administration, and to ordain ministers. Now Hist.
1561First Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. in Knox's Wks. (1848) II. 198 To him that travelleth from place to place, quhom we call Superintendentis, quho remane as it war a moneth or less in one place, for the establishing of the kirk. Ibid. 200 It is to be noted, that the Readaris be putt in by the Kirk, and admissioun of the Superintendent. 1561Maitl. Club Misc. III. 267 Superintendent of Fyffe Fothryk & Strathern. 1566in J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. (1710) 362 The Superintendants, Ministers and Commissioners within the Realm of Scotland, to their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of England. c1630Sir T. Hope Minor Practicks (1729) §56 The several Kirks were planted by the Superintendants appointed in every Province, by the General Assembly. a1637Spottiswoode Hist. Ch. Scot. v. (1655) 258 The Superintendents held their office during Life, and their power was Episcopal. a1768Erskine Inst. Law Scot. i. v. §5 Parochial presbyters, and over them certain church-officers, styled superintendents. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 679/1 Under Knox's agency Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Jedburgh, Perth, Dunfermline, and Leith had fixed ministers appointed, whilst wider districts were placed under superintendents or travelling ministers.
d. The name given by John Wesley to men whom he ordained to act as bishops in the United States; now, among Wesleyan Methodists, the presiding minister of a circuit.
1784Wesley in Southey Life (1820) II. 440, I have this day set apart, as a Superintendent, by the imposition of my hands and prayer,..Thomas Coke,..a Presbyter of the Church of England. 1785T. Coke Serm. Godhead Christ Ded., To the Rev. Francis Asbury, Superintendent, the Elders, Deacons, and Helpers, of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 189/1 The admission of members into the society [of Wesleyans] had, up to 1797, been entirely in the hands of the itinerant preachers,—that is, the ‘assistant’, henceforth to be styled the ‘superintendent’, and his ‘helpers’. 1885Minutes of Wesleyan Conf. 24 He was a painstaking Superintendent.
3. superintendent-general [general a. 10], an officer exercising supreme control over a number of superintendents.
1793in Encycl. Brit. (1875) III. 390/2 Superintendent-general of barracks. 1847tr. Bunsen's Ch. Future vi. 143 For the two Churches of the Rhenish provinces and Westphalia, there is a superintendent-general appointed, to whom the title of bishop is also given. 1879[see 2 b].
B. adj. Superintending; exercising superintendence or oversight; holding the position of a superintendent. Now (in English use) chiefly in designations of officials.
1597Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 12 Their high and superintendent estate is no priuiledge to exempt them from the..obedience which they owe vnto God. 1642J. M[arsh] Argt. conc. Militia 38 They exercise a superintendent jurisdiction over all other Courts. 1651Howell Venice 48 The Decemvirs, who..were created to have the sole and superintendent power of all things. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. i. x. §3 It implies that there is a Superintendent Principle over Nature. 1738Chambers Cycl. s.v. Bishop, The superintendant bishop of Copenhagen. 1828J. Ballantyne Exam. Human Mind iii. §1. 169 An influence that is purely superintendent. 1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 23 Superintendent Registrar. 1889W. Wilson State §471 Districts were grouped under a superintendent provincial organization. 1913Times 7 Aug. 3/2 The superintendent visiting officer of the London wards.
Add:[A.] [1.] f. A person responsible for the supervision and maintenance of services in a building, esp. an apartment block; a caretaker or janitor. N. Amer.
1936Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) 288 Practically all American press-agents are now public relations counsel,..nearly all janitors are superintendents, many gardeners have become landscape-architects. 1960A. Huxley Let. 17 July (1969) 893, I have an apartment in Cambridge..which will be mine from August onwards. If for any reason you want to use it, I am sure it will be easy to arrange with the superintendent of the building. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 49/3 (Advt.), Top grade superintendent for high-rise apartment building. Applicant must possess thorough knowledge of hot water heating systems and preferably possess engineers papers. 1990Newsday 2 Mar. iii. 21/1 Ichaso's low-budget, bittersweet comedy is about a homesick Cuban expatriate who has spent the last 10 years as a building superintendent in Spanish Harlem. |