| 释义 |
superiority|s(j)uːpɪərɪˈɒrɪtɪ|
Also 6 Sc. -atie, supperioritie.
[a. OF. superiorite (= It. superiorità, Sp. -idad, Pg. -idade) or ad. their source, med.L. superiōritās: see superior and -ity.]
The quality or condition of being superior.
†1.
a. Superior rank, dignity, or official status; superior or supreme command; position or authority as a superior. Const. of, over. Obs.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 48 b, None shold be so hardy..to coueyte superiorite, or to commaunde obedyence. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xx. (1634) 744 That there bee made prayers..for Kings and for all that be set in superiority. 1577Holinshed Chron. II. 580/2 Kyng Iohn hadde resigned the superioritie of hys Kyngdome..vnto the Pope. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 5 Luneburg..is one of the free Imperiall Cities; but the Duke of Luneburg challengeth a superiority ouer it. 1633Sir J. Burroughs Sov. Brit. Seas (1651) 6 Such is his..indubitable right to the Superiority of the Seas of England. 1662Winstanley Loy. Martyrol. (1665) 103 [Cromwell] having..attained to the Superiority over the Three Kingdomes. 1709Steele Tatler No. 39 ⁋1 Superiority is there given in Proportion to Men's Advancement in Wisdom and Learning.
†b. pl. Prerogatives of a superior; superior ranks. Obs.
1558–9Act 1 Eliz. c. 1 §1 Thauncient Jurisdiccions Aucthoritees Superiorities and Preheminencies. 1581Lambarde Eiren. i. x. (1588) 61, I doe utterly renounce..all foraine jurisdiction, powers, superiorities and authorities. 1660H. More Myst. Godl. v. xvii. 204 Without changing any Temporal Powers and Superiorities. 1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. iv. 40 They..strive to monopolize..the highest Dignities, Superiorities and Authorities.
†c. transf. The superior or ruling class, those in authority. Obs. rare.
1542Boorde Dyetary xii. (1870) 263 A general commaundment hath ben sent from the superyoryte to the commonalte.
†d. A community governed by one who has the title of ‘superior’. Obs. rare.
1721Strype Eccl. Mem II. ii. xxi. 413 The duchy of Milan,..the superiority of Flanders..the kingdom of Navarre.
e. The position or office of superior of a religious community, superiorship. rare.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Superiority,..a being Superiour in a Monastery. 1777W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. 112 To exchange the superiority of Alcantara for the archbishopric of Seville.
2. a. Feudal Law. The position or right of the superior (see superior B. 3) of an estate; the lordship of an estate.
a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 427 The Laird of Restalrig,..to quhome the superioratie of Leyth appertenit. 1628Sc. Acts Chas. I (1870) V. 189 Superiorities and Teinds. 1678G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. ii. xi. §3 (1699) 202 No Lands..but such as belong to him, in whose favours that Jurisdiction was granted, either in Property, or Superiority. 1746Bp. Sherlock Let. 10 June in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 292 The North Britains are so attached to the usages of their country, so fond of the superiorities, [etc.]. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. iii. (1851) I. 237 His superiorities and jurisdictions extended over many of the northern counties. a1768Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. iv. §11 (1773) 212 The superior must lose all the casualties of superiority. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scot. I. 122 The superiority of the Canongate,..and barony of Broughton, were vested in the Earl of Roxburgh. The Town-Council of Edinburgh purchased these superiorities from the earl. 1828–43Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 33 John Comyn, lord of Badenoch,..acknowledged the superiority of Edward. 1868Act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 101 §104 The person having right to the superiority of any lands. 1883F. H. Groome Ordn. Gaz. Scot. IV. 402/1 Under the superiority of the Baillies of Dochfour, Kingussie is a police burgh.
b. Such a position or right as conferring franchise: see quots. Sc.
1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 212 These fictitious votes, or ‘superiorities,’ as they were called, soon became matter of traffic,..about half these freeholders possessed merely the superiority—the parchment franchise—without having any right to an acre of the ground! 1861May Const. Hist. (1863) I. vi. 300 The county franchise [in Scotland] consisted in ‘superiorities,’ which were bought and sold in the market.
3. The condition of being stronger than or prevailing over another; supremacy. Obs. exc. const. to in sense of superior a. 6 b.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 171 Studyeng..how to..get the superioritie and ouerhand aboue their euilwillers. 1553Respublica iii. v. 823 Avar. And howe dyd all frame with our Mounsire Authorytee? Oppr. Att length he wonne the full superiorytee. 1607(title) Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue, And the fiue Senses For Superiority. 1611Coryat Crudities 171 These two streetes doe seeme to contend for the superiority, but the first..is the fairest of them. 1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 119 The Table line prenotes fidelity, and superiority over enemies. 1770Langhorne Plutarch VI. 130 (Artaxerxes) They lost their superiority in Greece by the ill-fought battle of Leuctra. a1831A. Knox Rem. (1844) I. 72 His..obvious superiority to the world and the flesh.
4. a. The quality or condition of being higher, greater, or better in some respect, or of having some attribute in a higher degree, than something else. Const. to, over, above.
1694Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 335 Captain Keggins,..said to have differed with the Dutch about superiority of command. 1707Addison Pres. St. War Wks. 1766 III. 257 Our superiority to the enemy in numbers of men and horse. 1736Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 64 Rational animals have not necessarily the superiority over irrational ones. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 88 Hence appears the great superiority of the hoeing culture. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xii, Signor Montoni had an air of conscious superiority animated by spirit and strengthened by talents. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocracy Wks. (Bohn) II. 77 All nobility in its beginnings was somebody's natural superiority. 1883M. B. Betham-Edwards Disarmed i, He tries to crush me with his superiority. But I am his match with the tongue.
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
a1704T. Brown Eng. Sat. Wks. 1727 I. 26 Horace and Juvenal..challenge with justice a superiority above all the rest. 1755Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 168 Splendid superiorities cannot be neutral, with regard to the characters of those who possess them. 1839James Louis XIV, III. 247 That nation..made vast efforts to obtain a superiority at sea. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vi. 188 A land where every one has some culture and where superiorities are discountenanced.
5. Special Comb.: superiority complex, (a) Psychol., an attitude of superiority which conceals actual feelings of inferiority and failure; (b) gen., an exaggerated sense of personal superiority; (cf. inferiority complex s.v. inferiority 2).
1929A. Adler Probl. Neurosis vi. 87 In his business we find the man with a ‘superiority complex’: but if he were to lose his position..he would promptly go back to the expression of inferiority and make capital out of it. 1936H. Preece in Crisis Dec. 364/2 Each expression of this interest in the Negro is the manifestation of a definite superiority complex. 1945A. L. Rowse English Spirit xxxiii. 232 The English have a singular faculty for depreciating their great men. (Is it perhaps a form of superiority-complex?) 1979Nature 11 Oct. 424/2 The Egyptian scientific community does not like or agree with the Israeli superiority complex. |