| 释义 |
eligible, a.|ˈɛlɪdʒɪb(ə)l|
Also 6 elygyble, 8 elegible.
[a. Fr. éligible, as if ad. L. *ēligibilis f. ēligĕre to choose.]
1. Fit or proper to be chosen (for an office or position). Const. for, † of, to (an office), into (a corporation).
1561in W. H. Turner Select Rec. Oxford 283 The Mayre shold be elygyble. 1604Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 2 These foureteene were such as had serued fiue yeares in the warres, whereby they became eligible of that dignitie. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. 116 Four Essentials are requisite in the Persons Eligible into this Order. 1712Prideaux Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4) 44 All others are Elegible. 1789Constit. U.S. ii. §1 No person except a natural born citizen..shall be eligible to the office of president. 1832tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. vi. 135 They ordained that a general list of all the eligible citizens..should be formed. 1853Bright Sp. India 3 June, The natives of India were declared to be eligible to any office. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. viii. 124 A member of Parliament cannot, without vacation of his seat, be eligible for any other place.
2.
†a. Subject to appointment by election. (obs.)
b. (nonce-use). That can be elected (in a certain manner).
1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 108 King Henry the First being requested by the Bishop of Rome to make them [the Bishops] eligible. 1739Selden's Laws Eng. ii. iv. 24 note, Both the Chancellor and other Great Officers of State were originally eligible by the Parliament. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 267 Elected and eligible by bribery.
3. Fit or deserving to be chosen or adopted.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1067 What greater contrariety can there be, as touching things eligible or refusable, than to say that, etc. 1655–60Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 192/1 That he conceiveth the Vertues to be eligible in theselves, is manifest. 1748Anson Voy. i. ix. (ed. 4) 120 The most eligible manner of doubling Cape Horn. 1851Carlyle Sterling i. xi, It was fixed upon as the eligiblest course. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. ii. (1858) 133 In this equality of mountains, all were alike eligible.
b. That is a matter of choice or preference.
1769Burke Corr. (1844) I. 181, I never looked upon this method of petition to the Crown as a thing eligible, but as a matter of urgent and disagreeable necessity. 1856Ferrier Inst. Metaph. Introd. 71 Our selection of a new question, as our starting point, is not simply convenient, it is constraining: it is not eligible, but inevitable.
4. (A weakening of sense 3:) That one would choose or like: Desirable, acceptable, suitable.
1761Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxiii. 75 The condition of the commons was nowise eligible. 1802M. Edgeworth Mor. T. (1816) I. x. 82 He resolved..to seek some other more eligible situation. 1854Thackeray Newcomes 222 Not a very eligible admirer for darling Rosey. 1863Fawcett Pol. Econ. ii. x. 282 It provides them with the most eligible investment for their savings. 1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. v. 164 Eligible property.
5. quasi-n. in pl. Eligible persons or things.
1844Calcutta Rev. I. 10 There is no scarcity of brides; and merchants' clerks and Ensigns are eligibles. 1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv. 131 She had, of course, all the eligibles and non-eligibles of the other sex sighing at her feet. 1881Athenæum 23 July 107/3 A choice of preference of eligibles.
Hence ˈeligibly adv., in an eligible manner.
1815Jane Austen Emma ii. ii. 138 Eligibly and happily settled. |