| 释义 |
▪ I. adjective, a.|ˈædʒɛktɪv|
[a. Fr. adjectif, -ive, ad. L. adjectīv-us, f. adject-us; see adject a. and -ive.]
A. adj. Of the nature of an addition or adjunct.
1. Gram. Naming or forming an adjunct to a noun substantive; added to or dependent on a substantive as an attribute. noun adjective: a word standing for the name of an attribute, which being added to the name of a thing describes the thing more fully or definitely, as a black coat, a body politic; now usually called an adjective only, see B.
1414Dk. of Exeter to Henry IV in Hall Chron. (1809) 55 Scotland is like a noun adiective that cannot stand without a substantive. 1561T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. i. xiii. (1634) 46 All other names of God [except Jehovah] are but adjective names of addition. 1612Brinsley Posing of Parts (1669) 3 Q. How many sorts of Nouns have you? A. Two: a Noun Substantive, and a Noun Adjective..A noun adjective is that cannot stand by itself, without the help of another word to be joyned with it to make it plain. 1875Whitney Life of Lang. vi. 103 The variation of an adjective word for gender and number and case.
2. Hence, gen. Not standing by itself, dependent. Used spec. of colours that are not permanent without a basis.
1622Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 113 The People, the most Adjective of any that we have met with hitherto; able at no time to stand by themselves. a1628F. Greville Life of Sidney (1652) 120 Our Modern Conquerors would craftily entice the Noun-adjective-natured Princes and subjects of this time to submit their necks. 1813E. Bancroft Perm. Colours I. ii. i. 341 Adjective colours owe their durability, as well as their lustre, to the interposition of some earthy or metallic base. 1856Grote Greece XI. ii. lxxxv. 257 The women were treated on both sides as adjective beings.
3. Of Law: Relating to procedure, the subsidiary part of law; opposed to substantive, relating to the essential justice of law.
1808Bentham Scotch. Ref. 5 The system of procedure, or adjective branch of the law. 1870Daily News 12 May, Law may be divided into Law and Procedure; Law Substantive and Law Adjective.
B. n. [The adj. used absol.]
1. a. A ‘Noun Adjective’ (see A. 1.); one of the Parts of Speech.
1509Hawes Past. Pl. v. x. A nowne substantyve Might stand wythout helpe of an adjectyve. 1597Bp. Hall Satires vi. i. In epithets to join two words in one. Forsooth, for adjectives can't stand alone. 1690Locke Hum. Underst. iii. viii. (1695) 267 Our simple Ideas have all abstract, as well as concrete Names: The one whereof is a Substantive, the other an Adjective; as Whiteness, White; Sweetness, Sweet. 1865Marsh Eng. Lang. xiv. §11 The only striking peculiarity of the English adjective..is its invariability, or want of distinct forms for different cases, genders and numbers.
b. Euphemistically substituted for an expletive adjective; usu. attrib.
1851Dickens in Househ. Words 14 June 270/1, I won't, says Bark, have no adjective police and adjective strangers in my adjective premises! I won't, by adjective and substantive! [1888Kipling Soldiers Three (ed. 3, 1889) 66 They..slept until it was cool enough to go out with their ‘towny’, whose vocabulary contained less than six hundred words, and the Adjective.] 1894Idler Feb. 102 To know where the adjective blazes they are going. 1900E. Wells Chestnuts 29 Now..we must have some (adjective) fun.
2. Hence, gen. That which cannot stand alone; a dependent; an accessory.
1639Fuller Holy War v. xviii. (1840) 274 Subjects should be adjectives, not able to stand without their prince. 1658Osborn King James (1673) 516 Those Northern Adjectives, not able to subsist without England. 1801Fuseli Lect. on Art ii. (1848) 394 In Parmigiano's figures action is the adjective of the posture.
3. Comb. or attrib., as adjective clause, adjective phrase (i.e. one equivalent in function to an adj.), adjective notion, etc.
1860Abp. Thompson Laws of Thought §26, 39 Every verb may be resolved into an adjective-notion; ‘he loved’ is explained by ‘he was loving,’ ‘he hopes’ by ‘he is hoping.’ 1881Whitney Mixt. in Lang. 23 What is the relation of genitive-position in a given tongue to adjective-position?
▪ II. adjective, v.|ˈædʒɛktɪv|
[f. the adj.]
1. To make adjectival; to form or change into an adjective.
1659Instruct. Oratory 27 The adjectiving of the Substantive, by adding -s. 1786H. Tooke Purley (1840) 650 Some languages have adjectived more; and some languages have adjectived fewer of these moods and Tenses.
2. To furnish with an adjective. Also intr. (colloq.) to use adjectives.
1804Med. & Physical Jrnl. XII. 335 Vaccine, French, is from Latin:..Milk is by Pliny adjectived with the word, lac vaccinum. 1871Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue 341 Clough took the liberty of thus adjectiving Lord Macaulay..‘I have only detected one error myself, but it is a very Macaulayesque one’. 1920Sunday at Home Apr. 423/2 In her place I think I should have ‘adjectived’ a good deal more. |