| 释义 |
adoptive, a.|əˈdɒptɪv|
[a. Fr. adoptif, -ive, ad. L. adoptīvus characterized by adoption: see adopt and -ive.]
1. Due to adoption, as an adoptive son, father, etc.
c1430Lydg. Bochas vii. viii. (1554) 170 a, Sonne adoptife..Of sayd Galba. 1432–50tr. Higden Rolls Ser. VII. 510 The holy kyng Edward..made William Norman his sone adoptivus. 1534Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. of M. Aurel. (1546) X viij, She is thy mother adoptiue, and my natural wife. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. (1641) 4/1 A Hen that fain would hatch a Brood, Some of her own, some of adoptive bloud. 1641Milton Ch. Discip. i. iii, The adoptive and cheerefull boldnesse which our new alliance with God requires. 1748Chesterfield Lett. 176 II. 155 The herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all adoptive. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. I. 710 That the adoptive brother should be preferred to the brother by blood. 1880W. Cory Mod. Eng. Hist. I. 189 To sacrifice himself to Greece as his adoptive country.
2. Fitted or inclined to adopt, having the habit of adopting.
a1834Lamb Lett. xvii. 164 There is adoptive as well as acquisitive sacrifice. 1880G. A. Sala in Illust. Lond. News 18 Dec. 587 Surely the English language is the most receptive and most swiftly adoptive in the world. |