| 释义 |
▪ I. their, poss. pron.|ðɛə(r)|
Forms: see below.
[In existing form their, in Ormin þeȝȝre, a. ON. þeir(r)a, genitive pl. of simple demonst. sá, sú, þat (= OE. se, séo, þæt), used in ON. also as pl. of 3 pers. pron. The β-forms þer, þar, þere, etc., were prob. due mainly to the unstressed pronunciation of their, thair, confused sometimes with that of the adv. þær, thare, there; but they may sometimes represent OE. þǽra, late form of þára, gen. pl. of þá those, substituted for the same case of the personal pronoun. Cf. them.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 3 (Orm.) þeȝȝre, (teȝȝre), 4 þeir(e, þeyr, þayre, þayire, þaier, 4–5 þair, þaire, 5 þeire; 4–5 thaire, 5 thayre, 5–7 theire, theyr, 6 thayr, (thier, 6–7 yair), 4– Sc. thair, 5– their.
c1200Ormin Ded. 84 All þurrh þeȝȝre sinne. Ibid. 3933 Þatt teȝȝre genge shollde ben Þurrh hallȝhe sawless ekedd. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 874 Þarefore þat day al holy cherche Þeyr seruyse of here þey werche. 13..Cursor M. 794 (Cott.) Al þaier kin. Ibid. 21800 (Edin.) Mani man..Þate thair [v.r. þair] hele hauis getin þare. a1340Hampole Psalter lxxvii. 51 He gaf..þaire trauails til þe locust. c1400Destr. Troy 6738 Menelaus, and Thelamon,..with theire tite batels. c1440Pallad. on Husb. i. 116 Oute of thaire [v.r. their] kynde eke seedes wol renewe. 1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xviii. 240 All they felle vpon their knees. 1522Rutland Papers (Camden) 84 To putt all thier stuf of householde in euery office. 1538Starkey England i. iv. 120 To tempur and refrayne thayr malyce. 1549Baxter-bks. St. Andrews (1903) 5 Thomas mortowne To be yair Decane. a1568Wyfe of Auchtermuchty xii, That straik dang baith thair harnis owt. 1620Sir R. Naunton in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 139 Theyr general aunswer to his Majesties commandement. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 126 Holes, of that bignesse that one may thrust in theire neafe.
(β) (1 þæra, þeora) 4 þer, þar, (þur), 4–5 þere, 4–6 þare, thar, 5 thare, 5–6 ther, 6–8 there, 7 thir (used by Milton as unstressed form of their).
[a1100O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 449, On þeora daᵹum ᵹelaðode Wyrtᵹeorn Angelcin hider. Ibid. an. 1086, Þæt þa godan men niman æfter þeora godnesse.] c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 127 Þe popille him bisouht þer kyng forto be. 13..Cursor M. 476 (Cott.) Þat sithen þar [v.rr. þair(e, her] sted was neuer sene. Ibid. 666 Bath he sette in þare [v.rr. þair(e, her] fre will. Ibid. 13900 Moyse þur lagh þaim broght. c1400Destr. Troy 12467 Trees, thurgh tempestes, tynde hade þere leues. c1450Godstow Regr. 491 Ther heires lawfully I-be-gote of ther bodies. c1460Towneley Myst. ix. 119, I shalle fownd to crak thare crowne. 1513Douglas æneis iv. ix. 33– 4 The ryning fludis thar wattir stop can scho mak, And eik the sternis turne ther cours abak. 1526There [see B. 1]. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. xix. (S.T.S.) I. 205 Þai obeyit weill eftir to þare capitanis. 1663Chas. II in Julia Cartwright Henrietta of Orleans (1894) 139 They will shew there affections to me. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 235 He ceas'd, and heard thir grant in loud acclaim. 1757E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) I. 56 Rogueries..which, they thought, brought a disgrace on there bruteships.
B. Signification.
1. poss. adj. (orig. gen. pl. of pers. pron.) Of, belonging, or pertaining to them; also refl. of or belonging to themselves.
c1200Ormin 127 Naffdenn þeȝȝ þurrh þeȝȝre streon Ne sune, child, ne dohhterr. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1115 Brutus wiþ his folk..wente þer weye. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3884 Prelats..Sal account yhelde..Of þair suggets undir þair powere. 1526Tindale Matt. vi. 5 Vereley I saye vnto you they have there rewarde. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. vi. (Arb.) 27 Vnder the conduict of Totila and Atila and other their generalles. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 219 Consider the inward motiues of their crauing mercy. 1640tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. I. xviii. 78 With that they tooke their leaves of her. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 222 The great agility of these animals prevents their often being taken. 1797Godwin Enquirer i. vi. 41 We must dwell upon their every word. 1847De Quincey Orthogr. Mutineers Wks. 1860 XIV. 105 When..he [Milton] wishes to direct a bright jet of emphasis upon the possessive pronoun their, he writes it as we now write it. But when he wishes to take off the accent, he writes it thir. [Cf. A. β 1671.] 1853M. Arnold Empedocles ii. 19 With men thou canst not live; Their thoughts, their ways, their wishes, are not thine. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. iv, Long after the frost and snow have done their worst with the orchards. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 383 These old pheasant-lords..Who had mildew'd in their thousands, doing nothing Since Egbert.
b. obj. gen. Of (for, to) them. (Cf. his B. 2.)
1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 77 For a tyme your grace muche bewailed their lacke. 1579[see 5]. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 43 Shall..quite from off the earth their memory be raste? 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 66 Yet can there not be in any nation a neglect of oxen; and their reverence was so great that, in ancient time [etc]. 1780Beckford Biog. Mem. 108 Humanity pleads strongly for the abridgment of their relation. a1912Mod. We mourn their loss.
c. Const. with gen. pl. of all, both: their aller, their bother, their beyre (obs.); also all their, their both, both their, each of their (arch.): meaning ‘of all, both, or each of them’. See all D. 4, both 4 b, bo a. c.
a1250Owl & Night. 1584 Þe louerd..Vareþ vt on þare beyre neode. a1300Cursor M. 18766 He stei up in þair aller sight. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 289 Þe fend..is þer alþer kyng. c1465Eng. Chron. (Camden) 48 Be thair bothe assent. 1559Mirr. Mag. (1563) D v, Lo thus fond hope dyd theyr both lyues abrydge. a1568[see A. α]. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. viii. (Arb.) 35 Saying thus in all their hearings. 1654–66Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 550 With both their helps I was carried to a Chamber. 1672Temple Misc. i. 64 According to each of their hunger or need. 1874Swinburne Bothwell ii. i, Mine and all their free and sovereign king.
2. Used of a thing with which a number of persons have to do, or which is assumed to be the common possession of a class; e.g. ‘These boys know their Greek syntax’. Cf. his poss. pron. 1 b.
1785Burns Halloween ii, To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks, An' haud their Halloween. 1905Daily Chron. 2 Sept. 3/1 All those who love their Devon and especially their Dartmoor.
3. Often used in relation to a singular n. or pronoun denoting a person, after each, every, either, neither, no one, every one, etc. Also so used instead of ‘his or her’, when the gender is inclusive or uncertain. Cf. they pron. 2, them pron. 2; nobody 1 b, somebody. (Not favoured by grammarians.)
13..Cursor M. 389 (Cott.) Bath ware made sun and mon, Aiþer wit þer ouen light. c1420Sir Amadace (Camden) l, Iche mon in thayre degre. 14..Arth. & Merl. 2440 (Kölbing) Many a Sarazen lost their liffe. 1533[see themselves 5]. 1545Abp. Parker Let. to Bp. Gardiner 8 May, Thus was it agreed among us that every president should assemble their companies. 1563Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. liv, A man or woman being lang absent fra thair party. 1641[see A. α]. 1643Trapp Comm. Gen. xxiv. 22 Each Countrey hath their fashions, and garnishes. 1749Fielding Tom Jones vii. xiv, Every one in the House were in their Beds. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. III. 241 Every person..now recovered their liberty. a1845Syd. Smith Wks. (1850) 175 Every human being must do something with their existence. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xli, A person can't help their birth. 1858Bagehot Lit. Studies (1879) II. 206 Nobody in their senses would describe Gray's ‘Elegy’ as [etc.]. 1898G. B. Shaw Plays II. Candida 86 It's enough to drive anyone out of their senses.
†4. After a n. (usually a proper name), instead of the genitive inflexion. Cf. his poss. pron. 4, her poss. pron. 3rd pl. 3. Obs. or rare arch.
1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (1895) 172 Vntyll the vtopians their creditours demaunde it. 1600Shakspere's Titus A. (title-p.), As it hath sundry times beene playde by the Right Honourable the Earle of Pembrooke,..and the Lorde Chamberlaine theyr Seruants. 1642Featley Dippers Dipt (1646) 11 These travellers their report, and the testimony of those witnesses. 1642Drummond of Hawthornden Skiamachia Wks. (1711) 193 An answer to the parliament of England their declaration. 1667Pepys Diary 3 Jan., The House of Lords their proceedings in petitioning the King. 1681R. Burthogge Argt. for Inf. Bapt. (1684) 6 From the Children of Believers their being Abraham's Spiritual Seed.
5. Serving as antecedent to a following relative; equivalent to ‘of those’. (Now usually avoided.)
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 134/2 Under their obedience whome God hath set ouer us. 1593in J. Morris Troubles Cath. Forefathers Ser. iii. (1877) 124 The chiefest favour must be procured by their means that have spoiled us before. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. vii. §14 This prediction..yet miss'd their meaning, who both first reported, and most believed it.
†6. absol. = theirs. Cf. her poss. pron. 3rd pers. pl. 4. Obs.
13..Cursor M. 7465 (Cott.) A man o þair gains an of vr. 1592G. Harvey Four Lett. Wks. (Grosart) I. 216, I offer them my hande: and request their. 1618Wither Motto C iij b, My clothing keeps me full as warm as their [rime are]. Ibid. C iv, And my esteeme I will not change for their.
▪ II. their(e
obs. ff. there, thir dem. pron., etc. = these. |