| 释义 |
▪ I. excess, n.|ɛkˈsɛs|
Also 4–7 excesse, 5–6 exces, (5 exesse, 6 excysse).
[ad. F. excès, ad. L. excēss-us, n. of action f. excēdĕre to exceed.]
†1.
a. In literal sense: The action of going out or forth; adjournment (of Parliament). Obs. rare.
c1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 581 Excessus, excesse, passynge oute. 1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords App. (Camden) 131 That they be accquainted that Tuesday should be the day of excesse.
†b. fig. Departure from custom, reason, etc. Obs.
1709Steele Tatler No. 51 ⁋2 In all these glorious Excesses from the common Practice, did the happy Orlando live..in an uninterrupted Tranquility. 1738Common Sense (1739) II. 84 Other fashionable Excesses from Reason.
†c. excess of mind, soul (incorrectly access; cf. access n. 9, 10), also simply excess: = L. excessus mentis, ecstasy, trance, stupefaction. Obs.
1382Wyclif Acts x. 10 An axcess of soule, or rauysching of spirit [v.r. mynde] fel on hym. Ibid. xi. 5, I was in the citee of Ioppe preiynge, and I syȝ in excess of my soule a visioun. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 270 b, Saynt Peter was in excesse of mynde in the house of Symon Coryar. Ibid. 271, I sayd in myne excesse, euery man is a lyer. 1582N.T. (Rhem.) Acts x. 10 There fel vpon him an excesse of minde. 1609Bible (Douay) 2 Esdras xiii. 30 He shal come in excesse of minde upon them [1611 to the astonishment of them] that inhabite the earth.
†2. ‘Violence of passion’ (J.); extravagant or rapturous feeling; unrestrained manifestation of grief. Obs.
1423Jas. I Kingis Q. cxliv, Off thy distresse and excesse to haue reuth..I will [hir] pray full faire. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiii. xxx, La Bell Pucell must love you ever⁓more, Which for her sake..Doth such actes by chyvalrous exces. 1724Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 120 The Priests under the Old Testament were, by a particular law, guarded against excesses upon the death of their relations. 1742Collins Ode iii. To Simplicity 44 Tho' taste, tho' genius, bless To some divine excess. 1775in Ash. 1818in Todd.
3. The action of overstepping (a prescribed limit), going beyond (one's authority, rights, etc.); an instance of this. Chiefly in Law.
1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 248 She exceeded her power, in appointing to the issue of the son; and there fore the excess was void. 1891Daily News 28 Jan. 3/2 Judges of courts of law..did not notice excess of jurisdiction on the part of the House.
†4.
a. Extravagant violation of law, decency, or morality; outrageous conduct. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Melib. ⁋563 Ye shul venge yow..by the lawe and noght by excesse ne by outrage. c1425Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxiv. 161 Punysyd exces and trespas. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iii. (1520) 20 b/1 Two were chosen that yf ony of theym wolde make ony excesse the other sholde governe hym. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 140 b, Be sory for your fall, and do due penaunce after the qualite and quantite of your excesse. c1630Milton Ode Circumcision, The full wrath beside Of vengeful justice bore for our excess. 1682Evelyn Diary (1827) III. 76 This excesse of making churches charnel-houses. 1791Cowper Odyss. iii. 262 Ah..that I..the deeds Might punish of our suitors whose excess Enormous..I feel.
b. An instance of this; an outrage. Chiefly pl. Now with mixture of sense 5.
14..Prose Legends in Anglia VIII. 129 Leste by hir excesses þey schulde scorn þe good name of Cryste. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. xi. 240 The great..Governour of the World..brought about ends..to punish their [men's] Excesses and Enormities. 1769Junius Lett. i. 6 They have been driven into excesses little short of rebellion. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 166 The excesses of the Star Chamber..had faded from the minds of men. 1876J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. iii. 139 Their excesses seem to have been inferior to those which provoked them.
5. The overstepping the limits of moderation; an instance of this:
a. gen.
1552Huloet s.v., Excesse in aduauncyng or depressyng, as truer then God, falser then the Deuyll. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol iv. viii. (1611) 143 To draw men from great excesse, it is not amiss. 1655Denham Coopers Hill, One excess Made both, by striving to be greater, less. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 193 Excess in love..transports a man beyond himself. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho. ii, All excess is vicious. 1829The Bengallee 182 The Hookah's monstrous snake..That type of eastern Luxury's excess. 1878Morley Carlyle 163 Excess..leads people into emotional transports.
b. spec. Intemperance in eating or drinking.
c1386Chaucer Pard. T. 514 How manye maladyes ffolwen of excesse and of glotonyes. c1430Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 25 With holy men speke of holynesse..With drownkyn men do surfettes by excesse. 1578Gude & Godlie Ball. 17 We pray his godly Maiestie To blys our meit..And saif vs fra exces and drunkinnes. 1662Bp. B. Duppa Rules Devot. (1675) 84 The body, once heavy with Excess and Surfeits, hangs plummets on the nobler part. 1722Wollaston Relig. Nat. iv. 64 It is also in his power to forbear excess in eating and drinking. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Spectre Tappington, Apoplexy, induced by the excesses of the preceding night. 1859O. W. Holmes Punch-bowl Poems 271 'Tis but the fool that loves excess; hast thou a drunken soul?
6. a. The fact of exceeding something else in amount or degree; preponderance. † Also the fact of surpassing or excelling others (obs.). in excess of: to a greater amount or degree than.
a1618Raleigh Maxims St. (1651) 64 An excellency or excess above the rest, either in honour, wealth, or virtue. 1704Newton Optics ii. ii. (1721) 127 Rays..retain their colorific qualities, by which those of any sort do by their Excess and Predominance cause their proper Colour to appear. 1756Burke Subl. & B. Introd. Wks. I. 112 In things whose excess is not judged by greater or smaller, as smoothness and roughness [etc.]. 1838De Morgan Ess. Probab. 115 There can be no possible reason for an excess of white, which does not equally..apply in favour of an excess of black. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. iii. 242 The quantity we receive is in excess of the quantity lost. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 30 When..one or more muscles act in excess of their opponents, a squint is produced.
b. The amount by which one number or quantity exceeds another. spherical excess: (see quot. 1840). excess fare (on railways): a payment made by a person travelling beyond the place, or in a higher class than that, specified on his ticket. excess luggage: luggage over the weight for which a passenger is allowed free carriage. excess profits (see quot. 19152); also attrib.
1557Recorde Whetst. M iv, Compare those excesses and wantes well together. 1660Barrow Euclid i. Axiom xv, If to equal things, you add unequal, the excess of the wholes shall be equal to the excess of the additions. 1812Woodhouse Astron. xviii. 201 The accumulation of the daily excesses. 1831Brewster Optics iv. 36 Divide the index of refraction by its excess above unity. 1840Snowball Spherical Trigonom. §63 (ed. 5) 34 The quantity..by which the sum of the degrees in the angles of the spherical triangles exceeds 180°, is called the Spherical Excess of the triangle. 1882Standard 2 Sept. 6/4 He received a book for the purpose of giving receipts to passengers for ‘excess’ fares. 1911A. Bennett Card xi. 261 How much did you pay for the excess luggage? 1915W. Owen Let. 1 Aug. (1967) 350 The said friend, having no baggage, will lighten my excess-luggage-charge. 1915Act 5 & 6 Geo. V c. 89 §38 Excess Profits Duty... There shall be charged, levied, and paid on the amount by which the profits arising from any trade or business to which this Part of this Act applies, in any accounting period which ended after the fourth day of August nineteen hundred and fourteen, and before the first day of July nineteen hundred and fifteen, exceeded, by more than two hundred poundsd, the pre-war standard of profits as defined for the purposes of this Part of this Act, a duty (in this Act referred to as ‘excess profits duty’) of an amount equal to fifty per cent. of that excess. 1915Chemist & Druggist LXXXVII. 521/1 As regards the excess profits tax, the special appeal tribunal will be competent [etc.]. 1940G. Crowther Paying for War 22 It is very right and proper that there should be an Excess Profits Tax and that it should have been imposed in the first month of the war. 1955Times 2 May 20/1 At least we were freed from the ill-conceived Excess Profits Levy.
†c. Usury, interest. Obs.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 63 Shylocke..I neither lend nor borrow By taking, nor by giuing of excesse.
7. a. The state of exceeding or being in greater quantity or degree than is usual or necessary; exuberance, superabundance; an instance of this; an extreme degree or amount; an ‘extreme’, a ‘height’ (of wickedness, etc.). † of excess = in abundance.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 335 Þere is noȝt gret passynge and exces..in chele noþer in hete. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, The medlynge in conclusion So was ennewed by proportion That fynally excesse was there none. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. xi. 207 Than I to hym gaue strokes of exces. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 269 The excesse of vertue worketh no manner of annoyance. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. i. 73 So distribution should vndoo excesse, And each man have enough. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 570 Commend the large Excess Of spacious Vineyards; cultivate the less. 1719Young Busiris iv. i, To behold thee In such excess of sorrow, quite destroys me. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xxvi. (1819) 406 Their vivacity, their leaps out of the water, their frolics in it, all conduce to show their excess of spirits. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. v. 193 This [he] treated as the highest excess of insolence. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 636 Kirke..was not the last, to whom this excess of wickedness was popularly imputed.
†b. concr. in pl. Resources beyond the ‘necessaries’ of life; luxuries. Obs.
1658Whole Duty Man xiv. §16. 112 That deny relief to their poor parents, that cannot part with their own excesses and superfluities.
c. Chem. An amount greater than is needed for a specific purpose, e.g. for combination with other elements, or for dissolving a given quantity of a substance. Also in (great) excess.
1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 610 It might be called supersulphate of ammonia, as it contains an excess of acid. 1838― Chem. Org. Bodies 204 At first there was an excess of the former salt, but afterwards xanthate of potash was added till it constituted an excess. 1844–57G. Bird Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 383 Liquor potassæ must then be added in great excess; a precipitate of hydrated oxide of copper first falls, which redissolves in excess of alkali.
8. a. The fact or state of being in greater amount or degree than is beneficial or right; ‘faulty superfluity’ (J.); an excessive amount or degree (of anything). Sometimes in contrast with defect.
1393Gower Conf. II. 276, I bidde never as to my dele But of the hole an halven dele. That is none excess as me thenketh. 1488Caxton Chast. Goddes Chyld. 72 Excesse of mete feblith and dulleth a mannys wyttes. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 220, I haue fed vpon this woe already, And now excesse of it will make me surfet. 1691Hartcliffe Virtues 137 The two Extremes whereof are; on the defect ἀοργησία, to be free from Anger..The other Extreme in the Excess, is ὀργιλότης, a Vice, which..hath not yet found an English Name. 1725N. Robinson Th. Physick 314 If the Spirits flag during the Operation from the Excess of the Evacuations. a1731Atterbury Serm. (J.), Parsimony..is the more pardonable excess of the two. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. i. (1867) 16 If..enthusiasm were only an error in degree or a mere fault by excess. a1871Grote Eth. Fragm. v. (1876) 165 We ought to choose the middle point and not either the excess or the defect. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 9 The excess of tyranny in Persia and the excess of liberty at Athens have been the ruin of both.
b. Phrases: in, to (an) excess, to carry (something), to drink, eat, go, run to excess. † (object) of excess, that possesses some quality in excess.
1526–34Tindale 1 Pet. iv. 4 That ye runne not also with them vnto the same excesse of ryote. 1625Bacon Ess., Goodness (Arb.) 199 The desire of Power in Excesse, caused the Angels to fall. 1626― Sylva §261 An Object of surcharge or excess, destroyeth the Sense: As the light of the Sun the eye, a violent sound (near the Ear) the hearing. c1645Howell Lett. (1655) II. 71 [Canary wine] leaves less dreggs behind, though one drink it to exces. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xi. iii, Sophia..was yielding to an excess. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 97 Till carried to excess..This fav'rite good begets peculiar pain. 1838W. Beaumont Exper. Digestion (ed. Combe) 252 Eating voraciously or to excess. 1841Miall Nonconf. I. 1 At present we have government in excess. 1875Darwin Insectiv. Pl. vi. 110 Raw meat and other nutritious substances, given in excess, kill the leaves.
¶9. = access n. 10.
1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 D iij, They counceyll them that haue the feuers..to passe the excesse that ought to come the thyrde day or no. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 168 In twelve dayes I had a thousand bloudy stooles (which excesse kild our Lord Ambassadour Sir Dodmore Cotton at that time).
▪ II. exˈcess, a.
Also 4–6 excesse, 7 excysse.
[? attrib. use of excess n.]
= excessive. a. Beyond the usual or specified amount. Cf. excess n. 6 b. †b. Beyond what is necessary, proper or right. Obs.
a1400Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) 24 But excesse sleepe behoves me to make one this man heare. 1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) vii. v, Excesse bibbing and drinking, pricketh fast forwards to lechery. 1574T. Hill Conject. Weather i, And the excesse qualitie..of any of the four quarters is evill and daungerous to the fruites of the earth. 1636in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 162 For takeinge excysse fees contrarie to auncient orders. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXV. 646/1 There are also a large number of the ‘reserve’ who are not required to fill up the vacancies in the battalion going out. These become what are known as ‘excess numbers’. 1909Webster s.v., Excess baggage on a railroad. 1920A. E. Housman Let. 15 Aug. (1971) 176 A charge for ‘Passengers' Excess Baggage’. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 605/1 Damage caused by an excess voltage, i.e. a voltage above normal. 1958G. Bellairs Corpse at Carnival iv. 48 The charge for excess baggage was disgusting. I shall complain. 1965New Statesman 29 Oct. 632/3 Only the ‘excess demand’ (extra long order-books) for construction activity has been snipped away. 1970Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 8/6 Grotowsky's productions strip away all the excess baggage of drama—conventional stage, scenery, make-up, props.
▪ III. exˈcess, v.
[f. excess n.]
trans. To charge with an excess fare.
1888Difference of Fare Excess Voucher on N.B. Railway 16 May, In case of Tickets being excessed before the journey has been accomplished.
Add:2. U.S. euphem. To declare (someone or something) to be in excess of requirements; to make (an employee or appointee) redundant. Also with out.
1976N.Y. Times 20 Jan. 28/5 According to a spokesman for the Board of Education, 243 supervisors were ‘excessed’ last November and transferred out of their districts. 1976Listener 27 May 666/1 The thousands of [New York] policemen, firemen, [etc.]..haven't been ‘fired’. They have been, in an already classic euphemism, ‘excessed out’. 1980N.Y. Times 26 June b6/4 Assistant principals, who are removed, or ‘excessed’,..ostensibly because of declining enrollment.
Hence exˈcessed ppl. a., exˈcessing vbl. n.
1976Facts on File 24 Jan. 42/2 Transferring, demoting or dismissing ‘the least senior person in the job classification’. This procedure was called ‘excessing’. 1978Amer. Speech LIII. 17 We are faced with the need for tremendous layoffs, excessing of teachers. 1987N.Y. Times 8 Nov. xxi. 15/4 There are still a number of excessed school buildings that could house them. |