| 释义 |
▪ I. fiat|ˈfaɪæt|
[a. L. fīat ‘let it be done’, ‘let there be made’, 3rd pers. sing. pres. subj. of fierī, used as passive of facĕre to do, make.]
1. orig. The word ‘fiat’ itself, or a formula containing it, by which a competent authority gave his sanction to a proposed arrangement, to the performance of a request, etc. Hence, an authoritative sanction, an authorization. † fiat in bankruptcy: see quot. 1848.[Compare the following examples in med.L.: Ita fiat ut ego Chlodoveus volui (Grant by Clovis in Mabillon De Re Diplomatica vi. li. (1681) 463). Signaturæ autem Papales expediuntur ab ipsa sanctitate per Fiat simplex, vel per Fiat geminatum, vel per Fiat proprio motu, vel per Fiat, ut petitur (Compend. Benefic. Expos. in Du Cange s.v.).] 1636Sanderson Serm. II. 60 Unless the Lord be pleased to set His fiat unto it, and to confirm it with His royal assent. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. Concl. (1739) 201 Nothing can be concluded without the King's Fiat. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams i. §101. 90 That all the Lecturers..be Licenced..with a Fiat from the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. 1768Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 157 Mr. Wilkes not being in custody, the Attorney-General has refused his fiat to the writ of error which he wishes to sue out. 1834Lytton Pompeii iv. ix, I tell thee I have the fiat of the prætor. 1848Wharton Law Lex., Fiat in Bankruptcy, the authority of the Lord Chancellor to a commissioner of bankrupts, authorising him to proceed in the bankruptcy of a trader mentioned therein. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xvi. i. 132 The decisive fiat was given: ‘Yes; start on it, in God's name!’
b. gen. An authoritative pronouncement, decree, command, order.
a1750A. Hill Wedding Day Wks. 1753 III. 173 Our hands, at length, the unchanging fiat bound. 1810Shelley Zastrozzi xvii, Still Zastrozzi stood unmoved, and fearlessly awaited the fiat of his destiny. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xvii. 570 To determine by the fiat of the king alone the course of national policy. 1883J. Hawthorne Dust I. 44 Whose fiat in matters of fashion was law.
2. With reference to ‘fiat lux’ (let there be light) Gen. i. 3 in the Vulgate: A command having for its object the creation, formation, or construction of something.
a1631Donne Storm 70 So that we (except God say Another ‘Fiat’) shall haue noe more day. 1710Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §60 If it be a Spirit that immediately produces every effect by a fiat or act of his will. 1779T. Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 215 Put into movement..by the fiat of a comprehensive mind. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. i. 6 Was space furnished at once, by the fiat of Omnipotence, with these burning orbs? 1872Yeats Growth Comm. 358 St. Petersburg..sprang into existence by the fiat of royal will.
3. attrib., as fiat-power; fiat-money, U.S. money (such as an inconvertible paper currency) which is made legal tender by a ‘fiat’ of the government, without having an intrinsic or promissory value equal to its nominal value.
1880E. Kirke Garfield 30 We shall still hear echoes of the old conflict, such as..the virtues of ‘fiat-money’. 1887A. Johnston in New Princeton Rev. IV. 176 The verdict of approval, however, has usually taken a form which implies a certain fiat power in the Convention. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. iii. lvi. 369 note, Greenbacks, or so-called ‘fiat money’.
▪ II. fiat, v.|ˈfaɪæt|
[f. prec.]
trans. To attach a ‘fiat’ to; to sanction.
1831Fraser's Mag. IV. 246 Their adjudication is all but fiated when they go out of office. 1863Le Fanu House by Churchyard (ed. 2) I. 7 My uncle fiated the sexton's presentment, and the work commenced forthwith. 1871Times 25 Feb., Mr. Justice Fitzgerald to-day fiated a presentment for 500l. to the family of M'Mahon. |