| 释义 |
first rate, first-rate, phr., a. (adv.), and n.
A. As phr. and adj.
1. first rate: the highest of the ‘rates’ (see rate n.) by which vessels of war are distinguished according to size and equipment. In phrase of (the) first rate, also from an early date used transf. (now rare; superseded by the attributive use 2).
1666Lond. Gaz. No. 65/2 Twelve new Ships, all of the first Rate. 1697Vanbrugh Relapse i. iii, Now has he ruined his estate to buy a title, that he may be a fool of the first rate. 1749Fielding Tom Jones iii. iii, His natural parts were not of the first rate. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 230 He having struggled hard with Crib and other boxers of first-rate. 1816Scott Old Mort. ii, Ere Folly..cut down her vessels of the first-rate.
2. attrib. (passing into adj.) first-rate: of the first rate (said of vessels); hence gen. Of the highest class or degree of excellence.
1671Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 66 A few of his Majesty's first-rate frigates. a1681J. Lacy Sir H. Buffoon ii. iv, There are your first, second, third, fourth, and fifth-rate wits too. 1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 149 A first-rate man of war. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. i. §11, I never saw a first⁓rate picture in my life. 1853Bright Sp. India 3 June, The question is one..of first-rate importance. 1888Duff Pol. Surv. 5 As long as France remained a first-rate power.
3. Hence used as an emphatic expression of praise or approval: Extremely good, excellent.
1812Knox & Jebb Corr. II. 90 Worthington was a first⁓rate christian; but I think he was not a first-rate divine. 1879F. W. Robinson Coward Conscience ii. ix, ‘Miss Hilderbrandt is first-rate, and no mistake.’
4. quasi-adv. (colloq.) Excellently, very well. Also, in excellent health, quite well.
1844W. T. Thompson Major Jones' Courtship 168 (Bartlett) Mary liked all the speakers first rate. 1857Borthwick Three Yrs. California xii. 211 As if you really wanted to know the state of their health, they [Indians] invariably answer ‘fuss-rate’. 1880Howells Undisc. Country iv. 79, I want to go away to-morrow feeling first-rate. 1884Pae Eustace 15 ‘Dod, sir, my claes fit ye first-rate.’
B. n.
1. Naut. A war vessel of the first rate; used esp. of the old three-deckers carrying 74 to 120 guns.
1708Motteux Rabelais iv. lxii. (1737) 254 The biggest First Rate. 1790Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 72 She was larger than any of our first rates. 1825Bentham Ration. Rew. 76 The command of a first-rate is accepted by those only who cannot obtain a frigate. 1878Browning Poets Croisic 154 Forced to put about the first-rate.
2. transf. A person or thing of the highest class or rank.
a1683Oldham Art Poetry, Poets have been held a sacred name, And plac'd with first Rates in the Lists of Fame. 1706Farquhar Recruiting Officer iii. ii, She [a woman] is called the Melinda, a first-rate, I can assure you. 1781Cowper Let. to Newton 22 July, Our great wheelbarrow, which may be called a first rate in its kind, conveyed all our stores. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, II. xi. 274 In the House, these leaders of party were both firstrates.
Hence first-rately adv.; first-rateness, the state of being first-rate, first-rate quality; first-rater, one who or something which is first-rate.
1806Sporting Mag. XXVII. 243 Who may be deservedly titled first raters in their profession. 1837Dickens Pickw. xli, ‘He must be a first-rater,’ said Sam. 1843Blackw. Mag. LIV. 713 Of all instruments the violin, first-rately played, is the most..heavenly. 1882Pall Mall G. 19 June 5/1 The note of first-rateness, of permanence, is hardly here. |