| 释义 |
honourable, honorable, a. (n., adv.)|ˈɒnərəb(ə)l|
Also 4–6 onour-, oner-, honur-, honer-, honner-, -abil(l, -abyll.
[a. OF. honorable, honurable = Pr., Sp. honorable, It. onorabile; ad. L. honōrābil-is, f. honōrāre to honour: see -ble.]
A. adj.
1. Worthy of being honoured; entitled to honour, respect, esteem, or reverence.
a. Of persons.
a1340Hampole Psalter viii. 6 He [Crist] is honurabile till all. 1382Wyclif Dan. xiii. 4 [Susanna 4] Jewis camen to gidre to hym, for that he was more honorable of alle. c1397Chaucer Lack Stedf. 22 O prince desire for to beo honourable. 1540R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. i. vi. (R.), Three thinges made Pallas honorable; virginitie, strength, and wisedome. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 13 Men..honorable..for their calling. a1673Swinnock in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxxix. 6 The ancientest, the honourablest house of the creation. 1675tr. Machiavelli's Prince vi. (1883) 41 They remain..honourable and happy.
b. Of things.
1390Gower Conf. III. 225 His name is good and honourable. c1566J. Alday tr. Boaystuau's Theat. World R v, Who..hath made y⊇ most honorablest members to sight, and the foule..placed out of sight. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xiv. §1 (1622) 354 The very name of Philosophie, is both honourable, and holy. 1631High Commission Cases (Camden) 233 There is noe tyme fitter for it then this honourable day [the Saboth day]. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 83 Marriage is honourable, but House-keeping is a Shrew. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 73 The soul which came from heaven is more honourable than the body which is earth-born.
†c. Respectable in quality or amount; considerable; decent. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 324 Þei wilde biseke Edward Þat he mot him ȝelde tille him in a forward Þat were honorable to kepe wod or beste. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 327 Monsieur the nice, That when he plaies at Tables, chides the Dice In honorable tearmes. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 7 b, To reduce all the great and honorable bands aforesaid, into little bands of 150 or 200. 1666Evelyn Diary 24 May, Dined with Lord Cornbury..who kept a very honorable table.
2. a. Holding a position of honour; of distinguished rank; noble, illustrious.
a1340Hampole Psalter lxxxviii. 27 He honorabilest of all and highe bifore kyngis. c1400Destr. Troy 3973 Ecuba, the onest & onerable qwene. 14..tr. Alain Chartier's Quadril. (MS. Univ. Coll. 85) 1 The right honeurable magnificence of nobles. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2609 Elfled, þat honorabil abbas. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 13 Manye of them far more honorable part of kin then his mothers side. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iv. 70 Tell quaint lyes How honourable Ladies sought my loue. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 61 This man, named Edward Petre, was descended from an honorable family.
b. Applied as an official or courtesy title of honour or distinction.
The prefix ‘Honourable’ (Hon.) is given to sons of peers below the rank of Marquess and to daughters of peers below the rank of Earl, to Maids of Honour, all Justices of the High Court (not being Lords Justices nor Lords of Appeal), to Lords of Session, the Lord Provost of Glasgow (during office), and especially to members of Governments or of Executive Councils in Commonwealth countries. (Whitaker Titled Persons.) In the U.S. it is given to members of both Houses of Congress, and of State legislatures, to judges, justices, etc. Honourable is also applied to the House of Commons collectively; ‘honourable member’ or ‘gentleman’ is applied to members individually; also formerly to the East India Company, etc.
Most Honourable is applied to Marquesses; also to the Order of the Bath and H.M. Privy Council (collectively).
Right Honourable is applied to peers below the rank of Marquess, to Privy Councillors, and to certain civil functionaries, as the Lord-Mayors of London, York, and Belfast, and the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow; sometimes, also, in courtesy, to the sons and daughters of peers holding courtesy titles. (See further, Whitaker Titled Persons (1898) 44.)
a1450Paston Lett. No. 75 I. 96 To my right honorabull and right wurshipful Lord, my Lord Viscont Beaument. c1490Ibid. No. 918 III. 364 Onerabyll and well be lovyd Knythe. 1538Starkey Will in Lett. (1878) 8 note, Item I geve to the veray honnerable and my singulier good lorde, my lorde Montague. 1538in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 90 Mooste humbly besechith your honorable Lordship. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 8 Hir royall Maiestie and hir most honorable Councel. 1593Shakes. Ven. & Ad. Ded., To the Right Honorable Henrie Wriothesley, Earle of Southampton, and Baron of Titchfield. 1612T. Ryves in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. IV. 172 Honourable Sir, Yow have beene pleased. 1643Let. from Irish Council 28 Oct. in Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §344 To our very good lord, the lord Speaker of the right honourable the Lords' House of Parliament..and to our very loving friend, William Lenthall, esq., Speaker of the honourable Commons House in Parliament. 1674Grew Anat. Plants, Lect. Mixture i. iv. (1682) 229 Agreeable to the Doctrine of the Honourable Mr. Boyle. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 38 In pay for the Honourable East India Company. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 588 Fear most to tax an Honourable fool, Whose right it is, un⁓censur'd, to be dull. 1727Pope, etc. Art of Sinking 122 The honourable the directors of the academy. 1744(title) A Treaty Held in the Town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by the Honourable the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, and the Honourable the Commissioners for the Provinces of Virginia and Maryland, with the Indians of the Six Nations. 1783Sheridan Sp. Ho. Com. in Moore Life (1825) xi. I. 508 An Honourable friend of mine, who is now, I believe, near me..that Honourable gentleman has told you that [etc]. 1817Parl. Deb. 731 The Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed his anxiety to consult the wishes of honourable gentlemen on the subject. 1820in Bischoff Woollen Manuf. (1862) II. 9 Your petitioners humbly pray that they may be heard by their counsel at the bar of your Honourable House. 1872–6Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), Honourable Artillery Company, a volunteer force and the oldest military body in England.
3. a. Of things: Characterized by or accompanied with honour; bringing or fraught with honour to the possessor. honourable mention: see mention n. 2 e.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. vi. 109 (Camb. MS.) Many oothre folk han bowht honourable renoun of this world by the prys of the gloryous deth. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 48 The castell of Douer..is..a very honorable strong & defencible fortresse. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 51 It is more honorable to bee praised of his enemies then to be extolled of his frendes. 1581Savile Tacitus' Hist. i. lxxxvii. (1591) 50 Good hope of honourabler seruice here⁓after. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 64 Sure the Match Were rich and honourable. 1642Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 270 A composition and patterne of the best and honourablest things. 1839Thirlwall Greece VI. 27 Areopagus..deprived æschines of his honourable office. 1866Lond. Gaz. 26 June 3646/1 Grand prizes and money awards of the total value of 250,000 francs ({pstlg}10,000), 100 Gold Medals,..5000 Honourable Mentions. 1869Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. App. 99 Honourable mention.—International Exhibition, 1862.
b. Consistent with honour or reputation.
1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 232 The Frenche kynge..offered me..bothe honorable and honest overtures of peace. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 186 To yeeld it up upon honorable conditions. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 176 Such is the Love of Praise, an Honourable Thirst. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, And withheld him from honourable retreat while it was yet in his power. 1829Lytton Devereux ii. iv, Let us effect an honourable peace. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 149 To capitulate on honourable and advantageous terms.
4. Showing or doing honour; honouring.
a1340Hampole Psalter, Cant. 508 Trouth and luf..hild apostils and haly men as honurabil clathynge. 1390Gower Conf. I. 208 He wolde an honourable feste Make. c1500Doctr. Gd. Servaunts in Anc. Poet. Tracts (Percy Soc.) 4 Seruauntes ought to be honourable..To all men seruysable. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 252 She made him honourable chere. a1592H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 441 There be many names of honour, but this is the honourablest name. 1595Shakes. John i. i. 29 An honourable conduct let him haue. 1743Pococke Descr. East I. 57 The Cashif..shew'd me great civility; which was more honourable than if I had placed myself lower at the table. 1791Boswell Johnson Advt., An honourable monument to his memory.
5. Characterized by principles of honour, probity, or rectitude; upright, honest: the reverse of base.
a. Of persons.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 87–8 For Brutus is an Honourable man, So are they all; all Honourable men. 1601― All's Well v. iii. 239 So please your Maiesty, my master hath bin an honourable Gentleman. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 738 A wretch, whom..The world accounts an honourable man. 1838James Robber iv, I have always found you honourable and generous.
b. Of things.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 143 If that thy bent of Loue be Honourable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word to morrow. 1614Raleigh Hist. World II. v. iii. §15. 442 This was thought the best, and most honourable course. 1769Junius Lett. xxxv. 157 On your part we are satisfied that every thing was honourable and sincere. 1825Lytton Zicci 24 Honourable and generous love may even now work out your happiness.
B. n.
a. An honourable or distinguished person.
b. One who has the title of Honourable. So Right Honourable. (colloq.)
c1400Destr. Troy 6708 Ector full onestly þat onerable þanket. 1695Congreve Love for L. i. xiii, Tat. Won't a baronet's lady pass? Scan. No, nothing under a right honourable. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. I. 229 My poor brain..never can remember all the forms required by your Honourables and Right Honourables. 1880Warren Book-plates viii. 95 Six bear courtesy titles or are Honourables.
†C. adv. Honourably. Obs. rare. [Perh. only misprints.]
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 123 Widow goe you along: Lords vse her honourable. 1654tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 71, I have not done lesse honorable.
Hence ˈhonourable v. trans., † (a) to honour; (b) to address with the title ‘Honourable’.
1455Paston Lett. No. 239 I. 328 Plese it your hyghe Majeste..to be honorabled and worsshepyt as most ryghtfful Kyng and oure governour. 1877Lowell Lett. (1894) II. viii. 220 It is altogether a bore to be honorabled at every turn.
▸ honourable discharge n. release from service or prison with honour; (Mil.) discharge from military service with honour attesting to good conduct; (also) a certificate commemorating such a discharge.
1664S. Butler Hudibras II. i. 347 This suffer'd, they are set at large And free'd with *honorable discharge, Then in their Robes the Penitentials, Are streight presented with Credentials. 1766J. H. Grose Voy. E.-Indies (ed. 2) II. Contents p. xvii, He quits the French service; is taken in a Dutch ship, and brought prisoner to England, in 1747: his removal to France, confinement in the Bastile, and honorable discharge. 1777S. Adams Let. 8 Jan. in Lett. of Delegates to Congr. (1980) VI. 49 Genl Gates speaks very highly of the Militia you sent him the last Fall. He applauds greatly their Zeal for the Cause..and he tells me he gave them an honorable Discharge. 1898G. B. Davis Treat. on Military Law of U.S. 355 Where an honorable discharge has once duly taken effect by the delivery of the formal certificate, it is final and cannot be revoked unless obtained by fraud. 2001Tucson (Arizona) Weekly 7 June 7/1 Henry Ramon, Vice Chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, returned home from the Korean war with his honorable discharge. |