| 释义 |
infinitive, a. and n.|ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv|
Also 5 infenitife.
[ad. L. infīnītīv-us unlimited, indefinite, infinitive, f. in- (in-3) + fīnītīv-us defining, definite. Cf. F. infinitif, -ive (14–15th c.).]
A. adj.
1. Gram. The name of that form of a verb which expresses simply the notion of the verb without predicating it of any subject. Usually classed as a ‘mood’, though strictly a substantive with certain verbal functions, esp. those of governing an object, and being qualified by an adverb.
(Called by Quintilian and Priscian infinitus modus, by Diomedes infinitivus ‘because it has not definite persons and numbers, whence it has also been called by some, impersonativus and insignativus’. In the short grammar of Dionysius Thrax (b.c. 80), it is called ἀπαρέµϕατος, i.e. without modification of sense, unmodified.)
In modern Eng., the infinitive has the simple uninflected form of the verb; agreeing in this respect with the imperative, and (except in the verb be), with the first pers. sing., and the whole plural, of the present indicative. In OE., the infinitive had (in the nom.-acc. case) the suffix -an, ME. -en, -e; it had also a dative form in -anne, ME., -enne, -ene, -en, -e. The latter is sometimes fancifully called by modern grammarians, the gerundial or gerundive infinitive, as answering in some of its functions to the Latin gerund or gerundive. (It answers more to the L. supine.) The OE. nom.-acc. infinitive is the source of the (now less frequent) simple infinitive, as in ‘we saw him come’, ‘they need not come’. The dative-infinitive is formally the source of the infinitive with to, and functionally the origin of this in such uses as ‘he went to see the fight’ (‘infinitive of purpose’), ‘it was easy to see’ (‘adverbial infinitive’); but to is now prefixed also to the nom.-acc. infinitive, where OE. had the simple form in -an, as in ‘to see is to believe’, ‘he likes to see it’. See to prep.
1520Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 3 Quis, qui, is..gouerned..somtyme of y⊇ infinytyue mode folowynge. 1530Palsgr. 84 The infinitive mode whiche they use whan we use to put to before a verbe. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Firste I doe specifie th' Infinitiue mode, Aimer, to loue: Courir, to run. 1668Wilkins Real Char. iv. vi. 445 That which is called the Infinitive Mode, should according to the true Analogy of that speech be stiled a Participle Substantive. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) §191 The preposition to is not an essential part of the infinitive mood, nor an invariable sign of it. 1889Morfill Gram. Russian Lang. 37 There are three moods, the infinitive, indicative, and imperative. Ibid. 39 Each verb has two stems, firstly, the infinitive stem, and, secondly, the present stem.
†2. ? Infinite, endless: in quot. as adv. Without end, in perpetuity. Obs. rare.
c1470Harding Chron. cv. 5 To Peter and Pole he graunted infenitife The Roome pence then of all Englande, As Flores saieth, as I can vnderstande.
B. n.
1. Gram. The infinitive ‘mood’ or form of a verb.
cleft infinitive or split infinitive, an infinitive with an adverb between to and the verbal part, as in ‘to carefully search’. gerundial infinitive: see under A. 1.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 31 His preterit participle, and his present infynityve. 1676tr. Guillatiere's Voy. Athens 32 [Lingua franca] an ill favour'd kind of Italian that makes use of the Infinitive of every Verb, to express all the Tenses and Moods. 1751Harris Hermes i. viii. (1786) 163 The Latin and modern Grammarians have called Verbs under this Mode, from this their indefinite Nature, Infinitives. 1871Roby Lat. Gram. ii. xvi. 183 Two indeclinable substantives, called Infinitives (or the Infinitive Mood). 1871Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accidence §290 The infinitive had a dative form expressed by the suffix -e, and governed by the preposition to. This is sometimes called the gerundial infinitive: it is also equivalent to Lat. supines. Ibid., The dative infinitive assumed the form of the simple infinitive as early as the twelfth century. 1892Sweet New Eng. Gram. §293 The infinitive, which is a noun-verbal, has nothing in common with the moods of finite verbs. 1893F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) LVI. 274/2 My paper on the cleft infinitive, printed in the American Journal of Philology. 1897Academy 3 Apr. 371/2 Are our critics aware that Byron is the father of their split infinitive? ‘To slowly trace’, says the noble poet, ‘the forest's shady scene’.
†2. An infinite or endless amount: an infinity.
1595Markham Sir R. Grinvile (Ded. Earl Sussex), Great Lord, to whom infinitiues of fame Flock like night starres about the siluer Moone. Ibid. C, Fie, that infinitiues of forces can, Nor may effect what one conceit fulfills.
3. attrib. and Comb., as infinitive-adjunct, infinitive-splitter, infinitive-splitting.
1957R. W. Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. i. i. 9 In the fourth example the infinitive stands in apposition to the noun; in the fifth the *infinitive adjunct is semi-adverbial.
1927Glasgow Herald 1 Nov. 8/7 A competition..to discover the most distinguished *infinitive-splitters.
1926Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 447/1 They were obsessed by fear of *infinitive-splitting. |