| 释义 |
▪ I. latter, a. (adv.)|ˈlætə(r)|
Forms: 1 lator (adv.), latera, lætra (adj.), 2 leter (adv.), 3 lattre, 3–4 latere, 4–5 lattere, latir, -yr, (Sc. 5 lattire, 5–6 letter, 6 -yr, 6–7 -er, 7 ? leater), 3–6 later (and 6–7 in sense 5), 3– latter.
[OE. lætra (fem. and neut. -e) adj., lator adv., compar. of læt late; cf. OFris. letora, lettera latter, Du. later later, MHG. laȥȥer later, ON. latare more sluggish.
The mod. later is a new-formation on the positive; it is difficult to determine how far it goes back, as the spelling later may have represented the form with short vowel even as recently as the 17th c.; in sense 5 later is here treated as a spelling of latter in the more recent as well as in the earlier examples.]
A. adj.
†1. Slower. OE. and early ME.
c1000Laws Eccles. Instit. §3 in Thorpe Anc. Laws II. 404 Þæt he þy lætra bið to uncystum. c1000ælfric Exod. iv. 10 (Gr.) Siððan þu spræce to þinum þeowe, ic hæfde þe lætran tungan. c1205Lay. 5911 Weoren heo of Rome alle ridinde, þa oðre a foten..and slowen alle here hors; here hæp wes þe lættere.
2. a. Belonging to a subsequent or comparatively advanced period; later. Sometimes contextually = ‘second’ (cf. lattermath). Now only poet. or arch. with reference to periods of the year and their productions.
c1200Ormin 15409 Þin forrme win iss swiþe god, Þin lattre win iss bettre. Ibid. 19984 Att Cristess lattre come. c1230Hali Meid. 7 Hire latere were is lasse wurð & lesse haueð þen hauede ear hire earre. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 4 The lattir historiographors [called us] Albians, and the Realme Albanie. Ibid. 86 In thir lattir dayes..is sa brocht to passe, that in the people is gretter constancie. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 3 We forbeare to descend to latter Fathers. ― Joel ii. 23 He will cause to come downe for you the raine, the former raine, and the latter raine in the first month. 1624Quarles Job xv. 19 My kindly words were welcome as a latter Raine. 1649Milton Eikon. 136 Former with latter steps in the progress of well doing need not reconcilement. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. ii. §7 The latter Platonists. 1708Swift Sentim. Ch. Eng. Man Wks. 1755 II. i. 54 The opinion and practice of the latter Cato. 1727Bradley Fam. Dict., Eddish,..the latter Pasture or Grass that comes after Mowing or Reaping. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. i. i. 7 These pursuits are said by latter writers to have been [etc.]. 1850Tennyson In Mem. l, Be near me when my faith is dry, And men the flies of latter spring. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xv. 373 Gaunt suddenly fell away from him, like the latter snow. 1864Swinburne Atalanta 1397 Pale as grass, or latter flowers.
b. † latter-lady (in harvest), the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (cf. lady n. 3 b). † Latter Mary day (Saint Marie day the latter, etc.), one of the later feasts of the Virgin Mary, as the Nativity, Sept. 8, or the Assumption, Aug. 15. † latter meat (Sc.), ‘victuals brought from the master's to the servant's table’ (Jam.). latter Lammas: see Lammas.
11..O.E. Chron. an. 1052 (MS. D.) Þis wæs ᵹedon .vii. nihton ær þære lateran sancta Maria mæssan. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7843 Þe morwe after seinte mari day þe later [v.r. latter] ded he was. 15..Aberd. Reg. XV. 617 (Jam.) At the assumptioune of our Lady callit the letter Mareday. 1541Ibid. XVII. (Jam.), The nativite of our Lady callit the Lettir mareday nixt to cum. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 11 Tuppes beinge fedde are to bee kept noe longer then Latter-lady in harvest. 1660J. Lamont Diary (Maitland Club) 124 Johne Paterson, meason in Auchtermouchtie, strake throw new doores in the leater meate roume. 1721Ramsay Elegy on Patie Birnie xv, Ane's thrawart porter wadna let Him in while latter meat was hett.
3. a. Pertaining to the end of life, of a period, a temporal sequence, the world; = last. Obs. exc. arch. in latter days.
1513Douglas æneis ii. v. 93 We fey peple..Quham till this was the dulefull lettir day. Ibid. viii. ix. 94 At lattyr poynt [L. digressu supremo] quhen thai war to depart. 1530Proper Dyaloge (Arb.) 129 Your fraudes, almoste at the latter cast. 1535Coverdale Jer. xxiii. 20 In the latter dayes ye shall knowe his meanynge. a1547Surrey æneid ii. 414 The later day and fate of Troy is come. 1588A. King Canisius' Catech. I iiij, On ye letter day of december. Ibid. 15 In the letter day of iudgment. 1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido ii. C 1 b, At whose latter gaspe Ioues marble statue gan to bend the brow. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lvi. §9 That life which shall make them glorious at the later day. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. 35 She may make na disposition in her letter will, anent her husbands gudes and geir. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V, Wks. (1711) 114 The cardinal put in his hands some blank papers, of which they composed a latter-will. 1816Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 296 All the latter years of aged men are overshadowed with its gloom. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. iv. 11 This sign moreover doth St. John transmit, That in the latter days we shall be tricked By Satan's legates.
b. latter end: the concluding part (of a period etc.); the end of life, (one's) death. Also punningly, the posteriors.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 256/33 In þe latere ende of Jeneuer. a1400–50Alexander 3891 Him limpis all þe loose be þe lattire end. c1420Chron. Vilod. 2219 In þe laterhende of þe office. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 135 He that hit wil not desyre, he shall atte the latyr ende be shente. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 243 b, In ye latter ende of this moneth. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 292 From the later ende of Marche untill the later ende of July. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 122 What is the chiefe grounde..of most mens delaying their amendment to their latter ends. 1697W. Dampier Voy. 351 About the latter end of August. 1710Palmer Proverbs 247 Death..shou'd never be spoken of in jest: for a man may play with almost any thing safer than his latter-end. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 17 At the latter end of the spring of 577. 1852R. Coombes in Aquatic Notes Cambridge 104 Throw the body forward with a spring, as if your latter end was made of Indian-rubber. 1893G. E. Matheson About Holland 10 The latter end of the Rhine is not so romantic..as its earlier career in Germany.
†4. Sc. Hinder, hindmost. Obs.
1533Bellenden Livy ii. (1822) 199 The Volschis..followit feirsly on the latter skirtis of thair armye.
5. a. That has been mentioned second of two, last of a group of more than two, or at or near the end of a preceding clause or sentence: opposed to former.
1555in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xliv. 126 This latter sort..are more hated in the sight of God than the other. 1632Sanderson Serm. 58 Of the later sort are such outward actions [etc.]. 1755Johnson s.v. Disloyal 4 The three latter senses are now obsolete. 1780Bentham Princ. Legisl. xvii. §6 The latter mode is not less certain than the former. 1922Joyce Ulysses 616 ‘Eaten alive?’ a third asked the sailor. ‘Ay, ay,’ sighed again the latter personage. 1957B. & C. Evans Dict. Contemp. Amer. Usage 267/2 Latter is the older of the two comparative forms... Its chief function is as a contrast to former. The contrast implies that some group has been separated into two parts, but more than two elements may be involved. We may say the three latter events. 1971Guardian 24 Dec. 17/5 The Berlin Wall stands unbreached, passes are needed to get into Bethlehem and Father Christmas has been arrested in Oxford Street. It's the latter item that fascinates me.
b. absol. or ellipt.
1608Shakes. Per. iii. ii. 29 Vertue and Cunning Were endowments greater then Noblenesse & Riches; Carelesse Heyres May the two latter darken and expend; But Immortalitie attendes the former Making a man a god. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 8 To the later we answere; that wee doe not deny [etc.]. 1678Young Serm. at Whitehall 29 Dec. 7 The Civilians distinguishing a Law into parts, the Preceptive Part,..and the Distributive Part,..are pleas'd to call this later the Sanction..of the Law. 1841[see former a. 2 b]. 1853[see fill-up n.]. 1870F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 99 A nave and chancel, with a small vestry on the north side of the latter. 1903G. B. Shaw Man & Superman 230 When a man teaches something he does not know to somebody else who has no aptitude for it, and gives him a certificate of proficiency, the latter has completed the education of a gentleman. 1922Joyce Ulysses 680 The former returned to the latter..a sum of money..advanced by the latter to the former. 1926H. W. Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 316/2 The latter should not be used when more than a pair are in question, as in: The difficult problems involved in the early association of Thomas Girtin, Rooker, Dayes, & Turner are well illustrated..; & what was undoubtedly the best period of the latter artist is splendidly demonstrated... Neither should it be used when less than two are in question; the public and its shillings cannot be reasonably regarded as a pair of things on the same footing in: The mass of the picture-loving public, however, may be assured of good value for the shillings—whatever be the ultimate destination of the latter. 1928[see lenate v.]. 1938Amer. Speech XIII. 28 Faith, hope and charity are virtues, but few possess them, particularly the latter. 1970Lofts & Adley Saint ii. 15 Another story..was written under the nom de plume of ‘Leslie C. Bowyer’—the latter being his mother's maiden name. 1974A. Huxley Plant & Planet xvi. 177 Light is also essential to the germination of many seeds such as tobacco, foxglove, many primulas and some lettuces. The dark-induced dormancy of the latter can be broken by quite low illumination.
†B. adv.
a. More slowly.
b. Later. Obs.
c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 324 Ne lator þon .ii. id. martii. c1175Lamb. Hom. 15 Eour eyþer sunegað bi-foran drihten and ec leter ȝe beoð sahte. a1200Moral Ode 131 Oðer raðer oðer later; milce he scal imeten. c1200Ormin 13206 Þohhwheþþre comm he lattre till To lefenn uppo Criste. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 173 Þat nis no treuþe of Trinite but tricherie of helle, And a leornyng for lewed men þe latere [v.rr. latter(e] forte dele. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 217 Ful seelden it comeþ of colre, & more lattere of malancoli. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. xiv. 109 The sone dependeth of the fader nouther more ne lesse neither latter ne rather than the fader. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 220 More latre Is he [the Malencoly man] wourthe than a colerike man.
Comb.1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 79 My wife, more care⁓full for the latter borne.
▪ II. latter
variant of laughter. |