| 释义 |
lawful, a.|ˈlɔːfʊl|
Forms: 4 laghful, 4–6 Sc. lachful, (5 laffull), 5–6 Sc. lauch(t)ful(l, 6 laufull, law(e)foll, 6–8 lawfull, 6– lawful.
[f. law n.1 + -ful. Cf. ON. lǫgfullr.]
1. a. According or not contrary to law, permitted by law. Frequent in predicative use.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xlviii. (1495) 632 It was not lawfull to defoylle the laurer tree in vnhoneste and vnlawfull vses. c1440Promp. Parv. 289/2 Lawfulle, legitimus. 1526Tindale John v. 10 It is the sabboth day, it is not laufull for the to cary thy beed. 1535Coverdale Ezek. xxxiii. 16 In so moch as he doth now the thinge that is lawfull and right, he shall lyue. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 250 It is lawfull for all men, to save themselves from violence. 1590Swinburne Testaments 11 By this word lawfull is excluded..whatsoeuer is contrary to iustice, pietie, or equity. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 739 Upon debate of the matter in the great Council of the Kingdome, and in a lawful manner. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol 10 Apr., He..inquired..whether it was lawful to permit it. 1796H. Hunter St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 642, I shall not examine whether that possession be lawful. 1817W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 922 It shall be lawful for the jury..to find a verdict for the plaintiff. 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. vi. 249 Constantine's establishment of Christianity..declaring it to be a..Lawful Religion. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 567 A lawful military operation.
†b. Permissible; allowable, justifiable. Obs.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. viii. 122 Is it now lawfull and please your Maiestie, to tell how many is kill'd? 1717Frezier Voy. S. Sea 69 It seems lawful to believe, that, among the Children of our common Parent, God has formed three Sorts of Colours in the Flesh of Men.
†c. Of a disease: ? Normal. Obs.
1610P. Barrough Meth. Physick v. xxi. (1639) 318 Foure particular orders to be kept in curing a lawfull Oedema.
2. a. Appointed, sanctioned, or recognized by law; legally qualified or entitled. Now chiefly in certain traditional collocations, as lawful heir, lawful king, lawful money, lawful parliament, lawful sovereign, lawful succession, lawful title; also, lawful captive, lawful prey, lawful prize, (to be) lawful game.
a1300Cursor M. 26903 Þas oþer [plightes] the quilk he bette Bot noght wit penance laghful sett. 1439E.E. Wills (1882) 122, xx markes of laufull money. c1440Jacob's Well 98 Forȝeue þi lawefull accyoun, & seke ferst loue. 1456Extracts Burgh Rec. Peebles (1872) 111 Geyf thar was ony lachful ar to that land. 1526Galway Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 402 No carpenter nor masson shall have no workeman but that which shallbe laufull workeman in that sience [sic]. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) III. 393 His eldest sone..to his place suld succeid As lauchtfull air. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 20 b, Lawfull succession. Ibid. 243 Yf they have any lawful impediment. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates Wks. 1888 I. 2 Thre Questionis, tweching the lauchful vocatioun of Iohne Knox. 1571Satir. Poems Reform. xxvi. 118 He being Crownit in lauchfull Parliament. 1581Ibid. xliv. 101 That lauchfull pastors of the Kirk sould be depryuit. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 95 Thou hast vnder-wrought his lawfull King. 1604― Oth. i. ii. 51 If it proue lawfull prize, he's made for euer. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxviii. 165 A Banished man, is a lawfull enemy of the Common-wealth. 1763Rhode Island Col. Rec. (1861) VI. 359 All mortgages, bonds, [etc.]..wherein the payment of money is..promised, shall be taken and understood to mean lawful money. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. iii. 108 They will consider her as lawful game. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 69 Prize vessels..condemned in any courts of admiralty or vice-admiralty as lawful prize. 1817W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 854 Having no lawful impediment. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 278 So that my executrix shall pay in good time all lawful debts. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 54 Himself in his own reading of the law, a lawful King.
†b. ellipt. = lawful money, weight. Obs.
1533Churchw. Acc. Croscombe (Som. Rec. Soc.) 40 For to delyver the sayd x scheppe so good as they ware or ells xiijs. iiijd. in good and lawfoll. 1778A. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 343 It takes..fifty pounds lawful for a hundred of sugar, and fifty dollars for a hundred of flour.
c. Of a marriage: Such as the law permits; and regards as valid. Of offspring: Born in lawful wedlock, legitimate.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxviii. (Margaret) 163, I wes borne this towne within, In lauchful bed of folk mychtty. 1513Douglas æneis iii. v. 23 Helenus, The lachfull sone of the king Priamus. a1548Hall Chron., Rich. III, 49 Makyng much suite to have her joyned with him in lawfull matrimony. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 35 b, The same..ought nowe to be every where received for lawfull wives. Ibid. 424 Moste men doubted of the lawful birth of his syster. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 71 Truly she must be giuen, or the marriage is not lawfull. 1606― Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 107 Haue I..Forborne the getting of a lawfull Race. a1657Sir W. Mure Hist. Rowallan Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 249 The great Stewart..invited home againe Elizabeth Mure to his Lawfull bed. a1699A. Halkett Autobiog. (1875) 1 Constant to the only lawfull embraces of the Queen. 1827Jarman Powell's Devises (ed. 3) II. 247 In case M. B. should die..without leaving lawful issue of her body. 1885Law Rep. 29 Ch. Div. 270 Had been the lawful wife of the testator, and Adelinda his legitimate daughter by her.
d. lawful age, lawful years: the age at which a person attains his legal majority; also, the age at which a person becomes legally competent to perform some act or to hold some office. lawful day: one in which it is lawful to transact business, or some particular kind of business.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V, 80 b, Til my sonne come to his lawful age. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 424 He himselfe was of lawefull yeres. 1708Royal Proclam. 11 July in Lond. Gaz. No. 4456/1 Upon the Tenth Day of October next to come,..if the same be a Lawful Day.
†3. Observant of law or duty; law-abiding, faithful, loyal. Obs.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 218 For I am cristis lauchtful knycht. c1430Hymns Virg. 113 Ech man þat..loueþ a lawful lijf to lede. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 508 Bot as ane lauchfull man my laidis to leid. 1483Caxton Cato G iv b, It is the souerayn gyfte of god for to haue a good and lawful wyf. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus i. 581 Lute is tressonable: Nocht lauchfull, but scho is lamentable. 1642J. Marsh Argum. Militia 4 Every lawfull Subject is taken to be within the protection of the King. 1890M. C. Fraser Let. Nov. in Diplomatist's Wife Japan (1899) II. xxviii. 143 The Japanese are a profoundly lawful people (if I may use the word in its old sense).
†4. Pertaining to or concerned with law. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 35 Lawefulman in þe peple [L. politici in populo]. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 722 In matters lawfull to depend vpon the pleasure and direction of the Archbishop.
†5.
a. quasi-n.;
b. quasi-adv.;
c. as an exclamation. Obs.
1502Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) ii. vi. 99 In kepynge faythe, trouth and lawfull for y⊇ loue of god pryncypally. 1656Phillips Purch. Palt. (1676) 2 That th' Seller be so old, That he may lawfull sell, thou lawful hold. 1787Grose Prov. Gloss., Lawful, Oh lawful case, an interjection, Derb. 1790Pegge Derbicisms (E.D.S.) s.v., Ah lawful, and ah lawful case! exclamations.
6. Describable or governed by laws of nature.
1939Nature 14 Jan. 64/1 Newton and others have found confirmation even for their religious beliefs in the lawful character of physical phenomena. 1958M. Argyle Relig. Behaviour i. 2 It is commonly assumed that human behaviour is lawful and that it can be predicted by means of psychological laws and explained in terms of psychological processes. 1959M. Bunge Causality i. 22 The principle of universal lawfulness..may be taken to read thus: Every single event is lawful, i.e., is determined in accordance with a set of objective laws—whether we know the laws or not. 1975Nature 3 Apr. 416/2 The results show that the tendency..can be brought under lawful control in such a way as to discriminate against the above hypotheses. |