| 释义 |
loyalty|ˈlɔɪəltɪ|
Also 5 loyaltee, -aulte, 6–7 loyal-, loialtie, 7 loialty, loyaltye.
[a. OF. loialté (mod. loyauté), f. loyal loyal a.: see -ty.]
1. Faithful adherence to one's promise, oath, word of honour, etc.; † conjugal faithfulness, fidelity. † Also in phrase by my loyalty.
c1400Rom. Rose 6783 This noble dide such labour To susteyne ever the loyaltee, That he to moche agilte me. c1477Caxton Jason 21 By my loyaulte saide thene Corsus sire alle that I haue sayd procedeth not from ony fere..that I haue of all your enemyes. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 927 In my loyaltie, en ma loyaulté. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. ii. 7 When I protest true loyalty to her, She twits me with my falsehood to my friend. 1612Chapman Widdowes Teares ii. Dram. Wks. 1873 III. 23 If you be sure of your wiues loialtie for terme of life. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. viii. 130 These Garments once were his; and left to me The Pledges of his promis'd Loyalty. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 406 And piety with wishes placed above, And steady loyalty, and faithful love. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 36 In the courts, the independence of the judges and the loyalty of the suitors are equally excellent. 1871R. S. Candlish in Life xiv. (1882) 149 Thy right hand hath not lost its cunning, nor thy heart its loving loyalty to the gentle craft.
2. a. Faithful adherence to the sovereign or lawful government; spec. of government employees. Also, in recent use, enthusiastic reverence for the person and family of the sovereign.
1531Elyot Gov. iii. vi, For the subiecte or seruaunt to his souerayne or maister it is proprely named fidelitie, and in a frenche terme loyaltie. 1568Grafton Chron. I. 176 In this battaile Canutus proved the Loyaltie and manly prowesse of the Englishe men. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. iv. 22 The seruice, and the loyaltie I owe, In doing it, payes it selfe. 1630J. Levett Ord. Bees (1634) 69 They offer unto him all their services and loyalties. a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. xli. 471 Whoever of those rebels willingly should come in..and promise future loyalty, or obedience to his laws..should..obtain rewards from him. 1784Cowper Task v. 331 We too are friends to loyalty. We love The king who loves the law. 1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. Wks. 1859 II. 176/1 Loyalty within the bounds of reason..is one of the greatest instruments of English happiness. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §6. 399 Under the rule of Elizabeth loyalty became more and more a passion among Englishmen. 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Apr. 132 Commissioner Murray, concurring in the result, found Dr. Oppenheimer a risk on grounds of loyalty which he newly defined as obedience to security regulations. 1956M. Grodzins Loyal & Disloyal v. 230 Loyalty-security programs threaten to cripple the entire foreign service. Ibid. 231 Governments must guard themselves against harm and destruction, and there can therefore be no criticism of the objectives of loyalty investigations for government employees and scientists who work on government projects. 1964Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 397 In the United States since the end of World War II, loyalty has been an important issue in politics... Under President Truman..there was an elaborate procedure for determining the ‘loyalty’ of servants of the U.S. government.
b. attrib. in † loyalty loan; loyalty oath U.S., an oath, usually mandatory, required of a prospective public employee or other person in which he swears to abstain from subversive activities.
1800Asiatic Ann. Reg., Proc. Parl. 23/2 The..advantageous disposal of the loyalty loan. 1952M. McCarthy in Reporter (N.Y.) 8 July 32/2 In order to..work for the Columbia Broadcasting System you have to sign a loyalty oath which is presented with your contract. 1969L. Greenbaum Out of Shape xxii. 162 The older man had his contract terminated under a clause dealing with loyalty oaths. Apparently he was a card-carrier and hadn't said so. 1971M. McCarthy Birds of America 250 Berkeley is horrible... You have to swear a loyalty oath... It's natural that the students would finally rebel. 1973Black Panther 12 May 6/1 After signing a loyalty oath to the school, students are required to present two identification cards, one issued since November 16th, before gaining entrance to the campus.
†3. Lawfulness, legality (of marriage). Obs. rare— 1.
1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 193 In all the reign of H. 3...if any issue were joyned upon loyalty of marriage, general bastardy, or such like, the King did ever write to the Bishop of the diocese..to certifie the loyalty of the marriage.
▸ loyalty card n. Brit. a card issued by a retailer to its customers as part of a consumer incentive scheme whereby credits for future discounts (or other rewards) are amassed each time a purchase is made and the card produced.
1986Financial Times 11 Dec. (Credit Cards Survey) p. iv/1 Both types of card are really ‘*loyalty’ cards. Their purpose is to instil into the consumer loyalty towards a particular store. 1995Which? June 6/3 Loyalty cards may be popular, but rather than having to join special clubs to get savings, we think it's better if all customers can see cuts on shelf prices. 2000A. Parks Flung in J. Adams et al. Girls' Night In 308 For the last three months I have beaten the living daylights out of my Boots loyalty card in an attempt to de-fuzz, de-scale, retone and tan every inch of my body. |