| 释义 |
élite, n.3|eɪˈliːt|
[F. élite (in OFr. eslite, elite; see prec.) selection, choice; in mod. use concr. that which is chosen:—med.L. ēlecta choice, f. L. ēligĕre: see elect v.]
1. The choice part or flower (of society, or of any body or class of persons). Also attrib. and Comb.; élite stand, tree (see quot. 1953).
1823Byron Juan xiii. lxxx, With other Countesses of Blank—but rank; At once the ‘lie’ and the ‘élite’ of crowds. 1848W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. I. 439 The élite of the Russian nobility. 1852C. M. Yonge Two Guardians viii. 143 She did not belong to those élite circles. 1880Goldw. Smith in Atl. Monthly No. 268 If we take into consideration..the élite of a comparatively civilized generation. 1912J. H. Moore Ethics & Educ. xiv. 111 The fighting instinct persists so strongly, even in élite peoples, that all our games nearly..are arranged on the plan of a battle. 1922Joyce Ulysses 644 The élite society of oilskin and company. 1936Forestry X. 35 By this process, in every fifth row of trees élite trees were selected, roughly every fifth stem when suitable. 1948T. S. Eliot Notes towards Def. Culture ii. 36 An élite-governed society. 1953Brit. Commonw. For. Terminol. I. 128 Elite stand, one selected for seed collection on account of its specially good quality. Ibid. 139 Elite tree, a tree selected for seed collection or for vegetative propagation on account of some specially good quality it may possess [etc.]. 1955Koestler Trail of Dinosaur 209 The proposal aims at the creation of an élite force, within the framework of the Atlantic Pact. 1958Listener 30 Oct. 685/1 Formal schooling which a generation ago was still confined to a small élite group. 1968Ibid. 4 Apr. 445/2 The New Statesman was, and remains, an élite paper, a ‘quality’ paper.
2. (Normally without accent.) A standard size for letters used in typewriting, measuring horizontally twelve letters to the inch.
1920H. Etheridge Dict. Typewr. 103 Elite Type. 1923Amer. Type Founders Co., Specimen Bk., Popular Typewriter Faces..10 Point Elite Underwood. 1927F. Heelis Advanced Typewriting 52 ‘Elite’ type, which is most suitable for private correspondence, measures twelve [letters or spaces] to the inch. 1928Big Six (Remington Typewriter Co. Ltd.), Type Styles..Elite. 1951J. Steinbeck Log f. Sea of Cortez (1958) p. liv, The neat page full of small elite type. |