| 释义 |
officiously, adv.|əˈfɪʃəslɪ|
[f. prec. + -ly2.]
In an officious manner.
1. With eagerness to serve; attentively; obligingly, courteously.
1603B. Jonson Entertainm. at Althorpe 220 A morrise of the clowns there-about, who most officiously presented themselves. 1708J. Hudson Let. in Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 124 He made me dine wth him, and officiously conducted me to y⊇ Ferry. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. vi, Little Dick officiously reached him a chair. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xxviii, Her two fugitive handmaidens..endeavoured to suppress a smuggled laugh..by acting very officiously in Mr. Touchwood's service.
†2. Dutifully, duteously. Obs.
1603H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 155 They ought..holding sacred places, to labour earnestly and officiously, to suppresse those horrible euils. a1677Barrow Serm. (1686) III. xlv. 535 Let us demean ourselves modestly, consistently, and officiously toward him. 1700Dryden Ceyx & Alc. 106 As danger taught Each in his way officiously they wrought.
3. In an unduly forward or obtrusive manner; with importunate forwardness; † without being asked or required; gratuitously.
1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 31 Officiously intruding them selues for bribes. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. iii. §16 Would you officiously set an enemy right that was making a wrong attack? a1734North Lives (1826) II. 160 He would not be exposed to them, although he had not officiously hurt any of them. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. ix. 288 The French East India Company, the affairs of which the ministers of the French King had so officiously controled. 1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. x. 221 The Arabs officiously picked up specimens of poor turquoise and small pieces of iron-ore.
4. As opposed to officially: Informally on the part of authority or its agents.
1863F. W. Gibbs Recognition 10 When Mr. Deane..applied to the French Government for two hundred guns, he was refused officially, but officiously referred to Beaumarchais. 1888Times 12 Apr. 9/4 They [the Municipalities] fix the price ‘officiously’—that is, at a quotation which may serve to guide the public without acting as a legal restraint on the baker. |