| 释义 |
operative, a. and n.|ˈɒpərətɪv|
[a. F. opératif, -ive (14th c., Oresme), or immed. ad. late L. operātīv-us creative, formative, f. ppl. stem of operārī to operate: see -ive.]
A. adj.
1. a. Characterized by operating or working; active in producing, or having the power to produce, effects; exerting force, energy, or influence; productive of something; in operation; spec. in legal use, applied to those words in a document which express the intention to effect the transaction concerned.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 847 Animals which are called unreasonable and brute beasts, are endued with reason; howbeit they are not operative with that reason, neither can they actuate it. 1654Bramhall Just Vind. iii. (1661) 31 Whether the Act or Statute of Separation were operative or declarative, creating new right, or manifesting or restoring old right. c1705Berkeley Commonplace Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 478 Enquiring and judging are actions which depend on the operative faculties. 1792N. Chipman Rep. (1871) 72 Words operative at common law to convey. 1865Grote Plato I. iv. 135 The motive to preserve the Platonic MSS. would still be operative. 1872in J. Russell Rep. Cases High Court of Chancery V. 344 If the operative part of a deed be doubtfully expressed, there the recital may safely be referred to as a key to the intention of the parties; but where the operative part of the deed uses language which admits of no doubt, it cannot be controlled by the recital. 1879G. Macdonald P. Faber II. ix. 164 The strongest and most operative sense of duty would not satisfy you. 1925G. C. Cheshire Mod. Law Real Property 601 We will now turn to the operative words of the conveyance. 1951Times 27 Nov. 7/4 Something to prevent that should be put into the operative part of the treaty.
b. Of words, sentences, etc.: containing the main point or key, essential to the meaning of the whole.
1926Sat. Rev. 3 July 12/1 Every English sentence has an operative word. 1954Koestler Invis. Writing ii. 28 The tendency of the novel had to be ‘operative’, that is, didactic; each work of art must convey a social message. 1963N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) ii. 43 ‘It was nice getting your occasional letters,’ Patrick said, presently. ‘Operative word ‘occasional’.’ 1973O. Lancaster Littlehampton Bequest 24 He was known..to have trailed a pike in the Low Countries when there were those..who loudly proclaimed that in his case ‘trailed’ was the operative word.
c. Of political ideas or principles: (a) capable of being put into effect; likely to be beneficial; (b) (see quot. 1954).
1938H. G. Wells Brothers iii. 46 Are you lot over there really giving it an operative form? That's one of my phrases, brother—operative form... Competent receiver and operative form; two phrases for two problems that Socialism and Communism ought to have tackled forty years ago. 1954Koestler Invis. Writing xx. 224 It is called the ‘operative principle’. It means that you cannot write about the strategy of Communism without having worked in a factory, or Party cell, or underground organisation.
d. In weakened sense (without reference to specific activity or production): significant, important.
1955J. L. Austin How to do Things with Words (1962) i. 7 But ‘operative’..is often used nowadays to mean little more than ‘important’. 1977‘D. Cory’ Bennett ii. 74 After all, she didn't bring the boy on that operative Saturday.
2. Productive of the intended or proper effect; effective, effectual, efficacious.
1598Bacon Let. to Ld.-Keeper Puckering 28 Sept., That your lordship may perceive how effectual and operative your lordship's last dealing with her Majesty was. 1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. ii. §2. 137 If these desires be..as operative as they are inquisitive..then we shall perceive the blessings and fruits of our holy desires. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. viii. 277 Fraud was an operative instrument in the hands of this aspiring general. 1879Trollope in 19th Cent. Jan. 38 The judgment..is not operative against the reading of novels.
3. Concerned with manual or mechanical work; practical.
1624Wotton Archit. 1, In Architecture, as in all other Operative Arts, the End must direct the Operation. 1785Reid Intell. Powers v. iv. 401 In every operative art, the tools, instruments, materials..must have general names. 1827H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 480, I should wish to see them employ, for the operative part, none but the most experienced Foresters that can be had. 1899Whitaker's Alm. 163/2 Mint..Superintendent Operative Department.
4. Pertaining to surgical operations.
1783P. Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 7 The operative part of the arts. 1845J. Saunders Cab. Pict. Eng. Life 181 Serapion Senior..treats of diseases as curative solely by medicine and diet, omitting operative surgery. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 31 The prospect of much benefit from treatment other than operative is practically nil.
5. Of a person: Engaged in work or production, putting forth activity, active.
1824Southey Sir T. More (1831) I. 369 The active,..or, in the phraseology of the present day, the operative clergy. 1825Lamb Elia Ser. II. Superann. Man, Man..is out of his element as long as he is operative. I am altogether for the life contemplative. 1835Court Mag. VI. 51/1 Mr. Pl. is not a little proud at finding himself..the..head and front of the operative dramatists of the day.
6. Engaged in production as a workman or artisan, working. (Now perh. the n. (B. 4) used attrib.)
1831Mechanics' Mag. XIV. 106 To the Operative Printers of London. 1849C. Brontë Shirley xxii, Most of these were not members of the operative class. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxiii, I was still an operative mason.
B. n.
†1. ellipt. An operative mood or condition. Obs.
1608D. Price Chr. Warre 6 The Imperatiue in God begets an Optatiue in man, not an Operatiue.
†2. That which operates or works. Obs.
†a. An agent, efficient means.
1672Penn Spir. Truth Vind. 24 If Water and Spirit be the only operative to Regeneration, and Regeneration the only Way to the Kingdom of God.
†b. A drug or medicine that operates.
1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 353 The most immediate Operative upon a dangerous Flux, is a Scruple or two of the Flower of Sulpher, with a proportionable quantum sufficit of Alkermes, to make it into a Bolus.
3. a. One who operates or works; one who is engaged in any branch of industry, trade, or profession; a worker.
1809–10Coleridge Friend (1863) II. 130 The remaining mass of useful labourers and operatives in science, literature, and the learned professions. 1832Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) II. 38 (Doctrine de Saint-Simon) Priests, ‘savans’, operatives—there you have the whole of society. 1838Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 206 He was the operative of a scientific person in Boston. 1898J. E. C. Bodley France iii. ii. 64 Lawyers and other unproductive operatives.
b. A detective or agent employed by a detective agency; a secret-service agent.
1905N.Y. Press 23 Oct. 6/4 The word ‘detective’ became so offensive..that it was dropped by some successful [detective] agencies. The word chosen by the Pinkertons to take its place was ‘operative’. 1930Sat. Even. Post 26 July 142/2 Riding on the train with him was another operative who had spent that day following Castagara. 1934A. Christie Murder on Orient Express ii. ix. 137 That's not to say he'll remember me from a crowd of other operatives. 1937N.Y. Times 22 Dec. 22/5 Operative, a spy employed by an agency. Usually has a secret designation. An operative may be a hooked man or a professional spy. 1954W. Tucker Wild Talent (1955) xiv. 184 Paul wondered if this new woman in the adjoining apartment would be a plant... Slater might be playing it doubly safe and ringing in another operative on him. 1966J. Porter Sour Cream iii. 36, I thought..you might just care to make your will. I advise all my operatives to do it. 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends viii. 56 Sascha looked at her, pierced with reluctant admiration. What an operative!
4. A workman in any industrial art, esp. one employed in a mill or factory; an artisan, mechanic; a mill-hand.
1827Westm. Rev. VII. 279 A few dozens of operatives at two or three shillings a-day. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. i. 9 It belongs equally to the sinewy miner, the stout ploughman, and the withered operative. 1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 272 The Spanish persecutions in the Low Countries drove hither many skilful operatives. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. iv. 214/2 The cotton operatives have..gained very much.
attrib.1832Blackw. Mag. Jan. 115/1 To keep up these operative electors over the whole country. 1858Greener Gunnery 411 The reluctant operative shooters employed to carry out the experiment. 1890Daily News 9 June 7/6 The anniversary of Garibaldi's death has been commemorated at Nice, a large number of operative societies taking part in the ceremony. |