| 释义 |
▪ I. option, n.|ˈɒpʃən|
[a. F. option (16th c. in Littré), also rare OF. (12–13th c. in Godef. Compl.), ad. L. optiōn-em choosing, choice, f. root op- of optāre to choose.]
1. a. The action of choosing; choice. Also transf. a thing that is or may be chosen; an alternative, a choice. soft option: a choice which entails no difficult or strenuous actions or decisions; also (with hyphen) attrib.
1604R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Option, choosing or wishing. c1615Bacon Adv. Sir G. Villiers vii. §2 Plantation..must proceed from the option of the people, else it sounds like an exile. 1650in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 222 Certeyne houses and options lying in the Close of Sarum. a1660Hammond (T.), He decrees to punish the contumacy finally, by assigning them their own options. a1711Ken Hymnarium Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 73 Since, Lord, thou Man didst free create, That Heav'n might Option be, not Fate. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 346 They seem then to have made their option. 1854Toulmin Smith Parish 118 This Act may, according to option, be put into operation in any parish, or in any defined part of any parish. 1885Guardian 544/1 Under this influence the State University introduced theological options into its arts course. 1923Granta 2 Mar. 315/1 It follows that our Tripos must be difficult; that we have little use for ‘duds’, for Tutors who misconceive it as being a soft option. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove ii. 42 The lifelong consequences of a choice that, once made, is made to be adhered to with no soft option. 1957M. K. Joseph I'll soldier no More (1958) xiii. 238 Odd bods from various HQs and soft-option types with vague jobs. 1967Technology Week 23 Jan. 11/1 (Advt.), Everything is modular—memory, input/output processors, peripherals, central processor options, software. 1967Listener 6 July 5/2 There is a tendency for many prospective students to regard social studies as a soft option. 1969Guardian 14 May 1/2 Mr. Callaghan..is understood to have reserved his decision—or, in the current jargon, ‘kept his options open’. 1971J. B. Carroll et al. Word Frequency Bk. p. xv, This decision was guided by the results of a pilot test undertaken to try out various procedural options for the eventual work on the AHI Corpus. 1972D. Delman Week to Kill 139 This cut down my options. 1973‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Answer xxi. 183 You've been most fiendishly clever... You've kept your options open. 1976K. Thackeray Crownbird v. 94 Gould had tremendous self-assurance, the ability to cope when all the options were running out. 1977Times 22 Apr. 18/8 The British electorate have a powerful instinct for the soft option and a quiet life.
b. spec. in Amer. Football, a play in which a quarter- or half-back chooses whether to pass or to run with the ball; also attrib.
1954Sun (Baltimore) 25 Nov. 15/4 We couldn't pass enough from it and our quarterbacks couldn't take the pounding on the option play as a steady diet. 1966Rote & Winter Lang. Pro Football iii. 127/2 Option, play where ball carrier has choice of running or passing; option pass play. 1974Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 13 Oct. 1-c/3 He baffled the Badgers with the option run, gaining 146 yards and scoring on runs of 11 and six yards. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 291/2 When a halfback is running the option play, it is commonly called the halfback option.
2. a. Power or liberty of choosing: opportunity or freedom of choice. local option: see local.
1633Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1656) 81 Might I have my option, O God, give mee rather a little, with peace and love. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece ii. xi. (1715) 295 He gave them their option of two things. 1755Young Centaur vi. Wks. 1757 IV. 272 It is, indeed, in man's option, which of these revelations he will admit. 1850H. Martineau Hist. Peace II. v. i. 206 He [Peel] had no option about accepting [office]—his sovereign sent for him, and he must come. 1881Huxley Hume i. 7 Hume's option lay between a travelling tutorship and a stool in a merchant's office.
b. Alternative; esp. in phr. with (or without) the option (of a fine).
1901Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 582/2 A third [conviction] should result in imprisonment without the option of a fine. 1903‘T. Collins’ Such is Life (1944) iii. 106 Yet he has thoughts that glow, and words that burn, albeit with such sulphurous fumes that, when uttered in a public place, they frequently render him liable to fourteen days without the option. 1908Daily Chron. 16 Sept. 4/6 A Suffragette who has been offered the option of a fine. 1914E. Pankhurst My Own Story 71 They were given the option of a fine. 1925Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves! vii. 159 He will serve a sentence of thirty days in the Second Division without the option of a fine.
3. The right which an archbishop formerly had on consecration of a bishop, of choosing one benefice within the see of the latter, to be in his own patronage for the next presentation. (Abolished by Act of Parliament in 1845.)
1701in Cowell's Interpr. 1706Hearne Collect. 3 Apr. (O.H.S.) I. 217 He got to be precentor of Chichester (that being an Option of ye Archbishop's). 1763Burn Eccl. Law I. 172 s.v. Bishops. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. xi. 381. 1818 Bentham Ch. Eng. 286 The valuable rectory of Almondsford, on the Severn, in the patronage of the Bishop of Bristol, having just become vacant, but the presentation to it devolving to his Grace, as an option, he has liberally waved his right, on condition that it be annexed to the See in perpetuity.
4. The privilege (acquired on some consideration) of executing or relinquishing, as one may choose, within a specified period a commercial transaction on terms now fixed; esp. that of calling for the delivery, or making delivery, or both, within a specified time, of some particular stock or produce at a specified price and to a specified amount.
The first kind of option is usually termed a call, and the second a put: the right to either is a double option. See also future n. 6.
1755N. Magens Insurances I. 401 The Sum given is called Premium, and the Liberty that the Giver of the Premium has to have the Contract fulfilled or not, is called Option, and the Contracts are made to the Bearer. 1817W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 980 The effect of the whole contract..was only to give the insured an option to continue the insurance or not, during fifteen days after the expiration of the year. 1857Hunt's Merchant's Mag. XXXVII. 134 A purchase of stocks at the brokers' board, buyers' option, thirty, sixty, or ninety days, can call for the stock any day within that time... He pays interest at the rate of 6 per cent up to the time he calls. Ibid., Seller's option. This gives the seller the option to deliver any time within the time of his contract, or at its maturity... The buyer..pays interest up to delivery. 1881Spectator No. 2761. 695 Millions a year are lost on the Stock Exchange in buying and selling Options alone, just because the keenest of mankind think everything will remain as it was for one more fortnight. 1882Truth 13 Apr. 515 An option or call of stock means this—a person thinks..some particular stock will go up, he therefore buys the right to take it, if he pleases, at a fixed price at the next account, or at some still more distant account. 1909D. Lloyd George in Hansard Commons 29 Apr. 519 ‘Option notes’ will be charged at similar rates, calculated upon the value of the securities to which the option relates. 1928Daily Mail 25 July 18/5 None of the shares of the Company are under option. 1976Listener 29 Apr. 533/3 You had bought the option for a book that they hadn't yet written. 1976L. St. Clair Fortune in Death iii. 25 ‘And the stocks you are interested in?’ ‘Just one. Aglia Petroleum. Thought I might pick up some calls on it.’ ‘‘Options’ is our term.’ 1977Gay News 7–20 Apr. 22/1 WH Allen, who have the option on it here, are wary of libel suits. 1977A. Morice Scared to Death i. 7 One condition of this guarantee is an option on each of the plays.
†5. A wish or desire. Obs.
1604[see sense 1]. a1626Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 60 For this adoption is the fulness of our option, we cannot extend our wish..any farther. 1662W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1669) 376/2 He adds his holy option, O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. c1730Layman's Def. Christ. 23 (T.), I shall conclude this epistle with a pathetick option, O that men were wise.
6. attrib. and Comb. (from 4), as option day, option market, option money, option note, option plan, option pool, option price, option-taker, option time, etc.; also options exchange.
1865Shareholders' Guardian 8 Nov. 847/2 If at the expiration of the ‘option’ time the price be the same as the ‘option’ price, the person who paid the money has the right to buy, sell, or neither, as he thinks proper. 1881Daily News 1 Sept. 3/1 At Paris this was option day, but that fact had no influence upon the Bourse, all options having been previously abandoned. 1889Ibid. 7 Oct. 2/1 ‘Option-pools’..imply that a number of persons club together for the purchase of a large option for the put or call of specific securities... To give away money in the purchase of options is bad policy on the whole; and..those who take option money are on the right side of the hedge as a rule. 1899Westm. Gaz. 27 Sept. 9/1 A little option business..is now being done in the shares, {pstlg}1 being given for the call of the shares at {pstlg}10 each for six weeks. 1909Option note [see prec. sense]. 1930Daily Express 30 July 10/3 (heading) The option market. 1961‘E. Lathen’ Banking on Death (1962) xv. 123 He had 10 per cent of the stock already as part of an option plan. 1973N.Y. Law Jrnl. 4 Sept. 7/5 (Advt.), The Chicago Board Options Exchange opened in late April.
b. (gen.) option mortgage (see quots.).
1966New Statesman 4 Mar. 312/1 People will be free in future to choose between taking an ordinary mortgage and an ‘option’ mortgage. 1971Reader's Digest Family Guide to Law 61/1 The Option Mortgage Scheme..gives the borrower the choice of foregoing tax relief in return for a Government subsidy which reduces the interest on his mortgage loan. Ibid. 61/2 The Option Mortgage Scheme was devised to lower the cost of home ownership to people who do not pay enough tax to obtain full advantage from tax relief on mortgage repayments. 1975in R. Crossman Diaries I. 343 The Minister had announced the new option-mortgage scheme, providing subsidies on mortgages whatever the ruling interest rate if mortgagors would forgo tax relief at the standard rate. 1976Star (Sheffield) 3 Dec. 6/4 Our mortgage is an Option Mortgage, therefore we get no tax relief.
Sense 1 b in Dict. becomes 1 c. Add: [1.] b. A supplementary item which may be chosen in addition to (or in place of one of) the standard features of a product, esp. a motor vehicle; an optional extra.
1952Southern Automobile Jrnl. Nov. 83 (caption) Wire wheels are an extra-cost option. 1966Automobile Topics Jan. 35/2 From such beginnings the option and accessory business has grown into a huge industry. 1972Motoring Which? Apr. 51/2 Cortina option packs... Carpets, reclining seats,..adjustable back quarter lights. 1975Economist 5 Apr. 90/3 If the industry makes smaller, standard cars with less options, it will have to raise the profit margin on them, thus making them not so cheap after all. 1987Truck June 97/3 The Gardner engine has been relegated to the position of option just two years after its introduction.
▪ II. ˈoption, v. Chiefly U.S.
[f. the n.]
trans. To buy or sell under option; also, to have an option on.
1934in Webster. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 3 Apr. 20/1 It was necessary for the Flock to purchase him inasmuch as Cleveland could not option him out again. 1966E. V. Rickenbacker Rickenbacker (1968) viii. 127, I also optioned the land around the company for future expansion. 1968R. Lockridge Murder in False Face (1969) v. 68 A friend of his had had a musical optioned a dozen times. ‘Lived on options for years,’ he said. 1973Publishers Weekly 26 Feb. 121/2 She has written a first novel and had it optioned for films. 1975Bookseller 11 Oct. 2038/3 With [the book] Saladin already optioned by the film makers for 150,000 dollars. 1977Ottawa Citizen 8 Feb. 17/2 Irwin Meyer and Stephen R. Friedman..heard the score for Annie. They liked it; they optioned it. |