| 释义 |
▪ I. approve, v.1|əˈpruːv|
Forms: 4–7 aprove, 5–6 approuve, 6–7 approove, 5– approve.
[a. OFr. aprove-r (now approuver):—L. app-, adprobā-re to make good, assent to as good, f. ad to + probā-re to try the goodness of, prove, f. prob-us good. Cf. appreve, a form repr. the tonic stem of the Fr. as in appreuve; and its pa. pple. approven. In some senses the word appears to represent Fr. éprouver, OFr. esprover, not otherwise found in English. See a- prefix 9.]
I. (= Fr. approuver.)
†1. To make good (a statement or position); to show to be true, prove, demonstrate.
a. simply. Obs.
1382Wyclif Mic. vi. 9 Who shal aproue it? 1481Caxton Myrr. iii. vi. 141 They had lerned to approue the daye and tyme whan suche thynges [eclipses] shold happe. 1571Digges Geom. Pract. i. xx. F iij b, The rule..may two wayes be approued, geometrically and arithmetically. 1614Raleigh Hist. World II. v. iii. §15. 442 He had approued vnto the vulgar, the dignitie of his Science. 1639Fuller Holy War v. x. (1840) 259 To approve the truth..thereof against some one who questioned. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. v, We demonstrate or approve our reckonings to other men.
†b. with subord. clause. Obs.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4746 Yhit for certayn approves noght he Þat þa fiften days of takens sal be. 1483Caxton Cato E iiij b, I haue..approuyd that none may know the secretes of God. 1624Heywood Gunaik. ii. 72 This aproves unto us, that order is a cheefe rule in memorie.
†c. with complement. Obs.
1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 345/2 He was approoued guiltie at his arreignment. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 245 One thing..which must approue thee honest. 1644Vind. Treat. Monarchy iv. 20, I..doubt not to approve it firme truth. 1676–7Marvell Corr. 290 Wks. 1872–5 II. 527 Mr. Onslow was approved not to have been culpable.
†2. To attest (a thing) with some authority, to corroborate, confirm. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Anticr. & Meynee (Todd) 137 Crist confermed his lawe and wiþ his deþ approved hit. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 79 What damned error, but some sober brow Will..approue it with a text? 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 183 The trembling emperor..solemnly approved the innocence and fidelity of their assassins.
b. with a thing as subject.
a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. III. Ded. 10 The success has approved this judgement. 1862Trench Mirac. Introd. 98 The miracles proving the doctrines, and the doctrines approving the miracles.
3. To demonstrate practically or to the experience of others, display, exhibit, make proof of. Also refl.
1551Robinson More's Utop. 151 They by quicke repentaunce approue the amendement of their liues. 1610Chester's Tri. (1844) Chester 15 Such Olympian sports as shall approve Our best devotion. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §56 Who..approved himself..valiantly at the taking of Strigonium. 1876Emerson Ess. Ser. ii. iv. 104 Many opportunities to approve his stoutness and worth.
b. To display or exhibit to advantage. rare.
1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §42. 133 The sculpture is approved and set off by the colour.
4. with compl. To show or prove practically (a thing or person) to be (so and so).
1680Butler Rem. (1759) IV. 4 Approv'd the most profound, and wise To solve Impossibilities. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxxv, 'Tis an old lesson; Time approves it true. 1865Parkman Champlain i. (1875) 176 His account..approves him a man of thought and observation.
b. refl. To prove or show oneself practically to be.
1559Abp. Hethe in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. vi. 11 All such as shall approve themselves not to be the obedient children of Chryst's churche. 1649Selden Laws of Eng. ii. xi. (1739) 58 Edward the Third approved himself not only King of England, but of himself. 1656Twisleton in Burton Diary (1828) I. 148 He was in Wales, and approved himself a very vile person. 1765Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 305 The latter..approved himself a neighbour by acting agreeably to that character. 1840Macaulay Clive 92 When he approved himself ripe for military command.
†c. intr. (refl. pron. omitted) To prove itself, prove, turn out to be. Obs. rare.
1587Fleming Cont. Holinshed III. 372/1 If he will say that it was but inuention, it will approue false.
5. To confirm authoritatively; to sanction. Hence the techn. term:
a. in Sc. Parliament for confirming, or deciding in the affirmative, by a vote of the house;
b. for confirming the sentence of a court-martial.
1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. xiv. 82 Þere may no thing be approvid, ne affermed, but if it be founde in the feith. 1480Bury Wills (1850) 59, I..by this my present testament..myne seyde mynde, wyll and entent..approue, ratifie, and conferme. 1590Swinburn Testaments 40 The lawe dooth not approoue such testamentes. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. Pref. 13 The old may not be proued, because it is approued. 1726in Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 248 The vote was stated, Whether Approve the overture of the Committee, or Delay. 1816C. James Milit. Dict. (ed. 4) 141 The colonel or commanding officer approves the sentence of a regimental court-martial.
6. To pronounce to be good, commend.
a. trans.
c1380Wyclif Pseudo-Freris iv. Wks. (1879) 306 Non word of iames approueþ þise newe religions. 1447O. Bokenham Lyvys of Seyntys (Roxb.) 31 Fully they approvyd al his entent. 1538Starkey England 81 Vayn ornamentys by corrupt jugement commynly approvyd. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 149, I approue your Wisedom in the deede. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 391 Fools admire, but men of sense approve. 1803Wellington in Wellesley Disp. 313, I entirely approve that precaution. 1878Seeley Stein III. 522 Niebuhr..admired and approved the Revolution of 1688.
†b. with inf. phr. or subord. clause. Obs.
1475Caxton Jason 36 That thing that thou approuedest to seche aboue alle other. 1663Gerbier Counsel A iv a, They will approve that Work men may have this little Book in their Pockets. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 880 Others who approve not to transgress By thy example.
c. intr. Const. (on obs.) of.
1658R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 9 Our modern assertors and predicators approve on it. 1658–9Gibbons in Burton Diary III. 557 Such as shall be named and approved on by this House. 1711Steele Spect. No. 2 ⁋2 He has read all, but approves of very few. 1866Kingsley Herew. x. 149 Would his grandfather approve of what he had done.
7. trans. To recommend oneself, one's qualities, actions, etc., as worthy of approval; to commend to.
1611Bible Pref. 1 We doe seeke to approue our selues to euery ones conscience. 1657Cromwell in Burton Diary I. 415 Without integrity, without sincerity, without approving the heart to God. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. ii. (1867) 49 If anticipations such as these approve themselves to reason.
II. [= mod.Fr. éprouver.]
†8. To put to the proof or test of experience; to try, test. Obs.
1380[See approved]. 1483Caxton Cato D iiij, This rule is gyuen to euery man and approued of euery man. 1532G. Hervet Xenoph. Treat. Househ. (1768) 64 Men of olde antyquitie, approuinge it by experience. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 9 Nay, taske me to my word: approue me Lord. 1770Langhorne Plutarch's Lives (1879) I. 60/2 Neither fear nor rashness was likely to approve men so disposed.
†9. To find by experience, to experience. Obs.
1578Gorgious Gallery, A Louer approuing his Lady unkinde. 1591Raleigh Last Fight Rev. 24 Vnto them a spectacle, and a resolution sildome approued, to see one ship turne toward so many enemies. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xix. 101 He hath approved that government in himselfe.
▪ II. aˈpprove, aˈpprow, v.2 Law.
Also 5 aproue, aprowe.
[a. OFr. aproe-r, approer, approuer, apprower to profit, ‘faire profiter, enricher’ (Godefroi), f. à to + pros, obj. prode, pro, prou, preu (Pr., Sp., Pg. pro, It. pro, prode) ‘advantage, profit,’ a difficult word, pointing to an early Romanic subst. use of the prep. pro or prod- in prod-est (as if prod est mihi, it is a profit or advantage to me), perh. declined as *prod-is, prod-em. Cf. the adj. use in It. prode, pro, Pr. pros. OFr. proz, pros, prous, preus, obj. prode, prou, preu, mod.Fr. preux good, worthy, valiant, i.e. vir qui prod-est. (Cf. also It. prodezza, Pr, Sp. proeza, OFr. proesce, Fr. prouesse prowess, and OFr. prozom, prodom, Fr. prud' homme; and see Diez, Littré, Brachet.) The mod.Eng. form ought to be approw (cf. allow), but through confusion of u and v, approue was erroneously printed in 17th c. Law-dicts. approve, as if a sense of the prec.]
lit. To make profit to oneself of (e.g. land), by increasing the value or rent. esp. Said of the lord of a manor enclosing or appropriating to his own advantage common land, as permitted by the Statute of Merton (20 Hen. III. c. iv.). Cf. improve.[The Stat. of Merton exists only in Latin, but its phrase ‘faciant commodum suum’ exactly translates OFr. aproent, and is rendered in Stat. Westminster ‘appruare se possint de’; other latinized adaptations of the Fr. were approare, approvare, and finally (in 17th c.) approbare.] 1483Cath. Angl., To approwe, Approare, sicut domini se faciunt de vastis. 1691Blount Law Dict. s.v., To approve Land is to make the best benefit of it by increasing the Rent. 1768Blackstone Comm. ii. iii, This enclose, when justifiable, is called in law approving. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) III. 362 By the Statute of Merton..the lord is permitted to approve, that is to inclose the waste lands of his manor. 1865Turner in Morn. Star 29 Apr., Sir T. Wilson not only considered himself entitled to ‘approve’ portions of the [Hampstead] Heath, but also contemplated letting out the plots which he might ‘approve’ for building purposes. |