| 释义 |
passive, a. and n.|ˈpæsɪv|
[ad. L. passīv-us capable of suffering or feeling, f. patī, pass- to suffer: see -ive. Cf. F. passif (Oresme 14th c.).]
A. adj.
†1. Suffering; exposed to suffering, liable to suffer. Obs.
(Quot. c 1400 is of doubtful sense.)
[c1400Apol. Loll. 14 God may not autorise þat actyfe cursyng..But passyue cursyng, þat is peyn be it self wiþ synne folowand, is iust.] c1485Digby Myst. iv. 962 For man diete the maker of all, By his manhed passyve. 1611Cotgr., Patible, patible, passiue, sufferable. 1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint., Resurr. & Immort. ii, His passive Cottage; which (though laid aside)..Shall one day rise.
2. a. Suffering action from without; that is the object, as distinguished from the subject, of action; acted upon, affected, or swayed by external force; produced or brought about by external agency.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) ii. lx. (1859) 57 Thou were in me actyf as fire is in the wood, and I in to the passyf as woode is in the fyre. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 750 Their Canoas are of the barke of birch,..fit for actiue or passiue carriage. 1662South Serm. (1697) I. 66 The Active informations of the Intellect, filling the Passive reception of the Will. 1709Steele Tatler No. 10 ⁋2. 1773 Ld. Monboddo Language (1774) I. i. iv. 46 The mind is to be considered as merely passive, receiving like wax the impressions of external objects. 1842J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) I. 245 Such passive impressions are deeper than we can explain. 1867Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 173 Receptive and passive of her [Nature's] influences and forces.
b. Of movements or physical states of an animal or plant: Produced by external agency.
1845Todd & Bowman Phys. Anat. I. 171 Passive contraction is that which every muscle is continually prone to undergo. 1857Mayne Expos. Lex., Passive Motion, term for motion exerted not by the patient himself but gently by another person. 1893A. S. Eccles Sciatica 71 The patient is directed to resist the passive movements practised by the attendant.
3. Gram. An epithet of voice in verbs used transitively: opposed to active 3. Applied to that form of, or mode of using, the verb, in which the action denoted by it is treated as an attribute of the thing towards which the action is directed; or, in which the logical object of the action is made the grammatical subject of the assertion.
1388Wyclif Prol. 57 A participle of a present tens, either preterit, of actif vois, eithir passif, mai be resoluid into a verbe of the same tens, and a coniunccioun copulatif. 1530Palsgr. 124 Verbes passyves be suche as..betoken suffring. 1563–7Buchanan Reform. St. Andros Wks. (1892) 8 The verbes actives, passives, and anomales. c1620A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 32 The passive verb adheres to the person of the patient. 1678Phillips (ed. 4), Passive Voice of a Verb..is that which betokeneth suffering or a being acted upon, as Doceor, I am taught. 1845Stoddart in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 33/1 It often becomes necessary to state the object of a verb active, or the agent of a verb passive. Hence arises the necessity for two other cases, which have been called the accusative and the ablative. 1904C. T. Onions Adv. Eng. Syntax §27 In the Passive Construction of Verbs taking one Object, what was the Object in the Active becomes the Subject.
4. Sc. Law. Of a title to an estate: Under a liability. Of an heir or executor: Liable for the debts of an estate. Also in general sense: Of the nature of a liability.
1576–7Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. i. II. 664 In the saidis Margaret Dundas as relict executrice..and hir said spous for his interes passive. 1693Stair Inst. (ed. 2) iii. vi. §3 The Reason of introducing this passive Title, is in favour of Creditors, that they be not un-satisfied, or shifted by the Heirs of the defunct Creditors. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Debt, Active Debts are those whereof a person is creditor: Passive Debts, those whereof he is debtor. 1773Erskine Inst. iii. viii. §87 That apparent heirs might not, upon gratuitous dispositions from their ancestors, enjoy their estates without being liable for their debts, the passive title of præceptio was introduced, by which an heir, if he accepts of a grant from his ancestor, of any part, however small, of that estate to which he would have succeeded as heir, is subjected to the payment of all such debts due by the ancestor as were contracted previously to the grant. 1861W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 615 A passive title, by which the heir, without acquiring an active title, as by service or confirmation, tacitly and by implication subjects himself to the responsibilities belonging to the character of heir. 1875Poste Gaius iii. (ed. 2) 350 A curator was appointed,..and instead of selling the active and passive universality of the insolvent's estate,..merely sold the active residue.
5. Suffering or receiving something without resistance or opposition; readily yielding or submitting to external force or influence, or the will of another; submissive.
passive obedience, passive prayer, passive righteousness: see the substantives. See also passive
1626Jackson Creed viii. xii. §7 All passive obedience doth properly consist in patient suffering such things as are enjoyned by lawfull authority. a1634Chapman Revenge for Honour Plays 1873 III. 311 Your Soft passive nature do's like jet on fire When oyls cast on't, extinguish. 1691New Disc. Old Intreague iii. 42 While passive Zealots their Harangues applaud; Their Dictates swallow. 1732Fielding Mock Doctor i, You know my temper is not over and above passive, and that my arm is extremely active. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. iii. (1872) II. 163 Passive she, all the while, mere clay in the hands of the potter. 1873H. Rogers Orig. Bible i. (1875) 28 The passive virtues—those of patience, humility, meekness, forgiveness of injuries.
6. Not active, working, or operating; not exerting force or influence upon anything else; quiescent, inactive, inert.
1477Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 54 Heate, and Cold, be qualities Active; Moisture, and Drines, be qualityes Passive. 1604Bacon Apol. Wks. 1879 I. 436, I am merely passive, and not active in this action. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Passive Principles, so the Chymists call Water and Earth, because either their Parts are at rest, or else at least not so rapidly moved as those of Spirit, Oil, and Salt, and so do serve to stop and hinder the quick Motion of the Active Principles. 1710Lady M. W. Montagu Lett., to Mrs. Hewet (1887) I. 30, I am passive in their disputes, and endeavour to study my Italian in peace. 1902Westm. Gaz. 10 June 4/3 Passive loyalty being, under the circumstances, to my mind, as great a virtue in a Dutchman as active loyalty in an Englishman.
7. In various technical uses related to sense 6.
a. Path. Of an inflammation, congestion, or the like: Characterized by sluggish or diminished flow of blood.
1813J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 129 The change from active to passive, or from acute to chronic inflammation, is frequently seen in the progress of ophthalmia. 1842Dunglison Med. Lex., Passive, an epithet for diseases, which seem owing to a greater or less diminution of strength, or which are without apparent reaction. 1871W. A. Hammond Dis. Nerv. Syst. 41 Passive Cerebral Congestion. 1886Syd. Soc. Lex., H[æmorrhage], passive, hæmorrhage occurring without any increase in the activity of the circulation..; also, hæmorrhage occurring with impeded circulation.
b. Chem. Not possessing active chemical properties; not readily entering into chemical combination; inert, inactive. Also, applied to substances that are normally reactive.
1836Phil. Mag. IX. 54 The third wire can make indifferent or passive a fourth one, and so on. Ibid., Direct contact between the two wires..is not an indispensably necessary condition for communicating chemical activity from the active wire to the passive one; for any metal..renders the same service. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 183 A voltaic battery, consisting of zinc and passive iron, or of active and passive iron. 1864–72Watts Dict. Chem. II. 430 This effect is evidently due to the formation of a thin coating of oxide. The iron thus treated is no longer attacked by strong nitric acid, but may be preserved in it for any length of time without change; it is said to be passive... Iron may..be rendered passive..by holding it for a few seconds in the flame of a spirit-lamp, whereby it becomes superficially oxidised. 1940Nature 19 Oct. 506/1 The addition of a sufficient amount of chromium to iron confers upon the iron the property of producing spontaneously upon its surface a passive and resistant film as a result of contact with the atmosphere or with certain aqueous environments. Such passive films, if mechanically damaged, are self-repairing. 1965D. Abbott Inorg. Chem. x. 447 Nitric acid renders some metals completely passive, e.g. iron and nickel are rendered passive by the concentrated acid.
c. Law and Comm. Of a debt, bond, or share: On which no interest is paid. Of a trust: On which the trustees have no duty to perform; nominal. Of a trade balance: unfavourable; with debits greater than credits. passive commerce: commerce in which the productions of one country are transported by the people of another; opposed to active commerce, in which a country transports as well as produces its own goods. passive rate (see quot. 1972). passive use: a use in which one person had possession of the estate while another enjoyed the profits arising from it: a permissive use.
1837W. Hayes Conveyancing (ed. 3) 83 The right of the wife of a sole owner of the legal inheritance to be endowed of one-third of the land at his death, also gave occasion..to passive trusts. 1848Wharton Law Lex. s.v., In order to guard against the forfeiture of a legal estate for life, passive trusts, by settlement, were resorted to..and passive trusts were and are created in order to prevent dower. 1882Bithell Counting-ho. Dict., Passive Bonds or Shares, Bonds or Shares issued by a Government or by a commercial company, on which no interest is paid, but entitling the holder to some future benefit or claim. 1883Lely Wharton's Law Lex. (ed. 7), Passive debt, a debt upon which, by or without agreement..no interest is payable. 1930Economist 15 Mar. 587/2 The passive balance of Kr. 25 million was quite normal for the time of the year, as there is always an excess of imports during the winter months. 1936K. A. H. Egerton Bower's Dict. Econ. Terms (ed. 10) 119 Passive trade balance, a balance of imports in excess of exports—another term for ‘unfavourable trade balance’. 1940G. Crowther Outl. Money viii. 298 Following the usual terminology we can say that the balance of trade between the two countries was unfavourable (or ‘passive’) to Switzerland. 1972Times 29 Dec. 15/1 It has also been accepted that the annual rate of monetary growth should be curbed gradually rather than suddenly until it reaches a ‘passive’ rate—the planned rate of economic growth plus the going rate of inflationary expectations.
d. Immunol. [tr. G. passiv (given this sense by P. Ehrlich 1892, in Zeitschr. f. Hygiene und Infectionskrankheiten XII. 189).] Produced by or involving the introduction into the body of antibodies of external origin.
1895Science Progress III. 204 ‘Passive immunity’, a term first employed by Ehrlich. 1898R. T. Hewlett Man. Bacteriol. v. 123 ‘Passive immunity’ is soon lost, but..is transmitted to the fœtus. 1935F. P. Gay et al. Agents of Dis. xxii. 450 Passive transfer occurs naturally from immune mothers to their offspring. 1970W. H. Parker Health & Dis. in Farm Animals ix. 114 Natural passive immunity is acquired from the first meals of colostrum. 1974R. M. Kirk et al. Surgery ii. 33 Passive immunity is often transmitted to humans by using the serum from a highly immunised horse.
e. Chess. Designating a sacrifice (a) in which a piece or pawn attacked by an opponent's move is left to be captured; (b) that an opponent need not accept.
1907S. S. Blackburne Terms & Themes Chess Probl. 87 Sacrificing, offering a White man to be captured. If a man or men already en prise be left so, this may be called a ‘passive sacrifice’. 1924A. Emery Chess Sacrifices & Traps ii. 40 In general, ‘passive’ sacrifices like that in No. 1—where, the Queen being attacked, Alekhine calmly allows it to be taken—are more pleasing than the ‘active’ variety. 1935J. du Mont tr. Spielmann's Art of Sacrifice in Chess i. 2 Under the heading ‘form’, there are two types, namely active and passive. In making a distinction between these two types, the deciding factor, from a scientific point of view, would be whether the sacrifice arises from a move made for the purpose, or from a raid by the enemy... For reasons of practicability, however, it has seemed to me better to make the distinction a different one, namely, whether acceptance of the proffered sacrifice is compulsory or not. Those which must be accepted I call active, the others passive. 1968P. H. Clarke tr. Vuković's Chess Sacrifice i. 12 Passive sacrifices have the drawback that they can be declined; they can, as it were, be ignored.
f. Psychol. Of, relating to or characteristic of the female or the inactive role in a sexual relationship, freq. associated with masochism in psychoanalytic theory; that fails or refuses to respond with, or shows an abnormal lack of, activity.
1916A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Leonardo da Vinci ii. 39 Strangely enough this phantasy is altogether of a passive character; it resembles certain dreams and phantasies of women and of passive homosexuals who play the feminine part in sexual relations. 1921Internat. Jrnl. Psycho-Anal. II. 439 The author comes to the conclusion that masochism has to be considered as the result and expression of the primacy of passive partial impulses. 1935Ibid. XVI. 337 The sexual aims of the little boy's incestuous wishes are clearly passive. 1940Henderson & Gillespie Text-bk. Psychiatry (ed. 5) 312 Predominantly inadequate or passive, this again is an important and numerous group. 1969R. L. Kelley in Solomon & Patch Handbk. Psychiatry xlii. 521 Severe characterologic problems such as sexual perversion, alcoholism..and passive dependent personality. 1973L. C. Kolb Mod. Clin. Psychiatry (ed. 8) vi. 93/1 In this type the personality contains a considerable element of aggression..expressed by passive measures, such as sullenness, stubbornness, procrastination [etc.].
g. Electronics. Containing no source of e.m.f.
1924K. S. Johnson Transmission Circuits Teleph. Communication xi. 121 The transmission properties of passive networks may often be best determined by considering them as equivalent to lines having smoothly distributed constants. 1930T. E. Shea Transmission Networks & Wave Filters ii. 43 A network composed only of inductances, capacitances, and resistances is a passive network. 1965Wireless World July 332/1 In the so-called hybrid circuit,..the active elements..are formed in the silicon slice by the normal planar process, but..the passive elements (resistors, capacitors and conductors) are deposited as thin films on to the thermally grown silicon dioxide protective coating. 1970J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers ii. 29 A junction diode is equivalent to the thermionic valve diode, a transistor to a thermionic valve and an IC to a multiplicity of active and passive devices and components.
h. Linguistics. Of vocabulary, etc.: that is recognized and understood but through inability, lack of assurance, or for some other reason, is not used by the auditor or reader himself.
1935G. K. Zipf Psycho-Biol. of Lang. (1936) v. 220 The auditor's passive vocabulary (i.e. the words which the auditor can understand). 1966J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants ii. 99 Most stories will contain far more material than the pupils are expected to reproduce themselves (i.e. relying on and helping to build up their ‘passive’ or recognition vocabulary). 1976Word 1971 XXVII. 85 Grammont reported and demonstrated that ‘passive language’ precedes ‘active language’.
i. Of radar, homing systems, etc.: relying on radiation generated by the target. Of a satellite, space relay station, etc.: not generating any signal.
1954K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile (ed. 2) iii. 67 A missile can be homed on to its target..by..‘passive’ homing (whereby the missile homes on to a source of energy radiated by the target). 1960N.Y. Times 9 Oct. E 9/6 Echo, a ‘passive’ satellite, reflects or bounces radio signals sent from one station back to another point on the earth. 1962J. Clemow Missile Guidance ii. 45 It is possible to have a passive radar system where a receiver carried in the missile detects the direction of the source of radar signals from the target. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XII. 504/2 Modern submarines carry passive sonar apparatus which is believed to be capable of detecting ships as far away as 100 miles. 1967H. Hellman Controlled Guidance Syst. vi. 161 Additional advantages of passive systems are that they emit no telltale signals to aid the enemy, and the guidance equipment is kept to a bare minimum. 1969Proc. IEEE LVII. 427/1 Passive remote sensing at microwave frequencies has applications which range from meteorology to oceanography and geology.
j. passive smoking [cf. G. passivrauchen], the inhalation of smoke involuntarily from the tobacco being smoked by others, considered as a health risk; hence passive smoker, one who suffers this.
1971G. Richardson 2nd World Conf. Smoking & Health 217 Some studies give attention to the fact that non-smokers cannot avoid inhaling smoke when breathing smoky air, the so-called ‘passive smoking’. 1974Lancet 2 Nov. 1031/1 (heading) Influence of passive smoking and parental phlegm on pneumonia and bronchitis in early childhood. 1976Med. Jrnl. Aust. II. 68 This type of smoker is known as a passive or second-hand smoker. 1978N.Y. Times 22 Nov. c1/5 ‘Passive smokers’ are beginning to speak out. 1986Scotsman 16 June 11/2 The passive smoker is exposed mainly to ‘sidestream’ smoke given off directly from a cigarette, pipe or cigar. 1987Sunday Tel. 9 Aug. 20/6 A report of the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health..goes out of its way to deny that any causal association between passive smoking and lung cancer has yet been established.
B. n. [Elliptical uses of the adj.]
1. a. That which is the object of the action of something else; a passive thing, quality, or property. Now usually in pl.
1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. ii. (Skeat) l. 12 Euery actiue woorcheth on his passiue. 1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xiv. vi. (1886) 308 The artificiall applieing of the actives and passives of gold and silver. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 44 A due conjunction of actives and passives. a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. v. 338 Man..by applying Actives to Passives, may do things of not unlike a nature; as the acceleration of the growth of Seeds by Mineral Preparations.
b. pl. In pillow-lace making, the bobbins holding the threads which correspond to the warp threads in weaving.
1907Mincoff & Marriage Pillow Lace vii. 89 The other pairs which these [sc. the wefts] must cross are called the ‘passives’. 1953M. Powys Lace & Lace-Making iv. 20 This makes the connection and the worker bobbins pass back again across the passives. Ibid. xi. 186 The bobbins hanging straight down are called the ‘passives’.
2. Gram. The passive voice; a passive verb.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 34 Changyng the gendre and nombre of the participle..lyke as thoughe they were passyves. 1533Udall Floures 104 b, Induo is one of the verbes that gouerne a double accusatife after them, and of al suche verbes their passiues require the later accusatife of both. 1669Milton Accedence Wks. (1851) 450 The Passive signifieth what is done to one by another. 1755Johnson Dict. Gram. (1765) M ij, The passive is formed by the addition of the participle preterite, to the different tenses of the verb to be. 1894O. F. Emerson Hist. Eng. Lang. §35 The place of this old inflected passive has been supplied in the Teutonic languages by a compound passive using auxiliaries.
3. A passive, unresisting, or submissive person or creature. Now unusual.
1626Jackson Creed viii. i. §3 His patience in all His sufferings did farre exceed the patience of dumb creatures, of lambs themselves, of wormes, or meaner sensible passives. 1749Richardson Corr. (1804) II. 215 Poor Passives! not allowed to have wills of their own! 1755Ibid. III. 223 Down goes the passive; finds them, either tired with their walk, or discontented with the want of variety in the neighbouring fields or lanes.
Add:[A.] [7.] k. Of, pertaining to, or designating a system in which energy for heating or other purposes is obtained by the absorption of existing radiant energy, usu. sunlight; also applied to a construction designed to make use of solar energy in this way.
1975K. L. Haggard in Extended Abstr. Internat. Solar Energy Congr. & Exposition 443 (heading) The architecture of a passive system of diurnal heating and cooling. Ibid., Passive systems of environmental control (min. complex mech[anical] items) contain the potential for a new integral architecture more expressive of our environmental and human conditions. 1978Mech. Engin. Oct. 47/2 The supplementary funds for solar will be ‘reprogrammed’..and allocated as follows:..passive solar heating and cooling, $5 million [etc.]. 1979Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 27 May 10c/1 (Advt.), A huge 100{pcnt} passive solar green house. 1987Stock & Land (Melbourne) 12 Mar. 55/3 (Advt.), Architect designed passive solar home. |