| 释义 |
arbitrary, a. and n.|ˈɑːbɪtrərɪ|
[ad. L. arbitrāri-us, f. arbiter (perh. after F. arbitraire, 15th c.): see -ary.]
A. adj.
†1. To be decided by one's liking; dependent upon will or pleasure; at the discretion or option of any one. Obs. in general use.
1574Whitgift Def. Answ. ii. Wks. 1851 I. 227 The same things were arbitrary, and might have been otherwise. 1628Bp. Hall Right. Mammon 727 It is not left arbitrary to you that you may doe good if you will. 1673Lady's Call. I. §5, ⁋64 As if they thought it a very arbitrary matter whether they come or no. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 26 He might give them to what priests he pleased; which were called arbitrary consecrations of tithes.
2. Law. Relating to, or dependent on, the discretion of an arbiter, arbitrator, or other legally-recognized authority; discretionary, not fixed.
1581Lambarde Eiren. iv. xv. 572 Judgements..arbitrarie, or referred to discretion. 1693Wharton Spec. Burnet's Err. 67 (T.) Impropriated livings, which have now no settled endowment and are therefore called not vicarages, but perpetual or sometimes arbitrary curacies. 1704Lond. Gaz. mmmmlxxxiii/4 A Mannor..with Quit Rents and Fines Arbitrary. 1880Muirhead Gaius iv. §163 If the defender have demanded a reference to an arbiter, he obtains what is called an arbitrary formula. 1882Scriven Copyholds (ed. 6) 155 An admission fine is primâ facie uncertain, or in legal phraseology arbitrary. But the fines on admission to copyholds of inheritance, even if arbitrary, must be reasonable.
3. Derived from mere opinion or preference; not based on the nature of things; hence, capricious, uncertain, varying.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 170 From succeeding spectators they received arbitrary appellations. 1753Johnson Advent. No. 111 ⁋6 Our estimation of birth is arbitrary and capricious. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. iii. 35, I do not believe there is a really arbitrary sign among them. 1865R. W. Dale Jew. Temple xiii. (1877) 143 Their whole scheme of interpretation is purely arbitrary.
4. Unrestrained in the exercise of will; of uncontrolled power or authority, absolute; hence, despotic, tyrannical.
1642in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 763 Acts of Will and Tyranny, which make up an Arbitrary Government. 1718Pope Iliad i. 236 Rule thy own realms with arbitrary sway. 1832H. Martineau Demerara i. 5 No tyrant, no arbitrary disposer of the fortunes of his inferiors. 1862Hook Lives Abps. II. ii. 159 The conduct of the Archbishop appears to have been arbitrary and harsh.
5. Printing. arbitrary character: a character used to supplement the letters and accents which constitute an ordinary fount of type.
1829[see character n. 3 a]. 1890(title) Clarendon Press Inventory of Accents, Arbitrary Characters, &c. compiled April 1890. 1900H. Hart Notes Century Typogr. 139, I thought it unnecessary to ‘set’ the matrices for all the arbitrary characters.
B. as n. (sc. number, term, etc.)
1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §343 f, The complete solution of the differential equations..written as follows, to show its arbitraries explicitly. 1928Periodical 15 Feb. 17 The variety of type used, the many languages involved, and the multiplication of ‘arbitraries’ have demanded technical knowledge and minute accuracy to an extent probably unequalled in any other work. |