释义 |
pluperfect, a. (n.)|ˌpluːˈpɜːfɪkt, ˈpluːˌpɜːfɪkt| Also plus-. [Contracted from plus-quam-perfect, ad. L. (tempus præteritum) plus quam perfectum ‘(past tense) more than perfect’, transl. Gr. (χρόνος) ὑπερσυντελικός. Cf. F. plus-que-parfait (1521).
400Macrobius De different. Verb. 7 In Græcis verbis quæ in Ω exeunt omne perfectum tempus mutat in fine α in ΕΙν et facit plusquam perfectum quod illi ὑπερσυντελικὸν vocant. c500Priscian 805 (Putsch) Praeteritum plusquam-perfectum, in quo iampridem res perfecta ostenditur.] 1. Gram. Applied to that tense of the verb which expresses a time or action completed prior to some past point of time, specified or implied. Also absol. or as n., ellipt. for pluperfect tense.
1530Palsgr. 88 The Preter Pluperfit Tens. Jauóye parlé, I had spoken. Ibid. 113 Verbes actives circumlocute theyr preterperfit and plus perfit tenses throughe all theyr modes,..with the tenses of je ay and the participle preterit. 1599Minsheu Span. Gram. (1623) 22 Indicatiue moode. Pres. Imperfect. First preterperfect. Second perfect. Pluperfect tense. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 124 The Pluperfect Tense represents a thing, not only as past, but also as prior to some other point of time specified in the sentence: as, ‘I had finished my letter before he arrived’. 1837G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 52 By means also of the auxiliary verb two other tenses are defined; namely, the imperfect and plusperfect. 1879Roby Lat. Gram. iv. xvii. §1487 The Pluperfect denotes an action in past time, done before another past action. 2. gen. More than perfect; in quot. 1802 misused for ‘superfluous’; spec. in Mus. (rarely) applied to an augmented (as distinguished from a perfect) fourth or fifth. Also (slang), used as an intensive.
1802W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XIII. 12 Junius had a dislike to the letter k..: it would have been more rational to indulge an antipathy against c, which is a very pluperfect letter, and represents sometimes k, sometimes s, and sometimes ts. 1856Leisure Ho. 31 Jan. 74 It will happen in all binderies..that on examination certain volumes are found imperfect or pluperfect, either wanting a sheet, or having a sheet too much. 1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v. Interval, Intervals greater than major or normal have been termed (besides augmented) extreme, sharp, superfluous, pluperfect. 1876Hullah ibid. s.v. Nomenclature, Imperfect as applied to the exceptional fifth. As an antonym to this I have long used the epithet pluperfect, which has been very largely adopted. 1889Virginia University Mag. Dec. 186 So take a drink, oh, Phæon, dear, we'll raise pluperfect Cain. 1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 204, I fully expect that we of the air service will lead the armies of pursuit and make ourselves a pluperfect nuisance to the armies of retreat. 1928A. Philips Boy at Bank i. v. 49 Mrs. Fravalton, one of those mothers who believe their children pluperfect. 1933E. Caldwell God's Little Acre x. 145 What in the pluperfect hell have you boys got to fight about so much, anyhow? 1977New Society 5 May 238/2 They have done it with such bureaucratic precision... The erudition and workmanship are as impeccable, and absolutely deathly, as this kind of pluperfect reconstruction must always be. |