| 释义 |
possible, a. (n., adv.)|ˈpɒsɪb(ə)l|
Also 4–6 possy-; 4 -bel, -bile, 5 -byll(e, 5–6 -bil, 6 -bill, -bul (-able).
[a. F. possible (in OF. also posible, 13th c. in Godef. Compl.), or ad. L. possibilis that can be or may be done, possible, f. posse (for potis esse) to be able.]
A. adj.
1. That may be (i.e. is capable of being); that may or can exist, be done, or happen (in general, or in given or assumed conditions or circumstances); that is in one's power, that one can do, exert, use, etc. (const. to the agent).
a. Qualifying a noun or pronoun, attributively or (more usually) predicatively.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 452 If possyble were her mendyng. 1382Wyclif Luke xviii. 27 Tho thingis that ben vnpossible anemptis men, ben possible anemptis God. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1020 (Dido), I can nat seyn If that it be possible. c1400Mandeville (1839) xvii. 184 And that was possible thinge. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 123 We woll considre next his extra ordinarie charges, also ferre as may be possible to vs. 1526Tindale Mark ix. 23 All thynges are possyble to hym that belevith. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. A iij b, He ought to procede to the healyng of the pacyent in all that may lye in hym possyble. 1564Golding Justine xi. 54 He passed the mountaine Taurus with all spede possible. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 42 To make a Triangle..whose Base shall be equal to any (possible) Number given. 1777Burke Corr. (1844) II. 150 When we speak only of things, not persons, we have a right to express ourselves with all possible energy. 1823Scoresby Jrnl. Whale Fish. p. xxxv, The manners of the Esquimaux..being the most suitable possible to the nature of the climate. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. xvii. §36 All real and wholesome enjoyments possible to man have been just as possible to him, since first he was made of the earth, as they are now. 1870Jevons Logic xxii. 187 Thomson much extends the list of possible syllogisms. Mod. There are three possible courses.
b. Qualifying an infinitive or other clause, usually introduced by it.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 6328 And if possibel ware, als es noght, Þat ilk man als mykel syn had wroght, Als alle þe men þat in þe werld ever was. c1386Chaucer Shipman's T. 32 In his hous as famulier was he As it is possible any freend to be. 1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 209/1 It is not vnto vs possyble for to see eche other. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxiv. 29 War it possibill that in ony corce War Salamonis witt and hie sapience. 1562Turner Herbal ii. 41 It is not possible to discern the one from the other. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 180 No, it is not possible you should loue the Enemie of France, Kate. 1705S. Clarke Being & Attrib. God x. 171 It is possible to Infinite Power, to indue a Creature with the Power of Beginning Motion. 1820Shelley Hymn to Mercury lxix, How was it possible..That you, a little child, born yesterday,..Could two prodigious heifers ever flay?
c. With infinitive or other complement (nearly coinciding with 3). Cf. impossible a. 1 b.
1706Atterbury Serm., 1 Cor. xv. 19 (1726) II. 10 All the Advantages and Satisfactions of this World, which are possible to be attain'd by him. 1851H. Spencer Soc. Stat. 82 A limit almost always possible of exact ascertainment.
d. In elliptical phrases, as if possible = if it be (or were) possible, if it can (or could) be; as much as possible = as much as may (or might) be, as much as one can (or could).
1671Milton Samson 490 Let me here..expiate, if possible, my crime. 1688Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 229 Notice be given to as many of The Members as possible. 1712Addison Spect. No. 58 ⁋2, I shall endeavour as much as possible to establish among us a Taste of polite Writing. 1719― Wks. (1721) I. Ded. to Craggs 2 That they may come to you with as little disadvantage as possible. 1882Knowledge II. 70 So that she might be cured, if possible.
†e. ellipt. for ‘all possible’, ‘the greatest possible’. Obs. rare.
1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 281 Ilk flies to his awne cuntrie with possable haist.
f. That can or may be or become (what is denoted by the n.): as a possible object of knowledge = something that may be an object of knowledge, that can or may be known. (See also 2 b.)
1736Butler Anal. Introd., Wks. 1874 I. 3 Nothing which is the possible object of knowledge..can be probable to an infinite Intelligence. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 45 The labourer is a possible lord. The lord is a possible basket-maker. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. I. xvi, Of the three possible harbours..they made no use.
2. a. That may be (i.e. is not known not to be); that is perhaps true or a fact; that perhaps exists. (Expressing contingency, or an idea in the speaker's mind, not power or capability of existing as in 1; hence sometimes nearly = credible, thinkable.)
1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. lxv. 132 b, That you shoulde understand, wherefore and for what cause I remained in the Indias, for that it is possible that all you do not know. 1693Dryden Orig. & Progr. Sat. Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 25 In such an age, it is possible some great genius may arise, to equal any of the ancients. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VII. xvii. 300 Swept away all actual and possible debts. 1827Whately Logic (1837) 379 This word..relates sometimes to contingency, sometimes to power, e.g. ‘It is possible this patient may recover’. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 443 The Jats, whose possible descent from the Getæ has been discussed in another place. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxii. 157 The thought of the possible loss of my axe at the summit was here forcibly revived.
b. That may be (what is denoted by the n.); that perhaps is or will be.. (Cf. 1 f.)
1882B. Harte Flip i, Still less would any passing stranger have recognised in this blonde faun the possible outcast and murderer. 1884Manch. Exam. 10 May 5/6 Assiduous efforts..in whipping up every possible supporter of the Bill.
c. Philos. Logically conceivable; that which, whether or not it actually exists, is not excluded from existence by being logically contradictory or against reason. Freq. in phr. possible world; also attrib. Also in gen. use, orig. with allusion to Voltaire's Candide (see quot. 1759).
1738tr. Bayle's Gen. Dict. VI. 674/1 That cause must also be intelligent; for this world, which actually exists, being contingent, and an infinite number of other worlds being equally possible; the cause of the world must have considered all these possible worlds to pitch upon one. Ibid. 674/2 It will be true still..that there is an infinity of possible worlds. 1759W. Rider tr. Voltaire's Candidus i. 3 Pangloss read Lectures in Metaphisico-theologo-cosmolonigology. He demonstrated that there can be no Effect without a Cause, that in this best of possible Worlds, the Baron's Castle was the finest, and my Lady the best of all possible Baronesses. 1878S. H. Hodgson Philos. of Reflection I. i. 79 There is then, beside our determinate world, a world indeterminate to us, but possible if there should be other modes of consciousness than ours, that is possible to our thought since we imagine its condition, and actual to those other modes, if they are actually existing. 1900Russell Crit. Expos. Philos. Leibniz v. 68 It may be well, for the sake of clearness, to enumerate the principal respects in which all possible worlds agree, and the respects in which other possible worlds might differ from the actual world. 1911G. B. Shaw Blanco Posnet 299 The administrative departments were consuming miles of red tape in the correctest forms of activity, and..everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds. 1914― Misalliance p. xlii, A life's work is like a day's work: it can begin early and leave off early or begin late and leave off late, or, as with us, begin too early and never leave off at all, obviously the worst of all possible plans. 1922tr. Wittgenstein's Tractatus 127 Everything which is possible in logic is also permitted. 1924A. Huxley Little Mexican 166 Next to the intimate and trusted friend, the perfect stranger is the best of all possible confidants. 1926J. B. Cabell Silver Stallion xxvi. 112 The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. 1928R. Lynd Green Man xviii. 147 It was impossible not to believe that this was the best of all possible worlds, for a world in which young men enjoy playing bad cricket is clearly a far happier place than a world in which young men would enjoy playing only good cricket. 1949A. Pap Elem. Analytic Philos. ix. 177 Suppose there existed just one individual, a, that might be characterized by either one of the properties A, B and C. Then we can imagine the following ‘possible worlds’: (1) Aa. Ba. Ca [etc.]. 1966R. F. Anderson Hume's First Princ. i. 3 (heading) Whatever is conceivable is possible. 1968Hughes & Cresswell Introd. Modal Logic iv. 77 This notion of one possible world's being accessible to another has at first sight a certain air of fantasy or science fiction about it. 1973J. J. Zeman Modal Logic xv. 276 The system B,..whose possible world semantics involve an accessibility which is reflexive and symmetrical but not transitive. 1977Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1976 XXI. ii. 136 Now, we should be aware of the fact that the specific reading of (12) doesn't imply that the fish a which belongs to the set I(µ1) of individuals in the possible world µ1 belongs to the set I (µ0) of individuals in the world µ0 too.
†3. Having the power to do something; able, capable. Obs. rare. (Cf. possibility 3.)
1512Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. (1828) III. 131 Yf ye be able and possible to reedifie the churches of God. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 359 Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve. a1817Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) II. xiv. 273 The only offence against him of which she could accuse herself, had been such as was scarcely possible to reach his knowledge.
4. Math. = real a.2 1 d; opp. to impossible a. 2.
1874Todhunter Trig. xix. §271 (1882) 216 If n be even, the last term..is possible, namely (-1) n / 2 sinnθ, and the last term but one is impossible, namely n(-1) n-1 / 2 cos θ sinn-1θ.
5. With ellipsis of some qualification: Possible to deal with, get on with, understand, take into consideration, etc. (Opp. to impossible a. 3.)
1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vii. 228 He [Joubert] was more possible than Coleridge; his doctrine was more intelligible than Coleridge's, more receivable. 1929A. Huxley Let. 26 Aug. (1969) 317 One is at 3500 feet in a rather primitive but quite possible little hotel. 1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. I. vi. 313, I went the round of the scholastic agents,..and I answered many impossible and some possible advertisements. 1968A. Munro in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 300 Leaving Miss Marsalles and her no longer possible parties behind, quite certainly forever.
B. absol. or as n.
1. a. absol. (usually with the): That which is possible. Phr. the art of the possible (the equivalent G. phr. Die Politik ist die Lehre von Möglichen is attributed to Bismarck (1867)).
1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 75 If wee speake of the possible, of what may be. 1844Mrs. Browning Cry of Children 135 God's possible is taught by His world's loving, And the children doubt of each. 1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such vii. 139 The Possible is always the ultimate master of our efforts and desires. 1969D. C. Hague Managerial Econ. i. 12 Management, like politics, is the art of the possible. 1979Oxf. Dict. Quotations (ed. 3) 84/2 Politics is the art of the possible. 1979Guardian 31 Oct. 4/4 Britain's strong suit is jurisprudence. France's is the art of the possible.
b. as n. A possible thing: = possibility 2. (Almost always in pl.)
1675Traherne Chr. Ethics 173 Inferior possibles are more remote, and only thought on in the second place. 1754Edwards Freed. Will ii. iii. 46 Any Thing else of all the infinite Number of Possibles. 1876Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. II. xiv. 448, I know..who is a higher, and fresher, and sweeter possible of me. 1970Morning Star 5 Mar. 2 Michael Parkinson looks at award-winning film possibles in ‘Cinema’ on Granada at 10.30 tonight. 1974A. Morice Killing with Kindness ii. 14 We were going to have a look at some boats... He'd marked one or two possibles in the local paper.
¶c. to do one's possible (imitation of F. faire son possible): to do what is possible to one, to do one's utmost, ‘to do one's endeavour’.
1792H. More Lett. (1925) 175, I thought to have sent a line to Mr. T. but I have done my possible in writing for to-day. 1797A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) V. 175 He did his possible, but old Turgid was neither to be led nor driven. 1808in Southey Life A. Bell (1844) II. 483, I had done my possible (in French phrase) to gratify you. 1838Syd. Smith in Lady Holland Mem. (1855) II. 408, I would however have done my possible. 1922E. E. Cummings Let. 26 Feb. (1969) 83 Dos's first words to me were a grim assurance that..his possible would be done to save The Chambre énorme from any similar fate.
d. A person who possibly may have done or may do something or attain some position; a possible candidate, member of a team, sexual partner, suspect, etc.
1915J. Buchan 39 Steps vii. 180 You're in no danger from the law of this land{ddd}they have dropped you from the list of possibles. 1923Daily Mail 3 Mar. 13 C. L. Spackman..and H. J. Still as reserve backs are possibles. 1948Sporting Mirror 21 May 13/3 Olympic ‘possibles’, especially those recognised to be in the first flight, are going to be in great demand everywhere. 1948‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xi. 117 He hadn't even thought of her when he sat down... She just wouldn't occur to any man as a possible. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. p. xx/4 Most of the presidential possibles in this year are college graduates. 1973D. Westheimer Going Public ix. 136 Some files they rejected..others they read through. A considerable stack of possibles began to mount. 1975T. Allbeury Special Collection i. 4 They'd spent almost a month..checking..for suitable candidates. There had been three ‘possibles’.
2. slang pl. Necessaries, means, supplies.
1823Bee Dict. Turf 96 High-tide, plenty of the possibles; whilst ‘low-water’ implies empty clies. 1824Hist. Gaming Ho. 61 Dick was sadly put to his trumps to raise the possibles. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxiv, The hunters departed, each to look after his ‘traps and possibles’.
3. colloq. (orig. highest possible): short for ‘highest possible score or number of points’ (in a competition, esp. in rifle practice).
1866York Herald 6 Aug. 5/4 Two highest possibles were recorded, the 1st Glo'ster taking first prize on account of time; the second going to 1st Hants. 1894Daily News 20 July 4/6 Despite the somewhat unfavourable conditions, three highest possibles were made. 1895Ibid. 17 July 2/1 ‘Possibles’ were also made by Private ―, 3rd East Surrey, and Captain ―, 3rd Lanark. 1896Westm. Gaz. 14 July 9/1 Putting on a possible at 800 yards.
†C. as adv. = possibly. (As an intensive qualification of can or could.) Obs.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 30 b, Crito had afore dooen all that euer he might possible dooe. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine v. 25 He furnished a fresh Nauy of Ships, with all the hast he could possible. 1678Walton Life Sanderson 53, I wonder how a person could possible be deceived with it. a1704T. Brown Two Oxf. Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 9, I shall certainly have..as many mischievous tricks play'd me as they can possible. 1799Mrs. J. West Tale of Times II. 223 She became as cold..in her answers as the rules of civility could possible admit.
Hence † ˈpossibleness, = possibility 1. Obs. rare.
1642Rogers Naaman 313 To assure me of the possiblenesse of obeying it. Ibid. 362 Shewing it an entrance and a possiblenesse of escape. 1727in Bailey vol. II. |