| 释义 |
pre-emptive, a. (n.)|priːˈɛm(p)tɪv|
[f. med.L. *præempt-, ppl. stem of *præemĕre (see prec.) + -ive.]
A. adj.
1. Relating or belonging to, or of the nature of pre-emption. Also fig.
pre-emptive right, the right to pre-emption; also, in Australia, land held by such right.
1855Bailey Mystic (ed. 2) 19 His, by preëmptive right, throughout all time. 1857T. H. Gladstone Englishm. in Kansas 169 To jump a claim is to take it, notwithstanding that it is pre-occupied by one who has already given notice of his claim to a pre-emptive title. 1872Yeats Growth Comm. 140 Subject to pre-emptive reservations. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 250 This occupation gave the selectors a legal right to about six thousand acres of ‘pre-emptive right’.
2. Bridge. Applied to a bid made with the expectation that it is high enough to prevent opponents from bidding normally and so obtaining adequate information.
1913F. Irwin Auction High-Lights 95 A preëmptive opening-bid in a major suit means that the bidder wants no information and wishes to play the hand at his own suit. 1916‘Bascule’ Adv. Auction Bridge i. 77 To what extent does it pay to make what are known as preemptive, or ‘shut-out’ bids? 1923Daily Mail 5 May 8 The supporting bid,..the pre-emptive raise, and ‘the switch’ assume a new value. 1932Daily Tel. 8 Oct. 15/5 In using the term ‘pre-emptive’ I am not in any way ascribing the meaning of ‘shut-out’ to that word. 1947S. Harris Fund. Princ. Contract Bridge i. i. 17 The most valuable pre-emptive bid..is an opening bid of four of a major suit or five of a major suit. 1952I. Macleod Bridge v. 62 (heading) Pre-emptive responses. 1973Times 20 Oct. 11/3 You will find plenty of opportunities for preemptive opening bids.
3. Designating an attack on an enemy who is thought to be about to make an attack himself (see also quots. 1966, 1971). Also transf.
1959Listener 31 Dec. 1140/1 The American Strategic Air Command..might be prevented by a Russian preemptive strike from ever getting the Sword out of its scabbard. 1966Schwarz & Hadik Strategic Terminol. 108 Pre-emptive strike, armed attack motivated by the conviction that an enemy attack is under way or is irreversibly imminent. Also called ‘forestalling blow’ or ‘anticipatory attack’, the pre-emptive strike differs from a so-called ‘preventive’ strike or war in that [etc.]. A strike or war..is preventive if the enemy still has the option of desisting from his planned aggression. 1970Times 9 Oct. 15/2 December 7, 1941, when the Japanese stabbed America in the back at Pearl Harbor—or as we would say in these cooler, more euphemistic times, made their pre-emptive strike. 1971E. Luttwak Dict. Mod. War 156/1 Pre-emptive attack, an attack launched in the belief that an enemy attack has already entered the executive phase, i.e. that the decision has already been made. Unless the attack actually reduces or eliminates the effect of the imminent attack, it cannot be called pre-emptive. 1976Ld. Home Way Wind Blows xii. 167 There was no doubt at all about the most effective deterrent—it was the ‘Polaris’ submarine; which, because it was virtually undetectable, was a genuine second-strike weapon which robbed the pre-emptive attack of all its former attraction. 1978Times 25 Jan. 17/2 It may well be that a guillotine is necessary... But if it is to be justified as a pre-emptive strike [etc.].
B. n. Pre-emptive right; land acquired by this.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 321 They've got, what with their selections and pre-emptives, a tidy slice..of Rainbar run. Ibid. 322 It's not worth any one else's while to come in, because they'd have no pre-emptive worth talking of. 1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. ii. 26 In eighteen months nearly all the run except the pre-emptives had gone. |