| 释义 |
pre-exist, v.|priːɛgˈzɪst|
Also 7 præ-.
[f. pre- A. 1 + exist; cf. F. préexister (1482 in Hatz.).]
1. intr. To exist before.
1599[see pre-existing]. 1642tr. Ames' Marrow Div. 36 Creation then produceth..out of matter that doth not præ⁓exist. 1854Owen Skel. & Teeth in Orr's Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat. 165 The inorganic salts, defined in the tabular view of the composition of bone, pre-exist in the blood.
b. To exist before the present life.
1647H. More Præexistency of Soul lxxxv, But that in some sort souls do præexist Seems to right reason nothing dissonant. 1699Burnet 39 Art. ix. (1700) 110 They..fancied that all our Souls pre-existed in a former and purer state. 1899J. Stalker Christology of Jesus ii. 62 The ‘Son of Man’ pre-exists with the ‘Ancient of Days’.
c. To exist ideally or in the mind, before material embodiment.
1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. Wks. (1841) 281 As there are no forms of art which did not pre-exist in the mind of man, so are there no forms of nature which did not pre-exist in the mind of God. 1839Longfellow Hyperion iii. v, Art preëxists in Nature, and Nature is reproduced in Art.
2. trans. To exist before (something).
1778Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 106/1 Inhabited by a nation, that pre-existed the formation of the marine hills. 1885Westm. Rev. Jan. 27 It is necessary that the facts should pre-exist the theory. |