| 释义 |
assurance|əˈʃʊərəns|
Also 4 asseurance, -ouerans, 4–6 assuraunce, 5–6 -ans. Aphet. surance, q.v.
[a. OF. asseürance (mod. assurance), f. asseürer to assure. Cf. It. assicuranza, Sp. aseguranza, Eng. assecurance: see -ance.]
I. The action of assuring.
* Of making certain.
1. A promise or engagement making a thing certain; a formal engagement, pledge, or guarantee.
c1386Chaucer Man of Law's T. 243 Wol ye maken assuraunce, As I schal say, assentyng to my lore? 1490Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 99 He is departed wyth thyne assuraunce. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 192 Plight me the full assurance of your faith. 1623Bingham Xenophon 78 The Macrons asked..whether they would giue assurance of that they said; Who answered, they were readie to giue, & take assurance. 1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. viii. 110 A symbol and assurance of the Divine pardon.
b. esp. An engagement guaranteeing peace and safety; terms of peace. Obs. exc. Hist.
1513–75Diurn. Occurr. (1833) 277 Thair was assurance and trewis tane betuix the Inglis and Scottismen. 1577Holinshed Chron. III. 1214/1 [They] came in to the lord lieutenant, submitting themselues to him, and were receiued into assurance. 1653Holcroft Procopius iii. 110 The rest of the Army..took assurances and yeilded to Totilas. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxx. 191 Hamilton was angry that assurances should have been given to the Covenanters.
†2. A marriage engagement, betrothal. Obs.
1494Fabyan vii. 496 The Flemynges..had constrayned theyr erle to be assured, by bonde of assurance, unto y⊇ doughter of Kyng Edward. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 31 Wooing allowed by assurance of wedding. 1601Holland Pliny I. 550 In knitting vp of marriages, and assurance making. 1641Life Wolsey in Harl. Misc. (1793) 105 The Lord Piercys assurance to Mrs. Anne Bullen.
3. A positive declaration intended to give confidence.
1609Rowlands Knaue of Clubs 36 This assurance take, Some satisfaction I in part will make. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 303 He gave me all the Assurances that the Invention and Faith of Man could devise. 1880McCarthy Own Times III. xl. 202 He was probably quite sincere in the assurances he repeatedly gave.
** Of making secure.
4. Law. The securing of a title to property; the conveyance of lands or tenements by deed; a legal evidence of the conveyance of property.
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 33 In times past when men dealt vprightly..sixe or seuen lines was sufficient for the assurance of any peece of land whatsoeuer. 1648Sheppard (title) The Touchstone of Common Assurances and Conveyances. 1768Blackstone Comm. ii. xix. II. 294 The legal evidences of this translation of property are called the common assurances of the Kingdom; whereby every man's estate is assured to him. Ibid. II. 367 Copyhold estate..cannot possibly be transferred by any other assurance.
5. The action of insuring or securing the value of property in the event of its being lost, or of securing the payment of a specified sum in the event of a person's death; insurance.
Technically, the present usage is to differentiate life-assurance, and fire- and marine-insurance; though, as will be seen from the quotations, assurance was the original term in reference to marine risks.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 159 To haue a regard what winde must serue, and the true season of the yeare, which maketh a difference in the price of assurance. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. i. 51 Some keep an Assurance-office in their chamber. 1692Lond. Gaz. No. 2747/4 Lost..a Police of Assurance made upon the Ship Olive-Branch. 1755N. Magens Insurances II. 254 Assurance or Insurance is a just and faithful Compact, by which one, or more, in Consideration of the Payment of a Sum of Money agreed on, called the Insurance Premium, takes upon himself all the Dangers which may or shall happen to the Ship, Vessel, Effects, and Property of another. 1883Daily News 18 Sept. 1/4 (Advt.) The Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation. 1883Sc. Prov. Inst. Prospect., Yearly payments for Assurance of {pstlg}100 at death.
II. The state of being sure or assured.
†6. Objective certainty; = assuredness 1. Obs.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 387, I can not beleve that thys ys of assurans. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxi. xvii, Wo worth the trust without assuraunce. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 538 New friends of more assurance.
7. Security.
1559Myrr. Mag., Dk. York vii. 4 Liung hopeles of his liues assuraunce. 1570T. Wilson Demosth. 13 marg., Things wrongfully gotten haue none assurance. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 141 To sende..unto a place of most assuraunce all such as hee had taken prisoners. 1622Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 158 The Fortifications being weak, and of ill assurance. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 427 The King's ascent to the crown and assurance therein.
8. Subjective certainty; a being certain as to a fact, certitude; confidence, trust.
1375Barbour Bruce xi. 309 In his hye cheuelry Thai had assouerans, trast trewly. c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 1259 O trust, O feith, O depe asseuraunce! 1601Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xxix, It is as naturall in men to purchase hope as assurance. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 183 But yet Ile make assurance double sure, And take a Bond of Fate. 1843Mill Logic ii. vi. §3 We can have full assurance of particular results. a1842Tennyson Two Voices 315 The doubt would rest, I dare not solve..Assurance only breeds resolve.
b. in Theol. (See quot.)
1651C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 251 The Doctrine of Protestants concerning assurance of salvation..viz. that a man may have this assurance. 1852Sir W. Hamilton Disc. (1853) 508 Assurance, Personal Assurance, Special Faith, (the feeling of certainty that God is propitious to me,—that my sins are forgiven).
9. Self-confidence, self-reliance; confidence of manner, steadiness, intrepidity.
1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 263 Assurance is a certaine perswasion..whereby wee are confirmed in danger against euilles that threaten vs. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 72 Jaques..with his Flemings, received the charge with great assurance. 1734tr. Rollin's Rom. Hist. (1827) II. 352 To inspire him with a noble assurance so necessary for those that are born to command. 1751Johnson Rambl. No. 147 ⁋8 The benefits of publick education, and the happiness of an assurance early acquired.
10. In a bad sense: Hardihood, audacity, presumption, impudence.
1699Bentley Phal. 281 Quote Authors they had never read, with an Air of Assurance. 1709Swift Vind. Bickerstaff Wks. 1755 II. i. 174 Several of my friends had the assurance to ask me, whether I was in jest? 1771Junius Lett. lxiii. 323 The barrister has not the assurance to deny it flatly. 1832H. Martineau Hill & Vall. ii. 23, I should like to know where you picked up so much assurance. |