| 释义 |
▪ I. attain, v.|əˈteɪn|
Forms: 4 ateyn(e, ateine, ateign, 4–5 atteygne, atteigne, 4–6 atteyne, 5–6 attayne, (5 ataine), 5–7 atteine, -aine, 6– attain. pa. pple. attained; also 4–6 ateynt, etc.: see attaint.
[a. OF. ataign-, ateign-, stem of ataindre, -eindre:—L. attingĕre to touch on, get at, reach, f. ad-, at-, to + tangĕre to touch.]
I. trans. To touch, strike, attaint. (All Obs.)
†1. To get at with a blow, strike, hit; = attaint 1. Obs.
1475Caxton Jason 16 And with his spere was atteyned of the king..by suche a might that he percid the shelde.
†2. To touch upon (a matter), mention, treat of, deal with. Obs. (So L. attingere and OF. ateindre.)
1447–8J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 42 The mater is attainyd at large in the comyn lawe.
†3. To catch or detect in an offence, convict, condemn, attaint. Obs. [Common sense of OF. ateindre: cf. Britton i. xxvii. §1 La forme de atteyndre nostre pes enfreynte. ‘The manner of convicting offenders for breach of our peace’; see also s.v. ]
1330R. Brunne Chron. 49 Knoute..siþen ateyned Edrik þorgh treson of old..Edrik was hanged on þe toure, for his trispas. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 5332 To reprove þam [his enmys] at þe last day, And to atteyn þam. c1350Harl. MS. No. 4196. 164 St. James 39 Pharisenes..went for to wit of his [Christ's] thewes, For to atteyn him in sum thing Þat þai might wrye him to the king. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 1601 He es ateyned for traytur, And fals and lither losenjoure.
II. trans. To come so near as to touch, to overtake, reach, catch.
†4. To approach so as to touch, encroach on. Obs.
1382Wyclif Prov. xxiii. 10 Ne ateyne thou [1388 Touche thou not] the termes of litle childer.
†5. To overtake, come up with, catch up, get at or within reach of, catch. Obs.
1393Gower Conf. III. 128 The fire is hote..And brenneth what he may atteigne. c1450Merlin xviii. 278 Thei..began to pursue the hoste so that thei ateyned hem at a passage. Ibid. xvii. 272 The saisnes..slowgh alle that thei myght atteyne. 1485Caxton Chas. Gt. 182 Them that they attayned dyd them neuer hurte after. 1622Bacon Hen. VII, 174 The Earle..pursued with all celeritie..hoping to have ouer-taken the Scottish King..but not attaining him.
6. To reach by motion, to arrive at, ‘gain’ (a point aimed at).
c1585Faire Em. iii. 811 We quickly shall attain the English shore. 1616R. C. Times' Whis. vi. 2667 By this time we th'appointed place attainde. 1805Southey Madoc in W. i. Wks. V. 7 Now had they almost attain'd The palace portal. 1854J. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xviii. 336 The heroic marshal, however, attained the opposite shore.
b. To reach (an age or time).
1826Praed Poems (1865) I. 255 Sir Lidian had attained his sixteenth year.
7. To reach, arrive at, gain, accomplish, by continued effort (an end or purpose, a position, state, or personal quality).
a1300Cursor M. 1114 Þat he ne sal caim dede [= Cain's death] a-teign. 1393Gower Conf. III. 184 That he his purpose might atteigne. c1400Pol. Poems (1859) II. 8 If thou myghtest parfit pes atteigne. 1574tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 3 Of whiche thyng we may now atteyne manifest knowledge. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. v. 21 Reason is not..borne with us..but attayned by Industry. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 262 Yet were they so far from attaining their ends. 1738Wesley Psalms li. xi, Let me the Life Divine attain. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 32 His fame would never probably have attained its present eminence.
8. To come into the possession of, to gain by effort, acquire, obtain (a possession; not now used of a material thing). arch.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 47 Pacience..venquysseth..Thynges þat rigour sholde neuere atteyne [v.r. atteigne, ateyne]. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 13 By whiche ye atteyne helpe of the holy gost. 1513More Edw. V, 4 He attained the Crowne and Scepter of the Realme. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxvi. 38 To atteyne therby the towne of Berwike. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 825/1 Manasses..dyd penaunce and attained mercy. 1639Rouse Heav. Univ. x. (1702) 138 He teacheth them to attain a kingdom. 1653Holcroft Procopius ii. 48 Her Husband, who at first attained her Bed by violence. 1863Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. vii. 80 To concur with the Prince of Orange in attaining a free Parliament.
†9. To get to know, ‘get at,’ find out. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. i. 31 Þou hast now knowen and ataynt þe doutous or double visage of..fortune. Ibid. iii. iii. 69 Þat fals beaute..is knowe and a-teint in þilke þinges. 1483Caxton Cato E iiij, Secretes that humayne nature may not attayne, knowe, ne understonde. 1571Digges Pantom. ii. xxiv. P iij, To attayne the quantitie of this longer portion, ye shall thus worke. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. v. §26 II. 180 Not well attaining his meaning. 1666― Hist. Camb. (1840) 105 About this time, for I cannot attain the certain year.
III. intr. (The distance of the point reached, or the effort made, is more distinctly expressed by the intr. const. with to, unto.)
10. To come so far as, succeed in coming to, get (to). to attain to = reach, arrive at. arch.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 547 Bygyn at þe laste..Tyl to þe fyrste þat þou at-teny. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems 4 To the Blakhethe whan the did atteyne. 1535Coverdale Joshua xvii. 16 We shal not be able to attayne vnto the mountaynes. 1608R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 18 With much adoe they attained thether againe. 1611Bible Acts xxvii. 12 If by any meanes they might attaine to Phenice. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. vii, Nor nearer might the dogs attain.
†b. Without locomotion: To reach. Obs.
1587Golding De Mornay xi. 161 God..atteineth to them without putting himself foorth. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. vi. 241 The second lay so with his backe towards the first, that his head attained about his bosome.
†c. To come by succession, descend (to). Obs.
1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. vii. 61 To whome the synne of Adam hath atteyned by very succession and descent.
†d. To happen (to). to attain to = overtake, befall. Obs.
1529More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1217/2 We shall nede no rehersal of any harme that..maye attaine thereto.
11. To live on (to a time or age).
1535Coverdale 2 Esdras xi. 17 There shal none after y⊇ atteyne vnto thy tyme. 1611Bible Gen. xlvii. 9 And haue not attained vnto the dayes of the yeeres of the life of my fathers. Mod. He has attained to years of discretion.
12. To reach, or arrive at, a state, condition, purpose, possession; to succeed in reaching. Cf. 7, 8.
c1375Wyclif Serm. ix. Sel. Wks. 1869 I. 23 No conquerrour myȝte atteyne to Lordship of al þis erþe. c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 391 Sche may unto a knave childe atteigne By liklihed, sith sche nys not bareigne. 1490Caxton Eneydos vi. 26 He sholde attayne to thende of his desire. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxxxviii. 5 Soch knowlege is to wonderfull..for me, I can not atteyne vnto it. 1609D. Rogers in Digby Myst. (1882) Introd. 24 It cannot be attaynd vnto in this liffe. 1710Prideaux Tithes ii. 47 Infallibility..being what no Man can attain unto. 1782Cowper Lett. 11 Nov., To see your trees attain to the dignity of timber. 1876Green Short Hist. ii. §6 (1882) 90 Few boroughs had as yet attained to power such as this.
†b. with inf. of purpose. Obs.
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xv. 15 Where as he thought to..attaigne to haue any company of men of warre. 1662Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 372 He..attained to be a most accomplished person.
†13. = 9, but with to, unto. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 439/2, I study tyll my braynes ake to perceyve this mater, but I can nat attayne to it. 1577Holinshed Chron. III. 1168/1 Neither they nor I haue yet atteined to their names. 1628Coke On Litt. Pref., The certain time wee cannot yet attain unto.
† IV. Senses influenced by, or derived from, L. attinēre. Obs.
†14. intr. To extend as far as, stretch, reach (to).
c1350Will. Palerne 5497 Here riȝt arm redeli ouer Rome ateyned. 1432–50tr. Higden (1865) I, The see Tyren atteynethe to Ytaly [L. attinet ad Italiam]. c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 252 Wyth great chaines of yren attaining fro one house to an other.
†15. intr. To matter, concern, pertain to. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. vii. 59 What atteiniþ fame to swiche folk.
▪ II. aˈttain, n.
[f. prec. vb.]
= attainment: a. The action of attaining; b. The thing attained.
1559Myrr. for Mag., Dk. Suffolk viii. 4 There is more glory in The keping thinges than is in their attayne. 1665Glanvill Sceps. Sci. xxiv. (J.) Crowns and diadems, the most splendid terrene attains. 1925Hardy Human Shows 141 A painter of high attain.
▪ III. attain
obsolete northern form of atone v.
1630Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 30 To appease and attain them. |