| 释义 |
▪ I. president, n.|ˈprɛzɪdənt, ˈprɛs-|
Also 4–5 preci-, precy-, 4–6 prece-, 5–6 presy-, 5–7 prese-, 6 præsi-.
[a. F. président (1296 in Godef. Compl.), ad. L. præsidēns, -dēnt-em a president, governor, n. use of pres. pple. of præsidēre to preside.]
1. a. The appointed governor or lieutenant of a province, or division of a country, a dependency, colony, city, etc. Now, in this sense chiefly Hist. (But see also 3 b.)
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xliv. (Lucy) 192 Befor kingis quhen ȝe sal stand or befor precydentis of þe land. 1382Wyclif Acts xxiii. 24 Make ȝe redy iumentis, or hors, that thei puttinge Poul vpon, schulden lede him saf to Felix, president. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. xi. 102 He was bryght before the false precydent Pylate. 1451J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert (E.E.T.S.) 89 Þat I schuld take up-on me to be president ouyr þis puple. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 31 b/1 Vitellus that was Presydent of Fraunce chalenged the Empyre. a1500Chester Pl. vi. 265 Warne hym that there is president, that this is fullie myne intent. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xx. 475 They said Pizarre was afterwards vanquished, taken, and executed by the President Guasca. 1607Cowell Interpr., President..is vsed in Common law for the kings Lieutenent in any Prouince or function: as President of Wales, of Yorke, of Barwick. President of the Kings Councell. 1683Brit. Spec. 148 They wrote to ætius, then President of Gallia, this short but lamentable Epistle. 1777Watson Philip II (1839) 183 When the States found that the governor was equally deaf to the remonstrances of the president as he had been to theirs, they began to dread the effects of his displeasure. 1863M. Howitt F. Bremer's Greece I. vi. 190 The presidents are changed, and the advocates of order are often compelled to fly before the power of the lawless.
b. fig. A presiding deity, patron, or guardian.
c1611Chapman Iliad v. 23 The God, great president of fire. 1615Crooke Body of Man 238 The Nymphes are sayed to bee presedents or dieties of the fountaines. c1650Don Bellianis 216, I do most humbly beseech you (sole president of Divine Excellency..) to let me kiss the wonder of your hands. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece iii. xx. (1715) 153 The Tutelar Deities of the Place, and Presidents of the Sea.
2. The appointed or elected head of a temporary or permanent body of persons, who presides over their meetings and proceedings.
a. In various general senses, now sometimes expressed by other terms.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 185 (213) For which was delibered by Parlement... And it pronuncede by þe precident Al-þey þat Ector nay ful ofte preyede. a1400Pistill of Susan 304 Thow hast be president, þe peple to stere, Þou dotist in þin olde dayes now in þe dismale. 1538Starkey England ii. ii. 183 Of the wych [council] the kyng schold be hede and presydent. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 178 b, He would assigne some to be as presidentes of the disputation. 1641in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 294 Because all meetings of many must be disorderly,..unless there be one to guide and to direct the rest, I shall desire, that in every Shire, over every Presbytery, we may establish one President. 1663Jer. Taylor Funeral Serm. Bramhall 44 He receiv'd publick thanks from the Convocation, of which he was President. 1740–1in Johnson's Debates 4 Mar. (1787) I. 244 The president of the Commons, who always in a Committee takes his seat as another member, rose here, and spoke,..his honour being pay-master of the navy. 1742J. Glas Lord's Supp. v. vi. 241 The Elder, who is distinguished..by the Name President, is he who presided ordinarily in the Assemblies of the Church and had the chief Direction in their Order and Discipline. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 35 After the office of Roman consuls had been changed into a vain pageant,..the præfects..were soon acknowledged as the ordinary presidents of that venerable assembly. Mod. The President of the Wesleyan Conference.
†b. The head of a religious house or of a college of priests; also of a hospital. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 165 Elfworde bisshop of Londoun, and somtyme abbot of Evesham,..wolde have bene president at Evesham, but þe breþer of þe place denyenge þat..he went to Ramesey. 1480in Bury Wills (Camden) 65 The maister, precedent, or othir reuler of the colage of preestes newe bildid within the town of Bury. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2508 [She] consyderynge herselfe a lady and presydent, Ordered her monasteryes. 1519Mem. Ripon (Surtees) I. 315 Master Newman, Precedent of the Chapitor of Ripon. 1557Order of Hospitalls C iij b, These xiij persons or vij of them at the leaste, the President being one of the Number. Ibid. D iv, The President of euery seuerall Howse shal be taken as chief Ruler.
c. The title often borne by the head of a college in a university, or in U.S. of a university consisting of (or originating in) a single college.
In Great Britain used in four of the Oxford and one of the Cambridge Colleges, also in some University Colleges, as Bristol, Newcastle, and the three Queen's Colleges in Ireland (instead of the more usual title Principal); in U.S. the most usual title of the head of a college or university. In Great Britain, also of the heads of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of London, Edinburgh, and Ireland, and of a number of colleges for professional education.
1464Rolls of Parlt. V. 518/1 Felawes and Scolers, President and Felawes of any College, Halle, Hospitall, Hous incorporate, or any other place. 1473Ibid. VI. 74/2. 1530 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 329 He..was ons ellect presydent of Maudlen Colledge. 1577Harrison England ii. iii. (1877) i. 81 There is..in euerie house a maister who hath vnder him a president, and certeine censors or deanes, appointed to looke to the behavour and maners of the students there. 1642(Sept. 7) Mass. Colony Recds. (1853) II. 30 Together with the teaching elders of the sixe next adioyning townes..and the president of the colledge [Harvard] for the time being. 1725Berkeley Proposal Wks. 1871 III. 230 Which College is to contain a President and nine Fellows. 1889Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. ci. 549 A visitor from Europe is struck by the prominence of the president in an American university or college, and the almost monarchical position which he sometimes occupies towards the professors as well as towards the students. 1904Oxford Univ. Calendar 298 The corporate designation of the College is ‘The President and Scholars of the College of St. Mary Magdalen in the University of Oxford’.
d. The person elected to preside over the meetings and proceedings of an academy, society, or institution, literary, scientific, artistic, or the like.
1660in Birch Hist. R. Soc. (1756) I. 6 That the standing officers of the society be three, a president or director, a treasurer, and a register. 1667Sprat Hist. Roy. Soc. 93 Their Chief Officer, is the President; to whom it belongs to call, and dissolve their meetings;..to regulate the Proceedings [etc.]. 1725Act 11 Geo. I (Guy's Hospital), The President, Treasurer, and one and twenty Committees of the said hereby erected Corporation. 1780(Mar. 15) Pennsylv. Acts (1782), They [the American Philosophical Society] shall have the following officers..one president, three vice-presidents, four secretaries [etc.]. 1842Rules Philol. Soc. iii, The Council..shall consist of the President, the Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, 1 or 2 Honorary Secretaries, and twenty ordinary members. 1902(Aug. 8) Charter of British Academy §5 There shall be a President and a Council of the Academy. The President and the Council shall be elected by the Fellows from amongst their own number.
e. In U.S. the title of one who presides over the proceedings of a financial, commercial, or industrial company, as a bank, railway, mining company, commercial trust, etc. (In Great Britain usually styled ‘chairman’; in the Bank of England and some other banks, ‘governor’.)
1781(Dec. 31) Jrnls. Congress U.S., [To] be a corporation..by the name and stile of ‘The President, Directors and Company of the Bank of North America’. 1790(Dec. 13) in Hist. Bank of U.S. (1832) 31 A general meeting to be called by the President of the Bank. 1798(Mar. 1) Mass. Statutes, The Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Company..shall have power to choose a President..and fifteen Directors. 1808(Dec. 15) S. Carolina Stat. VIII. 245 President of the South Carolina Homespun Company. 1830(Mar. 12) Mass. Stat., The said directors [of the Massachusetts Rail-road Corporation] shall elect one of their number to be president of the board, who shall also be president of the corporation. 1883Freeman Impress. U.S. xii. 192 In England..we never, I think, give it [the title] to the head of a purely commercial body. But in America we find the President of a railroad and the President of a bank—that is, what we should call by the simpler name of Chairman. 1902Revised Laws of Mass. 964 The directors [of manufacturing corporations] shall choose one of their number as president.
f. The priest or minister who presides at the Eucharist; the celebrant.
[1867M. Dods et al. tr. Writings of Justin Martyr & Athenagoras 63 There is brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water. (Note) This expression may quite legitimately be translated ‘to that one of the brethren who was presiding’.] 1945G. Dix Shape of Liturgy v. 111 Justin says: ‘{ddd}Then the bread is ‘offered’ to the president and a cup of water mingled with wine.’ 1971Order for Holy Communion (Alternative Services Series 3) 30 The Breaking of the Bread. The president breaks the consecrated bread, saying [etc.]. Ibid. 31 The president and the other communicants receive the holy communion. At the administration the ministers say to each communicant, [etc.]. 1973in Mod. Eucharistic Agreement 63 The eucharistic gathering and its president live their dependence on the one Lord and great High Priest. 1977Oxf. Diocesan Mag. Aug. 17/2 The building now consecrated, the Eucharist began, with the Bishop of Oxford as president, and the Bishop of Reading, the Archdeacon of Berkshire, the Vicar and the Curate..as concelebrants.
g. At some sporting events, a referee, judge, or official in charge.
1961F. C. Avis Sportsman's Gloss. 285/2 President, the senior judge in a group, as required at international show jumping competitions. 1971L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports xiv. 210 The official in charge of [fencing] competition is called the ‘president’. 1975New Society 10 July 81/2 The ‘president’ (ie, ref) of a fencing match. 1976Sunday Tel. 13 Mar. 36/6 Too few countries trouble to train presidents—officials who take charge of bouts.
3. a. The head or chief of an advisory council, or administrative board or department of government, as, in Great Britain, the (Lord) President of the Council, the President of the Board of Agriculture, of Education, of Trade, etc.; also of certain courts of justice, as the Court of Session in Scotland, the Court of Probate in England, etc.
Lord President of the Council: an officer of the English crown whose duty is to preside at the meetings of the Privy Council, and to report to the King the business transacted there. He takes precedence next after the Lord Chancellor and the First Lord of the Treasury. President of the Board of Control: see control n. 1.
1530–1Act 22 Hen. VIII, c. 8 §4 Provyded alwaye that the tables..shall fyrst be vieued, examyned and approved by the Chauncellour and Treasorer of England, the presydent of the Kynges Counsell, the Lorde privye Seale [etc.]. 1533Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 154 To my lord of Cambuskennetht, precedent in the sessioune, for his fee. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 33 For which offence [striking the Chief Justice] he [Henry] was [a 1412]..of his father put out of the preuy counsaill.., and his brother Thomas duke of Clarence elected president of the kynges counsaill. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 86 Fridericke Palatyne, presydent of the counsell imperiall. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. i. 126 Ouer the Senat is set a præsident of the Ecclesiastical number, quha obteines the first place to giue out his sentence & to speik his opinione. 1607[see sense 1]. 1644–5Milton Sonn. to Lady M. Ley, Daughter to that good Earl, once President Of Englands Counsel, and her Treasury. 1661(Apr. 3) Lett. Pat. Merch. Trading with E. Ind. (Y.), Any Person or Persons, being convicted and sentenced by the President and Council..in the said East Indies, their Factors or Agents there [etc.]. 1669J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 19 The Commanders of the two Ships treated the [English] President, who afterwards return'd to Suratta. Ibid., I..found company..at the Dutch Presidents, who had his Family there. 1776J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 189 The Congress..have established a board of war and ordnance and made me President of it. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. ii. v. 203 The President of the Board of Control, Mr. Canning. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 28 The Bishop of Bordeaux, acting as president of the council, addressed the accused. 1863H. Cox Instit. 652 Legally, the highest rank in the Council belongs to the President of the Council; but according to modern usage, the chief member of the Council is the First Lord of the Treasury. Ibid. 653 In that year [1839]..the Crown appointed the new Board of Education, consisting of the Lord President and certain other privy councillors. 1905Whitaker's Almanack 343 Court of Session—Lord President of the whole Court, Right Hon. Lord Kinross. 1908Ibid. 172 Local Government Board. President, Rt. Hon. John Burns, M.P.
†b. Formerly the title of the chief magistrate in some of the British North American colonies, and in the States to which they gave rise.
Such a President was always associated with a Council, by whom he was usually elected, and in early instances is often denominated President of the Council. In 1776 the title was in use in Delaware, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Before 1800, it was exchanged in every case for ‘Governor’.
1608Capt. Smith True Relat. Wks. (Arb.) 8 The President and Captaine Gosnold, with the rest of the Counsell, being for the moste part discontented with one another. 1654in United Col. Recds. (1859) II. 442 [Documt. signed] Roger Williams of Prouidence Colony Presidt. 1681(Dec. 7) in Publ. Colon. Soc. Mass. (1902) V. 168 By Advice of y⊇ Honered President of this Provence [Maine]. 1732Geo. II Charter of Georgia in Poore State Constit. (1877) I. 371 And our will and pleasure is, that the first president of the said corporation is and shall be our trusty and well-beloved, the said Lord John Viscount Percival. 1776Constit. of Delaware §7 A President or Chief Magistrate shall be chosen by joint ballot of both Houses. 1776Constit. of Pennsylv. §3 The supreme executive power shall be vested in a president and council. [‘Governor’ adopted 1790.] 1787Franklin 15 Apr. in Writings (1906) IX. 559 Having served one year as President of Council. 1792J. Belknap Hist. New Hampsh. III. 268 The President is annually elected by the people. [‘Governor’ adopted 5 Sept. 1792.] c1796T. Twining Trav. Amer. (1894) 34 Mr. Bingham, the President of the Pennsylvanian State. a1817T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 154 His Excellency Josiah Bartlett, some years since President of this State [New-Hampshire].
4. The officer in whom the executive power is vested in a modern republic, the elected head of the government, having during his term of office some of the functions of a constitutional monarch in a monarchical state.
Used first in the United States of America, and subsequently in various republics of Spanish America, etc. In U.S. the name was app. continued from that of the president or presiding officer of the congresses of the separate states, held, from 1774 onward, during the revolutionary struggle (cf. quot. 1783), which belonged rather to sense 2 a. To this also the office of President of the Swiss Confederation (quot. 1840) is more analogous than to that of the President of the U.S. under the Constitution of 1789 and its amendments.[1783in Hildeburn Cent. of Printing (1886) 4344 Proclamation. By his Excellency Elias Boudinot, Esquire, President of the United States in Congress assembled.] 1787A. Lee in J. Adams's Wks. (1854) IX. 554 An oligarchy, however, I think, will spring from it [the Constitution of the U.S.] in the persons of the President and Vice-President, who, if they understand one another, will easily govern the two Houses to their will. 1789Constitution of U.S. ii. §1 The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years. 1789J. May Jrnl. & Lett. (1873) 121 His Excellency the President [Washington] is to be sworn into office. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 165/1 (Mexico) The executive power is vested in a president and vice-president, both elected by the state legislatures for a term of four years. 1840Ibid. XVIII. 10/1 Towards the end of 1826, the Bolivian constitution was adopted [in Peru], according to which a president was to be placed at the head of the government, with the power of naming his successor. [1840Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XXI. 47/2 The [Swiss] diet meets for two successive years by turns, at the capital..of Lucerne, Zürich, and Berne, the burgomaster or avoyer of which acts as president for the turn, with the title of Landmann. ]1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1883) I. 380 In consequence of our proud prerogative of caring no more about our President than for a man of straw. 1889Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. v. 48 Four Presidents (Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield) have died in office, and been succeeded by Vice-Presidents. Ibid. I. xxv. 290 Only four years after the power of the executive had reached its highest point in the hands of President Lincoln, it was reduced to its lowest point in those of President Johnson.
5. a. Trade-name of a heavy union fabric, of cotton warp and low woollen, mungo, or shoddy weft, the face resembling that of doeskin or plain dress-face cloth. b. A kind of damask of silk, or silk and wool, used for upholstery (U.S.) (Cent. Dict.).
1886Daily News 6 Oct. 2/4 Some sellers of pilots and presidents have also had their stocks considerably reduced. Ibid. 18 Oct. 2/4 Large orders are still being placed for cheap tweeds, meltons, and low worsteds and presidents at the advanced rates lately obtained. 1894Times 7 May 13/2 For other kinds of woollens suitable for the fall trade such as pilots, presidents, and reversibles, there is a scarcity of orders.
6. attrib. and Comb., as president-founder, president-king, president-maker;
b. president-general, a president who is over all the minor presidents of a system.
1895Westm. Gaz. 4 July 7/1 The annual convention of the European section of the Theosophical Society.., under the presidency of Colonel H. S. Olcott, the President-Founder. 1899Daily News 30 June 6/4 The President-maker, a man who holds in his hands all the strings of the most complex organization in modern politics. 1905Daily Chron. 4 Oct. 4/6 Prince George of Denmark was elected to the throne of Greece..and on the whole he has been a popular Monarch of a democratic community—a ‘President-King’.
b.1754in Franklin Wks. (1887) II. 355 That the said general government [proposed for the N. Amer. colonies] be administered by a President-General, to be appointed and supported by the crown. 1809J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 620 At the meeting of the Cincinnati at New York, when they choose Hamilton their President-General. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. xii. 402 Galloway, of Pennsylvania,..with the governor of New Jersey and with Colden of New York, proposed [in 1774] for the government of the colonies a president-general, to be appointed by the king, and a grand council to be chosen once in three years by the general assemblies. 1897E. L. Taunton Eng. Bl. Monks St. Benedict II. 298 The high office of president-general of the whole congregation.
▪ II. president, a. Now rare.|ˈprɛzɪdənt, ˈprɛs-|
[ad. L. præsidēntem, pr. pple. of præsidēre to preside.]
That presides or occupies the chief place; presiding, superintending. (Sometimes hyphened, as if attrib. use of prec.)
c1400Rule St. Benet 1362 It ordand es, Þat a president subpriores Sal non be chosin for no chanch Bot by þe priores puruyanch. 1588J. Udall Demonstr. Discipl. (Arb.) 44 That there should be one byshop or pastor (at the least) president ouer euery congregation. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. 294 The state of Venice..keepe there their Agent, president ouer other Marchants. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. i. xv. §4 (1622) 159 Not onely present with them, but also president among them. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. 270 Mars the President-Dæmon of the Roman Polity. 1671Milton P.R. i. 447 Whence hast thou then thy truth, But from him or his Angels President In every Province? 1697Potter Antiq. Greece iii. vii. (1715) 66 Mercury the President God of their Occupation. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. iii. (1810) 208 The village of St. John's,..the residence of the president priest of the province.
▪ III. president(e
obs. form of precedent. |