| 释义 |
beforehand, adv. (and a.)|bɪˈfɔəhænd|
Also 3–4 biforen hond(e, 4–6 before hand(e, 4 bi-, by-, be-forhand, biforand.
[Originally two words, before hand, also before the hand, perhaps from the idea of one working before the hand of another, and so in anticipation of his action. But cf. L. præ manu, manibus, ‘at hand, in readiness, in hand,’ used in ME. as = ‘beforehand.’]
A. adv.
1. In anticipation of something so as to be ready for it; in advance.
a1225Ancr. R. 212 Heo beoð þe lesse te menen, þet heo biuoren hond leorneð hore meister to makien grimme chere. 1534Tindale 2 Cor. ix. 5 To come before honde [Wyclif bifor] vnto you for to prepare youre good blessynge. 1551Recorde Pathw. Knowl. Pref., He..was so skylfull in Astronomie, and coulde tell before hande of Eclipses. 1611Bible Mark xiii. 11 Take no thought before hand what ye shall speake. 1710Steele Tatler No. 86 ⁋1, I thought it proper to acquaint you before-hand..that you might not be surpriz'd therewith. 1875B. Taylor Faust I. iv. 78 Prepare beforehand for your part.
b. spec. in reference to payment in advance.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 301 [Ich halde hym ouer-hardy oþer elles nouht trewe, Þat pre manibus ys payed.] c1450Henryson Tale of Dog 88 Ane soume I payit haif befoir the hand. 1552Huloet, Before handes, præ manibus. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 32 To pay a yeere or two yeeres rent before hande. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 129 He demanded two ducats for the job, and they paid him beforehand. Mod. maxim. There are two bad payers—he that pays beforehand, and he that never pays at all.
c. to be beforehand with: to anticipate, to be earlier than; to outstrip or forestall in action. (In this and the next, often used adjectively.)
1595Shakes. John v. vii. 111 Let vs pay the time but needfull woe, Since it hath beene before hand with our greefes. a1619Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 30 Then was he before⁓hand with Pope Alexander..promising likewise to hold it..of the Apostolique Sea. 1701W. Wootton Hist. Rome i. 203 If you are not before-hand with them, you will perish. 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. ix. 222 Like Napoleon, he knew the value of being beforehand with an enemy.
d. to be beforehand, to be beforehand with the world, to have something beforehand: to have more than sufficient to meet present demands; to have money in hand for future contingencies; to have the balance on the right side. So to bring beforehand, get beforehand. All arch.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 133 He wyll..labour diligently to brynge hym selfe beforehande agayn, & to recouer his losse. 1591G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1857) 13 [They] regard not to lay up anything, or to haue it before hand. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) III. 9 Hee is the happy man who can square his mind to his means..he who is before hand with the world. 1651Featly in Fuller's Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 228 He brought the college much before⁓hand, which before..was very much impoverished. 1712Steele Spect. No. 450 ⁋3 Having little or nothing before⁓hand, and living from Hand to Mouth. 1771Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 59, I now began to think of getting a little beforehand. c1812Jane Austen Sense & Sens. (1849) 25, I shall see how much I am beforehand with the world in the spring.
†2. Before this or that, previously. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 3393 His sede suld multipli, als godd him had biforand hiht. Ibid. 6512 He tok him tablis of þe lay. As ȝe herd me bifor-hand say. 1382Wyclif Gen. xxviii. 19 The cyte Bethel, that biforn hoond was clepid Luza. 1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. i. (1483) 58 This appel was hanged vpon this drye tree whiche that grewe before hand vpon this grene florisshynge tree. a1520Myrr. Our Ladye 186 As I haue sayde ofte before hande.
†B. as adj. Ready, prepared. Obs. rare.
a1704Lestrange (J.), What is a man's contending with insuperable difficulties but the rolling of Sisyphus's stone up the hill, which is soon beforehand to return upon him again? |