| 释义 |
▪ I. select, a. (and n.)|sɪˈlɛkt|
Also 6 selecte.
[ad. L. sēlect-us select, chosen, pple. of sēligĕre to choose out, select, f. sē- apart, se- + legĕre to collect, choose, etc. Cf. Sp., Pg. selecto.]
A. adj.
1. Selected, chosen out of a larger number, on account of excellence or fitness; picked.
select committee, see committee 3. select meeting, (amongst Quakers) a meeting of ministers and elders. select vestry, see vestry.
1565Cooper Thesaurus, Selectus, chosen from amonge other: chief amonge other: selecte. 1571Digges Pantom. Ep. + ij b, When they shall perceiue your Lordshippe..doth allow and accepte them as fragrante floures selecte and gathered out of the pleasant gardynes Mathematicall. 1580Lease in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 237 These twelve select trees. 1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. Ded., Whom my Muse Doth its select Mecænas chuse. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 819 No sooner hee with them of Man and Beast Select for life shall in the Ark be lodg'd. 1676Hale Contempl. ii. Medit. Lord's Pr. 167 Not only at the select and solemn times of Prayer, but in the general Frame of our conversation. a1700Evelyn Diary June 1647, He married us in Sir Richd. Browne's Chapell.., some few select freinds being present. 1712in T. W. Marsh Early Friends in Surrey & Sussex xv. (1886) 140 Its Unanimusly agreed..that a Select Meeting be Held in each Weekly Meeting..concerning the good order and Discipline of the Church. 1718Prior Solomon iii. 653 Select from vulgar Herds, with Garlands gay, A hundred Bulls ascend the Sacred Way. 1731Gentl. Mag. I. 159 In the Parish where I serve, the Vestry is compos'd of thirty select Members besides the Rector. 1744Dodsley (title) A select Collection of Old Plays. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. vi. i. 4 The more secret parts of the heathen worship, to which select persons only were admitted. 1819Shelley Œdipus i. 217 Every gibbet says its catechism And reads a select chapter in the Bible Before it goes to play. 1835App. Munic. Corpor. Rep. iii. 1496 (Doncaster) The mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses form the Select Body or common council. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 649 To the smaller plot..only a few select traitors were privy. 1873(title) Cornelius Nepos. Select Lives. With notes by Edward Walford.
2. Hence, Choice, of special value or excellence; composed of or containing the best, choicest or most desirable; superior.
a. Of things, material or immaterial.
1590Spenser F.Q. iii. vi. 12 Whence all the world deriues the glorious Features of beautie, and all shapes select, With which high God his workmanship hath deckt. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. iii. 74 And they in France of the best rank and station, Are of a most select and generous cheff in that. 1623Ld. Herbert in Ellis Orig. Lett. ser. i. III. 164, I will come from the ordinarie voice to the selecter judgement of the Ministers of State, and more intelligent people in this Kingdome. 1656Ridgeley Pract. Physick Pref. 3 Most select Remedies for every Disease. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 513 And happie Constellations on that houre Shed their selectest influence. 1709Steele Tatler No. 142 ⁋5 He has spent his most select Hours in the Knowledge of them. a1822Shelley Def. Poetry Pr. Wks. 1888 II. 19 The Romans appear to have considered the Greeks as the selectest treasuries of the selectest forms of manners. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxviii, His senior..had consigned a quantity of select wines to him. 1868Joynson Metals 99 If what is called the ‘best select’ copper is required, the refining process is gone through a second time.
b. Of persons, company, etc. Now often: Unexceptionable with regard to social standing or estimation.
1602Marston Ant. & Mel. Prol. 3 Select and most respected Auditours. 1603Drayton Bar. Wars vi. xvi, Men most select, of speciall worth and sort. 1677Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 36 The Venetian Embassador made a ball to Lord Ossery and his family and Lord Arlington and his, and some other select company last weeke. 1770F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 84 The party though small were select. 1838Lytton Alice ii. ii, The Reverend Charles Merton..kept up all the most select of his old London acquaintances. 1840Macaulay Ess., Ranke 559 Persecution of that sort which bows down and crushes all but a very few select spirits. 1855― Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 266 He [the Elector of Saxony] had..a great desire to be a member of the most select and illustrious orders of knighthood. 1871Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. II. 278 Company at first aristocratic and select.
absol.1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 112 The first of our subscription-concerts..was attended by one hundred and twenty of the select, admittances being decided by ballot. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. ii, The public games..where, in the select of their own countrymen, they saw the handsomest specimens of the human race.
3. Careful in selection. Hence, (of a society or association) admitting only persons of a high class, esp. with regard to social station; exclusive; (of a place of resort) frequented only by persons of good social position.
1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 23 The appetite becomes less keen and more select in its choice. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 316 You are select in your acquaintance. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. I. iii. 54 And I have spoken for Gwendolen to be a member of our Archery Club—the Brackenshaw Archery Club—the most select thing anywhere. 1888Lady 25 Oct. 374/1 Such a sweet, select watering-place. All the best people go there.
B. n.
a. A selected person or thing.
†b. A selected class or group, a selection.
c. See quot. 1881.
a.1610Healey St. Ang. Citie of God vii. iii. 261 If there⁓fore felicity bee not to bee placed amongst those selects, because they gotte their places rather by chance then desert: yet surely fortune should bee one amongst them. a1733North Life Ld. Kpr. Guilford (1742) 29 In Town, he had his Select of Friends and Acquaintance. a1733― Exam. i. ii. §2 (1740) 32 Borrow of the profligate Speech-makers, or Lyars of the Time in Print, and make a Select out of a Select of them to adorn a Party. Ibid. ii. iv. §144. 308 He..sets forth a Select of the Rye-Plot Papers. 1805T. Holcroft Bryan Perdue I. 159, I appeared to be the inmate and select of his soul, and almost as necessary to him as his horses and dogs. 1881Ingersoll Oyster-Industr. (Hist. Fish. Industr. U.S.) 248 Selects, oysters of the first quality, i.e. selected; applied wholly to opened stock. 1961S. Taylor in Webster s.v., It is possible to buy ware that is composed wholly of selects. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 17/6 The All-Star game tomorrow night with the selects meeting the Stanley Cup defending champions from Toronto.
▪ II. select, v.|sɪˈlɛkt|
[f. L. sēlect-, ppl. stem of sēligĕre (see prec.).]
1. trans. To choose or pick out in preference to another or others. Also to select out.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 25 To select or choose forth amongst many things what is heade and principall. 1597Daniel Civ. Wars vi. lxxxvii. (1609) 165 Haue you then selected me To be the man whom you would haue displac't Out of the roule of Immortalitie? 1607Shakes. Cor. i. vi. 81 A certaine number..must I select from all. The rest shall beare the businesse in some other fight. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 141 Of some [reeds] the Arabians make darts and jauelins..; others they select to write with. 1706Pope Let. to Wycherley 10 Apr., You desire me to select..some Things from the first Volume of your Miscellanies, which may be altered so as to appear again. 1754Warburton View Bolingbr. Philos. ii. 135 Men..were not always sufficiently careful in selecting their arguments. 1825Coleridge Aids Refl. (1843) I. 187 A power of selecting and adapting means to proximate ends according to circumstances. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xiv, The party was admirably selected. 1839Earl Spencer in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. (1840) I. 22 The importance of selecting good male animals [for breeding purposes]. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 657 In selecting rebels for punishment. 1867Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Ser. ii. III. ii. 464 He then soon begins to select out fine days for this purpose. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 25 Would a forger have had the wit to select the most..characteristic thoughts of Plato?
b. Said of impersonal agencies. Cf. selection 3.
1859Darwin Orig. Species Introd. 5 Any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself,..will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 494 The eruption..not selecting any special nerve territories.
c. To choose and dedicate to. nonce-use.
1715Pope Iliad ii. 504 The Limbs they sever from th' inclosing Hyde, The Thighs, selected to the Gods, divide.
2. intr. To choose or pick out something from a number; to make a selection.
1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. iii. ix, ‘The next dinner you give, George, we will select better’, said Lady Frances. ‘We will have up the local lawyer who knows the country politics, and all the friends and foes of the district.’ 1859Darwin Orig. Species iv. 102 In man's methodical selection, a breeder selects for some definite object, and free inter⁓crossing will wholly stop his work.
Add:3. The infin. used attrib. or in Comb. to designate that part of a device which is employed in selecting one of its modes of operation.
1974P. Cave Mama (new ed.) viii. 64 Mama strolled over to the juke-box, gave it a vicious kick and smiled with satisfaction as the green ‘select’ light snapped on. 1976Aviation Week 31 May 43/1 Activation of the weapon-select button also automatically cues the onboard computer to provide the proper firing solutions for the particular weapon selected. 1984Mag. of Bank Admin. Apr. 134/3 A new concept in HELP..allows the user to select the desired operation or data file simply by hitting the ‘select’ key. 1987Internat. Combat Arms Sept. 80/2 It is a select-fire weapon equipped like the rest of the H & K line with either a solid or retractable butt stock and is extremely accurate at ranges to 200 meters. |