| 释义 |
serviceable, a.|ˈsɜːvɪsəb(ə)l|
Forms: α. 4 servisabylle, -abul, serviseable, 4 servicable, 4–6 servisable, 5 servesabill, cervysable, servysabill, 6 servychable, 6– serviceable; β. 4 servisiable, 4–5 serviciable, 5 cervycyable.
[a. OF. serviçable, -isable, f. service service n.1: see -able. With the β forms cf. med.L. serviciābilis (Du Cange).]
1. Ready to do service; prepared to minister, willing to be of service; active or diligent in service. Now rare.
αc1330R. Brunne Chron. (Rolls) 3139 He..was plesaunt & seruisable. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 40 Þe Pope shulde be..moost servysable and most pore. c1386Chaucer Prol. 99 Curteis he was, lowely, and seruysable, And carf biforn his fader at the table. c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 36 Thei wer..ful seruiceable in al wise. c1450Merlin 100 Arthur was goode and seruisable, and seide, ‘With gode will’. 1534More Picus Wks. 32 Thirdelye of reason bee we seruisable..To suche as haue done muche for vs before. 1561J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 80 Are they not all seruisable spirites sent forth to doe seruice for their sakes which are heyres of saluation. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 257 A seruiceable Villaine, As duteous to the vices of thy Mistris, As badnesse would desire. 1859Tennyson Marr. Geraint 393 Seeing her [Enid] so sweet and serviceable. 1890Spectator 11 Jan., Her loyal and serviceable friend.
βc1386Chaucer Clerk's T. (Lansd.) 979 And sche þe most seruisiable of all Haþe euery chambre arraide. c1440Alphabet of Tales i. 223 Sho was seruyciable to euerilk creatur. c1440Promp. Parv. 67/1 Ceruycyable, or redy alle waye, obsequiosus. 1483Cath. Angl. 331/1 Servysiable.
†b. Of actions or conditions: Involving or expressing readiness to serve. Obs.
a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 172 b, Once Zelmane could not stirre, but that..Basilius with seruiceable steppes,..would follow her. 1608D. T[uvill] Ess. Pol. & Mor. A 3, My seruiceable affection towards your Honour. 1629Milton Christ's Nativ. xxvii, And all about the Courtly Stable, Bright-harnest Angels sit in order serviceable.
†c. Subservient. Obs. rare.
1613Hayward Will. I 88 He was..sottishly seruiceable both to pleasure and sloath. 1849James Woodman iii, Thou hireling, serviceable knave.
†2. Suitable to be served (as food). Obs. rare.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcvi. (1495) 663 Lens lentis is a manere of coddeware: and is seruysable to potage. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 798 in Babees Bk., Beef or moton stewed seruysable.
3. a. Of persons: Profitable, useful.
1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 280 A dead man is often more serviceable to the living, than the living themselves. 1691Norris Pract. Disc. 133 What makes you Good and Religious here, serves also to make you useful and serviceable hereafter. 1704De Foe in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iv. 83 Wishing..that you may find this neglected fellow serviceable or at least make him so. 1794S. Williams Vermont 263 In what manner the people of Vermont could be the most serviceable to the British government. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt xxix, Johnson was a most serviceable subordinate. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet I. 129 ‘She will, I trust, be serviceable to you’, said the doctor.
b. Of things: Capable of being applied to an appropriate purpose, or to the performance of a proper function.
1390Gower Conf. II. 153 For thelementz ben servicable To man. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 126 b, The Camel..some suppose to be the seruiceablest cattell for man that is. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons Ded. 1 b, To suppresse and extinguishe the exercise and seruiceable vse of Long-bowes. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 51 To find so and so many seruiceable horse for the war. 1668Hale Pref. to Rolle's Abridgm. 8 He shall never be able to carry on a distinct serviceable Memory at all..without helps of Use or Method. 1708Swift Sacram. Test Wks. 1755 II. i. 123 The most serviceable treatise that could have been published at such a juncture. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 306 The barometer..is also serviceable in measuring the heights of mountains. 1816Scott Antiq. xxxv, His museum..contained nothing that could be serviceable on the present or any other occasion. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 7 To procure him large intervals of healthful rest and serviceable leisure. 1880J. W. Zaehnsdorf Bookbinding 93 The work is as strong and serviceable as in a whole⁓bound book. 1894K. Grahame Pagan P. 4 Past farmsteads where man and beast..learn pleasant and serviceable lessons each of the other. |