| 释义 |
coerce, v.|kəʊˈɜːs|
In 5 ? coherce.
[ad. L. coercēre to shut in, restrain, confine, f. co- together + arcēre to shut up, restrain, keep off, prevent. F. had cohercier, -er, coercer in 14–16th c., whence the example of coherce in 1475 (if this is not a misprint for cohert, the ordinary word at that time).]
1. trans. To constrain or restrain (a voluntary or moral agent) by the application of superior force, or by authority resting on force; to constrain to compliance or obedience by forcible means; ‘to keep in order by force’ (J.). Also absol.
1659[see coercing]. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 78 When an old Proverb, or an End of Verse Could more, than all our Penal Laws, coerce. 1726Ayliffe Parerg. 290 The Punishments..sufficient to coerce this profligate sort of Men. a1734North Lives III. 125 To coerce the crowds and keep order. 1858Froude Hist. Eng. III. xvi. 374 When they were able, coercing the voters with a high hand. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1877) I. vii. 105 He was charged to coerce, and not to persuade. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 401 States of discord, in which..the subjects always obey against their will, and have to be coerced.
b. (with the action of the agent as object).
1856Froude Hist. Eng. I. 259 Having the advantage of numbers, they coerced the entire proceedings. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxviii. 669 Tenants..able to offer a very vigorous and sustained resistance to any attempts made to coerce their labour.
c. absol. To use coercive measures in government. Cf. coercion 2.
1833Palmerston Sp. Irish Coercion 21 Mar., There is the difference between us and Metternich or the Pope; we coerce as they do, but then we redress grievances as they do not. 1885Academy 14 Nov. 319/2 ‘Coerce, coerce’, was dinned into Thomas Drummond's ears by coercion-reared officials.
2. Const.
a. To compel or force to do anything.
(The first quot. may be a misprint for coherte, used elsewhere as on p. 38.)
1475Bk. Noblesse 69 The duc..wyth hys felyshyppe were coherced to take the Bastyle for her deffence. 1848Lytton Harold v. 254 To have coerced those warriors to march.
b. To force into (an action or state).
a1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. iii. (1872) 41 Coerce the particulars of faith into exact coincidence with a formal creed. 1876Green Short Hist. iv. 206 The Scotch barons..were coerced into submission.
†3. To subject to restraint in the matter of. rare.
1780Burke Sp. Bristol prev. to Election Wks. III. 377 Therefore the debtor is ordered..to be coerced his liberty until he makes payment.
4. To enforce or effect by compulsion. (U.S.)
a1850J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1874) II. 27 The arm of despotism..could not have coerced its execution more effectually. 1864Webster, To coerce obedience, to coerce compliance with the conditions of a contract. 1877[see coerced].
†5. To enforce (anything) on any one. rare.
1790C. M. Graham Lett. Educ. 317 Represented as divine truths, and coerced on the human mind under the pains and penalties of death in this world, and damnation in the next. |