| 释义 |
commodity|kəˈmɒdɪtɪ|
Forms: 5–6 com(m)odite(e, -dyte, 5–7 com(m)oditie, -dytie, -detie, (5 comedytee, comeditie), 7 comodity, 6– commodity.
[a. F. commodité (15th c. in Littré), ad. L. commoditāt-em due measure, fitness, convenience, complaisance, f. commod-us: see commode a. The concrete senses appear to have arisen in the modern languages.]
†1.
a. As a quality or condition of things, in relation to the desires or needs of men, etc.: The quality of being ‘commodious’; conveniency, suitability, fitting utility; commodiousness. Obs.
1430Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, There was al that myht do pleasaunce To any harte and all commoditee. 1542Lament. & Piteous Treat. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 239 They had the vauntage of vs..for the commodyte of the place beyng aboue vs. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 120 Sent..to espie the commoditie of the havens. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 46 b, Of the commoditie of water who doubteth, without whose use no man is able to live. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 132 Vulcan..the first that found out the commoditie of fire. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 83 Of singular use and commodity.
†b. Convenient access to or supply of. Obs.
c1529Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 104 II. 7 Summe..place, wher I may have comodyte of Physycyans. 1549Compl. Scotl. xv. 131 Ve can hef na comodite of the necessair thingis that ar requirit.
2. As a property of the person, etc., affected:
a. Convenience. Obs. or arch.
1488Caxton Chast. Goddes Chyld. 21 Suche men unresonably..encline to the rest and commodyte of the body. 1524Ld. Dacre in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 86 I. 247 A surceace of warre..is only for their and the Duks commoditie. 1612Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xiii. 141 Not to be taken as a rule of necessity..but..rather..as a rule of commodity. 1774Johnson Diary Tour Wales 4 Aug., Only one tower had a chimney, so that there was [no] commodity of living. 1868Browning Ring. & Bk. i. 690 The lawyer's pleadings..Doubled in two..For more commodity of carriage.
†b. Expediency. Obs.
1585Parsons Chr. Exerc. i. x. 117 A consideration of commoditie, whereunto commonly eche man is prone by nature. 1595Shakes. John ii. i. 573 Since Kings breake faith vpon commoditie, Gaine be my Lord, for I will worship thee. 1614T. Adams Devil's Banquet 83 They wil heare vs willingly if our Text be Commodity, and our Sermon Policie. 1788Cowper Corr. (1824) II. 130 What Shakspeare calls commodity, and what we call political expediency.
†c. Advantage, benefit, profit, interest: often in the sense of private or selfish interest. Obs.
1571R. Edwards Damon & P. in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 41, I will use his friendship to mine own commodity. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv. (1676) 85/1 Commodity is the steer of all their actions. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. i. §12 His atchievements in France, were more for the credit, then commodity..of England. 1679Penn Addr. Prot. ii. v. (1692) 163 Those kind of men do regard nothing but their own Commodity. 1836Emerson Nature, Commodity Wks. (Bohn) II. 143 Under the general name of commodity, I rank all those advantages which our senses owe to nature.
†d. concr. Profit, gain.
1577Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 91 If he displaced any person from his commoditie, he did not forget otherwise to recompence him. 1630R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 236 These Indies..yeeld an exceeding commodity to this king.
3. (with a and pl.) A convenience, advantage, benefit, interest. Obs. or arch.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 21 Other commodytees folowynge of the same. 1578Abp. Grindal Let. in Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. iv. §3 The reading of Homilies hath his commodities. 1612(title), An Old Thrift newly revived, wherein is declared..the commodities and discommodities of inclosing decayed Forrests. 1670Baxter Cure Ch. Div. 152 Hypocrites, who will do anything in compliance with their own commodities. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. i. ii. (1865) 12 The many commodities incidental to the life of a public office.
†4. Convenient juncture of events; opportunity, occasion. Obs.
1551in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ii. i. 254 After dinner taking commodity to declare their letters. a1555Bp. Gardiner in Abp. Parker's Corr. 22 Having commodity to send this bearer..to the University. 1619Visct. Doncaster Let. in Eng. & Germ. (Camden Soc.) 74 Your Lordship shall hear from me agayne by the first commodity I can make. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. (1682) 403 Finding the Commodity of an English Ship..we hoised sayl.
5. concr. A thing of ‘commodity’, a thing of use or advantage to mankind; esp. in pl. useful products, material advantages, elements of wealth.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxii. 101 Þe land of Inde es þe maste plentifous land of folk þat es owerwhare, by cause of þe grete commoditez [Fr. bontee] þat it has þerin. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 289 Flandres..is replete with mony commodites, as with pastures, bestes, marchandise, waters, hauenes. 1494Fabyan i. iv. 11 Y⊇ Ryuer of Thamys..with also the Commodities therunto adioynynge. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 5 Euery parte, region or commoditie of y⊇ sayd new found landes. 1594Norden Spec. Brit., Essex (Camden Soc.) 8 Hopps, a commoditie of greate and continuall use. 1649Selden Laws Eng. i. xlvii. (1739) 80 They now think a Bishoprick but a naked commodity. 1657Austen Fruit Trees Ep. Ded., Cattle, Corne and all Commodities will thrive. 1820Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 177 Command over the gross commodities of life.
6. a. spec. in Comm. A kind of thing produced for use or sale, an article of commerce, an object of trade; in pl. goods, merchandise, wares, produce. Now esp. food or raw materials, as objects of trade. staple commodity: leading article of trade.
1436Pol. Poems (1859) II. 160 Commodytes..commynge out of Spayne, And marchandy..Bene fygues, raysyns, wyne bastarde, and dates. 1486Act 3 Hen. VII, c. 8 Every Merchant..shall imploy the Money..upon the Commodities of this Land. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iii. 6 Some tender monie to me..Some offer me Commodities to buy. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. i. ii. 17 There is a due price to be set upon every saleable commodity. 1691Locke Money Wks. 1727 II. 73 Commodities are Moveables, valuable by Money. 1699Bentley Phal. 359 Money was at that time a scarce Commodity in Greece. 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. iii. vi. 294 Money is itself a commodity, whose value depends on the same circumstances that determine the value of all other commodities. 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 16 A commodity is any portion of wealth. 1934G. B. Shaw On Rocks Pref. 158 They are free to enter upon a series of quite legitimate but not the less nefarious operations. For example, making a corner in wheat or copper or any other cornerable commodity and forcing up prices so as to make enormous private fortunes for themselves. 1958R. K. Narayan Guide i. 18 Bullock carts..arrived late in the evening from distant villages, loaded with coconut, rice and other commodities for the market. 1962Listener 8 Mar. 400/2 Agricultural subsidies, to sustain one kind of production and to foster an arbitrary commodity pattern within it. 1985Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 19 London commodity markets: rubber..sisal..sugar..soya meal.
b. fig. and transf. Anything that one ‘trades’ or ‘deals’ in.
1608Dekker Belman Lond., The whore, who is called the commodity. a1623W. Pemble Wks. (1635) 53 The maxime of Politicians, that the opinion of virtue is a commodity. 1659Vulgar Errors Censured ii. §i. 18 The first Commodity a young Tradesman sets to sale is his own Honesty. 1767Junius Lett. xii. 52 The favour of princes is a perishable Commodity. 1863Fr. Kemble Resid. Georgia 16 The staple commodity of my letters.
†7.
a. A quantity of wares, parcel, ‘lot’. Also fig.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 93, I wold thou and I knew, where a Commodity of good names were to be bought. Ibid. iv. ii. 19 Such a Commoditie of warme slaues, as had as lieue heare the Deuill, as a Drumme. 1601― Twel. N. iii. i. 50 Now Ioue in his next commodity of hayre, send thee a beard.
†b. spec. in 16–17th c.: A parcel of goods sold on credit by a usurer to a needy person, who immediately raised some cash by re-selling them at a lower price, generally to the usurer himself (see D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Usury).
An accommodation of this kind, designed to evade the usury laws, in which the goods were trumpery, was known as a commodity of brown paper, or the like: see Nares. to take (clap) up a commodity: to obtain such an accommodation.
1590Greene Never too late (1600) 56 If coyne want, then eyther to Limbo, or else clap vp a commodity (if so much credite be left). 1593Nashe Christ's T. 47 a, A hundred pound commodity..is not forty pound money. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iii. 5 Here's yong Mr. Rash, hee's in for a commoditie of browne paper and olde Ginger, nine score and seuenteene pounds, of which hee made fiue Markes readie money. 1608–48Dekker Eng. Villanies (title of ch.), The Manner of undoing Gentlemen by taking up of Commodities. a1652Brome Mad Couple ii. Wks. 1873 I. 21 My husband..lent you the last Terme a hundred pound, which hee assign'd to me; and now I have it in Commodity.
8. attrib., as commodity agreement, commodity control, commodity fetishism, commodity market, commodity price; commodity dollar U.S., a proposed unit of a form of currency the gold value of which is determined by the current market prices of certain basic commodities; also attrib.; commodity exchange, an organized market for the bulk purchase of certain commodities, a commodity market; commodity rate, a special rate charged by railways for transportation of particular commodities within a specified area.
1959Chambers's Encycl. III. 787/2 International agreements for the marketing of foodstuffs and industrial raw materials in their unprocessed form are known as commodity agreements.
1943P. L. Yates Commodity Control xi. 232 Neither buffer-stock nor quota schemes are sufficiently flawless to enlist our unqualified support as the sole method of commodity control.
1933Warren & Pearson in N.Y. Times 23 July viii. 3/3 The Commodity Dollar. The compensated dollar is a proposal to establish by law a currency redeemable in gold. 1933Times 13 Dec. 14/1 The adoption of the Fisher and Warren ‘commodity dollar’ system. 1934Planning I. xxvi. 12 It is surprising how little..those engaged in industry know about the working of the commodity exchanges.
[1887S. Moore tr. Marx's Capital I. i. i. 41 (heading) The fetishism of commodities and the secret thereof.] 1942P. M. Sweezy Theory of Capitalist Developm. ii. 35 In his doctrine of Commodity Fetishism, Marx was the first to perceive this fact... In commodity production, the basic relation between men ‘assumes, in their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation between things’. 1962H. E. Beecheno Introd. Bus. Stud. xi. 93 In commodity markets..raw materials are sold by those who grew or extracted them, or by merchants.
1930Ann. Reg. 1929 68 Commodity prices fell still further in 1929.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 135/1 If these special rates are published in the tariff, and are offered to all persons alike,..they are known as commodity rates. |