| 释义 |
confirmation|kɒnfəˈmeɪʃən|
Also 4 conferm-, 4–6 confyrm-.
[a. OF. confirmation (13th c. in Godef.), ad. L. confirmātiōn-em, n. of action from confirmāre to confirm. (The inherited form of the L. word in OF. was confermaison.)]
1. The action of making firm or sure; strengthening, settling, establishing (of institutions, opinions, etc.).
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 28/1 For the confyrmacyon of his kyngdome. 1549(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer 100 For the more confyrmacion of the fayth. 1585Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 87 For the confirmation of our weak faith. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 343 Confirmation of your..belief. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxii. 24 For the better confirmation of their title.
†b. Physical strengthening. Obs. rare.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. iii. 73 [The loadstone] may..afford a confirmation unto parts relaxed.
2. The action of confirming or ratifying by some additional legal form.
confirmation of a charter: see confirm v. 2. Confirmation of the Charters (Confirmatio Chartarum) applied in Eng. Hist. spec. to the confirmation of Magna Charta and the Charter of the Forests by Edward I in 1297.
1382Wyclif Heb. vi. 16 The ende of al her controuersye, or debate, is an ooth to confermacioun. 1473–4in Acc. Ld. Treas. Scotl. I. 2 (Jam. Supp.) Ane confirmacione of ane charter to Johne Lord Semple of the landis of Montgrenane. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 56. 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. iv. ix. (1854) 313 That confirmation of all the precedent articles shall be procured from the parliament. 1792A. Young Trav. France 119 They then immediately passed a confirmation of their preceding arrets. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. Eng. (1877) II. 147 The supplementary acts by which the Confirmation of the Charters was affirmed and recognised..especially as the close of the long dispute about the limits and jurisdictions of the Forests. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 365.
b. The confirming of a person in a dignity, etc., or of a possession, etc., to a person.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 143 Richard his pallion bi messengere did com, & his confirmacion fro þe courte of Rome. 1557Order of Hospitalls B vj, After the confirmation of the said election by the Lord Maior. 1632Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 89 Obtained of the king the office of Admirall..and got the confirmation thereof. 1886York Herald 7 Aug. 5/5 Confirmation of the Speaker.
c. spec. in Eccl. The formal ratification of the election or other appointment of a bishop.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 209 Þe pape þer of was paied, mad þe Confirmacion. Maister Steuen of Langtone Ersebisshop salle be. c1425Wyntoun Cron. vii. v. 132 Ðe Byschope Robert..Of þe archebyschape of Yhork had Confirmatyowne. 1826Chitty Blackstone I. 378 Without which confirmation and investiture the elected bishop could neither be consecrated nor receive any secular profits. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 37 Confirmation is performed under the authority of the Metropolitan, acting for the whole Province or Church.
3. The action of confirming, corroborating, or verifying; verification, proof: see confirm 7.
1419in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. I. 72 To haffe on off ther captaynes into Engelond, ffor to make confirmation of thys matier. 1587Thynne in Holinshed III. 1272 For the confirmation whereof..thou shalt find an ample discourse in my booke. 1747Col. Rec. Penn. V. 150 In confirmation of what we say we give you this string of Wampum. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 170, I should think, to use the newspaper phrase, the thing merited confirmation. 1769Junius Lett. xxix. 131 It hardly wants the Confirmation of Experience. 1831Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Administr. (1837) II. 99 The achievements of St. George want confirmation in the particular of the Dragon.
b. A confirmatory statement or circumstance; in Rhet. the confirmatory part of an argument.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 4 b, The confirmacion is a declaracion of our awne reasons, with assured and constaunt profes. 1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 323 Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmation strong As proofs of holy writ. 1648H. G. tr. Balzac's Prince 102 [To observe] the parts of Eloquence, and to separate the Exordium from the Narration, and the Confirmation from the Epilogue. 1709Steele & Addison Tatler No. 136 ⁋8 This Day came in a Mail from Holland, with a Confirmation of our late Advices. 1876J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. ii. xi. 293 He..adroitly converts apparent objections into confirmations of his argument.
4. Law. See quots. Also as in 2.
1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 44 §2 All patentes, confirmacions and grauntes made to any persone..of the same Castelles. 1574tr. Littleton's Tenures 106 a, A dede of confirmacion is good and vailable, where in the same case a dede of release is not good nor vailable. 1628Coke On Litt. 295 b, A Confirmation is a conueyance of an estate or right in esse, whereby a voidable estate is made sure and vnauoidable, or whereby a particular estate is encreased. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 325. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 87 All leases made by tenants for life become absolutely void by their death; so that no..act, by the persons entitled to the remainder or reversion, will operate as a confirmation of them. Ibid. V. 251 A fine may also operate as a confirmation of a former estate, which was before defeasible.
5. Eccl. A rite administered to baptized persons in various Christian Churches; formerly called ‘bishoping’.
In the Roman and Greek Churches, always reckoned one of the seven sacraments, and in these and in the Church of England held to convey or be the vehicle of special grace which ‘confirms’ or strengthens the recipient for the practice of the Christian faith.
Down to the 13th c. confirmation was administered immediately or soon after baptism (as still in the Greek Church); since that time, it has been usually deferred in the Western Churches till the ‘years of discretion’. In the Church of England and some other Reformed Churches, candidates are required publicly and personally to renew, ratify, and ‘confirm’ their baptismal vows (see confirm v. 2, quot. 1552), and are then admitted to the full privileges of the Church.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9790 Þe secunde sacrament..Ys grauntede of þe bysshop honde, Men kalle hyt confyrmacyoun. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 159 Þo his propre name was i-chaunged, as it happeþ in confirmacioun of children. a1400Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 27 Confirmacione..confermys þe Haly Gaste one man þat es cristenede. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) iv. 33/1 Ordeyned that a chylde sholde have a godfather and a godmother at the tyme of baptysynge, and also one at the confyrmacyon. 1549Bk. Com. Prayer, Confirmation Pref., To the end that Confirmation may be ministered to the more edifying of such as shall receive it, etc. 1555Fardle Facions ii. xii. 278 Bishopping, whiche the Latines calle Confirmacion, a confirming..or allowyng of that went before: is the seconde Sacramente. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 120 The old order of Confirmation by Bishops, which was to be done upon Profession of the Faith. 1803W. Godwin Life Chaucer I. 54 The rite of confirmation, according to the Roman Catholic discipline, is always subsequent..to the first communion. 1836J. H. Stewart Mem. W. C. Stewart iv. (ed. 3) 72 The Bishop..had directed them not to present themselves for Confirmation till they were fifteen.
b. name of confirmation: see quots.
1628Coke On Litt. 3 a, If a man be baptized by the name of Thomas, and after at his confirmation by the bishop he is named John, he may purchase by the name of his confirmation. Ibid. Whose name of baptism was Thomas, and his name of confirmation Francis. 1885Arnold Cath. Dict. s.v., It is usual to take another Christian name at confirmation, which however is not used afterwards in signing the name.
6. Special Comb. confirmation theory Logic, the theoretical investigation of ways in which the probability of hypotheses can be confirmed, esp. by induction.
1947Philos. & Phenomenol. Rev. VIII. 149 (title) On infirmities of confirmation-theory. 1964Amer. Philos. Q. I. 273/2 Confirmation theory does not provide an inductive logic. 1973Sci. Amer. May 83/1 Bayes's theorem contributed to confirmation theory a scheme that seems far more adequate to inference in science than the fallacy of affirming the consequent can ever hope to be.
¶ Formerly confused with conformation, q.v. |