| 释义 |
constituent, a. and n.|kənˈstɪtjuːənt|
Also 7 -ant.
[ad. L. constituent-em, pr. pple. of constituĕre to constitute: the corresp. F. constituant occurs both as adj. and n. in Cotgrave 1611, and may have been the immediate model of the Eng. word, which in early use was sometimes so spelt: cf. also sense A. 4.]
A. adj.
†1. That constitutes or makes a thing what it is; formative, essential; characteristic, distinctive. Obs. (or not distinguished from 2.)
1660Boyle Seraph. Love vi. (1700) 42 Like Philosophers, who make Reason the Essential Constituent Form of a Man. 1699Burnet 39 Art. xxv. (1700) 270 All the constituent and necessary Parts of a Sacrament are found in Baptism. 1756Burke Subl. & B. Wks. 1842 I. 54 There is another notion current..that Perfection is the constituent cause of beauty. 1833Whewell Bridgewater Treatise (1852) 74 To each degree of pressure in steam there is a constituent temperature corresponding. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. iii. 16 Every lawful Parliament consists of three constituent parts,—the King, the Lords, and the Commons.
2. That jointly constitute, compose, or make up. Of a single element: That goes to compose or make up; component.
1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. iii. rule 11 §1 The main constituent parts of the evangelical [laws]. 1676W. Hubbard Happiness of People 2 Distribution..into its integral parts or constituent Members. 1768Boswell Corsica (ed. 2) 314 One of the constituent members of the court of syndicats. 1793W. Roberts Looker-on No. 78 All the ideas that are constituent of real excellence. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xxi. (1819) 328 The constituent parts of water. a1871Grote Eth. Fragm. ii. (1876) 33 As a constituent member of Society. 1882A. Macfarlane Consanguin. 2 The idea must be resolved into its constituent ideas.
3. That constitutes, appoints, or elects a representative. Cf. B. 1.
1769Junius Lett. xxxv. 166 A question of right arises between the constituent and the representative body. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 478 In some of the small western corporations, the constituent bodies were in great part composed of captains and lieutenants of the guards. 1878Seeley Stein III. 406 The Prussian Estates..the constituent bodies were not districts or fractions of the population, but corporations.
4. Having the power to frame or alter a (political) constitution, as in constituent assembly, constituent power, phrases which originated in French in 1789.
1801W. Dupré Neol. Fr. Dict. 62 Decreed by the constituent assembly, on the 12th of July, 1790. 1839Alison Hist. Europe (1849) II. vii. §112. 229 Mirabeau represented the Constituent..Vergniaud..the Legislative Assembly. 1873Daily News 5 Mar. 5/5 He did not deny the constituent power of the Assembly, but..if they were constituent why did they not proceed to ‘constitute’? 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 406 Reform bills we have seen without number; a constituent assembly we have never seen.
B. n.
1. One who constitutes or appoints another as his agent, proxy, or representative.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 107 The partie who..is the Procurator, is taken in law as absolute as the Constituant, and many sundrie proceedings may be vsed against him accordingly. 1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5148/2 Both the Constituent and Proxy being Qualified according to Law. 1798Dallas Amer. Law Rep. II. 67 The factor is answerable personally to his constituent. 1830R. Chambers Life Jas. I, I. i. 39 Elizabeth, from the influence she possessed over the Protestant party in Scotland, might almost be called his constituent. 1891Mod. Commercial usage; (letter of consignee), My constituent's instructions are not to sell for less than, etc.
2. spec.
a. One of those who elect another to a public office, esp. as their representative in a legislative assembly; an elector; more widely, any inhabitant of the district or place so represented.
1714G. Lockhart Mem. Affairs Scot. 220 A hot Debate, whether or not the Parliament without Particular Instructions from their Constituents, could alter the Constitution of the Government. 1747Gentl. Mag. XVII. 414 If the deputies..fail in their duty, they are only accountable to their constituents. 1858Bright Sp. Reform 27 Oct., Twenty-four Members whose constituents are upwards of 200,000 in number.
†b. The body of electors belonging to a particular place; now constituency. Obs.
1772Junius Lett. Ded. 7 Influence of the constituent over the conduct of the representative. a1797Burke Sp. Short. Parl. Wks. X. 80 If every corruptible Representative were to find an enlightened and incorruptible Constituent.
†3. One who constitutes or frames. Obs.
1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. ii. 52 A Creature..whose first composure and origination requires a higher and nobler Constituent than Chance.
4. a. A constituent element or part.
1756Burke Subl. & B. Wks. 1842 I. 55 Let it want ever so many of the other constituents, if it wants not this. 1811A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 473 The constituents of the neutral carbonate..are, in 100 parts, 49 of acid, 29.85 of alkali, and 20.20 of water. 1850Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. I. 76 What is the special and necessary constituent of royalty. 1881Burnside & Panton Th. Equat. xi. 232 The individual letters a, b, c..a2..etc. of which a determinant is composed are called constituents, and by some writers elements.
†b. A constituent member. Obs.
1755T. Amory Mem. (1769) II. 163 Mrs. Harcourt and the eleven constituents she chose on the first founding her society.
5. Linguistics. (See quots.)
1933Bloomfield Language x. 160 The common part of any (two or more) complex forms is a linguistic form; it is a constituent (or component) of these complex forms. 1953C. E. Bazell Linguistic Form 57 Taxemic distinctions are frequently correlated with distinctions of constituent-analysis. Ibid. 76 In sentence-analysis..the various layers which, from the standpoint of the system, are regarded as bases, are treated as constituent-layers of the base. 1956J. Whatmough Language 260 Constituent, the common part of any two or more complex forms or constructs, e.g. un/gentlemanly: gentleman/ly: gentle/man. 1962N. Chomsky Syntactic Struct. iv. 29 The form of grammar associated with the theory of linguistic structure based upon constituent analysis. 1962J. Sledd in Householder & Saporta Probl. Lexicography 146 At the end of the constituent-structure grammar [etc.]. 1964E. Bach Transformational Gram. iv. 75 In such rules the ‘embedding’ sentence is called the matrix sentence, the embedded one the constituent sentence (or string). 1964M. A. K. Halliday et al. Ling. Studies 300 The first set of rules, known as ‘constituent-structure’ rules, produces structures and some formal items. 1965N. Chomsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax ii. 67 An unordered set of rewriting rules..is called a constituent structure grammar (or phrase structure grammar). |