| 释义 |
society|səʊˈsaɪɪtɪ|
Also 6 societe(e, societye, 6–7 -tie, 7 socyetye, sosiety.
[ad. OF. societe (mod.F. société, = It. società, Sp. sociedad, Pg. sociedade), ad. L. societas, f. socius companion, etc.]
I.
1. a. Association with one's fellow men, esp. in a friendly or intimate manner; companionship or fellowship. Also rarely of animals (quot. 1774).
1531Elyot Gov. (1834) 173 Society, without which man's life is unpleasant and full of anguish. 1581W. Stafford Exam. Compl. ii. (1876) 49 To the intent men may knowe that they haue neede one of anothers helpe, and thereby loue and societie to growe among all men the more. 1621in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1906) 305 Till now wee have not had to doe with them in matter of moment, but in frendly sosiety. 1658T. Wall Charact. Enemies Ch. 59 It is separation..that makes them void of Christian society, and common Morality. 1736Butler Anal. i. v. 121 Want of everything of this kind..would render a man as uncapable of Society, as want of language would. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 153 As Nature has formed the rapacious class for war, so she seems equally to have fitted these for peace, rest, and society. 1861Mill Utilit. iii. 47 Society between equals can only exist on the understanding that the interests of all are to be regarded equally.
b. With possessive pronoun or genitive.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 166, I do dine to day at the fathers of a certaine Pupill of mine... I beseech your Societie. 1663S. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. (1687) 35 It is a thousand to one but they will find the means..to insinuate themselves into their society again. 1779Mirror No. 64, I had fancied that..the want of their society had deprived us of the ease and gaiety of discourse. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, Forced on each other's society, the two desolate women became companions, if not friends. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) II. 473 A holy anchorite, who had been for forty years cut off from the society of men.
c. Association or intercourse with or between persons, etc. Also fig.
1563Foxe A. & M. 973/2 The societie betwixt Christ & vs, is promised to them that take bread and wyne. c1610Women Saints 11 There was such friendship, societie, and familiarity betweene the Religious of that contrie and England, that [etc.]. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. ii. §5 An Island, where he may have no society with mankind. 1690Locke Govt. ii. ii. Wks. 1727 II. 162 One of those wild savage Beasts, with whom Men can have no Society nor Security. 1803M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 119 The members who are there are not willing to acknowledge they have any society with him. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. xvii, You will..best fulfil the intentions of those by whose orders you act, by holding no society with me whatever, otherwise than is necessary.
d. With a and pl. An instance of association or companionship with others. rare.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iv. 9 Other barres he layes be⁓fore me, My Riots past, my wilde Societies. 1780Mirror No. 71. Renouncing a society in which the secret admonitions of his heart frequently told him he could not continue.
e. concr. Persons with whom one has, or may have, companionship or intercourse. Also transf. of plants. † In early use also with poss. pronouns or article.
In some instances the abstract sense is also implied.
1605Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 3 Our selfe will mingle with Society, And play the humble Host. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 411 None are so readie to blame men therein as their Societie. 1696Caldwell P. (Maitland Cl.) I. 171, I lodged..att the 2 pigeons, where I had a most desyreable societie. 1719De Foe Crusoe I. 292 Having now Society enough, and our Number being sufficient to put us out of Fear of the Savages. 1759Mills tr. Duhamel's Husb. ii. ii. (1762) 260 Wheat and other plants love society. 1816Jane Austen Emma iii, Mr. Woodhouse was fond of society... He liked very much to have his friends come and see him. 1853Reade Chr. Johnstone 256 They have plenty of society, real society. 1872Ruskin Fors Clav. 14 For all society he had two friends.
2. The state or condition of living in association, company, or intercourse with others of the same species; the system or mode of life adopted by a body of individuals for the purpose of harmonious co-existence or for mutual benefit, defence, etc.:
a. In reference to man.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) A vj b, Long it was ere that manne knewe hymself,..so that all thynges waxed sauage, the yearth vntilled, societie neglected. 1599Mirrour of Policie 120 Societie is an assemblie and consent of many in one. 1642Charles I Declaration 12 Aug. 23 Against the Laws of Society and civill Conversation. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet 172 A due reverence in the first place towards God.., then towards Society wherein we live. 1744Harris Three Treat. (1841) 62 We are fitted with powers and dispositions which have only relation to society, and which, out of society, can nowhere else be exercised. 1782V. Knox Ess. xvi. (1819) I. 93 Is not this system [Christianity], whether well or ill founded, friendly to society? 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. ii. 58 The inestimable advantages of living in society are unavoidably burdened with some partial evils. a1862Buckle Misc. Wks. I. 5 In the earliest stages of society there are many arts, but no sciences.
b. In reference to certain animals, insects, etc.
1794S. Williams Hist. Vermont (1809) I. 114 The society of beavers seems to be regulated and governed, altogether by natural dispositions, and laws. 1826G. Samouelle Direct. Collect. Insects & Crust. 39 Wasps, like bees, live in society. 1834M'Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 390 Its larva lives on the same trees, and frequently in society.
3. a. The aggregate of persons living together in a more or less ordered community.
1639N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 17 Where as then was no other sinne in society then lying, a genuine playnesse..were enough. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 431 In doing one action after another, tending to a Common Good, or the good of Humane Society. 1749Lady Luxborough Let. to Shenstone 24 June, You may be busied to the benefit of society without stirring from your seat. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 5 In few cases has the peace of society been so much disturbed. 1841Nonconformist I. 281 The principles by which the aristocracy have gained..their Sindbad seat on the shoulders of society. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life vi. i. 195 Society has only one law, and that is custom.
b. With defining or limiting adj.; esp. good society (cf. next).
1779Mirror No. 13, The varied objects which present themselves in cultivated society. 1816J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 151 The wars of the period..repressed to a most deplorable degree, what is properly understood by good society. 1859Thackeray Virgin. xliii, There were masquerades and ridottos frequented by all the fine Society. 1893K. A. Sanborn Truthf. Woman S. California 40 In regard to society, I find that the ‘best society’ is much the same all over the civilized world.
c. The aggregate of leisured, cultured, or fashionable persons regarded as forming a distinct class or body in a community; esp. those persons collectively who are recognized as taking part in fashionable life, social functions, entertainments, etc. Also with a and the.
(a)1823Byron Juan xiii. xcv, Society is now one polish'd horde, Form'd of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored. 1846Mrs. Gore Engl. Char. 15 The press gossips for society, because society makes no secret of its love of gossiping. 1856Merivale Rom. Emp. xli. (1871) V. 124 Ovid is eminently the poet of society. 1893Grant Allen Scallywag I. 6 Who is Mr. Gascoyne, and who is Mr. Thistleton?.. Are they in society?
(b)1840Thackeray Barber Cox Feb., The paragraphs in the papers about Mr. Coxe Coxe..had an effect in a wonderfully short space of time, and we began to get a very pretty society about us. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xxi, Intelligence and courtesy in the one sex, and gentleness and natural grace in the other, making a society not to be ridiculed in the mass.
(c)1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxii, The performance over, the young fellows lounged about the lobbies, and we saw the society take its departure.
d. Personified.
1784Cowper Task iv. 498 Till at last Society..Shakes her encumber'd lap, and casts them out. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. vi, A huge..Apron, wherein Society works (uneasily enough). 1877‘Rita’ Vivienne i. i, Society shrugged its shoulders. 1879Daily Telegr. 15 May, He sinks, smiling, into the arms of Society, and Society..eats him up.
e. alternative society: the aggregate of (predominantly young) persons whose cultural values and habits of association purport to represent a preferable and cogent alternative to those of the established social order. Usu. with definite article.
1969It 13–25 June 21/3 Brother Simon Tugwell is planning a 3-day talk-in on the alternative society. 1971Guardian 16 Mar. 10/4 American cities seem full of young people wanting to ‘drop out’—but what do they drop into? It is called ‘The Alternative Society’ and it is already becoming a vogue term. 1971Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Dec. 1621/5 Sorel, like Nietzsche, preached the need for a new civilization of makers and doers, what is now called a counter-culture or an alternative society. 1975D. Lodge Changing Places v. 164 A middle-aged parasite on the alternative society.
II.
†4.
a. The fact or condition of taking part with others or another in some thing or action; participation. Obs.
1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1333/1 The societie of al saintes in the mistical body of Christ. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 126 For the kynges societie and conjunction..they yelde him harty thankes. Ibid. 218 Who hath perswaded the bisshop of Rome and the French king to the Societie of this war. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage iv. iii. I. 298 Pacorus being received into Societie of the Kingdome with his father. 1758Ann. Reg. 16 The Prussians,..inspired by a society of danger with their King,..totally defeated the Austrians.
†b. A sharing or use in common. Obs.—1
1699Temple Hist. Eng. 14 One Custom there was among the Britains which seems peculiar to themselves,..which was a Society of Wives among certain numbers, and by common consent.
†5. The fact or condition of being connected or related; connexion, relationship; union or alliance; affinity. Obs.
a. Const. with or between (some thing or person).
(a)1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 B iv, The sayd indication hath no maner of societe with the cause prymy⁓tyfe. 1561J. Daus Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 193 He hath the number of the name of the beast, which hath a societie wyth the beast, which societie that number bewrayeth or sheweth. 1610P. Barrough Meth. Physick iii. xxv. (1639) 143 The veine in the right arme..having society with the veine which is called Vena cava. 1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 231 The universal Spirit is Water,..the Society of the Water with the Sun produces Animals, Vegetables and Minerals.
(b)1601Holland Pliny I. 5 There is not..so great societie betweene heauen and vs, as [etc.]. 1620Venner Via Recta 110 There is so great societie betwixt it and the heart.
†b. Const. of or in (something).
1562Cooper Answ. Priv. Masse (1850) 130 You allege a perpetual society of the body and blood, which ye call Concomitantiam. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 16 If no writer had recorded, that we Englishmen are descended from Germanes,..the society of their tongues would easily confirme the same. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. i. (1650) 43 This is a fallacy of æquivocation, from a society in name inferring an Identity in nature. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. ii. iii. 90 The Consent of Vicinity makes nothing to the purpose,..nor society in the same Office. 1771Ann. Reg. ii. 25/2 By long society in party, the sentiments of these men in politics had come to be the same.
†6.
a. The state or condition of being politically confederated or allied; confederation. Obs.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 25 b, To exhorte and requyre the kynge of Englande, to entre hys company and societee in armes. 1579J. Stubbes Gaping Gulf B vij b, Absoluing our neyghbour kinges of any auncient leage or late oth of societie. 1623Bingham Hist. Xenophon 87 You haue now an opportunitie presented vnto you..by entring into societie of war with vs, to be reuenged. 1665Manley Low C. Wars 974 Many Kings, Princes, and Nations, began to respect the Society and Alliance of Holland.
†b. A political alliance, league, or compact.
1600Holland Livy xxiii. 472 A league and societie was concluded betweene Philip the King of the Macedonians and Anniball. 1606― Suetonius 8 Hee entred likewise into a Societie with them both, vpon this contract, That [etc.].
†7.
a. Partnership or combination in or with respect to business or some commercial transaction.
1569Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 681 The said Johnne enterit in societie with the said abbot. 1574Ibid. II. 513 Not keping societie in the furthering and furnissing of money..as the partinaris..sall appoint. 1592West 1st Pt. Symbol. §26 Societie is a contract by consent about a thing to be had and used in common on both sides. 1650Bounds Publ. Obed. (ed. 2) 10 Partner-ship or Society (as the Civill Law cals it).
†b. Co-operation; assistance. Obs.—1
1586W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 34 As for him which..is addicted without society, by his continuall laboure, to profit this nation.
III. 8. a. A number of persons associated together by some common interest or purpose, united by a common vow, holding the same belief or opinion, following the same trade or profession, etc.; an association.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 28 b, The societe of saynct George vulgarely called the order of the garter. 1581Allen Apol. 29 b, The Seminarie of the Romane Clergie, and other Colleges of the most famous Societie of the name of Iesus. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Pref., Wks. (1653) 12 It hath divers wayes brought advantage and good to the whole Societie of Surgeons. 1637Decree of Star Chamb. conc. Printing ⁋9 The Company or Society of Stationers. a1720Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. p. xii, Others of the same Society have not looked upon this as a pattern to imitate. 1741Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 301, I read over the names of the United Society. 1783in Beatson Pol. Index (1788) II. 292 A Society or Brotherhood, to be called Knights of the illustrious Order of St. Patrick. 1832Scott Redgauntlet let. vii. note, An old lady of the Society of Friends. 1867Ruskin Time & Tide i. §3 All bankers should be members of a great national body, answerable as a society for all deposits. 1877Mozley Univ. Serm. iv. 77 The Church is undoubtedly in its design a spiritual society, but it is also a society of this world as well.
b. A corporate body of persons having a definite place of residence.
1588–9Act 31 Eliz. c. 6 §1 Colledges, Churches Collegiat, Churches Cathedrall, Scoles, Hospitalls, Halles, and other like Societies. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §96 In the Society of the Inner Temple, his son made a notable progress. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 98 A society of Benedictine monks was lodged in Saint James's Palace. Ibid. viii. 285 The society consisted of a president, of forty fellows, of thirty scholars [etc.].
9. a. A collection of individuals composing a community or living under the same organization or government.
a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. i. x. (1584) 10 A common wealth is called a society or common doing of a multitude of free men. 1639Heywood London's Peaceable Est. Wks. 1874 V. 358 Greeneland, Muscovy, and Turkey, of which three noble societies you are at this present governour. 1690Locke Govt. ii. vii. Wks. 1727 II. 182 No Political Society can be, nor subsist without having in itself the Power to preserve the Property..of all those of that Society. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1851) I. 395/2 Every society has more to apprehend from its needy members than from the rich. 1805Wordsw. Prelude xi. 394 There is One great society alone on earth: The noble Living and the noble Dead. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 3 The Calvinism which in so many important societies displaced it [Catholicism].
b. In more limited sense: A company; a small party. Now rare or Obs.
1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 16 b, Harquebuziers..being..aduanced and retired with some societies, or Cameradas of loose shot, are of good effect. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 21 Therefore be abhorr'd, All Feasts, Societies, and Throngs of men. 1637Milton Lycidas 179 There entertain him all the Saints above, In solemn troops, and sweet Societies. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 203 We..entred into a little society among our selves, and..went all together in a Company. 1725De Foe Voy. r. World 50 This was not a Business that admitted giving them [i.e. mutineers] Time to club and Cabal together, and form other Societies or Combinations. 1777W. Dalrymple Trav. Spain & Portugal xv, The company..making little societies of conversation till towards eleven o'clock.
fig.1594Selimus (Temple Cl.) 1984 We will have hog's cheek, and a dish of tripes, and a society of puddings..: a society of puddings? did you mark that well-used metaphor?
c. Zool. A group of animals of the same species organized in a co-operative manner.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 503/2 Perhaps the most remarkable fact as regards the higher societies of insects is that though the individuals composing a community are the offspring of one mother..yet they do not resemble their parents. 1925A. D. Imms Gen. Textbk. Entomol. 522 In certain species of the order [Hymenoptera] the individuals have acquired the habit of living together in great societies, as in the case of the ants. 1964V. B. Wigglesworth Life of Insects xiv. 237 All insect societies are overgrown families. 1971E. O. Wilson Insect Societies ii. 6/2 Bird flocks, wolf packs, locust swarms, and groups of communally nesting bees are good examples of elementary societies.
10. a. A number of persons united together for the purpose of promoting some branch of study or research by means of meetings, publications, etc.
1665Phil. Trans. I. 16 Printed with Licence, By John Martyn, and James Allestry, Printers to the Royal Society. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 1 A Learn'd Society of late..Agree'd upon a Summer's Night To search the Moon by her own light. 1763Museum Rust. I. 71 A Letter..from a Member of the Society for encouraging Arts, &c. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 731 A Society of intelligent Englishmen was formed at London.., the object of which was to prosecute scientific research. 1827Scott Chron. Canongate ii, An edition, limited according to the rules of that erudite Society [sc. the Bannatyne Club]. 1844Maitland Dark Ages 386 At the time when this suggestion was made, the English Historical Society was just being formed. 1900L. Huxley Life Huxley (1903) II. i. 4 He became President of the Geological Society in 1872.
b. A number of persons meeting together, esp. for the purpose of discussion or debate, conviviality or sociability.
1673Humours Town 52 You take a wrong notion of our Societies from them; here we have always a numerous Club. 1759Johnson Idler No. 48 ⁋9 He always runs to a disputing society. 1777Cowper Lett. Wks. (1876) 36 He did not belong to our Thursday society. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlvi, He never would sit down before Sedley at the club even, nor would he have that gentleman's character abused by any member of the society. 1898Daily Telegr. 6 Jan. 9/6 The association for debating all unforbidden subjects which..was known as ‘The Society’.
c. U.S. = congregation n. 7.
1828–32Webster s.v., In Connecticut, a number of families united and incorporated for the purpose of supporting public worship, is called an ecclesiastical society. 1889M. E. Wilkins A Far-away Melody (1891) 257 More people went into the Baptist Church, whose Society was much the larger of the two. 1898Westm. Gaz. 4 Nov. 4/2 The unit of the sect [the Methodists] is ‘the Society’—composed practically of the communicants attending a particular church.
d. A commercial company or association.
1890Daily News 13 Nov. 7/1 The Investors Protection Society... The society was formed to protect investors and others by advising generally free of charge.
†11. A meeting or gathering. Obs.
1712in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Am. Col. Ch. I. 192, I can't attend the Society as I would very gladly do. 1741–3Wesley Extr. Jrnl. (1749) 18 At the society which follow'd, many cried after God.
12. Ecol. A community of plants within a mature consociation characterized by one or more subdominant species.
1899Bot. Gaz. XXVII. 111 A plant society is defined as a group of plants living together in a common habitat and subjected to similar life conditions. The term is taken to be the English equivalent of Warming's Plantesamfund, translated into the German as Pflanzenverein. 1905F. E. Clements Res. Methods in Ecol. 296 For these areas controlled by principal species, but changing from aspect to aspect, the term society is proposed. 1916― Plant Succession vii. 130 The society is a community characterized by a subdominant or sometimes by two or more subdominants... The society comes next below the consociation in rank, but it is not necessarily a division of it, for the same society may extend through or recur in two or more consociations, i.e., throughout the entire association. 1932Fuller & Conard tr. Braun-Blanquet's Plant Sociol. xiii. 306 The..‘societies’ of Clements and Weaver are based entirely upon the dominance of certain species; they are, thus, quite incapable of replacing our association in any system of classification. 1932Ecology XIII. 118 A single pair of terms, society and socies (developmental), has been quite generally applied to subordinate assemblages within associes and associations. 1952P. W. Richards Tropical Rain Forest xi. 259 Shorea curtesii..dominates small societies on steep slopes in the hill rain forests of the Malay Peninsula.
IV.
13. attrib. and Comb. a. With reference to religious bodies, as society-communion, society meeting, society men, society people, society-room, etc.
1685W. Smith in Biogr. Presbyt. (1827) II. 83 [They would] rejoice with all such as are joined in this Society-Communion. 1721Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scotl. (1831) IV. 462/2 This year [1688], I find..that the society people made a large collection of money for the relief of several of their number. 1725P. Walker in Biogr. Presbyt. (1827) I. 160 The..keeping up of Society-meetings for Prayer and Conference. 1744Wesley Wks. (1872) VIII. 38 The enlarging the society-room to near thrice its first bigness. 1828Irving Last Days 37 These texts of Scripture..will enable you to confute a whole platform of society orators. 1870Burton Hist. Scot. VII. 529 The Sanquharians took also the name of ‘Society men’, as being distributed in ‘select societies united in general correspondence’.
b. With reference to cultured or fashionable society, as society journal, society lodging, society man, society paper, etc.
1693Wood Life 15 June, Peter Wood,..put aside, as 'twas then said, because he was too precise and religious and therefore not fit to make a societie man. 1722De Foe Col. Jack i, He began to have clothes on his back, to leave the ash-hole, having gotten a society lodging. 1825C. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 106 Society Whigs and society Tories. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair li, ‘The best’ foreigners (as the phrase is in our noble and admirable society slang). 1868Sala Lamb's Wks. I. p. xlii, Hook, with whom society-seeking was a vocation and a passion. 1875Mrs. Stowe We & Our Neighbours 205 My sisters..are society girls in the best sense. 1880J. C. Harris Uncle Remus viii. 203 ‘The old man's mind is wandering,’ said the society editor. 1882J. D. McCabe N.Y. by Sunlight & Gaslight 228 An engagement..is promptly announced in one of the ‘Society journals’. c1884(title) A society beauty. 1885Church Times 12 June 151 As one of the ‘Society’ papers suggested in its disgraceful cartoon. 1886Fortn. Rev. Apr. 501 If society-haunting afforded the necessary relaxation. 1888St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 29 Apr. 22/2 The brainy paragraphs thrown off by one society reporter. 1891Girl's Own Paper 21 Mar. 385/1, I..said I was tired of society life, and..liked nursing better than anything. 1893‘S. Grand’ Heavenly Twins i. xv. 109 You would not counsel a son of yours to marry a society woman of the same character as Major Colquehoun. 1895T. K. Gavon Fancy Notions by a Yankee Notion Clerk 28 Already we have cattle kings, coal barons, merchant princes and society queens. 1910E. M. Forster Howards End iii. 19 She did not..pretend that nothing had happened, as a competent society hostess would have done. 1910Chesterton G. B. Shaw 152 A pleasant society lady, Lady Cicely Waynefleet. 1911G. S. Porter Harvester xx. 508 He scanned the society columns of the papers. 1924Galsworthy White Monkey i. ix. 73 A society painter and his wife. 1947‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder ii. 32 He had been a society photographer before the war. 1949H. MacLennan Precipice i. 144 A picture I saw of her in the society page of The New York Times. 1950New Yorker 8 Apr. 76/3 Hearst's society columnist, Cholly Knickerbocker. 1950E. H. Gombrich Story of Art xxiii. 349 Vandyke had established a standard of society portraits. 1955L. Feather Encycl. of Jazz x. 347 Society band,..band that plays innocuous commercial dance music. 1956C. Cockburn In Time of Trouble xvii. 228 The secretary was away attending some society wedding. 1957D. Piper Eng. Face viii. 199 Behind almost all society portraiture before Reynolds there is a basic, and dead, symmetry. 1959G. D. Painter Marcel Proust I. vii. 85 In the name ‘Le Gandare’ Proust alludes to the society portraitist La Gandara. Ibid. xi. 181 A little bird..informed the society columnist of Le Gaulois. 1976C. Storr Unnatural Fathers iii. 36 He had had a long liaison with a society beauty. 1977Time 26 Sept. 36/1 The society columns buzzed regularly for years with accounts of their parties and travels aboard an assortment of yachts.
c. With reference to societies instituted for special purposes, as society goods, society man, society membership, society room, society secretary, etc.; society hand, house (see quots. 1888).
1765–8Erskine Inst. Law Scot. iii. iii. §27 He is..intitled, upon the division of the society-goods, to..a share. 1861Mayhew Lond. Lab. III. 221 The Cabinet-makers..consist, like all other operatives, of two distinct classes, that is to say, of society and non-society men. 1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 128 Society hands, those belonging to and working under the rules of a trade society. Ibid., Society houses, establishments conforming to the rules and paying the recognized scale price for work. 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 809 Society rooms, available upon production of a society membership ticket, or an introduction from a society secretary.
Hence soˈcietyish, soˈcietyless adjs.
1788F. Burney Diary 23 Oct., Societyless, and bookless, and viewless as I am. 1863Wilberforce Sp. Missions (1874) 4 The tendency of all that is to cultivate party feeling within the Church..and so by degrees to become one-sided, or what I may call societyish. |