| 释义 |
convention|kənˈvɛnʃən|
[a. F. convention, or ad. L. conventiōn-em meeting, assembly, covenant, n. of action f. convenīre to come together.]
I. The action of convening.
†1. The action of coming together, meeting, or assembling. Obs.
1490Caxton Eneydos xiv. 50 But Iuno..wolde speke to the goddesse Venus for to doo conuencyon of Eneas wyth the sayd Dydo. 1572Forrest Theophilus 1129 in Anglia VII, We..haue at this season cawsed this convention. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 543 Diuers Princes..haue often made their residence in this Towne..but now for want of that generall conuention, the Castle..is greatly decayed. 1641–Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 25 In this place of convention of merchants from all parts of the world. 1782V. Knox Ess. (1819) I. xlii. 239 An audience whose convention in a church is a proof that they already believe it.
2. The action of summoning an assembly.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. (1843) 53/1 In this interval, between the sealing the writs and the convention of the parliament, the lord keeper Coventry died. 1861Stanley East. Ch. v. (1869) 181 The settlement of the general controversies which gave occasion to the Council's convention. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. iii. 14 Thenceforth the Convention of Parliament, when the Crown required aids, became frequent.
†3.
a. The action of summoning before a judge or other person in authority. Obs.
a1600Hooker Eccl. Pol. vi. iv. §2 Transgressors were not from the time of their first convention capable of the holy mysteries. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. 88 The like proces sould be keiped, and observed in the breive of convention; quhereof this is the forme. 1619Brent tr. Sarpi's Hist. Counc. Trent (1676) 332 Convention before the Ordinary, in criminal and mixt causes. 1726Ayliffe Parerg. 274 They are demanded or sued for by Convention, that is to say by convening, and commencing a suit against, the Party.
b. In the University of Cambridge, the ‘convening’ of a student before the college authorities. (Not an official term.)
1811Byron Hints fr. Hor. 231 Fines, tutors, tasks, conventions threat in vain.
4. An assembly or gathering of persons for some common object; esp. a formal assembly met for deliberation or legislation on important matters, ecclesiastical, political, or social.
1552Lyndesay Monarche 4471 For Christ, in his last conuentioun, The day of his Ascentioun, Tyll his Disciplis gaif command. 1581Lambarde Eiren. ii. v. (1588) 183 All these conuentions may be without any apparent shew of Assemblie against the Peace. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. viii. 10 Not in the ear of a popular convention. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. §9 Conventions for prayer. 1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. vi. §17. 103 If that suffice not, they may call a new convention of estates. 1712Parnell Spect. No. 460 ⁋10 The Propriety of their [the Mahometans] Demeanour in the Conventions of their erroneous Worship. 1777Watson Philip II (1839) 109 The prince of Orange proposed in the council, that..she should summon a convention of the States. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) I. ii. i. 107 Councils were only occasional diets, or general conventions, not a standing representative Senate of Christendom. 1886Morley Expans. Eng. Crit. Misc. III. 293 When a colonial convention presses the diplomacy of the mother-country and prompts its foreign policy.
5. spec.
a. Eng. Hist. Applied to certain extraordinary assemblies of the Houses of Parliament, without the summons of the Sovereign; viz. that of 1660, which restored Charles II, and that of 1688, which declared the throne abdicated by James II. Hence convention parliament, a parliament constituted of such a convention.
1660Trial Regic. 52 That none of us do own that Convention, whatsoever it be, to be the Parliament of England. 1688Evelyn Diary 26 Dec., Till a Convention of Lords and Commons should meete in full body. 1689Ibid. 15 Jan., The greate Convention being assembled the day before..resolved that K. James..had by demise abdicated himself. Ibid. 19 July, The Convention (or Parliament as some call'd it) sitting. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. xi. 323 Charles now dissolved the convention parliament. 1874Green Short Hist. ix. viii. 675 In 1689, the Convention declared itself a Parliament.
b. In Scotland: convention of estates (Hist.): a meeting of the Estates of the kingdom of Scotland (before the Union), upon any special occasion or emergency, without the formal summons which was required for a regular parliament. convention of royal burghs: a yearly meeting of commissioners from the royal burghs held in Edinburgh.
1572Sempill Ballates (1872) 149 Becaus I hard of ane Conuention Now to be maid for this dissentioun That is into this land. 1689Claverhouse in M. Morris Life ix. (1888) 163 While I attended the Convention at Edinburgh. 1689Balcarres in M. Morris Claverhouse ix. (1888) 158 To leave Edinburgh and to call a Convention of Estates at Stirling. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. I. iii. 195 Another convention of estates was held in May. 1802Scott Song, ‘Bonnie Dundee’ i, To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claver'se who spoke. 1873M. MacArthur Hist. Scot. vii. 154 A deputation..was sent to him [Will. of Orange], to pray him to call a Convention of the Estates. Ibid., The Convention then turned itself into a Parliament. 1876J. Grant Burgh Sch. Scot. ii. xiii. 363 The collective wisdom and learning of Scotland, including Parliament, privy council, convention of royal burghs, and the ministry of Edinburgh.
c. U.S. An assembly of delegates or representatives for some special or occasional purpose.
(a) In a general sense (see 4): applied to several assemblies of historic note, as the Convention of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts organized early in the 18th c.; the Albany Convention of 1754, the first movement of the colonies towards concerted action; the American Convention of Abolitionists, founded in 1793; the Hartford Convention of 1814, with a view to the possible division of the Union, etc.; joint convention: the meeting in one body of both branches of Congress or of a State legislature. (b) In Law, A body constituted by statute to represent the people in their primary relations, and in some sense outside of the constitution, as e.g. for the framing or amending of the constitution itself (Constitutional Convention). In this sense, applied to the body of delegates from the several states which framed the federal constitution in 1787; also, to a body meeting under authority of Congress to frame a constitution for a new state, or convened by a state legislature, in the manner prescribed by law, to revise the constitution of the state. (c) In party politics, a meeting of delegates of a political party (National Convention of the Republican or the Democratic Party) to nominate candidates for the presidency of the U.S., or for state or local offices. (d) The title of the triennial assembly (General Convention) of the American Episcopal Church (corresponding in some respects to Convocation in England), and of the annual diocesan assemblies (Diocesan Conventions) of the same.
(a)a1720in Mem. Hist. Boston II. 223 The ‘Convention of Congregational Ministers’ was organized. In 1720 they ‘Voted’, etc. 1754Franklin Wks. (1887) II. 355 Plan of Union Adopted by the Convention at Albany. 1793Mem. Pennsylv. Soc. for Abol. Slavery 41 That the Society..will appoint Delegates to the proposed Convention, provided a majority of the Abolition Societies in the United States do agree. 1814Niles' Register 12 Nov. 155 Against the resolution proposing a convention of delegates from the New-England States [at Hartford] and the resolutions connected therewith. 1865N.Y. Nation 14 Sept. 330 If the Englishman can initiate no public enterprise without a public dinner, the American is equally helpless until he has called a convention. 1891Boston Jrnl. 13 Nov. 9/1 The great national convention of the Women's Christian Temperance Union opened in Tremont Temple this morning.
(b)1783Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 256 Have a convention of the states to form a better constitution. 1787Washington To Madison Wks. (ed. Ford) XI. 131 Congress have recommended to the States to appear in the convention proposed to be holden in Philadelphia next May. 1787J. Barlow Oration 4 July 11 Much is expected from the Foederal Convention now sitting at Philadelphia. 1789Constit. U.S. vii, Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present. 1825T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 18 Within a few days, the convention of New York approved of it. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. I. App. 539 It is always by a convention (i.e. a representative body called together for some occasional or temporary purpose) that a constitution is framed.
(c)1817Niles' Register 5 Apr. 96 At a convention of the republican members of the legislature of New York..at Albany on the 25th ult{ddd}held for the purpose of nominating a suitable person to be supported for the office of governor of the state. 1831Ibid. 1 Oct. 74 The anti-masonic convention, to nominate a president and vice-president of the United States, met in this city [Baltimore] on Monday last. 1891Boston Jrnl. 25 Nov. 3/1 A National Republican Convention of delegated representatives of the Republican party will be held at the city of Minneapolis on..the 7th June, 1892, at 12 o'clock noon, for the purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vice President.
(d)1785Constit. of Oct. in Perry Hist. Amer. Episc. Ch. II. 99 There shall be a general Convention of the Protestant Ep1 Church in y⊇ Ud States of America; which shall be held..once in three years. 1890M. Townsend ‘U.S.’ 446 The first Episcopal Convention held in the United States was convened at Philadelphia in 1789.
d. National Convention: (a) the sovereign assembly which governed France from Sept. 21, 1792, to Oct. 26, 1795; (b) the name of an assembly of the English Chartists in 1833.
1792Gent. Mag. Aug. 759 The French Nation is invited to form a National Convention. 1793F. Burney Lett. 22 Feb., The aristocrats..hold the Constitutionalists in greater horror than the Convention itself. 1848W. E. Forster Diary 16 Apr. in T. W. Reid Life (1888) I. vii. 224 The delegates of the National Convention talked pikes and armed processions and all manner of horrors. 1880S. Walpole Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 221 [In 1833] a meeting was summoned in Coldbath Fields to pave the way for the formation of a National Convention.
†6. fig. Of things: Assemblage, gathering, union. Obs.
1592R. D. tr. Hypnerotomachia 63 Euerie partition and elegant conuention of exquisite Lineaments. 1613W. Browne Brit. Past. i. i, Within, all vertues have convention. 1651Howell Venice 32 Venice is no other than a Convention of little Ilands peeping up above the Waters. 1685Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. 65 They..believ'd all things to have been made by the Atoms, considered as their Conventions and Concretions into the Sun, Stars, Earth, and other Bodies. 1698Crowne Caligula iii. 19 'Tis a convention in his sacred frame Of divine atoms.
II. Agreement, conventional usage.
7. a. An agreement or covenant between parties.
c1440Gesta Rom. xl. 161 (Harl. MS.) For the trespas that I haue made ayenst youre conuencion. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 166 b, Theyr eares also hath made a conuencyon or conande with reason. 1667Pepys Diary 6 Mar., My wife is come to convention with me, that, whatever I do give to anybody else, I shall give her as much. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 47 Though society had not it's formal beginning from any convention of individuals. 1876Digby Real Prop. i. ii. §3. 50 There were frequently, especially upon ecclesiastical lands, farmers holding land under conventions or covenants.
b. An agreement creating legal relations.
1513–4Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. i. Preamb., Notaries..to..recorde the Knowlege of all contractes bargeyns convencions factes and agrementes..made within the seid Citie. 1612–15Bp. Hall Contempl. O.T. viii. v, Fraudulent conventions oblige not. 1832Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. 1016 In the language of the English Law ‘convention’ or ‘covenant’ is restricted to..contracts of a subordinate species: namely to a species of that species of contracts which are evidenced by writing under seal. 1875Poste Gaius iii. Comm. (ed. 2) 360 A Contract is a convention or agreement..enforceable by appeal to a court of judicature.
c. = conventionary tenure.
1828Ld. Tenterden in Concanen Rep. 322 (Rowe v. Brenton) The conventionary tenant is said to take his tenement in free convention for seven years from Michaelmas. 1828Barnewall & Cressw. Rep. VIII. 746 (Rowe v. Brenton) To hold their tenements by the foresaid servile services in native convention, at the will of the lord, during the term aforesaid.
8. spec.
a. In Diplomacy: An agreement between sovereigns or states: formerly = treaty; now applied to an agreement of less formality or importance than a treaty.
Such are international arrangements about postage, telegraphs, or literary rights; monetary conventions for an international coinage; the Geneva Conventions of 1864 and 1865, providing for the neutralization of ambulances and hospitals, and for the protection of civilians rendering help to the sick and wounded, etc.
a. [c1425Wyntoun Cron. vi. xvii. 71 Or gyve any Conuentyoun Wes trettyd of successyoune..Betwene hym and Edmund Irnesyde. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. 159 In the ȝere of Henry 46 was convencion mad betwix the Kyng of Frauns and him.] 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 195 In which wing were also placed the Christian soldiers sent by Lazarus out of Servia, according to the late conuention of peace. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 166 Postal conventions. 1888Act 51 & 52 Vict., An Act to carry into effect an International Convention respecting the Liquor traffic in the North Sea. 1888T. E. Holland in Encycl. Brit. s.v. Treaties, In the language of modern diplomacy the term ‘treaty’ is restricted to the more important international agreements..while agreements dealing with subordinate questions are described by the more general term ‘convention’.
b. Mil. An agreement made between the commanders of opposing armies for the evacuation of some post or country, the suspension of hostilities, or the exchange of prisoners.
b.1780T. Jefferson in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) III. 155, I believe the Convention of Saratoga entitles them to keep the horses they then had. 1812Byron Notes to Ch. Har. i. xxiv, The Convention of Cintra was signed in the palace of the Marchese Marialva. 1814Wellington 27 May in Gurw. Disp. XII. 29 The conventions for suspending hostilities agreed upon by me with Marshals Soult and Suchet.
9. a. General agreement or consent, deliberate or implicit, as constituting the origin and foundation of any custom, institution, opinion, etc., or as embodied in any accepted usage, standard of behaviour, method of artistic treatment, or the like.
1778Robertson Hist. Amer. II. vii. 289 They had invented artificial marks, or signs of convention, for this purpose. 1797J. Lawrence in Monthly Mag. XLVI. 112 Moral truth is co-essential with universal nature, independent of all authority and convention. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. lviii. 235 One family, by nature, or by convention. 1872F. Hall Exempl. False Philol. 58 As all are alike legitimate formations, it is for convention to decide which we are to prefer. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. vi. 218 The Greeks contented themselves with discussing whether language had originated by convention or by nature.
b. In a bad sense: Accepted usage become artificial and formal, and felt to be repressive of the natural in conduct or art; conventionalism.
1847Tennyson Princ. Prol. 128 There are thousands now Such women, but convention beats them down. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Dom. Life Wks. (Bohn) III. 55 He who shall bravely..subdue this Gorgon of Convention and Fashion.
10. a. A rule or practice based upon general consent, or accepted and upheld by society at large; an arbitrary rule or practice recognised as valid in any particular art or study; a conventionalism.
1790H. More Relig. Fash. World (1791) 104 Every convention of artificial manners was invented not to cure, but to conceal, deformity. a1832Bentham Deont. Wks. 1843 II. 146 He who goes one step beyond the line which the world's poor conventions have drawn around moral and political questions. 1841J. R. Young Math. Dissert. Introd. 10 The ordinary convention..as to the disposal of the plus sign. 1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh 7 My father, who through love had suddenly Thrown off the old conventions. 1879M. Arnold Mixed Ess. 284 The Germans..were bent..on throwing off literary conventions, imitations of all sorts, and on being original. 1881Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 68 When the charge is positive, that is, according to the usual convention, vitreous.
b. Cards. A method of play or bidding which does not have its natural meaning but is used solely to convey prearranged information.
1862‘Cavendish’ Whist Pref., The principles of play are..laid down as so many isolated and arbitrary conventions. 1908Daily Chron. 14 Sept. 7/3 Gray rose in disgust when she ignored the heart-convention and led him an unlovely spade. 1929Observer 24 Nov., The introduction of conventions makes Contract an artificial game rather than an intellectual one.
11. attrib. and Comb., as convention hall; convention city N. Amer., a city in which conventions are commonly held. convention-coin, -dollar, coins struck according to monetary conventions between different German states; convention parliament (see 5 a).
1887C. B. George 40 Yrs. on Rail v. 92 Chicago..is the greatest railroad center on the globe, [and] is the chief convention city in America. 1908Westm. Gaz. 29 May 12/1 The total cost of ‘transportation’ will be about 100 dols. a head, and, according to the more moderate estimate, another 50 dols. per man will be needed for expenses in the convention city.
1889Kansas Times & Star 6 June, The project of a big convention hall was again fully discussed. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 31/3 A convention hall that seats 3,000.
Hence conventioˈneer, a member of a convention, one present at a convention (see also quot. 1934). N. Amer.
1934Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang 322 Conventioneer, a person who attends many conventions. 1940Bull. Amer. Assoc. Univ. Professors Dec. 643 Professional Conventioneers. 1960I. Wallach Absence of Cello (1961) 64 A conventioneer with a large self-identifying badge. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 31/4 Crowded with tourists and conventioneers. |