| 释义 |
absolutely, adv.|ˈæbsəljuːtlɪ|
[f. prec. + -ly2.]
In an absolute position, manner, or degree.
I. Separately, independently.
1. In a manner detached from other things; without the existence or presence of anything else; separately, independently.
1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 1557, 450/2 Yf he speke of hym absolutly, without mencion of any speache before hadde wyth hym. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 67 Of all things then that be in the world, some have their essence and being of themselves absolutely and simply. 1618Bp. Hall Serm. v. 121 Nothing is, nothing lives absolutely, but he; all other things, by participation from him. 1736Butler Anal. (1807) Introd. 3 It cannot but be discerned absolutely as it is in itself. 1877E. Conder Bas. Faith iv. 146 We may say that God exists absolutely, or is the Absolute Being, if we are careful to explain that we oppose ‘absolute’ to ‘dependent.’ God alone has being in Himself. But ‘absolute existence,’ if we do not explain what kind of existence we are speaking of, is a phrase absolutely without meaning.
†2. Essentially. Obs.
1661Bramhall Just Vind. ii. 9 If one part of the Universall Church do separate itself from another part, not absolutely, or in Essentials, but respectively.
3. With unrestricted or unlimited ownership or authority; despotically.
1612Drayton Poly-olbion v. 75 Now Sabrine, as a Queene, miraculouslie faire Is absolutelie plac't in her Emperiall Chaire. 1660Trial of the Reg. 11 It is one..thing to have an Imperial Crown and another thing to govern absolutely. 1875Maine Hist. Inst. ix. 254 The spear [was] the symbol of property held absolutely and against the world.
4. Without the addition of any qualification, logical or grammatical. Gram. Without the usual construction, as when an adjective is used without a substantive, or a transitive verb without an object expressed.
1656tr. Hobbes's Elem. Phil. (1839) 113 As magnitude is by philosophers taken absolutely for extension, so also velocity or swiftness may be put absolutely for motion according to length. 1668Culpeper & Cole Bartholinus' Anat. ii. Introd. 85 The middle Venter or Belly termed Thorax the Chest, and by some absolutely Venter. 1766Boswell Johnson (1816) II. 21 You seem to use genus absolutely, for what we call family. Mod. In ‘the public are informed,’ ‘the young are invited,’ public and young are adjectives used absolutely.
5. Viewed by itself, without reference to, or comparison with, others. Opposed to comparatively or relatively.
1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. v. 117 The Globe of the Earth may bee considered either Absolutely in it selfe, or Comparatively in respect of the Heauenly Bodyes. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 11 Though none be small absolutely, yet many are very small in comparison of greater. 1874Motley Barneveld I. i. 8 Somewhat larger resources absolutely, though not relatively, than the Seven Provinces.
II. Without doubt or condition.
†6. Certainly, positively. Obs.
1489Caxton Fayt of Armes iv. x. 257 Noon oughte to swere absolutly for a thinge but that by his owne eyen he be sure and certeyn that it is soo. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. (1627) xxi. 249 This helpes memory..to have the text most absolutely.
7. Without condition or limitation; unconditionally, unreservedly.
1644Quarles Judgm. & Mercy 276 Though life be not absolutely granted, yet death is but conditionally threatened. 1724A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 69 Tho' absolutely speaking, the promise of the Messias might be fulfilled without it, yet hypothetically it could not. 1876Grote Eth. Frag. 162 Absolutely—not under limitation.
8. Actually, positively, as a simple fact. (Qualifying the truth of the statement rather than the fact stated.)
1851Helps Friends in C. I. 3 He was absolutely endeavouring to invent some new method for proving something that had been proved before in a hundred ways. 1853Kane Grinnell Exped. (1856) xlvii. 432 Three young ladies of the half-breed, absolutely with frocks on. 1863Kemble Resid. Georgia 59 She absolutely embraced him.
III. Of manner and degree: Completely, perfectly.
9. In a way that clears off everything; conclusively, finally, completely, unreservedly.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 164 To heare, and absolutely to determine. 1603― Meas. for M. iv. ii. 225 This shall absolutely resolue you. 1656Bramhall Replic. v. 194 They refused absolutely to submit. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1159 Why didst not thou, the head, Command me absolutely not to go. 1758S. Hayward Serm. v. 141 Many absolutely deny Deity to the Son. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 448 Absolutely to strip them of their dominions.
†10. Perfectly; in the most excellent manner. Obs.
1601Holland Pliny (1634) I. 222 Most elegantly and absolutely described by the Poet Virgill.
11. a. To the fullest extent, in the highest or utmost degree; entirely, wholly, altogether, quite.
1570Dee Math. Praef. That they may be very absolutely skillfull. 1602Warner Albion's Eng. Epit. 390 (1612) A Prince absolutely valorous and vertuous. 1635N. Carpenter Geog. Delin. i. ii. 37 The earth is not absolutely and geometrically round. 1676Earl of Orrery Parth. 24 Which I have now as absolutely forgotten. a1704T. Brown 1st Sat. Persius (1730) I. 52 Surely, Jack, thou'rt absolutely mad. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 117 Rendering our whole government absolutely illegitimate. 1820Scott Monast. ii. 409 The glen..was not absolutely void of beauty. 1834Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. ii. 14 My going to town to spend money is absolutely out of the question. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 55 It was absolutely necessary that he should quit London. 1860Tyndall Glaciers i. §10. 66 Escape seemed absolutely impossible. 1862Stanley Jewish Ch. (1877) I. vii. 131 He was to come absolutely alone.
b. with a n. In the strictest sense.
1649Milton Eikon. 145 To be absolutely a tyrant. 1879Davidson in Cassell's Tech. Educ. I. 163 Not professors in name only, but absolutely professional men of the highest position.
c. emphasizing no, nothing.
1726Butler Serm. Rolls Chap. ii. 43 There is absolutely no bound at all to prophaneness. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 195 A man who had absolutely no claim to high place except that he was a Papist. 1865Mill Liberty iii. 33/2 That people should do absolutely nothing but copy one another. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iii. 106 The King could do absolutely nothing without the consent of his Wise Men. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 40 You would see absolutely nothing in the space above the boiling water.
d. Also ellipt.; colloq. (orig. U.S.), used as an emphatic affirmative: yes, quite so. (Stressed absoˈlutely.)
1892‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant xxiv. 154 ‘Do you mean to say that if he was all right and proper otherwise you'd be indifferent about the earl part of the business?’ ‘Absolutely.’ 1917A. Waugh Loom of Youth iii. i. 154 ‘But, sir, was it true to Harrow life?’ ‘Absolutely; and it's as true to the life of any other Public School.’ 1922Joyce Ulysses 720 Was the narration otherwise unaltered by modifications? Absolutely. 1937R. Stout Red Box ix. 136 ‘I trust that we are still brothers-in-arms?—’ ‘Absolutely. Pals.’
¶ For additional emphasis, bally and similar words are sometimes inserted medially in slang use, as abso-bally-lutely.
1914W. L. George Making of an Englishman iii. v. 299 Oh, don'tcher care, it's all over, absoballylutely. 1924C. Hamilton Prisoners of Hope ii. 56 All I ask is that you'll..let me go on to hit the sheets. I'm absoballylootly all in. 1929Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 367 ‘Did it cure him?’ I asked..‘Ab-so-bally-lutely,’ said Keede. 1935E. Weekley Something about Words i. 24 This natural tendency to add body and content to words is possibly prehistoric... A crude example of this persisting instinct is offered by the contemporary abso-bloody-lutely. |