单词 | ambition |
释义 | ambitionn. I. Senses relating to a desire for achievement, advancement, or success. 1. Strong desire for achievement, advancement, or honour; (particularly in early use) excessive or immoderate desire of this type. Also in later use: determination to succeed, excel, or prosper; drive. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > aspiration, ambition > [noun] ambition1340 folebayrie1340 high flyinga1586 aspiration1609 ambitude1661 aspiringness1859 the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [noun] > for rank or influence ambition1340 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 22 Fole wylninge, þet me clepeþ ine clergie ambicion, þet is kuead wilninge heȝe to cliue. c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 323 Vicis..as pride, ambicioun, vein glorie. 1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 40v Ambition is any puft vp greedy humour of honour or preferment. a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. i. 22 Lowlynesse is young Ambitions Ladder, Whereto the Climber vpward turnes his Face. View more context for this quotation 1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 143. ⁋4 Ambition, Envy, vagrant Desire, or impertinent Mirth will take up our Minds. 1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xlix. 183 That kind of fame to which you have hitherto..directed your ambition. 1866 W. R. Alger Solitudes Nature & Man iii. 120 Aspiration is a pure upward desire for excellence..; ambition is an inflamed desire to surpass others. 1929 M. Moore Let. 27 Mar. in Sel. Lett. (1997) 247 [He was] quivering with eagerness and ambition at each development. 1969 Times 11 Mar. 7/2 Its restless devotion to revenge, deceit and the pursuit of naked ambition. 2014 P. O'Keeffe Visitors ix. 121 The family complained that I should be more accomplished, that I lacked ambition. 2. a. Followed by of (also for, formerly †after). A strong desire for something advantageous, highly valued, or indicative of success or achievement. In plural in later use.In quot. ?a1439: a claim to have something; a pretension. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [noun] folebayrie1340 ambition?a1439 ambitiousnessa1500 affectation1549 aspire1562 aspiring1584 philotimy1593 ambitiositya1600 aspirement1607 aspiration1609 votea1626 anhelation1628 breathinga1635 drivenness1902 a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iv. l. 1307 Such fals ambiciouns Of goodli honour [emended in ed. to godly honours], which men dede on hym [sc. Alexander] feyne. 1439 in H. Nicolas Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1835) V. 358 Nogth ambicion of worldly worshipp..but the service that hy sholde entende. ?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 75 The Pictes..were more envegeled with the desier of fraye then inflamed with the ambition of imperie. 1737 A. Pope Corr. (1956) I. Pref. p. xxxvii A juvenile ambition of Wit, or affectation of Gayety. 1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 20 The pitiful Ambition of possessing five or six thousand more Acres. 1883 J. Payn Canon's Ward viii ‘A mugger’—a comprehensive term understood to include all persons with an ambition for University distinction. 1912 J. S. Phillimore tr. Philostratus In Honour of Apollonius of Tyana I. vii. 224 How then can any one think it probable that Nerva has ambitions after Empire, when it is as much as he could hope to be master of his own house? 1926 Motor Boating Nov. 112/2 A. R. Gross..has for the past three years worked hard that his ambitions of a national regatta might be realized. 1981 D. Hobson in A. McRobbie & T. McCabe Feminism for Girls vi. 105 Their experience of comprehensive education had not made them have ambitions for jobs which could be termed as middle class. 2003 T. Ligotti in Weird Tales Sept. 23 I had ambitions of owning a residence in The Hill district. b. With infinitive. A strong desire to achieve something specified, especially something that is highly valued or respected, or indicative of success or achievement. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] i-willc888 wilningc888 willingeOE lustc950 listc1220 desire1303 affection1340 desiring1377 appetite1382 envya1400 wishc1430 desideryc1450 stomach1513 affect1531 wilnec1540 desirefulness1548 woulding1549 desirousness1571 ambition1579 lusting1580 listing1587 maw1601 appetition1603 appetence1610 bosoma1616 orexis1619 desirableness1649 appetency1656 would1753 wanting1801 want-to1903 1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xiv. 778 He was possessed with a vehement desire to recouer Parma and Plaisanca, and no lesse ambicion to reduce to him the state of Ferrara. 1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 133 It is the lesse harmefull, the Ambition to preuaile in great things, then that other to appeare in euery thing. 1745 S. Cibber Let. 9 Nov. in Private Corr. David Garrick (1831) I. 39 I have no ambition to head the Drury-lane militia. 1834 New Monthly Mag. 41 59 In their ambition to be mob-leaders, they were, in fact, mob-led. 1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xxi. 378 Everard had such a schoolboyish ambition to ride about on a horse. 1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day i. 79 They engaged in whispered conversations about her ambition to be a nurse. 2006 Decanter June (Argentina 2006 Suppl.) 1/2 An ambition to deliver quality wines at the premium end of the market. 3. The object of a person's strong desire; something wished for or desired. Also in later use: something aspired to or sought after; a goal, aim. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > [noun] > object of aspiration ambitionc1475 markc1550 prize1569 Americaa1631 will to win1917 c1475 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1974) 153 Myn auncient enmyes make me werre outward by fyre and glayue, and ye make me werre inwarde by your couetyse and ill ambicions. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iii. 55 My Crowne, mine owne ambition, and my Queene. View more context for this quotation 1798 J. Ferriar Illustr. Sterne i. 21 To jest was the ambition of the best company. 1832 C. Darwin Let. 6 Apr. in Corr. (1985) I. 220 I shall thus see, what has been so long my ambition, virgin forest uncut by man & tenanted by wild beasts. 1921 Railway Maintenance of Way Employees Jrnl. May 18/2 Money hungry parasites whose only ambition is power and prestige. 1974 S. Terkel Working vii. 365 My ambition is to win the Kentucky Derby. 2005 E. Barr Plan B (2006) xxxvi. 374 Her ambition was to work in America. 4. With preceding word: desire to succeed or achieve a goal within a specified field or context. Chiefly in plural and with modifier. ΚΠ 1843 Illustr. London News 9 Sept. 161/1 They [sc. monarchs] may..indulge the graces of friendship without a thought of their being tainted with political ambitions. 1891 O. Wilde Picture of Dorian Gray iii. 63 I myself used to have literary ambitions, but I gave them up long ago. 1974 Financial Times 17 Sept. 18/8 Ferranti must either contract and drastically scale down its technological ambitions, or become part of a larger group. 1991 Economist 21 Dec. 70/1 The South is now aiming for a three-part defanging of its neighbour's nuclear ambition. 2013 New Yorker 10 June 92/2 He..promoted himself as ‘Christopher Chichester’, a minor British aristocrat with movie-industry ambitions. 5. Ostentation, pomp; (also) an instance of this; an ostentatious display. Obsolete.In quot. a1450: arrogance. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [noun] boast1297 strut1303 bombancec1325 bobantc1330 bobancec1380 ambitionc1384 oliprancec1390 pretence?a1439 ostentationa1475 pransawtea1500 bravity1546 finesse1549 bravery1573 overlashing1579 brave1596 peacockry1596 garishness1598 maggot ostentation1598 ostent1609 flaunta1625 spectability1637 vantation1637 fastuousness1649 fastuosity1656 finery1656 parade1656 phantastry1656 ostentatiousness1658 éclat1704 pretension1706 braw1724 swell1724 showiness1730 ostensibility1775 fanfaronade1784 display1816 showing off1822 glimmer1827 tigerism1836 peacockery1844 show-off1846 flare1847 peacockism1854 swank1854 tigerishness1869 flashness1888 flamboyance1891 peacockishness1892 flamboyancy1896 swankiness1920 plushness1949 glitziness1982 fantasia- fantastication- c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds xxv. 23 Agrippa and Bernyce camen with moche ambicioun [L. ambitione], or pryde of staat. a1450 (c1435) J. Lydgate Life SS. Edmund & Fremund (Harl.) l. 1265 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 435 (MED) To pleye with seyntys kometh off ambicioun. a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1958) IX. 293 Costly and expensive ambitions at Court. 6. The action of seeking to obtain an office or position through underhand means; esp. the use of bribery to gain electoral support. Cf. ambitus n. 1. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1450 (a1400) R. Lavynham Treat. Seven Deadly Sins (Harl. 211) (1956) 7 (MED) Ambicyon is..plesyng lordis lowlich to be a vancyd þe heyer, flateryng & plesyng hem þt mowe maken hym gret. 1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour iii. xvi. sig. di Certayne lawes were made by the Romaynes..named the lawes of Ambition. 1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 247 I on th' other side Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds. View more context for this quotation 1677 tr. A.-N. Amelot de La Houssaie Hist. Govt. Venice 13 This bartering and ambition of Office was forbidden. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021). ambitionv. 1. a. transitive. To strongly desire; to be ambitious of. Also with clause as object.In quot. 1601 intransitive: to aspire, aim. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > strong or eager desire > desire strongly or eagerly [verb (transitive)] to gape uponc1340 galp1546 gape1552 to gape ata1586 to die for1591 ambition1601 raven1607 ambigate1633 ambitionate?c1642 ambiate1659 sparkle1665 to be for1673 efflagitate1676 greed1848 to be spoiling for1865 1601 A. Copley Answere to Let. Iesuited Gentleman 17 The Iesuits are a societie so inferiour to all other religious Orders, and yet ambitioning aboue them all. 1602 A. Copley Another Let. to Dis-iesuited Kinseman 8 His doctrine of..libelling against innocents, ambitioning rule in the Church of God. 1664 Marquis of Worcester in H. Dircks Life 2nd Marquis Worcester (1865) xvii. 270 Whatever I have or do ambition. 1723 E. Jesup Life J. Picus 14 in Lives Picus & Pascal He never ambition'd the Grandure of a great Prince. 1823 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 2nd Ser. I. 268 Every noble youth..ambitioned the notice of the Lady Arabella. 1920 J. I. Gálvez Internat. Confl. 50 Enough..to influence the arbitrator into giving her if not all, at least some part of the districts she ambitions. 1989 J. G. Milhaven Good Anger iii. 37 His greatest ambition in life had been to do learned criticism. He had never ambitioned anything else. 2003 C. Lowney Heroic Leadership vii. 141 Though he never ambitioned a large religious order, his charismatic appeal attracted thousands to live a poor, simple life. b. transitive. With infinitive. To strongly desire to do or be something. ΚΠ 1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa IV. ii. viii. 746 Many thousands of People who ambition'd to invest him in it. 1760 Universal Mag. 27 Suppl. 338/1 We need not say how much Dr. Mead ambitioned to tread after him to the utmost of his abilities in those steps. 1818 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 453 Who ambitioned to be his correspondent. 1903 J. P. Rushe Carmel in Ireland xvii. 291 They ambition to lead the life of Religious amid the fret and worry of temporal affairs. 1973 H. Nemerov Gnomes & Occasions in Coll. Poems (1981) 424 I ambitioned to be christlike, and forgive thee. 2011 P. R. Girard Slaves who defeated Napoleon xiii. 254 Both Derance and Dessalines ambitioned to become general in chief of all rebel forces. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > aspiration or ambition > aspire to or to do [verb (transitive)] > make ambitious ambitionize1600 ambitiona1628 a1628 F. Greville Life of Sidney (1651) Ded. sig. A4 Who..hath ambition'd me to make this offering. 1891 ‘M. Twain’ What is Man? (1917) vi. 105 These have exalted him, enthused him, ambitioned him to higher and higher flights. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < |
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