| 释义 |
facilityn. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French facilité; Latin facilitāt-, facilitās. Etymology: < Middle French, French facilité quality of something which can be done without difficulty (1455), ability to do something without difficulty, aptitude (c1450–60), favourable conditions for the easier performance of something (17th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin facilitāt-, facilitās ease of performance or completion, ease, fluency, promptness, readiness, aptitude, tendency, good nature, indulgence, obligingness < facilis facile adj. and adv. + -tās (see -ty suffix1; compare -ity suffix). Compare Spanish facilidad (c1440), Portuguese facilidade (1534), Italian facilità (a1419).In β. forms with -e- in the first syllable probably partly by association with felicity n., with which this word is often collocated in these forms in the early modern period. the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [noun] > gentleness ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 72 (MED) If it be nede forto smyte [the head] wiþ a malle, be it done with esynez or facilite [L. facilitate]. the world > action or operation > easiness > [noun] 1531 T. Elyot i. xxii. sig. Liiv An induction..howe children..may be trayned..with a pleasant facilitie. 1576 A. Fleming tr. C. Hegendorphinus in 383 I cannot see what you may do wyth more facilitie and easinesse. 1597 R. Hooker v. iii. 8 The great facilitie of their language. 1649 F. Roberts (ed. 2) Introd. to Rdr. ii. 20 That difficulties deterre not from the study of Scripture, there are intermingled some facilities. 1669 J. Worlidge (1681) 195 Therefore may you with much facility hatch three or four douzen of Eggs..only by the heat of a Candle or Lamp. 1694 R. South II. 73 He..offers himself to the visits of a Friend with facility. 1705 J. Dunton iv. 239 The Polygraphy, or Writing Engin by which one may with great facility, write Two, Four, Six, or more Copies of any one thing upon so many different Sheets of Paper at once. 1791 E. Burke 99 The facility with which government has been overturned in France. 1805 J. Foster i. ii. 17 The facility or difficulty of understanding. 1881 B. F. Westcott & F. J. A. Hort II. Introd. ii. 23 The relative facilities of the several experimental deductions. 1916 C. A. Edwards xi. 125 One of the most useful properties possessed by metals is the facility with which they undergo plastic deformation when pressed, hammered, or rolled. 1961 (ed. 63) 134 These valves, for facility of opening, are often made of double-beat type, or of a combined valve and piston. 2001 W. C. Stokoe iv. 53 They insisted that clear speech..could be read on the lips with facility. 3. the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skill or adroitness 1532 in G. Hervet tr. Xenophon To Rdr. sig. A.jv His swete eloquence, and incredible facilitie. 1596 T. Lodge 57 Lilly, the famous for facility in discourse. 1602 W. Warner Epitome Hist. Eng. in (rev. ed.) 381 An ordinarie Care and skilfull Facilitie in collecting..their discents. 1691 A. Wood I. 479 He did with as much facility course (or oppose his Antagonist) in the publick Schools, as in Latine. 1736 Bp. J. Butler i. v. 81 We are capable,..of getting a new Facility in any Kind of Action. 1763 H. Walpole III. iv. 110 The stranger..performed it with such facility and expedition, that [etc.]. 1803 J. Bristed I. 76 The art and mystery of bothering, whose chief efficacy resides in a facility of talking an infinite deal of nothing with readiness and volubility. 1841 I. D'Israeli II. 390 Spenser composed with great facility. 1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato I. 14 Facility in learning is learning quickly. 1919 Mar. 320/1 Down through the centuries, the white man has shown a light fingered facility for grabbing ideas from the savage. 1963 J. Hoenig & M. W. Hamilton tr. K. T. Jaspers iv. xii. 592 The conspicuous ease and facility with which these patients confabulate in place of their real memories. 1999 Summer 24/1 Donatello was the first to make good use of the invention of scenes done in low relief, which he executed with thoughtfulness, facility and skill. society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > elegance > [noun] > fluency 1598 W. Shakespeare iv. ii. 122 The elegancie, facilitie, and golden cadence of poesie. View more context for this quotation 1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac II. 28 The Facilitie of your stile covers the force of it, but weakens it not. 1693 J. Locke §. 163. 204 To be perfect in that [sc. Latin], would very little improve the Purity and Facility of his English Style. 1700 J. Dryden Pref. sig. *B Both writ with wonderful Facility and Clearness. 1852 29 Apr. 5/6 She plays with a facility that shows no trace of study or preconsideration. 1861 Jan. iii. 64 He proceeds with an increased facility of style. 1950 I. Kolodin (Internat. ed.) 427 Some of the bravura passages are dispatched with facility, others overpedaled and blurred. 1992 July 27/2 There is a delicious facility to his paintings, a dandified assurance to his woodcuts. 4. society > authority > subjection > obedience > manageability > [noun] > tractability > easy the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > tendency > [noun] > liability 1533 T. More Apol. xxxvi, in 900/2 Of some facylytye of hys owne good nature..easi to beleue som such as haue told him lies. 1612 F. Bacon (new ed.) 14 That is but facility, or softnesse; which taketh an honest minde prisoner. 1646 H. Slingsby (1836) 181 To all which ye King yeilds, wth a facility of nature. 1702 165 Licentiating any thing that is coarse and vulgar, out of a foolish facility. 1792 H. H. Brackenridge I. i. 45 She seemed, on her part, to have taken a liking to a certain Mr. Jacko, who was there present; and to whose attention she discovered a facility of acquiescence. 1827 J. Lindgard VII. ii. 101 After a long discussion, Jane consented to give him the crown by act of parliament: but when she was left to herself, she repented of her facility. 1849 T. B. Macaulay I. 169 The facility of Charles was such as has perhaps never been found in any man of equal sense. 1875 H. E. Manning viii. 216 Those who have in time past been guilty of any sin..have a facility to fall again. 1907 22 816 Its members..accepted their subordinate part with a facility and indifference. 1999 P. C. Almond vi. 189 That there was in women a greater facility to fall, explained Alexander Roberts in A Treatise of Witchcraft, led to their being one hundred times more likely than men to be witches. a1578 R. Lindsay (1778) 279 In regard of the Facility of the Earl of Arran. 1681 J. Dalrymple i. i. 14 The constitution of Curators be not of the Law of Nature, which leaveth all persons of Discretion free, but of Positive Law, whereby a way is provided for the Levity and Facility of Minors. a1713 J. Stewart (1715) 207 A Minor may not alter the Succession of his Lands. And if he should make any such Alteration; It would be judged, if not a Lesion, yet an Effect of his Facility. 1760 G. Wallace I. vi. 343 One, who has entered into a contract with a pupil, may well be presumed to have done it, on purpose to take advantage of his facility. 1839 G. Bell 785 The party himself, expressing in a bond or other writing his consciousness of facility, and binding himself to certain persons, that he shall not, without their consent, grant any deed. 1861 G. Ross (rev. ed.) (at cited word) As a ground of reduction, facility is quite distinct from incapacity. 1946 A. D. Gibb 34 When one person by a dishonest course of conduct plays upon a facile person in order to secure an advantage there is facility and circumvention. 1953 39 166 The next of kin in Scotland raised an action for reduction of the Will on the ground of facility and circumvention. 2007 18 The deceased had made his trust disposition..after his health had deteriorated and the pursuer claimed that the deed should be reduced on the grounds of facility and circumvention, or undue influence. the world > matter > constitution of matter > softness > pliableness > [noun] 1853 E. K. Kane xliii. 401 The swell of the ice..transmitting with pliant facility the advancing wave. the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > social intercourse or companionship > [noun] > quality of being agreeable or affable 1542 T. Elyot at Commoditas hominis The facility or curtesy of one, the whiche agreeth to any request. 1550 J. Veron Ep. Ded. sig. B.iv Beseching..yt ye of your wont goodnes & facilitie vouchsafe to accept this my rude labour. 1620 Sir R. Naunton in S. R. Gardiner (1871) 126 Your Majesties douceur and facilitie. 1677 A. Marvell Let. to Mayor of Hull 1 Mar. in (1875) I. 515 This slid over out of their facility to an old servant. 1791 J. Boswell anno 1776 II. 39 I wondered at this want of..facility of manners. 1793 J. Smeaton (ed. 2) §112 (note) Our men were much struck..with the facility of the Portland ladies. 1832 H. Murray et al. III. viii. 214 His facility and kindness of temper appear combined with so much of weakness and vacillation as nearly to have unfitted him for conducting the concerns of so great an empire. 1877 Lady Wallace Translator's Pref. in tr. L. Nohl I. p. x It is well known that the 'Idomeneo' was Beethoven's favourite, and a few words explaining the reason of this preference will at the same time shew the leap that Mozart took in this style of composition and the facility and kind feeling of the man. 1903 H. James xvii. 222 Something happy and easy..in the way he said this, brought home again to his companion the facility of his attitude and the enviability of his state. 6. the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means > resources 1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria f. 205v It is a maruelous facilitie to bryng spices by this way which I wil now declare. ?1616 B. Reginald (MS S.S.C. 1615, Senate House Libr., London Univ.) The invention of Radiography, which is a speedy and short writing, with great facility to be practized in any languag. 1656 Duchess of Newcastle True Relation in 390 To impoverish my friends, or go beyond the limits or facilitie of our Estate. 1711 W. Sutherland 37 That the Angles of the Purchase may be as obtuse as possible for the Facility of gaining the same with smaller Force. 1730 A. Gordon tr. F. S. Maffei 347 The Facility of covering the Spectators with an Awning..was..not one of the least wonderful Things about the Building. 1776 A. Smith iv. vii The ordinary tone of expense seems everywhere to be regulated, not so much according to the real ability of spending, as to the supposed facility of getting money to spend. 1851 III. 668 Greater facility for repairing or glazing than those [lamps] of the ordinary sort. 1859 J. S. Mill v. 182 The limitation in number..of beer..houses..exposes all to an inconvenience because there are some by whom the facility would be abused. 1879 (new ed.) I. 147 The utmost facility is allowed to the upper millstone of adjusting itself. 1962 5 July 15/6 A tape recorder offers the additional facility of actual recording, either personally or..from the radio. 2000 C. Donaldson iv. 46/2 Just about every form of transport known to man has the facility to take passengers. the world > action or operation > easiness > [noun] > making easy > conditions for easier action the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means 1652 C. Cotterell tr. G. de Costes de La Calprenède i. vi. 166 The absence of those two persons, afforded my Prince great facilities [Fr. grandes facilitez] in entertaining the Queen. 1692 W. Temple (ed. 2) iii. 501 Monsieur Beverning, now favoured with a fair Gale from home,..and seconded with the great facilities that were given by France, made such a quick dispatch of what remained in contest upon the Treaty between France and Spain. 1789 N. Cutting Let. 9 Oct. in T. Jefferson (1958) XV. 496 They had received an order..to give all possible facility to Mr. J. with respect to the Landing and reshipping his Baggage. 1799 W. Godwin IV. ii. 53 I had every facility for adding to my store from time to time as circumstances should demand. 1809 Duke of Wellington (1837) IV. 357 He wishes to be permitted and to have the facilities given to him to return to France as soon as possible. 1825 J. R. McCulloch i. 35 The facilities given to the exportation of goods manufactured at home. 1865 T. H. Huxley (1870) ii. 28 Throw every facility in their way. 1876 Patterson in C. M. Davies (rev. ed.) 250 The facilities for ordinary traffic are apt to break down. 1971 9 Oct. 12/1 We were given every facility to see things for ourselves both by the Northern Ireland Government and by the prison authorities. 1994 (Nexis) 18 July [Saudi officials] welcomed the foreign investments in the country and reiterated that all possible facilities would be extended to them. 1848 24 Oct. 1/5 (headline) Miserable condition of the postal facilities between the United States and Mexico. 1872 R. G. McClellan xxv. 373 There was but little need of postal facilities. 1885 9 Oct. 303/1 Since 1842 the Bulgarians, having acquired a national church and some educational facilities, have thrown off the cloak of listless barbarism. 1903 13 Mar. 8/2 (advt.) We believe you will all agree that no community in Ohio..enjoys such retail facilities. 1937 Nov. p. ci/1 Lunch and tea facilities. 1954 L. I. Hewes & C. H. Oglesby viii. 207 An interchange..provides easy routes for vehicles transferring from one through facility to the other. 1962 (B.S.I.) 99 Hold facility,..a means of interrupting the computing action and keeping all variables at the value they had. 1967 Aug. 74/2 No one could have predicted..that the completed facility would have the bad luck to run head on into..a metals depression. 1971 25 Feb. 708/1 The following decree adds Junior Members to the Committee for Sports Facilities. 1989 Oct. 504/2 American Express offers an unsecured overdraft facility of up to £5,000 at an annual interest rate of 24.4 per cent. 1996 J. Morrish et al. in P. Trynka 118/1 These [recording studios] were large, purpose-built facilities, with the best and most expensive equipment available. 2006 Sept.–Oct. 9 Lytham..is a coast very much suited to small children, reflected in its shore-side facilities. the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > privy or latrine > [noun] > water-closet or lavatory > public 1939 7 Oct. 11/7 [She was] told to unlock her bathroom door so the man next door could use the facilities! 1953 1 Feb. 6/1 Restrooms are marked ‘Gentlemen’, ‘Men’, ‘Ladies’, and ‘Women’... Colored passengers are expected to use the facilities marked ‘Men’ and ‘Women’. 1958 3 July 10/1 This ‘facility’, or ‘rest room’, as it is also variously called [in the United States]. 1975 27 Sept. 24 My four-year-old son had to use the restroom badly... They informed me I wasn't allowed to use their facilities. 1989 J. Tyman i. 88 Mucky had given them a bum steer while I was in a gas station using the facilities. 2004 L. Barnes (2005) xxix. 221 I decided to..use the bathroom, grab a Pepsi... I'd already visited the facilities when all hell broke loose. the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > sloth or laziness > [noun] the mind > emotion > indifference > [noun] 1615 T. Adams (ed. 4) 68 They imagine that facilitie, a soft & gentle life is hence waranted. 1754 D. Hume I. vi. 317 When he considered all these increasing indolences in the commons, he was apt to ascribe them, in a great measure, to his own indolence and facility. 1791 J. Boswell I. Advt. p. x Those who read them with careless facility. 1818 1 290 There is a pretty equal portion of those who follow it [sc. music as a profession] from mere necessity or from some casual facility or incitement and of those who take to it by descent as it were. 1852 J. G. Miall vii. 260 Charles II. died in the arms of his mistress..leaving a name characterized by no good quality, but easy address and careless facility. 1969 89 211/2 This, and certain other liberties which the author takes with Dumézil's doctrine are of note. These are taken, often with a facility bordering on sheer carelessness. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  n.?a1425 |
