| 单词 | may as well |
| 释义 | > as lemmasmay as well Phrases P1. In †be as be may, that is as may be, and similar expressions: whether that is so or not, that may well be so: phrases used to indicate that a statement or act, etc., is perhaps true or right from one point of view but not from another, or that there are other factors to be taken into consideration. ΚΠ c1375 G. Chaucer Monk's Tale 3319 Be as be may, I wol hire noght accusen. c1390 G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale 1012 Be as be may, ther was he atte leste. a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 73 Be as hit be may. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 444/2 Be as be maye, vaille que vaille. 1801 W. Diamond Sea-Side Story i. i. 10 Jerry: Why, I be looking after a friend. Will you be one? Daz: That's as may be. 1863 M. E. Braddon Aurora Floyd II. xii. 303 ‘Is there aught wrong?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Poachers?’ ‘That's as may be’, answered Mr. Dork. 1875 A. Trollope Way we live Now I. xlix. 311 ‘Good news?’ she asked. ‘That's as may be,’ he said. 1910 J. Galsworthy Motley 168 ‘Yu'le tak' the ole 'arse then?’ ‘That's as mebbe—waal, gude naight.’ 1935 G. Heyer Death in Stocks iv. 41 That's as may be, and if it's true you couldn't say but what it's a judgment. 1949 F. Maclean Eastern Approaches i. viii. 133 If the authorities had received no instructions regarding my journey it could only be due to a most regrettable omission. To this he answered that this was as it might be; but without explicit instructions he could not allow me to remain on Chinese territory. 1949 H. Pakington Young W. Washbourne vi. 51 ‘But if it was used as a sitting-out place it wouldn't be secluded,’ said Mrs. Harbottle. That was as it might be, retorted Mrs. Wilkins. 1975 T. Heald Deadline ii. 23 ‘I shall have to liaise with the police.’ ‘That's as may be,’ said Lord Wharfedale. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb] > perhaps is wenc897 wen isc897 peradventurec1300 peradventurec1325 perchancec1350 uphapa1375 percasea1393 lightly1395 in casea1398 maybea1400 may chancea1400 may-falla1400 may-fortunea1400 may-tidea1400 perhapa1464 happen1487 perhapsc1520 percase1523 ablea1525 by chance1526 mayhap1533 fortunea1535 belikelya1551 haps1570 mayhappen1577 perhappen1578 possibly1600 not impossibly1667 ables1673 aunters1673 aiblins1720 p'rapsa1745 aunterens1825 mebbe1825 yes-no1898 yimkin1925 ja-nee1937 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 2759 (MED) If þou þar findes..Fifty or fourte o þi lele men—Tuenti mai falle, or tuis fiue—Ne sal þai alle haue þar for liue? a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 4977 ‘A word,’ he said, ‘es soth mai fall.’ 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) ix. 376 Thai that war vithin, ma fall, slepit all. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 54 May tyde he will oure giftis take. 1548 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Paraphr. John 7 Mafortune as then ye tyme did not suffer so inexplycable a misterie to be put in wryting to all mens knowledge. 1561 T. Hoby in tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer Ep. Translatour sig. B.i Many yong gentlemen, which haue may chaunce an opinion that to be in me, that is not in deed. 1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xvi. 72 That [dancing] onely is reserued, which beareth oftimes blame, machance being corrupted by the kinde of Musick. P3. may as well. a. Expressing the equivalence or equal result of one action in comparison with another, either stated or implied. (a) might as well with infinitive and might as well have with past participle, in which might expresses hypothetical action (see sense 21a). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > equality [phrase] > may or might as well may as wellc1300 c1300 St. James Great (Laud) l. 353 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 44 Ȝe, al for nauȝt..þou art hidere i-come..Ase wel þou miȝht gon hom-aȝein. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 11905 (MED) So longe hom spedde baddeliche þat hii miȝte as wel blinne. a1450 York Plays (1885) 264 (MED) Sir, we myght als wele talke Tille a tome tonne! 1549 Latimer's 2nd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (1869) To Rdr. 49 We myghte as well spende that tyme in reading of prophane hystories. 1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 75 I might as well haue writte of a dogges turde (in his teeth surreuerence). 1652 J. Shirley Brothers iv. v, in Six New Playes (1653) He might as well have murdered me, for I Shall have no heart to live. 1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion xviii As well you might Wish Vice were Virtue. 1710 Tatler No. 222 A Man might as well serenade in Greenland as in our Region. 1730 Let. to Sir W. Strickland relating to Coal Trade 25 Dyers..buy wholly of the Lightermen, tho' they might as well..buy of the Masters. 1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Ode upon Ode (ed. 5) 43 Thus when the Oxford Bell, baptiz'd Great Tom, Shakes all the City with his iron Tongue, The little tinklers might as well be dumb. 1800 W. Wordsworth Hart-leap Well ii. ix You might as well Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxiii. 77 You might as well set Mount Ætna on them flat, and tell them to stand up under it, as tell me to elevate my servants under all the superincumbent mass of society upon them. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard ii. 60 Poor bastard might as well have been fined today as kept on the hook. (b) may as well with infinitive, in which may has the sense ‘be able to’ or ‘be permitted to’. ΚΠ ?1545 C. Langton Introd. Phisycke f. xlv Nowe I haue descrybed all ye partes of the lowest bellye, so well as I coulde, sauyng the priuy partes both of man and woman, whyche..seyng my promyse was to tuche but certayne partes, I thinke I may as wel omyt them. 1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. To Rdr. sig. B2 The beetle-eyed Atheists may as well be depriued of their bodily eyes. 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 493 The prouerb..may as well bee applyed metaphecically to the beast Linxe, as poetically to the man Lynceus. 1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved ii. 14 He..may as well make a hedge to keep in the Cuckow. 1719 in T. Gordon Cordial Low-spirits (1750) 214 You may as well argue with a Guiney Merchant against the Selling of Slaves. 1779 J. Warner in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) IV. 263 I wish I could make him feel as he ought, but one may as well wash a brick. 1860 R. W. Emerson Fate in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 9 You may as well ask a loom which weaves huckaback, why it does not make cashmere. 1938 R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 27 You may as well try to get blood out of a stone as evidence out of a native! 1995 X Jrnl. May–June 40/2 One may as well try to pick up several fallen Humpty's. b. Expressing the idea that a course of action is as good as any other, and hence resignation to it or recommendation of it. (a) may as well with infinitive. ΚΠ 1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. ii. vii. 212 I may as well repose myself too. View more context for this quotation 1773 J. Berridge Christian World Unmasked 118 Satan may as well bar up his gates: he will not catch a single straggler. 1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams I. ix. 209 I think we may as well stop here a bit. 1868 Hurst Johnian Mag. 10 343 As I am writing for young skaters I may as well mention the ‘spread eagle’, a feat of not much value. 1879 M. E. Braddon Cloven Foot xxxviii You really may as well let me have a little food. 1992 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Feb. 129/2 We..may as well accept the theory of Oswald as the sole killer. (b) might as well with infinitive (with ‘sequence of tenses’ when in an indirect statement). ΚΠ 1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 46 As I am at Versailles, thought I, I might as well take a view of the town. 1853 E. C. Gaskell Cranford ix. 163 In a P.S. she added, she thought she might as well tell me what was the peculiar attraction to Cranford just now. 1863 Life in South II. 65 If I must enter a College it might as well be in Alabama or Mississippi. 1867 A. Trollope Claverings II. xxiii. 287 We might as well stay with them at the big house. 1936 ‘J. Curtis’ Gilt Kid 33 Nearby was a little café... I might as well go in. 1986 New Yorker 27 Jan. 47/1 I thought I might as well do some air tests. < as lemmas |
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