| 释义 |
▪ I. depend, v.1|dɪˈpɛnd|
[a. OF. depend-re (12th c. in Hatzf.), f. de- I. 1 + pendre to hang, after L. dēpendēre, f. de- I. 1 + pendēre (intr.) to hang. (The F. pendre in form represents L. pendĕre trans., to hang, suspend.)]
1. intr. To hang down, be suspended. (Now chiefly in literary use.)
c1510Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) A ij, An olde man..with bearde like bristles depending on his chin. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 42 As on your boughes the ysicles depend. 1695Blackmore Pr. Arth. ix. 373 Whence a deep Fring depends of Silk and Gold. 1711Pope Temp. Fame 144 And ever-living lamps depend in rows. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 90 The drapery..that depends from his shoulders. 1784Cowper Task ii. 450 With handkerchief in hand depending low. 1880Jefferies Gt. Estate 146 The branches of the damsons depended so low.
b. trans. To hang down. rare.
1793Southey Lett. (1856) I. 15 The mountain-ash..Depends its branches to the stream below.
2. intr. fig. To hang upon or from, as a result or consequence is contingently attached to its condition or cause; to be contingent on or conditioned by. Const. on, upon (formerly of, rarely from, to, in). Also absol. (elliptically) in colloquial use in that depends, i.e. on circumstances, or on some circumstance not expressed.
1413Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. xiv. (1483) 108 The werk that he werketh dependeth of fortune and not of hym. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. xiv, The vii. Scyences..Eche upon other do full well depende. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 164 b, For in the loue of God & of our neyghbour..dependeth all y⊇ lawe & prophecyes. 1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) iii. ii, If rulers be negligent, & looke not to small things whereunto greater doe depend. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 153 Hee waited onely to receive her commands, whereon depended both his stay and departure. a1645Featly in Fuller's Abel Rediv., Reinolds I. 482 Howsoever the spirituall power be more excellent and noble than the temporall, yet they both are from God, and neither dependeth of the other. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 2 From a right understanding of this, depends the Knowledge of many Places in both sacred and profane Writers. 1754Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. iv. 141 This is a Matter depending on the Evidence of History. 1763C. Johnston Reverie I. 236 Forming a resolution on his steadiness, in which depends the crisis of his fate. 1847Fitzgerald Lett. (1889) I. 181, I may then go to Naseby for three days: but this depends. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 252 Whether the bond should be enforced or not would depend on his subsequent conduct. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 46 The psychological laws on which moral phenomena depend. 1886J. R. Rees Pleas. Bk.-Worm i. 33 The value of a book be it intrinsic or adventitious..does not depend on its size.
†b. Formerly sometimes meaning little more than: To hang together with, to be connected with, to pertain or be pertinent to. Obs.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccii. [cxcviii.] 623 That..ye may write it in your Cronicle, with many other hystories that depende to the same mater. 1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 21 The..beautie depended most of Poetrie. 1601Holland Pliny II. 293 And therefore this my present discourse..howsoeuer it is in nature different, yet it dependeth of the other.
†c. To follow or flow from, result from. Obs.
1655Culpepper Riverius x. vi. 295 A Dysentery..with pain and torment depending upon the ulceration of the Intestines.
3. With on, upon († of, etc.: see 2): To be connected with in a relation of subordination; to belong to as something subordinate; to be a dependant of.
c1500Melusine 333 Partenay, Merment, Vouant & al theire appurtenaunces..with the Castel Eglon with al that therof dependeth. 1578Banister Hist. Man i. 19 Those [Vertebres] that are appertinent, or depend upon Os Sacrum. 1639R. Gentilis Servita's Inquis. (1676) 840 The Office of the Inquisition within these Dominions, doth not depend from the Court of Rome. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 419 Hereupon a story depends. 1710Whitworth Acc. of Russia (1758) 48 They have no more freehold left, and their peasants or subjects, now immediately depend upon the Czar's officers. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 11 An estate tail, and all the remainders over, and the reversion depending on it.
†b. absol. To be dependent; to have or take a position of dependence. Obs. rare.
1673Ess. Educ. Gentlewom. 26 Maids that cannot subsist without depending, as Servants, may chuse their places.
4. To rest entirely on, upon († of) for maintenance, support, supply, or what is needed; to have to rely upon; to be a burden upon, to be sustained by; to be dependent on.
1548Hall Chron. 151 b, The whole waight and burden of the realme, rested and depended upon him. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 151 The house not being any whit fortified, but depending altogether on the fortune of the walls below. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 131 The effect of depending upon forraign Countries for Hemps. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 202 A father and mother..who depended on me for their support. 1832H. Martineau Life in Wilds viii. 103 Well directed labour is all we have had to depend on. 1865Trollope Belton Est. xxii. 257 Clara must..depend entirely on the generosity of some one till she was married.
5. To rely in mind, count, or reckon confidently on, upon († of, etc.). (Now chiefly in colloq. phr. depend upon it, used parenthetically.)
1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxi. 107 And on the prince depend with heuinely feir. 1563Homilies ii. Faith ii. (1859) 40 Depending (or hanging) only of the help and trust that they had in God. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 275 The superstitious, who depended upon some supernaturall helps. 1693Mem. Ct. Teckely iv. 60 If so be they had been defeated, one might have depended upon seeing the Affairs of the Ottaman Empire restored. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 53 Faith Miss, depend upon it, I'll give you as good as you bring. 1745Eliza Heywood Fem. Spect. (1748) 319 It may be depended on that..we shall advertise. 1748F. Smith Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass. I. 30 If they can eat Seal, there is such a Plenty of them..that they may depend upon Food be their Voyage ever so long. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 496 He could no longer depend on the protection of his master. 1885G. Allen Babylon v, Depend upon it, Churchill, over-education's a great error.
b. ellipt. with following clause: To be sure or confident; = ‘to depend upon it’ (see 5). colloq.
1700J. Asgill Argument 95, I..do as much depend that I shall not go hence by returning to the Dust. 1747Franklin Plain Truth Wks. 1887 II. 49 No man can with certainty depend that another will stand by him. 1789Triumphs of Fortitude II. 150 Depend, it will not be ill conducted by one of such skill. 1791E. Inchbald Simp. Story II. x. 187 From the constancy of his disposition, she depended much, that sentiments like these were not totally eradicated. 1879J. C. Morison Gibbon 128 We may depend that a swift blight would have shrivelled his labours.
†6. To wait in suspense or expectation on, upon. (Cf. to hang upon any one's lips.) Obs.
c1430Lydg. Bochas viii. i. (1554) 178 a, The heartes of men, depending in a traunce. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxi. 38 Off gyd and gouirnance we ar all solitair, Dependand ay vpoun thy stait and grace. 1612Proc. Virginia 41 in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) 385 Captaine Bartholomew Gosnoll..at last prevailed with some Gentlemen..who depended a yeare vpon his proiects, but nothing could be effected. 1697Dryden Virg. æneid 4 (T.) The hearer on the speaker's mouth depends. 1704Steele Lying Lover ii. i. 20 Have not I, Madam, two long Years..depended on your Smiles?
7. To be in suspense or undetermined, be waiting for settlement (as an action at law, a bill in parliament, an appointment, etc.). (Usually in pres. pple. = pending: see also depending ppl. a. 5.)
c1430Lydg. Story of Thebes iii. (R.), The fatall chance Of life and death dependeth in balance. 1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §8 Euery matter, cause, and contention nowe dependynge..before any of the sayde archebishops. c1575Leg. Bp. St. Androis 131 (Satir. Poems Reform.) Becaus St. Androis then dependit, To heich promotione he pretendit. 1632Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 123 The same demurrer hath been on both sides often argued, and now depends readie for the Judgement of y⊇ Court. 1765T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 185 Whilst these disputes..were depending, the..Indians made attacks. a1859Macaulay Hist. Eng. V. 480 Bills of supply were still depending. 1883Law Reports 11 Q. Bench Div. 559 The resolution was filed in the court in which the bankruptcy was depending.
†8. To be ready or preparing to come on; to impend, to be imminent. Obs.
1712Swift City Shower 3 While rain depends, the pensive cat gives o'er Her frolicks. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xii. (1858) 184, I had not the least notion of any such thing depending, or the least supposition of it being possible.
†9. To have a leaning. (Cf. penchant.) Obs. rare.
1586Let. Earle Leycester 15 It might then be suspected, in respect of the disposition of such as depend that way.
▪ II. † deˈpend, v.2 rare.
[ad. L. dēpendĕre to pay down or away, spend, expend, f. de- I. 1, 2 + pendĕre to weigh, pay. Cf. dispend.]
trans. To expend, spend.
1607Barley-Breake (1877) 12 To whom Dame Nature lent so rich a port, That all her glory on her was depended. |