释义 |
▪ I. † eˈlect, n.1 Obs. [? f. the vb.; or ? ad. L. ēlect-us, f. ēligĕre; see next.] = election.
1398Trevisa Barth De P.R. ii. xix. (1495) 44 By electes and choys [L. electione] of his owne free aduysement he..wolde be rebell agaynst god. c1425Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxvii. 141 Schire Henry..Wald þis Elect had beene undone Sua þat his son mycht be Promovit to þat Dignite. ▪ II. elect, a. and n.2|iːˈlɛkt| Also 4–5 elekte, eleckte, 5–6 electe. [ad. L. ēlect-us, pa. pple. of ēligĕre to pick out, choose.] A. adj. 1. Picked out, chosen; also, chosen for excellence or by preference; select, choice. Also absol. a person or persons chosen.
a1400Chester Pl. I. (1843) 212 Man..which is his owne eleckte. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) Introd. 3 A Booke of secrets given by God; To men Elect, a Beaten-Trod. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. i. (1520) 8/1 Saul..was a good man and elect of God. 1558W. Warde tr. Alessio's Secrets i. ii. 48 b Take Iris electe, what quantitie you will. 1538Starkey England ii. i. §19 To be prestys..such only schold be admyttyd as haue electe wyttys. 1609Holland Livy xxiv. xl. 537 Hee..shipped a thousand elect and choise souldiours..in gallies. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iv. 60 You haue heere Lady..the elect o' th' Land, who are assembled To pleade your Cause. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 214 The Race elect..advance Through the wilde Desert. 1863Fr. Kemble Resid. Georgia 10 This country..the land elect of liberty. 1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. (1873) 310 He saw..that small procession of the elder poets to which only elect centuries can add another laurelled head. 1876G. Bradford in N. Amer. Rev. CXXIII. 4 The executive, the elect of the whole state, has..no..medium of communication with his constituents. 2. a. spec. in Theol. Chosen by God, esp. for salvation or eternal life. Opposed to reprobate. Often absol. with plural sense, the elect.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 4 b, His owne electe and chosen chyldren. 1535Joye Apol. Tindale 41 The electe shal be there with their bodyes. 1582N.T. (Rhem.) Rom. viii. 33 Who shal accuse against the elect of God? 1593Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. iv, The elect Angels are without possibilitie of falling. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 122 It makes, the Elect and Reprobate, all alike. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 136 In the blessed Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) V. 105, I mean the Sect of those Elect, That loath to live by Merit. a1763Byrom Predestination, etc. (R.), While others..Are mercy's vessels, precious and elect. 1837Penny Cycl. IX. 333/2 All the elect are effectually called at some point of time in life. b. allusively. (Cf. Matt. xxiv. 24.)
1885J. J. Manley Brit. Almanac Comp. 29 The street was a miracle in lath and plaster, which might almost deceive the very elect. 3. Chosen to an office or dignity. Now usually, Chosen, elected, but not installed in office (in this sense almost always following the n.). Similarly, in mod. use, bride, bridegroom elect, said of betrothed persons. See also bride n.1 1.
1643Prynne Open. Gt. Seal 21 And that the Warden of Yarmouth so elect and sworne, shall, etc. 1726Ayliffe Parerg. 128 The Bishop elect takes the Oaths of Supremacy. 1742Middleton Cicero I. v. 393 Sextius was one of the Tribunes elect. 1751Chambers Cycl. I. s.v., A lord mayor is elect, before his predecessor's mayoralty is expired. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. I. xi. 221 The elect bishop of Cambray was taken prisoner. 1806C. Wilmot Let. 21 Oct. in Russ. Jrnls. (1934) ii. 239 The Bride elect dissolved in tears. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay xvi, My captain elect. B. n. †1. One ‘chosen’ by God, esp. one chosen for eternal salvation; one of ‘the elect’ (cf. A. 2).
1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 525/2 Yet are there also in thys churche of electes, manye that neuer came to the fayth. 1546Bale Eng. Votaries ii. (1550) 42 b, A fore⁓warnynge to hys electes. 1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. vii. ix. 113 Saule..was an elect. 1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angels 20 It is probable that every elect hath his proper and peculiar Angell. †2. One that has been chosen for an office or function; often spec. = bishop elect (see A. 3). Obs.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxvii. 121 Comfermyt he wes Elect of Legis Ðat Bischoprike in þe Impire is. 1490–1Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. I. 197 Item for a compositioun maid with Master Johne Guthre, elect of Ross, for the anna of the temporalite. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 149 Afterward he [the Pope] refuseth both the elects, and preferreth Stephan Langton. 1709Strype Ann. Ref. I. vi. 98 Parker and the other four Elects..did offer to give unto her yearly a thousand marks. †3. = electo. Obs.
1783Watson Philip III (1793) I. ii. 139 Having chosen an elect or leader. 4. In the Royal College of Physicians: One of the eight officers (abolished in 1860) who had formerly the function of granting licences, and the right of electing the President of the College from their own number.
1523Act 14–15 Hen. VIII, c. 5 §3 That the sixe persons beforesaid..chusing to them two moe..be called and cleaped Elects. 1697View Penal Laws 8 Apothecaries faulty Wares, to be destroyed by the President and Elects of the Colledge of Physicians in London. 1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 133/2 The constituted officers then of this corporation are the eight elects. ▪ III. elect, v.|ɪˈlɛkt| Also 6 electe. Sc. eleck. pa. tense and pple. elected, 6 elect(e. [f. ēlect- ppl. stem of ēligĕre (see prec.).] †1. trans. To pick out, choose (usually, for a particular purpose or function). Also absol. Obs. in general sense.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 164 A noble gentilman..Elected a spouses at his owne deuice. 1557Paynel Barcklay's Jugurth. 28 b, He had elect and assembled such compani as him thought competent for an army. 1571Digges Pantom. i. xxxiv. L, Hauing elected a loftie seate. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 4. 1603 ― Meas. for M. i. i. 19 We haue with speciall soule Elected him our absence to supply. 1607Rowlands Diog. Lanth. 28 A heedefull care wee ought to haue, When we doe frends elect. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. ii. §1 (1689) 7 Elect your Hair not from lean, poor, or diseased jades. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xxv. (1819) 399 The magnetic needle elects its position. 2. To make deliberate choice of (a course of action, an opinion, etc.) in preference to an alternative. In legal use often absol.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. viii. i, Comyn wytte doothe full well electe What it shoulde take, and what it shall abjecte. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. ii. 59 It can suspend its own acting, either of electing or rejecting. 1818Cruise Digest VI. 26 He must therefore elect. 1837Penny Cycl. IX. 334/1 They are seldom called to adjudicate upon it, except where the party has already elected. 1847Emerson Repr. Men iii. Swedenborg Wks. (Bohn) I. 334 He elected goodness as the clue to which the soul must cling in all this labyrinth of nature. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. §25 The Motives which we determinately elect as our guiding principles of action. b. with infinitive as obj. (Now common, but formerly chiefly in legal use).
a1626Bacon Max. Com. Law ix. 38 If there bee an over⁓plus of goods..then ought he..to determine what goods hee doth elect to have in value. 1661Boyle Style of Script. 182, I would not have Christians..elect to read God's word, rather in any book than his own. 1788J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 65 The daughter..was a lunatic, and therefore incompetent to elect to take the estate as land or money. 1817W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius II. 905 The assured may elect to abandon to the underwriter all right to such part of the property as may be saved. 1868Helps Realmah xvi. (1876) 447 She was secretly delighted that the jester had elected to live with her. 3. To choose (a person) by vote for appointment to an office or position of any kind. Used in three different constructions: to elect (a person) to (an office, etc.); to elect (an officer, etc.); and with complement, as ‘they elected him their chief’. Also absol.
1494Fabyan vi. ccii. 212 Gerbres..was electe pope of Rome. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge 79 Sexburge was electe To be abbesse. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 228 If you will elect by my aduise, Crowne him, and say: Long liue our Emperour. 1743Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. II. xvii. 94 They resolved to elect an Inter-Rex. 1785Burns Twa Herds iv, Ye wha were..by the brutes themselves eleckit, To be their guide. 1777Watson Philip II (1839) 159 They elected for their king Don Ferdinand de Valor. 1867Buckle Civilis. (1873) III. i. 32 Few of the Scotch towns ventured to elect their chief magistrate from among their own people. 4. Theol. Of God: To choose (certain of His creatures) in preference to others, as the recipients of temporal or spiritual blessings; esp. to choose as the objects of eternal salvation. Also absol.
a1617Bayne On Eph. (1658) 42 Antecedency of faith before the act of electing. 1626W. Sclater Expos. 2 Thess. (1629) 68 To induce the Lord to elect or predestinate. 1837Penny Cycl. IX. 333/1 Particular persons, without any regard whatever to their merits or demerits, are elected, or rejected for ever. |