| 释义 |
▪ I. privilege, n.|ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒ|
Forms: α. 2–4 privi-, 4 privy-, pryve-, prevylegie. β. 3– privilege; also 4–5 pryve-, 4–6 preve-, previ-, prevy-, privy-, pryvi-, pryvy-, 4–8 prive-, 5 preva-, priva-, pryva-; 4 -liche, -lag, -leg, -legge, 4–5 -lage, 5–8 -ledge, 6 -lidge, 7 -ledg.
[In form privilegie (only ME.), ad. L. prīvilēgi-um a bill or law in favour of or against an individual; later, a privilege, prerogative, f. prīv-us private, peculiar + lex, lēgem law; in form privilege, a. F. privilège, -lége (12th c. in Littré), ad. L. prīvilēgium.]
A. Forms: α. privilegie, etc.
α [701in Birch Cart. Sax. I. 156 Ic Ealdhelm brohte to Ine Wessexena kyncge and to æþelræde Myrcena kyncge þas privilegia.] a1154O.E. Chron. an. 1137 (Laud MS.) Martin abbot..for to Rome..and begæt thare priuilegies. a1327Sat. Consist. Courts in Pol. Songs (Camden) 157 Ant suggen he hath privilegie proud of the pope. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 132 Crist apperide to þes holy wommen, fer to graunt a privylegie to wommans kynde. Ibid. II. 281 Dignities and pryvelegies þat ben now grauntid bi þe pope.
(β) privilege, etc.: see B.
B. Signification.
1. Rom. Antiq. A special ordinance having reference to an individual.
(Late in English; in Roman Law or Hist., or etymological.)
1483Cath. Angl. 292/1 A Pryvalege, priuilegium, quasi priuatus legem. 1548Elyot Dict., Priuilegium,..a lawe concernyng priuate persons, also a priuate or speciall lawe, a priuilege. 1741Middleton Cicero I. v. 339 It was not properly a law, but what they called a privilege; or an act, to inflict penalties on a particular Citizen by name, without any previous trial. 1799Mackintosh Stud. Law Nat. 50 note, Privilege, in Roman jurisprudence, means the exemption of one individual from the operation of a law.
2. a. A right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by a person, or a body or class of persons, beyond the common advantages of others; an exemption in a particular case from certain burdens or liabilities.
a1154, etc. [see A.]. 14..Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1888) 60 And aske þe prevalege of þe Burgage. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 207 Hed I that plesand prevelege to part quhen me likit. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 42 To suche other as he hath graunted suche specyall preuylege. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 56 The priviledge and dignity of Learning. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xiv. I. 407 The privileges which had exalted Italy above the rank of the provinces, were no longer regarded. 1844Whittier Bridal of Pennac. Prol. 167 Pastures, wood-lots, mill-sites, with the privileges..and appurtenances. 1879Froude Cæsar iii. 26 A monopoly of privileges is always invidious. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 32/7 (Advt.), Kennedy Rd.—Steeles, home privileges, parking, 1–2 girls. Ibid., $20. wk. Gentlemen 18–25. Good meals, lunches, privileges. Nova Scotian family. 1972New Yorker 22 July 48/1 Hillside homesites..with ocean beach privileges. 1976J. Lee Ninth Man 57 Thirty dollars a week... But you get icebox privileges. All my tenants get icebox privileges.
b. In extended sense: A special advantage or benefit; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, etc.
c1230Hali Meid. 23 Þus feole priuileges scheaweð ful sutelliche hwucche beon þe meidnes & sundreð ham fram þe oðre. 1340Ayenb. 15 In erþe ne ys zuo holi man þet moȝe parfitliche be-uly alle þe maneres of zenne..wyþ-oute special priuilege of grace. c1380[see A.]. 1754Sherlock Disc. I. viii. 227 To be the Children of God is the greatest privilege under the Gospel. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxvii. III. 31 The privileges of Christianity, temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true believers. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 69 To sit near him at the theatre, and to hear his criticisms on a new play, was regarded as a privilege. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xix. 370 All the greater Prophets claimed, and most of them enjoyed, the privilege of married life.
†c. A special distinction; a speciality. Obs.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurentius) 790 Ymang al otheris als had he specialis prewylege thre. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxxi. (Bodl. MS.), The preuyleges of þis daie [Good Friday] were offringe of criste, spoillinge of helle, and eke ouercomynge of deþe. Ibid. xiii. ix, Þis ryuer [Jordan] haþ manye priuyleges for it departeþ þe contrey of riȝt beleued men fro þe contrey of mysbileued men, for he departeþ Jewry and Arabia.
†d. An advantage yielded, superiority, pre-eminence. Obs.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. i. 121, I would see his heart out, ere the Priest Should euer get that priuiledge of me.
e. See water privilege (water n. 29).
3. A privileged position; the possession of an advantage over others or another.
1390Gower Conf. III. 152 Largesse it is, whos privilegge Ther mai non Avarice abregge. c1400Destr. Troy 140 Lest he put hym from priuelage & his place toke. c1450Pistill of Susan 33 (Ingilby MS.) Prestes hye of priuylage were praysed saune pere. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 28 b, Abbaties and priories are geuen to very boyes, by privilege, that is to say, by common and vsuall custome. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxix. xv, From this necessity [death]..No priviledge exemptes. 1647Cowley Mistr., Bathing in River v, As in the Ocean Thou No priviledge dost know Above th' impurest streams that thither flow. 1754Richardson Grandison IV. xx. 150 A..man, who wants to assume airs of privilege, and thinks he has a right to be impertinent. 1861Mill Utilit. iii. 48 Inequalities of legal privilege between individuals or classes.
4. a. The special right or immunity attaching to some office, rank, or station; prerogative.
the privilege, the royal prerogative. privilege of clergy = benefit of clergy: see clergy 6. privilege of Parliament, the immunities enjoyed by either House of Parliament, or by individual members, as such; as freedom of speech, freedom from arrest in civil matters, the power of committing persons to prison; similarly of other legislative assemblies; so privilege of peerage, privilege of peers.
a1225Ancr. R. 160 In onliche stude he biȝet þeos þreo biȝeaten, priuilege of prechur, merit of martirdom, & meidenes mede. a1340Hampole Psalter xix. 6 Þat is þe pryuelege of criste godis sune. 1390Gower Conf. I. 7 The privilege of regalie Was sauf. c1450Godstow Reg. 29 All these yftys kynge Stephyn by the priuilege of hys regal power haþe strenghyd & confermid. 1513More Rich. III, Wks. 49/1 Muche of this mischiefe..myghte bee amended, with greate thank of god and no breache of the priueledge. 1588Lambarde Eiren. iv. xiv. 561 In all other cases..the prisoner may enjoy the priuiledge of Clergie. 1641Protestation of Parlt. 3 & 4 May (Long Parliament), I A. B. do..promise, vow, and protest, to maintain and defend..the power and privileges of Parliament. 1642in Whitelocke Mem. (1732) 53/1 The House [of Commons] was in a great disorder, crying aloud many of them together, Privilege, Privilege. 1642in Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §157 In his [the King's] passage through the city, the rude people..crying out, ‘Privilege of parliament, privilege of parliament’. 1642Laud Diary 4 Jan., His Majesty went into the House of Commons, and demanded the persons of [five members]..great stir was made about this breach of the privileges of Parliament. 1663Flagellum or O. Cromwell (1672) 29 Secured from an Imprisonment by his priviledge as a Member. 1689Tryal Bps. 14 It is the Priviledge of the Peers of England. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 163 An observation, that the principal privilege of parliament consisted in this, that it's privileges were not certainly known to any but the parliament itself. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xiii. 23 The commons voted Skinner into custody for a breach of privilege. 1840Richardson Dict. Suppl. s.v., Privilege is in common speech applied in contradistinction to Prerogative. As the Privileges of the Commons, the Prerogative of the Crown. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. ix. 204 A peer is, by the privilege of peerage, always exempt from such arrest. 1883Chambers' Encycl. s.v. Peer, The House of Lords, on the report of a Committee of Privileges, held that he [Baron Wensleydale] was not entitled to sit and vote in parliament.
fig.1840Longfellow Sp. Stud. i. i, Lara... I think the girl extremely beautiful. Don C. Almost beyond the privilege of woman!
b. bill of privilege, a petition of a peer demanding to be tried by his peers. writ of privilege, a writ to deliver a privileged person from custody when arrested in a civil suit.
1453Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 277 Gyff any men within the seid cittie will sywe eny wryttis of privelage. 1607Cowell Interpr. s.v. Writ, A writ of priuiledge is that which a priuiledged person bringeth to the court, for his exemption, by reason of some priuiledge. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., A person belonging to the court of chancery cannot be sued in any other court, certain cases excepted; and if he be, he may remove it by writ of privilege. 1763Churchill Author 149 Who would a bill of privilege prefer, And treat a Poet, like a Creditor.
5. a. R.C. Ch. A special ordinance issued by the pope, granting exemption in the case of all such acts as are necessary for the purpose for which it is obtained; cf. dispensation 8.
c1394P. Pl. Crede 467 [The friars] purchaseþ hem pryuylege of popes at Rome. c1400Apol. Loll. 12 Þei þat persuen for indulgencs, exempcouns, & priueylegs, sey how þei geyt nowt wiþ out bying. c1425Eng. Conq. Irel. 90 The forme of thay preuyleges, as thay wer endyted yn the Court of Rome a latyne, ne myght I nat comly setten yn Englyshe. 1885Cath. Dict. s.v., A private enactment, granting some special benefit or favour, against or outside the law... A privilege may be granted by word of mouth as well as by deed.
b. transf. A licence, permission.
1715Pope Iliad i. 385 Has foul reproach a privilege from Heaven?
6. a. A grant to an individual, corporation, community, or place, of special rights or immunities, sometimes to the prejudice of the general right; a franchise, monopoly, patent; † spec. the sole right of printing or publishing a book or the like (formerly often signified by the Latin phr. cum privilegio imprimendi solum).
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 45 (MS. α) Belinus þe kyng..made foure hiȝe kyng weies i-priueleged wiþ al privilege. 1530Royal Priv. in Palsgr. 10 The Kynges Graces Pryvilege. Here foloweth the copy of the Kynges Graces pryvilege, graunted unto the authour for the space of sevyn yeres... Our favorable letters of privilege. 1540Coverdale Confut. Standish To Rdr. (1547) a ij b, The shame is it of all Englande, that vnder his [the king's] priuilege anye erroneous, contentious, or slaunderous boke or papyre sholde by prynted. 1579Expos. Terms Law 161/1 Priuiledges are lyberties and fraunchises graunted to an Office, place, towne, or mannour, by the Queenes great charter, letters patentes, or acte of Parliament. 1592Nashe P. Penilesse 19 b, The Printer..wer best to get a priuiledge betimes, Ad imprimendum solum. 1598in D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 331/1 Of the antiquitie, etimologie, and priviledges of parishes in Englande. 1607Cowell Interpr. s.v., A personall priuiledge is that, which is graunted to any person, either against, or beside the course of the common law:..A priuiledge reall is that, which is graunted to a place, as to the Vniuersities, that none of either may be called to Westm. hall, vpon any contract made within their owne precincts. 1685Petty Last Will in Tracts (1769) p. vii, The copper-plates for the maps of Ireland with the king's privilege, which I rate at 100 l. per ann. 1753N. Torriano Gangr. Sore Throat 116 The French Book was also published by Privilege of the King of France. 1890Fiske Civ. Govt. U.S. vi. 150 The charter of Maryland conferred upon Lord Baltimore the most extensive privileges ever bestowed by the British crown upon any subject.
b. A document or deed by which this is granted.
1818Hallam Mid. Ages I. v. 467 In the famous privilege of Austria granted by Frederic I in 1156.
†7. The right of affording security from arrest, attached to certain places; the right of asylum or sanctuary. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 247 Þis is he þat ȝaf priueliche and fredom [orig. immunitate insignivit] to temples. 1485Rolls of Parlt. VI. 291/2 He was faine..to take tuition and privilledge of the Seinctuarie of Glouc'. 1513More Rich. III, Wks. 46/1 It would bee..to the..hyghe dyspleasure of Godde, yf the priueledge of that holye place should nowe bee broken. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. i. 41 God forbid We should infringe the holy Priuiledge Of blessed Sanctuarie. 1648Gage West Ind. Table, The priviledge of a great river, called Lempa, dividing the Countrey of St. Salvador, and Nicaragua. (Cf. privileged ppl. a. c.) 1683Brit. Spec. 24 That the Wayes leading to the Temples, and the Roads of Great Cities, should have like Priviledges.
8. attrib. and Comb., as privilege debate (sense 4 above), privilege leave (leave n.1 1 e), privilege paper (paper n. 7 d), privilege-pass (pass n.2 8 d), privilege system, privilege ticket; † privilege book, a book issued with the royal privilege; privilege cab, a cab admitted to stand for hire in some private place (esp. a railway station) from which other cabs are excluded; also privilege cab-driver.
1607in Plomer Abstr. Wills Eng. Printers (1903) 42 The *priviledge books quiers and bindings at the price I paid for them.
1906Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 4/3 All are agreed..that the *privilege-cab system ought to be abolished.
1896Daily News 22 Dec. 7/3 Many of the *privilege cabdrivers..had preferred to throw up their privilege and cast in their lot with the Union of their trade.
1899Westm. Gaz. 2 Sept. 4/3 It was decided in a *privilege debate in the House of Commons in 1830 that a solicitor in Parliamentary practice cannot occupy a seat in the House.
1883Kipling Let. 14 Aug. in C. E. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) iv. 53 *Privilege leave..gives you the pleasant duty of enjoying yourself in a cool climate for thirty days and being paid {pstlg}20 for that duty. 1902Westm. Gaz. 12 July 2/1 She was marrying an officer, home on privilege leave, and they had to be back in India by a given date. 1980J. Ditton Copley's Hunch ii. ii. 138 Anybody who escapes from enemy hands is entitled to leave—over and above the ordinary ration of privilege leave.
1825Gentl. Mag. XCV. i. 6 A free person of colour is now entitled to give evidence against a white, in any Court of Justice, upon producing his *privilege papers.
1897Westm. Gaz. 15 Feb. 5/3 The *privilege ticket system, by which the employés of every railway company were enabled to travel over all parts of the Kingdom, or at any rate over all the leading lines, at..one-half of a single third-class fare for the double journey.
Add: [c indigo][2.] f.[/c] An entitlement enjoyed by all the inmates of a penal or psychiatric institution as part of the normal regime, but which the authorities may withdraw as a punishment.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 7/2 The privilege of correspondence with friends outside and of receiving visits has been enlarged. 1954Stanton & Schwartz Mental Hosp. xii. 250 A mental hospital is a place where ordinary civil liberties are called ‘privileges’. 1966T. Capote In Cold Blood iv. 265 The privileges granted ordinary prisoners were denied them; no radios or card games, not even an exercise period. 1969W. S. Burroughs Wild Boys 27 Converted patients are allowed a quarter grain of morphine every night before lights out, a privilege which is withdrawn for any trespass. 1989Observer 20 Aug. 30/2 The governor had told the women that to go to the toilet was not a right but a privilege and he withdrew that privilege.
▪ II. privilege, v.|ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒ|
[ad. F. privilégier (13th c. in Littré), ad. med.L. prīvilēgi-āre (1190–3 in Hoveden), f. prīvilēgium: see prec.]
1. a. trans. To invest with a privilege or privileges; to grant a particular right or immunity to; to benefit or favour specially; to invest (a thing) with special honourable distinctions.
[a1193in Roger of Hoveden's Chron. (Rolls) III. 74 Summus pontifex privilegiavit Hugonem Dunelmensem episcopum.] 13..[see privileging below]. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋965 Certes it [the pater noster] is priuyleged of thre thynges in his dignytee, for which it is moore digne than any oother preyere. 1387[see privilege n. 6]. 1483Cath. Angl. 292/1 To Privalege (A. Pryuelege), priuilegiare. 1547Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 78 Oure Soverane Lady privelegis and grantis to thaim that thai may enter within thre termes. 1597Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 374 How infamous a thing it is..to priuiledge and allow publike places for adulteries. 1688Bunyan Jerus. Sinner Saved (1886) 18 He [Christ] had a mind..to privilege the worst of sinners with the first offer of mercy. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. ii. 22 The law of England does in some cases privilege an infant, under the age of twenty-one, as to common misdemesnors. 1795Southey Joan of Arc vi. 240 Let this woman who believes her name May privilege her herald, see the fire Consume him. 1885Pall Mall G. 16 May 2/1 They are certainly privileged institutions, and if the country wants universities at all it must ‘privilege’ them. 1896Daily News 24 Sept. 7/5 (heading) Privileged cabs. Ibid., We do not privilege any vehicle unless it is a good one and the driver a steady and respectable man.
†b. refl. To avail oneself of a privilege (in quot., to take sanctuary). Obs. rare.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 396 He allured out of Sanctuarie his fiue Neeces..who with the Queene-Mother..had of long time priuiledged themselues there.
c. trans. R.C. Ch. To make (an altar) privileged.
1844Orthodox Jrnl. 6 Jan. 3/2 The high altar was privileged by Gregory XIII.
d. In pa. pple. Entitled to (a special right).
1856Mrs. B. G. Ferris Mormons at Home xii. 199 A few who call themselves physicians..are privileged to a seat in this important assemblage.
2. To authorize, license (what is otherwise forbidden or wrong); to justify, excuse.
1592Daniel Compl. Rosamond ci, Kings cannot privilege what God forbade. 1605Lond. Prodigal i. i, His youth may priuiledge his wantonnesse. a1668Davenant News fr. Plimouth iv. i, This Priviledges cowardize, to wrong true valour. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. ii. 26 The law of England..will not suffer any man thus to privilege one crime by another [i.e. by pleading drunkenness].
3. To give (a person, etc.) special freedom or immunity from some liability or burden to which others are subject; to exempt.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 255 b, He was exempted..or priuileged from bearyng almaner offices of charge. 1597–8Bacon Ess., Discourse (Arb.) 16 Some thinges are priuiledged from iest. a1614P. Lilie Two Serm. (1619) 34 Though women be priviledged from bearing of armes. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., She represented to him..that she was privileged from this misfortune. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 431 Representatives are privileged from arrests or mesne process. 1848Wharton Law Lex. s.v., Barristers are privileged from arrest eundo, morando et redeundo, going to, coming from, and abiding in court..: so clergymen as to divine service.
Hence ˈprivileging vbl. n.; also ˈprivileger, one who grants a privilege or privileges.
13..Cursor M. 25044 (Cott.) Cros it beres o mani thing, O cristen men þe priueleging. 1587Harrison England i. xii. 65/2 in Holinshed, King Athelstane is taken here for the chiefe priuileger of the towne. |