| 释义 |
to-be|təˈbiː|
[inf. of be v. as n. and a.; cf. be v. B. 24.]
A. as n. That which is to be; the future. Cf. to-come, s.v. come v. 33 c.
1819Byron Venice ii, The everlasting to be which hath been. 1838Lytton Alice vi. ii, The To Be is as the shadow of a far land in a mighty and perturbed sea. 1847Tennyson Princess vii. 273 These twain..Sit side by side,.. Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be. 1900M. Corelli Master-Christian xvi, I work and write for the To-Be, not the Has-Been.
B. as adj. phr. (often following the n.). That is yet to be or to come; future. Esp. following ns. of kinship, as grandfather-to-be, wife-to-be; see also mother-to-be s.v. mother n.1 17 a.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxxxi, Toungues to be, your beeing shall rehearse. a1804Nelson in Nicolas Disp. II. 457 Marry..speedily, or the to be Mrs. Berry will have very little of your company. 1860J. R. Edkins Chinese Scenes (1863) 102 The four to-be priests I knew before. 1930A. Bennett Imperial Palace lxix. 581 The excited grandfather-to-be. 1969L. Hellman Unfinished Woman xii. 174 The so-called good life for us is the to-be-good life for them. 1973H. Nielsen Severed Key iii. 33 My wife-to-be is going to be fabulously successful. |