| 释义 |
ˈfirst ˈclass, first-class
A. (as two words).
a. The first of a series of classes in which things or persons are grouped. Usually implying priority in importance; esp. in fixed or technical applications, e.g. the highest grade of accommodation for travellers by railway or steamboat, the highest division in an examination-list.
1789A. Young Jrnl. 17 Aug. in Travels (1792) I. 165 In the first class of French families..they undoubtedly are. 1807[see class n. 4]. 1846Commercial Mag. Oct. 135 There is a first-class for those who are willing to pay for the superior comfort.
b. ellipt. A place in the first class of an examination list (cf. class n. 4.); one who has obtained such a place; first-class accommodation or fare.
1838British Mag. VI. 100 There was no double First-Class [Referring to Oxford]. 1851H. W. Dulcken tr. Pfeiffer's Visit Holy Land i. 23 The first-class to Constantinople costs 120 florins. 1859Farrar J. Home 186 My getting a first class in the May examination. 1885Oxford Univ. Cal. 40 Candidates must have obtained..a First Class in Litt. Gr. et Lat. at the First Public Examination. 1930E. Pound XXX Cantos xviii. 82 And Mr. Oige was very choleric in a first-class From Nice to Paris.
B. attrib. or adj. (written with the hyphen).
(In attributive use sometimes with stress on the first syll.; in predicative use the stress is equal or on the last.)
1. a. Of or belonging to the first class in a recognized series of grades: as, a first-class (railway) carriage, a first-class man (in an examination: also written first-classman).
1837–8[see second-class a. 1]. 1846Commercial Mag. Oct. 133 His Lordship..refused to travel in the first-class carriages, and went as a second-class passenger. 1852Ann. Reg. 207 A ‘composite’ carriage, the centre being a first-class compartment. 1860All Year Round No. 74. 560 An Oxford first-class man. 1869Dunkin Midn. Sky 14 The first-class star Capella. 1871Smiles Charac. ii. (1876) 33 A first-classman at Oxford. 1887Spectator 25 June 860/1 A Balliol Scholar, a first-classman.
b. In U.S. sometimes used of the lowest or least important grade: as, a first-class clerk (= one who receives the lowest salary).
2. a. gen. Of the highest grade in importance, value, or excellence; of the first or best quality.
1858R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xlv. 199 First-class servants who had fallen into second-class circumstances. 1872Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 147 The first-class ores were shipped to Reno and San Francisco. 1878Rep. Postmaster-Gen. (U.S.) 33 The efficiency and security of the registry system of first-class mail matter suggested the propriety of extending its provisions to valuable matter of the third class. 1879McCarthy Own Times II. xxviii. 351 Only one first class reputation of a military order had come out of the war. 1885Leeds Mercury 24 June 4/4 Unless some foreign question of first-class importance should arise. 1887Postal Laws U.S. 138 A ‘drop letter’ ..is first-class matter and should be returned to the writer, if unclaimed. 1924H. A. Blackman Business Mail 15 In this connection it is well to remember that first-class postage is never an odd number of cents. 1968Times 19 Mar. 2/1 A two-tier system providing a first class letter service for 4d.
b. colloq. Extremely good, ‘first-rate’.
1879Spurgeon Serm. XXV. 90 When he was on the road to Damascus to hunt the saints, he was on first-class terms with himself.
3. quasi-adv.
a. By first-class conveyance, etc.
b. colloq. Excellently, very well indeed (cf. first-rate).
1847Illustr. London News 22 May 328 (caption) Epsom races—1847. The railway—first class. 1895Month Feb. 197 She looks first-class and healthy. a1897Mod. To travel first-class. How are you getting on? Oh, first-class. 1971A. Price Alamut Ambush x. 124 He borrowed a fivepenny stamp off me..because he wanted it [sc. a letter] to go first class. |