| 释义 |
futurity|fjuːˈtjʊərɪtɪ|
[f. future + -ity.]
1. The quality, state, or fact of being future; = futurition 2. rare.
1637Bastwick Litany i. 11 The hope of my blessednes is not here: the futurity of which doth no way mitigate my comfort. 1660Glanvill Sceps. Sci. viii. 74 The bare Possibilities, which never commence into a Futurity. 1864Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 56 The comforting elements of futurity and uncertainty.
2. Future time; the future; a future space of time.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iv. 117 Nor present Sorrowes, Nor purpos'd merit in futurity. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 60 A white Spot..which in futurity proves the Heart with its Veins and arteries. 1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 159 Involved in the dark bosom of futurity. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. 58 Futurity's blank page. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose i, These events were still in the womb of futurity. 1841Myers Cath. Th. iv. xxxiii. 346 The particular events and personages of a distant futurity. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. iii. (1877) 64 Throwing forward into the darkness of futurity an image of himself here.
3. What is future.
a. What will exist or happen in the future; future events as a whole. Also † those that will live in the future, posterity (obs. rare).
1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. 17 And perhaps not out of the reach of futurity to exhibit. 1713Berkeley Guardian No. 35 ⁋5 A wretch racked..with..a secret dread of futurity. 1738Swift Let. 24 Aug., I will..contrive some way to be known to futurity, that [etc.]. 1754Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. i. 19 We must have no Share or Lot in the Glories of Futurity. 1781Gibbon Decl. & Fall III. 60 An Egyptian monk, who possessed..the knowledge of futurity. 1884J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. xxiv. 389 The caprices of fate and the uncertainty of futurity.
b. pl. Future events.
1651Biggs New Disp. ⁋304 In the futurities of our performances. 1694J. Howe in H. Rogers Life x. (1863) 285 Such sad futurities God, in mercy to us, hides from us. a1703Burkitt On N.T. Luke xxi. 7 What an itching curiosity there is in the best of men, to know futurities. 1779Franklin Lett. Wks. 1889 VI. 420, I must one of these days go back to see him..but futurities are uncertain. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 177 O centuries That roll, in vision, your futurities My future grave athwart. a1859De Quincey Posthum. Wks. (1891) I. 85 note, The reader whose scholarship is still amongst his futurities.
c. State or condition in the future. Also, existence after death.
1741Middleton Cicero I. iii. 166 The expectation of a futurity. 1748Hartley Observ. Man. i. iii. 355 Rules..which teach Mankind how to secure a happy Futurity. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. in Boswell an. 1775, This futurity of Whiggism. 1836Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 173 Futurity..what we are to be, determined by what we have been. 1860Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 39/1 The practical dangers to which the futurity of representative governments will be exposed. |