| 释义 |
greater, a., adv., and n.|ˈgreɪtə(r)|
Forms: 1 grýttra, 3–4 grettur, -yr, 4–5 gratter, -ur, gretter, -or, 5–6 greter, 4–6 Sc. gretar, (5 greiter, 6 grytur, griter, greitar, greittar, 6–9 gritter), 6– greater.
[OE. grýttra (*gríetra, Anglian *grétra):—OTeut. *grautizon-, comparative of *grauto- great a.; but it is doubtful whether any of the later forms descend directly from this, most if not all being, like the now current form, refashioned on the positive. See -er3.]
A. adj.
1. a. The comparative of great in various senses.
c950Epist. Alex. in Anglia IV. 151 Wæron hie [serpents] swa greate swa columnan ᵹe eac sume..gryttran. a1225Ancr. R. 420 Euer me is leouere so ȝe don gretture werkes. Ne makie none purses..ne blodbendes of seolke, auh schepieð..chirche cloðes, and poure monne cloðes. a1300Cursor M. 11078 O wijf..was neuer born nan A gretter barn þan sant iohan. c1386Chaucer Prol. 197 He hadde of gold ywroght a curious pyn: A loue knotte in the gretter ende ther was. c1400Destr. Troy 3874 Was neuer kyng..his knightes more louet, Ne gretter of giftes to his goode men. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 122 We beyre moch gretter charges yerely than done the Scottis. 1549Bk. Com. Prayer, Athan. Creed, And in this trinitie none is afore nor after other: none is greater nor lesse then other. 1588A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 75 We culd neuer wishe ane gryter benefit nor yat Christ Iesus our lord..suld sa giv him self haill for vs. a1605Montgomerie Sonn. xii, Can candle lou give fyr a griter heet? 1605Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 65 Lesser then Macbeth, and greater. 1611B. Jonson Catiline ii. (Chorus), Great father Mars, and greater Iove. 1654Jer. Taylor Real Pres. 193 The greater your reason is against it, the greater excellency in your obedience. 1664Pepys Diary 15 July, He says that he is as great with the Chancellor, or greater, than ever in his life. 1748Earthquake Peru i. 39 A French Toise, or Fathom, is about five Inches greater than the English. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 16 The sound..appears to come from greater and greater distances.
b. the greater part, † greater sort, etc.: the larger of two parts into which any whole or quantity is divided; the more considerable number or quantity (of); the majority.
1578Timme Caluine on Gen. 42 The greater sort do agree that this word [image] is distinguished from Likeness. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. iv. 3 b, The greater part of us went a shoare to see the Ilande. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. ii. 29 The greater part, the Horse in generall Are come with Cassius. 1603― Meas. for M. iii. ii. 145 The greater file of the subiect held the Duke to be wise. 1781C. Johnston John Juniper II. 249 The characters in tragedy are, for much the greater part, out of common life. 1829Landor Wks. (1846) II. 210/1 The greater number of men..are disposed, on most occasions, rather to virtue than to vice. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 The greater part of the area was covered with the lofty warehouses.
c. Applied to and descriptive of towns (to indicate the inclusion of adjoining boroughs, suburbs, etc.) and countries (with dependencies, etc.).
1616T. Coryat Traveller for English Wits 12 Traiecto Tigride, I entred Armenia the greater: After that, Media the lower. Ibid. 19 My whole perambulation of this Asia the greater. 1868Greater Britain [see Britain n. 1]. 1882Encycl. Brit. IV. 834/1 The London police district, or ‘Greater London’, is divided into two police jurisdictions, that of the metropolitan police,..and that of the City police. 1898Appletons' Dict. of N.Y. (title-page), First ‘Greater New York’ Edition. Ibid. p. iii, The present edition of this book is the first to deal with the territory of the ‘Greater New York’ as constituting one municipality. 1939Ann. Reg. 1938 190 After the Anschluss with Austria, Czechoslovakia was surrounded on three sides by Greater Germany. 1955Times 2 Aug. 6/5 Motorists living in the Greater London area were on the roads early in the morning bound for the seaside or the country. 1958Listener 21 Aug. 274/2 Apart from Greater London and Greater Birmingham all the conurbations were either increasing their population at a rate far lower than the nation as a whole or (in the case of Greater Manchester) were even losing population.
†2. Older, elder. [A Latinism.] Obs.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 383 He þat is gratter of ȝow, loke þat he be made as ȝongar in sympilnes. 1535Coverdale 1 Sam. xvii. 28 And Eliab his greater brother herde him talke with the men.
†3. Pregnant. Obs. rare.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Theodera 550 Syne eftyre of tyme in processe Hapnyt þat scho gretare wes, & hyr frendis sperit ȝarne Quha with hyr gat þat barne.
4. In special or technical use, opposed to lesser.
a. Astron. in names of certain constellations, as the Greater Dog, † the Greater (now Great) Bear. Also † greater circle = ‘great circle’: see circle.
b. Mus. Applied to intervals now usually called major.
c. in names of plants.
d. in names of animals, esp. birds.
e. Anat.
f. (see quot.).
a.1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 263 The lesser Beare..the greater Beare. 1638J. Chilmead tr. Hues Tractatus de Globis iii. ii. (1889) 80 Of the Circumference of the Earth, or of a Greater Circle. 1674Moxon Tutor Astron. (ed. 3) 209 Ursa Major, the Greater Bear. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Equator, meridian, ecliptic, verticals, &c. are great or greater circles of the sphere: and the parallels, tropics, &c. lesser circles.
b.1597Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., The greater halfe note is that distance which is betwixt fa and mi. 1674Playford Skill Mus. iii. 11 A sixth beneath the Bass is a third above, and if it be the lesser sixth, then is the third above the greater third. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v. Diesis, Enharmonical Diesis is the difference between a greater and lesser semi-tone. 1818Busby Gram. Music 317 Greater Sixth. 1887Browning Parleyings, C. Avison iv, The key Was..C..with the Greater Third.
c.1776–96Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 745 Greater Knapweed. 1861Miss Pratt Flower Pl. IV. 75 Greater Broom-rape. Ibid. 215 Greater Bladderwort. Ibid. 255 Greater Plantain. Ibid. V. 305 Greater Water Plantain.
d.1876Smiles Sc. Natur. xi. (ed. 4) 213 A Greater Shrike or Butcher Bird. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 208 Greater Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus). Ibid. 215 Greater loon.
e.1872Mivart Elem. Anat. 180 The deep concavity..called the greater ischiatic notch.
f.1614Selden Titles Hon. 344 Barons with the rest vpward wee call the Greater Nobilitie, the others beneath them the Lesse Nobilitie.
¶5. Greater Britain: see Britain.
†6. Comb., forming comparatives to the combinations of great a. Obs.
1562Turner Herbal ii. 101 Wilde lekes..greater heded then they were that I saw about Bon. 1597Bacon Coulers Good & Euill v. (Arb.) 144 Men whose living lieth together in one Shire, are commonly counted greater landed then those whose livings are dispersed.
†B. adv. In a greater degree. Obs.
1496Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) i. xlii. 82/1 Greter sodayne deth wyste I neuer than that men had than.
C. quasi-n. and n.
a. The adj. used absol. and ellipt. the greater: that or those of greater size, importance, eminence, etc. a greater: a person or thing which is greater (than another).
1388Wyclif Isa. xxxii. 5 He that is vnwijs schal no more be clepid prince, and a gileful man schal not be clepid the grettere [Vulg. major]. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 6 The greater scornes the lesser. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 121 Negations of unequals are of the greater, or lesse, or of both together. 1845McCulloch Taxation i. i. i. (1852) 51 Unless a method should be found of taking a greater from a less. 1898Morley in Westm. Gaz. 27 June 10/1 We mourn for one of the greater among the servants of mankind.
†b. (One's) superior. Obs.
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxii. 251 Kyng Edward his gretter and his fadre. 1627J. Carter Plaine Expos. 85 They come farre short, not onely of some of their compeeres and greaters especially, but of many very base creatures. 1667Milton P.L. v. 172 Thou Sun, of this great World both Eye and Soule, Acknowledge him thy Greater. 1671― P.R. i. 279 He..first Refused on me his baptism to confer, As much his greater, and was hardly won.
Hence † ˈgreaterness, the condition or quality of being greater.
1625Gill Sacr. Philos. i. xi. (1635) 59 The working of God is infinite..for otherwise there should bee a greaternesse in being, and a lessenesse in working. c1705Berkeley Commonpl. Bk. Wks. 1871 IV. 485 Why should we judge her [i.e. the horizontal moon] to be greater? What connexion betwixt the same angle, further distant, and greaterness? |