| 释义 |
urgency|ˈɜːdʒənsɪ|
[f. next (see -ency), or ad. late L. urgentia. Cf. It. urgenza, Sp. and Pg. urgencia, and prec.]
I.
1. a. The state, condition, or fact of being urgent; pressing importance; imperativeness.
1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 48 §6 If the importaunce or urgency of the cause..so require. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. viii. §8 Only in case of so great vrgency. 1624Impeachm. Dk. Buckhm. (Camden) 129 Alleadgeing the urgency of the present service. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 63, I told him the Urgency of my Occasions. 1793Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 96 The ascertaining of this point becomes a matter of present urgency. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xi, The urgency of your circumstances. 1833I. Taylor Fanat. i. 7 There are..motives..of far greater force, and these..have a peculiar urgency in reference to the present moment. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt xxv, I will not wait for the urgency of necessity. 1877Erichsen Surg. I. 13 The four cases of extreme surgical urgency.
b. spec. (See quot. 1884.)
1881E. W. Hamilton Diary 14 Mar. (1972) I. 116 In consequence of these tactics on the part of the Tories, the Government of course failed this afternoon to get the necessary majority to vote urgency. 1883May Treat. Parlt. (ed. 9) 383 By the aid of these rules of urgency, a serious political crisis had been overcome. 1884Imp. Dict. IV. 529 In parliament, urgency is when, by a vote of three to one in a house of not less than 300 members, a measure is declared urgent in the interest of the state.
2. Pressure by importunity or entreaty; urgent solicitation; insistence.
1611Cotgr., Importunite, importunitie, vrgencie, earnestnesse. 1735Swift Gulliver's Let. to Simpson ⁋1 By your great and frequent urgency, you prevailed on me to [etc.]. 1782F. Burney Cecilia vii. iv, This confession..was torn from her by..[Delville's] impetuous urgency. 1828Lytton Pelham III. x, In spite of all the urgency and entreaties of my letters for a reply. 1882T. Mozley Remin. Oriel College, etc. I. Introd. 4 At his encouragement and urgency I stood for a Fellowship.
3. Stress of wind, weather, etc.
1660Burney κέρδ. Δῶρον (1661) 12 There was never any tender nightingale so preserved in the urgencie of the weather. 1859W. M. Thomson Land & Book I. 66 Neither heavy weights.., nor the importunate urgency of the wind, can sway it [sc. a palm-tree] aside from perfect uprightness.
4. Persistence, eagerness. rare—1.
a1677Barrow Serm. xvi. Wks. 1686 III. 184 And why with less expedition or urgency should we persue the certain means of our present security?
5. Impelling or prompting force or quality.
1816Scott Antiq. xxxvi, What she has told you..from no apparent impulse but the urgency of conscience. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 281 The urgency of desire and devotion. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola ii. xxx, The new urgency of this habitual thought brought a new suggestion.
II.
6. An urgent need or situation.
1647May Hist. Parl. ii. i. 11 Collections through the Kingdom being too slow for such an urgency. 1695Locke Further Consid. Value Money 58 The accidental difference..is sometimes (but rarely) two pence in five shillings, or somewhat more in great urgencies. 1820Keats Isabella xxix, With sudden speed,..Because of some great urgency and need In their affairs. 1832Rolls of Parlt. Index 467/2 Agrees to respite the Levy..for Two Years,..unless any Urgency should arise.
7. A driving or constraining impulse or motive.
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xx. 76 Pinched betwixt the sense of poverty and quick urgencies of Devotion. 1822Good Study Med. I. 343 The patient..will still perhaps be tormented with..a perpetual urgency to expulsion. c1830Chalmers Lect. Romans lxix. (1840) 346 Evil might ensue from unbridled and unreasonable urgencies of talk upon this subject. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts viii, A superstitious reverence for his guest's genius, and its various urgencies.
8. pl. Earnest representations or entreaties; importunities.
1823Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 376 We..met, and after the urgencies of each on the other, I consented to undertake the task. 1877‘H. A. Page’ De Quincey xvii. II. 40 Books..to be returned, in answer to the urgencies of librarians. 1883R. Broughton Belinda iii. v, Belinda,..despite the warm urgencies of the..strangers, retires in favour of her visitors.
III. 9. attrib., as urgency order, urgency pledge, urgency rate, etc.
1881E. W. Hamilton Diary 14 Mar. (1972) I. 116 Another piece of news which took one by surprise was Sir S. Northcote's manifesto deprecating resort to the urgency rules of which Mr. Gladstone had given notice for supply this evening. 1883May Treat. Parlt. (ed. 9) 383 It became necessary to revive the urgency resolution of the 3rd February 1881. 1890Lunacy Act §11 In cases of urgency where it is expedient..that the alleged lunatic should be forthwith placed under care and treatment, he may be received and detained..upon an urgency order. 1891Pall Mall G. 7 April 5/2 It is said Mrs. Cathcart is confined under an urgency order. 1898Morley in Daily News 14 Feb. 3/7 The Press agencies..paid what is called an urgency rate—that is about, I think, twenty or thirty times higher than the ordinary Press rate. 1906R. Whiteing Ring in the New 47 Taking in urgency pledges after the closing of the pawn-shops. |