| 释义 |
useful, a. and n.|ˈjuːsfʊl|
[f. use n. + -ful.]
Implied in the one early instance (1483) of usefulness, but app. not current till c 1600; cf. useless a.
A. adj.
1. a. Of persons: Having the ability or qualities to bring about good, advantage, benefit, etc.; helpful for any purpose; serviceable. Also of animals (cf. 2).
1595Shakes. John v. ii. 81, I am too high-borne to be propertied,..Or [a] vsefull seruing-man. 1646Verney Mem. (1907) I. 343 Women were never soe usefull as now. 1671Milton Samson 564 Now blind, disheartn'd,..quell'd, To what can I be useful? a1700Tak your Auld Cloak about ye ii. in Ramsay Evergreen, My Cromie is a useful cow. 1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 19 Especially when such an Adventurer is so useful to the Publick. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. ii. (1782) I. 49 If he had any opportunity of rendering himself either useful or agreeable. 1831Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 349 Baron Itzenplitz..wishes [to see] his children..useful for their country. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Market Harb. ix, Useful horses;..and seem pretty fit to go. Ibid., Very like hunters: remarkably useful horses indeed! 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 422 [He] was benevolently useful, as a landlord should be, in his county.
b. Theatr. (See quot.)
1824W. Irving T. Trav. ii. (1848) 187, I was enrolled among the number of what are called useful men; those who enact soldiers, senators, and Banquo's shadowy line.
c. Applied to an odd-job man. Austral. colloq.
1866R. Henning Let. 16 May (1966) 219 There are three men employed about the place [sc. a logging business]. The bullock-driver, the punt-man and a ‘generally useful’ man. 1900H. Lawson Middleton's Peter in Stories (1964) 1st Ser. 293 There were two rooms..attached to the stables. One was occupied by a man who was ‘generally useful’.
2. Of things, actions, etc.: Having the character or quality to be of use or utility; suitable for use; advantageous, profitable, beneficial.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xiv. 80 With a wound I must be cur'd. Draw that thy honest Sword, which thou hast worne Most vsefull for thy Country. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 183 Food no lesse pleasant and vsefull to Kine. 1644Milton Educ. 99 The usefullest points of grammar. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. x. 76 How to make a most useful Instrument of the Stars. c1737Swift Corr. (1913) V. 435, I cannot doubt of your being willing to encourage all useful inventions. 1752Hume Pol. Disc. iv. 67 Every thing useful to the life of man, arises from the ground. 1780Mirror No. 80, They..publish useful information to mankind. 1846Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. I. 197/2 We are not always to consider in our disquisitions what is pleasantest, but sometimes what is usefullest. 1871Jowett Plato IV. 309 Exercises..useful both in peace and war. 1875R. F. Martin tr. Havrez's Winding Mach. 8 We thus see that..the useful load exceeds the half of the total load. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 337 A steady reader in her own line, which she denominated ‘useful’.
absol.1802C. Findlater View Agric. Peebles 55 Admirers of the curious, as much as of the useful, in farming. 1818J. Foster Contrib. Eclectic Rev. (1844) I. 482 The useful was to him the summum bonum. 1836–8[see useless 1]. 1892Zangwill Bow Mystery 157 A man who has always preached the Useful day and night.
b. useful load (Aeronaut.), the difference between the maximum permitted weight of an aircraft and its weight when empty, including cargo, passengers, crew, fuel and (with some writers) fixed equipment such as radios also; similarly useful weight.
1909A. Berget Conquest of Air ii. iv. 205 A ‘useful weight’ in the form of fuel and oil to the extent of 80 kilogrammes. 1914Sphere 7 Mar. 298/2 The most remarkable of the new aeroplanes is the Sikorsky... It can carry a useful load of over a ton. 1978D. B. Thurston Design for Flying ix. 112 If the airplane is intended for the..private market, thin skin could be used and the weight saved converted to useful load.
c. Of a performer or performance: reasonably effective, fairly successful.
1955Amer. Speech XXX. 23 A horse with a seemingly excellent racing background will be described as good; and a horse the record of which..would seem good will be described as useful. 1959Listener 23 July 129/1 He..played a useful game of cricket..with a local league side. 1971N. Stacey Who Cares? i. 19, I had been a useful school sportsman and got into the first eleven at most sports at Dartmouth.
d. Of a woman's dress; practical, unostentatious; suitable for a variety of occasions.
1963Observer 3 Nov. 33/1 In the dress trade, ‘a useful little dress’ means one with no distinguishing characteristics; ‘romantic’ means ‘cleft to the waist’. 1968M. Jones Survivor i. 22 The dinner was arranged... She had dressed with restraint in a ‘useful’ black dress.
B. n.
1. A useful article. rare—1.
1662Petty Taxes 21 Metals, cloth, linen, leather, and other usefuls.
2. An odd-job person. Austral. colloq.
1898A. Joyce Homestead Hist. (1969) 41 Our friends had met with a trained carpenter in town, whom with his wife they had hired for {pstlg}20 a year, the man as general useful,..and his wife as cook. 1935K. Tennant Tiburon 37 Roman stepped out of the room next to the laundry of O'Brien's Hotel, where he was barman, yardman and general useful. a1963J. Fountain in ‘B. James’ Austral. Short Stories (1963) 277 Every boy..knew the..circumstances of..Maggie's affair with the useful from the hotel.
Hence ˈusefullish a., somewhat useful. rare—1.
1848Carlyle in Froude Life in London (1884) I. 421, I seem to them a desperate half mad, if usefullish fireman. |