| 释义 |
utility, n.|juːˈtɪlɪtɪ|
Also 5–6 vtilite (6 -ie), 6 utillitie (7 Sc. vtillatie), utilite, 7 -ie.
[a. OF. utilitei, utelite (1291), utilitet (12th c.), etc. (F. utilite), ad. L. ūtilitāt-, ūtilitās, f. ūtili-s utile a. Cf. Sp. utilidad, Pg. -idade, It. utilità.]
1. a. The fact, character, or quality of being useful or serviceable; fitness for some desirable purpose or valuable end; usefulness, serviceableness.
In frequent use c 1540–c 1650, and from c 1755. The constructions in the two earliest quots. are obsolete.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §26 The vtilite to knowe the Assenciouns in the rihte cercle. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 55 Maners of curacions..to be noted vnder compendiousnez to þe vtilite of helyng. c1440Gesta Rom. xciv. 424 (Add. MS.), I clad my seruaunte, that is, my manhode, nought but to vtterly vtilite and necessite. 1528R. Thorne in Hakl. Voy. (1589) 251 The commoditie and vtilitie of this Nauigation. c1566J. Alday tr. Boaystuau's Theat. World S ij, The wonderfull Invention, Utilitie and Dignitie of Printing. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 19 Where..the attractive pleasure and sweetenesse of speech, is not without some fruit nor void of utilitie. 1651Hobbes Leviathan iv. xliv. 349 The utility of Prayer for the Dead. 1758Johnson Idler No. 93 ⁋1 He discussed the utility..of the Islington turnpike. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 266 The circular court is a picturesque thought, but without meaning or utility. 1801S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 418 A cottage..more calculated for utility than ornament. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 71 The extent and utility of his public works. 1871Mozley Univ. Serm. vi. (1876) 124 The older poetical view brought in more the utility and active force of nature. 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 15 Everything which forms a part of wealth must be useful, or have utility.
b. In the phrase of (..) utility.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. iii. 524 Rootys smale of noon vtilite Cutte of. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.) 5 Fayre warkes of grete utylyte. 1598Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 139 Which thinke you to be of most vtilitie in the warres? 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. ii. ⁋32 This victory..was of no real utility. 1778Learning at a Loss II. 11 Five thousand other Instruments of Equestrian Utility. 1801S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 424 Those in whose hands..[life] is an engine of either private or public utility. 1831D. E. Williams Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence II. 42 The habit..is of the greatest utility. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 11 The two great objects of utility and splendour.
c. Philos. The ability, capacity, or power of a person, action, or thing to satisfy the needs or gratify the desires of the majority, or of the human race as a whole.
1751Hume Princ. Mor. v. 73 In common Life..the Circumstance of Utility is always appeal'd to. 1780Bentham Princ. Legisl. i. (1789) p. iii, An action then may be said to be conformable to the principle of utility..when the tendency it has to augment the happiness of the community is greater than any it has to diminish it. 1785Paley Moral & Pol. Philos. i. vi, Or must we give up our princple, that the criterion of right is utility? 1830Mackintosh Progr. Eth. Philos. vi. Wks. 1846 I. 194 A theory founded on Utility..requires that we should cultivate..those other habitual dispositions which we know..to be generally the source of actions beneficial to ourselves and our fellows. 1861Mill Utilit. ii. (1863) 9 The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle. 1883H. Sidgwick Pol. Econ. i. iii. 77 There is another difficulty lurking in the conception of Utility as a measure of wealth.
d. The intrinsic property of anything that leads an individual to choose it rather than something else; in game theory, that which a player seeks to maximize in any situation where there is a choice; the value of this, as (actually or notionally) estimated numerically.
1881F. Y. Edgeworth Math. Psychics p. vi, It is argued from mathematical considerations that the basis of arbitration between contractors is the greatest possible utility of all concerned. 1934Economica Feb. 53 Suppose..that we have a utility function given; that is to say, we know, for the individual in question, how much utility he would derive from any given set of quantities of the goods on the market. 1944von Neumann & Morgenstern Theory of Games i. 16 We feel..that one part of our assumptions at least—that of treating utilities as numerically measurable quantities—is not quite as radical as is often assumed in the literature. 1948Jrnl. Polit. Econ. LVI. 280/1 Choices among riskless alternatives are explained in terms of maximization of utility: individuals are supposed to choose as they would if they attributed some common quantitative characteristic—designated utility—to various goods and then selected the combination of goods that yielded the largest total amount of this common characteristic. 1960A. Rapoport Fights, Games, & Debates iv. 64 The more he worked, the more he would get and so the more utility would accrue to him on that account. The more he worked, however, the more tired he would get and the more negative utility would accrue to him on that account. 1965Papers Regional Sci. Assoc. XV. 162 The individual will tend to locate himself at a place whose characteristics possess or promise a relatively higher level of utility than in other places which are conspicuous to him. 1968G. Owen Game Theory vi. 133 This cannot be determined simply by measuring the increase and decrease of utility which this action causes to the two individuals, for..the units of utility scales are arbitrary and thus cannot be used for interpersonal comparisons. 1973Proc. R. Soc. B. CLXXXIV. 421 In such a calculus [of medicine] it is necessary to assume that it is possible to attach a measure of worth or value to any state of health, and for this measure we use the word utility. 1980A. J. Jones Game Theory iv. 178 If you assign a utility of -50 to the loss of $10, then it will not pay you to engage in this gamble if your utility for a gain of $20 is less than 75. Ibid. 180 One alternative possesses a larger utility than another because it is preferred, not the other way round.
†2. The quality of being advantageous or profitable, profit, advantage, use. Freq. const. of (a person, etc.). Obs.
In frequent use c 1535–c 1580, esp. coupled with profit.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. iii. 485 This wey is light and more vtilite. 1455Paston Lett. I. 365 Charges born and payd..for the avauncement of his conquest, the good and utilite of hym, of his seyd royaume and duchie forseid. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 120 This is ayenst your prosperite and utilite. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. vi. (Percy Soc.) 25 You shall, quod she, my scyence wel lerne, In tyme and space, to your gret utilite. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 9 §1 To the greate profete and vtilitie of a greate number of the Kynges Subjectes. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent Ded. ¶ iii b, What vtilitie foloweth the studie of Hystories. 1657Rec. Old Aberd. (New Spalding Club) I. 94 The hundreth merkis..left in legacie be..George Clerk..for the vse and vtillatie of the said cittie. 1698J. Keill Exam. Th. Earth 63 Choosing such..positions of things as bring with them the greatest good and utility to the Universe. 1752J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 238 Circuit Courts was [sic] introduced for the manifest Utility of the Lieges.
3. a. A useful, advantageous, or profitable thing, feature, etc.; a use. Chiefly in pl.
1483Caxton Cato a viij b, By the comyn wele of a londe is saued all synguler prouffytes and utylyties. 1489― Faytes of A. i. vi. 14 For the regarde of somme particuler vtilite. 1502Arnolde Chron. Index (1811) 6 That money..to be chosen..for necessites and vtylites of the same cite. 1541Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. B iij b, The scyence of the Nathomy is..nedefull to the Cyrurgyen for .iiij. vtylyties. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. (1595) 142 Iudge by your owne decernment..howe greatlie you are ledde awrie, in thus careleslie roaming vpon others vtilities. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. i. 496 If therefore there were no other fruite in the Historie..of the Indians, but this common vtilitie. 1659Pearson Creed i. 34 Which no man who considereth the uses and utilities of every species can deny. 1688Boyle Final Causes Nat. Things iii. 82 Of several of his creatures, whereof men..make some uses, they shall hereafter discover other utilities. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. ix. 196 The Knowledge of Nature, and the Utilities of common Life. 1800W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. (1843) I. 355 Genius never was remarkable for teaching the practical utilities. 1876Holland Seven Oaks xii. 169 It had lifted him above the bare utilities of a house, so that he could see the use of beauty. 1908S. E. White Riverman xxviii, Heinzman wanted the improvements..sold as a public utility to the highest bidder.
b. Pol. Econ. (See quots., and cf. 1 c.)
1848Mill Pol. Econ. i. iii. I. 56 What we produce..is always..an utility. Labour is not creative of objects, but of utilities. 1904R. T. Ely & Wicker Elem. Princ. Economics 81 A good or utility is anything which can satisfy a human want.
c. public utility: see public a. 2 i. Also simply utility. Hence, a company providing such a service or supply. In pl. also shares in such a company. chiefly N. Amer.
1930Daily Express 6 Sept. 2/6 Utilities joined in the forward movement, which gathered considerable momentum in the final dealings, and the closing was strong. 1935Economist 26 Jan. 195/1 Steel shares were merely steady, but utilities were inclined to take fresh heart... Mayor La Guardia indeed turned his attention this week from power utilities to the transit companies. 1936L. C. Douglas White Banners iii. 46 It was a new..sensation to be free of bill-collectors... You would have thought him another person than the..apologizer..who had abased himself before..the credit departments of the stores and the utilities. 1942Sun (Baltimore) 7 Mar. 20 Additional housing..within the limits of existing utilities..is immediately desirable. 1957[see Dow-Jones]. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 5/1 Toronto Hydro's request for a 700-foot smokestack on the..steam heating utility. 1974N.Y. Times 8 Dec. iv. 3/1 American Electric Power Co., the nation's largest privately owned utility.
4. a. Short for utility actor (sense 5 a). Also, the activity of a utility actor, the taking of any small part.
1803T. Wilkinson Let. in A. Mathews Mem. C. Mathews (1838) I. xvii. 359, I take it for granted in very full plays you will..not object to pantomine utility, being a lord mayor, a witch, &c. 1846G. A. a'Beckett Quizziology of Brit. Drama 10 The heavy man, who is paid thirty shillings a week for doing the ‘respectable utility’. 1885Jerome On the Stage 80 A ‘lead’ may get three pounds.., and a young ‘utility’ thinks himself very well off indeed on a guinea. 1889H. B. Baker London Stage II. 168 She was playing utility, that is to say, going on for anything, at the Park Theatre.
b. A utility vehicle (see sense 5 c (a) below). chiefly Austral. and N.Z.
1944Coast to Coast 1943 162 They walked..to where a fairly new utility was parked with one or two other cars and an old truck. 1949Automobile & Carriage Builders' Jrnl. Nov. 34 (caption) Two views of an Alvis Fourteen utility. 1960Guardian 28 Dec. 2/3, I bought a 1949 Jowett Bradford utility two years ago. 1961D. Stuart Driven iv. 40 He had come to the well in the utility and found the footmen washing their clothes. 1968K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 101 As he passed the bore he noticed a very battered looking utility parked there. 1971N.Z. Listener 8 Nov. 15/5 He got in the utility by Honi, who waited with the motor running. 1984Auckland Star 2 Mar. a3/7 A 54-year-old Southland man..died in a four-wheel drive utility accident.
c. A utility suit (see sense 5 c (c) below).
1945J. B. Priestley Three Men in New Suits ii. 12 His clothes were rather like yours. He must have been dressed in his best Utility. 1957J. Braine Room at Top xviii. 164 The suit was my demob Utility.
d. Computers. Short for utility program (see sense 5 a below).
1972Computers & Humanities VI. 277 There are..a number of natural-language utilities available, but often they do not fit exactly the user's research design. 1983Daily Tel. 30 Apr. 25/3 Commodore..has now produced a utility, called ‘simons basic’ which is both delightful and infuriating to use.
e. Short for utility room (see sense 5 a below).
1976Field 18 Nov. 948 (Advt.), Drawing room, dining room, study, cloakroom, kitchen, utility, etc.
5. attrib. passing into adj.:
a. utility value; (sense 3 c) utility bill, utility company, utility executive, utility pole, utility wire; (sense 4 a) utility-business; utility actor, an actor of the smallest speaking-parts in a play; utility area, a part of a house set aside for general use rather than for habitation; utility curve, a graph of a utility function; utility function, a mathematical function which ranks alternatives according to their utility to an individual; utility man, (a) a utility actor; (b) U.S., a substitute capable of taking any position in a baseball team (Webster, 1911); utility program Computers, one for carrying out routine tasks associated with the use of a computer; utility room, a room set aside for domestic appliances such as a boiler for a central heating system, a washing machine, etc., and for the storage of other equipment; utility routine = utility program above.
1860Cornh. Mag. II. 748 Known respectively as ‘eccentric comedian’ and ‘utility actor’.
1969‘E. Lathen’ Murder to Go (1970) xiv. 135 The new Hedstrom house..consisted of one spacious common room and assorted bedrooms, serviced by tiny utility areas. 1978Morecambe Guardian 14 Mar. 24/2 (Advt.), Accommodation comprises: entrance hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, bathroom/WC. Utility area.
1976National Observer (U.S.) 24 Jan. 13/3 Warmer-than-usual weather has reduced the schools' projected utility bills. 1984New Yorker 30 Jan. 48/1 Whether it's utility bills or telephone bills or taxes or health costs or heating costs, it seems that the cost of the average family raising their family is going up.
1879Era Almanack 46 The drudgery of ‘utility’ business.
1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 Jan. 18/3 The progress and prosperity of a community naturally is reflected in the fortunes of the utility companies whose duty it is to supply such essentials as light, water, power, [etc.]. 1980Amer. Speech LV. 54 Presumably, the utility companies..specify certain hours of the day as the peak hours.
1948Jrnl. Pol. Econ. LVI. 297/1 A single prize will be the optimum..if..every chord from the utility curve at the current income to the utility of a higher income is everywhere above the utility curve. 1969Utility curve [see indifference 8].
1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday iii. 59 Book-censors, Jew-haters, Negro-haters, landlords, manufacturers, utility executives, upholders of every sort of cause,..all wrapped themselves in Old Glory and the mantle of the Founding Fathers. 1979Time 8 Jan. 39/1 Says a utility executive in Iowa: ‘People have been had too many times.’
1934Utility function [see sense 1 d above]. 1977Dædalus Fall 84 Models now start from mathematical representations of personal choice (utility functions) where work and leisure stand in the ‘correct’ relationship to each other and where mathematics imposes a ‘correct’ income and substitution effect.
1849Theatrical Mirror 1 Oct. 37/1 He is a great friend of the utility-man's. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 383/1 At one of the theatres,..I eventually rose to a ‘general utility man’, at 12s. per week. 1860Cornh. Mag. II. 748 The leading lady..and the utility man will all act in the same way.
1961in Webster, His car sideswiped a utility pole. 1973Advocate-News (Barbados) 15 Feb. 4/2 The car fell into a three-foot gully and came to rest against a utility pole which kept it from overturning.
1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting i. 24 Utility programmes have been devised for the same reason as the autocodes. 1980S. Hockey Guide Computer Applications in Humanities ii. 29 Most computer centres have a utility program which makes copies of magnetic tapes.
1953C. Armstrong Catch-as-catch-Can xviii. 153 They were in a small lumber room, utility room, the Californian equivalent of a cellar. 1959Housewife Oct. 69/1 The utility room is fitted with a sink and drainer and also houses the fuel store and gas boiler. 1964G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? vi. 115 A partial answer comes from North America, where the treatment and utility rooms are increasingly made up of movable partitions. 1978Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 14/7 (Advt.), The accommodation comprises..rear hallway, wash house/utility room, [etc.].
1962Utility routine [see housekeeping n. 5]. 1980M. S. Wu Introd. Computer Data Processing with BASIC ix. 188 If an installation frequently receives data from various locations on small reels of magnetic tape, a utility routine may be written to combine the data from the short reels onto one large reel of tape prior to processing.
1926A. E. Taylor Plato xvi. 431 Our question is not what ‘art’ has the..greatest utility-value, but simply which sets up the most severe standard of truth and accuracy. 1974B. Pearce tr. Amin's Accumulation on World Scale I. i. 64 It is impossible to ‘measure’ statistically the advantage (or disadvantage) that the underdeveloped countries derive from international exchange, whether one looks at the matter from the angle of labor value or from that of utility value.
1968Listener 22 Aug. 235/1 Ugly poles carrying utility wires. 1973Sunday Advocate-News (Barbados) 25 Feb. 18/6 We experience a lot of damage done to roofs by overhanging trees over-hanging verandahs and low-hanging utility wires.
b. Of a dog, fowl, etc.: That is bred, reared, or kept to serve a useful end or object as distinct from purposes of beauty, display, show, etc.
1877G. Stables Pract. Kennel Guide 96 The Points of Utility Dogs, including the Newfoundland, the Collie [etc.]. 1903H. Francklin (title) Incubating and Rearing Utility Fowls. 1904Daily Chron. 10 Feb. 3/2 The utility poultry keeper.
c. Intended for use; generally useful; (passing into) merely functional; spec.: (a) of a motor vehicle: designed for carrying both passengers and goods; (b) of a player in a team game: able to play competently in more than one position (cf. utility man in sense 5 a above); (c) during and in the aftermath of the war of 1939–45, designating clothes and household goods made in a standardized form in accordance with an official allowance of materials (cf. austerity 4 b).
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 585/1 Combination Barrel and Utility Cart... Cart will pick up barrel or body in a moment. 1908Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 4/2 A utility vehicle..good for ten or even fifteen years' hard service. 1911Webster, Utility man. 1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 25 Apr. 20/2 (Advt.), 1000 Yards Utility Cloth, fast colors..Per yard, 20¢. 1920Car 3 Nov. 225/1 No greater mistake could be made than in the assumption that America's resources are limited to the production of ‘utility’ motor vehicles. 1942Daily Express 24 Mar. 4/1 (caption) Frankly, Meadows, can you see me in a utility suit? 1943Ann. Reg. 1942 32 Exempting so-called ‘utility’ cloth and clothing and boots and shoes from purchase tax. 1943Archit. Rev. XCIII. 3 An exhibition has recently been held of utility furniture and utility pottery. 1944F. Clune Red Heart 11 A utility truck stood at the edge of the landing-ground. 1947Jane's Fighting Ships 1946–47 57 Savage and ships of 5 later groups have been described officially as a ‘utility’ type. 1948Observer 8 Feb. 5/3 The dental profession..will..refuse to enter a service which..will lower the present high standard of dental treatment to a utility level. 1949Automobile & Carriage Builders' Jrnl. Nov. 49/1 The utility car, estate wagon or shooting brake has been standardized by some motor manufacturers. 1950RAC Guide & Handbk. 1950–51 52 The utility vehicle, shooting brake, or station wagon is not a class of vehicle known as such to the law. 1952M. Laski Village i. 14 Mrs. Wilson made the tea and then they both sat down on their camp-beds and sipped it out of thick white Utility cups. 1959W. Golding Free Fall iv. 100 No, madam, I'm sorry, we don't supply them at that price. This is a utility model. 1963Daily Tel. 13 Nov. 25 (heading) ‘Utility’ state opening without the Queen..Peers and M.P.s in ordinary dress. 1970Times 2 Nov. 14/8 They would be the centres, with Davies (a centre last year) on the right wing and Linnecar, a utility player, on the left. 1971E. Afr. Standard (Nairobi) 10 Apr. 2/2 Kadir, an intelligent utility half-back. 1974Country Life 26 Sept. 828 Utility clothes, furniture and household goods..were the wartime government's solution. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 16 Oct., Pickup trucks and four-wheel-drive utility vehicles have jumped in popularity in the West and may bid for a national status rivaling the van's. 1978Early Music Oct. 587/2 The selection of illustrations..ranges from fine illuminated manuscripts to simple ‘utility’ articles. 1984NZ Rugby News 9 May 2/2 Utility Laurie Holmes has shifted to Sydney. |