| 释义 |
valuable, a. and n.|ˈvæljuːəb(ə)l|
Also 7 valewable, 7–8 valueable.
[f. value v. + -able.]
A. adj.
1. Of material or monetary value; having value for use or for exchange.
1589Nashe Pref. to Greene's Menaphon (Arb.) 8 Which being the effect of an vndescerning iudgement, makes drosse as valuable as gold. 1687Burnet Trav. iii. (1750) 127, I did not see the Gospel of St. Mark which is one of the valuablest Things of the Treasure. 1710Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 77 Which makes ‘tithes’ at least one fourth part less valueable to them, than they were to the Levitical Priesthood. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 53 A very valuable cabinet where the arrangement is very judicious, especially as to the coins and medals. 1776Trial Nundocomar 82/2 Do you know whether he kept jewels, or other valuable effects there? 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. i. i. 2 A commodity or a product is not valuable because it is useful; but it is valuable because it can only be procured by the intervention of labour. 1855Poultry Chron. III. 430, I have lately lost a valuable hen from a disease which is new to me. 1863Fawcett Pol. Econ. iii. xvi. 503 Gold, during the Middle Ages, was about sixteen times more valuable than the same weight of silver.
†b. Amounting to a reasonable sum; not merely nominal. Obs.
1613Bury Wills (Camden) 159 Vpon trust and confidence that they..shall demise the same at a valewable rent, and to the best profite.
c. valuable consideration: see consideration 6.
1638Sanderson Serm. (1682) II. 97 Some small trifle or other: which being of very little worth or use, and so not to be taken for a valuable consideration, may therefore be called nought or nothing. 1698in Sir H. Dalrymple Decis. (1792) 1 A decree..finding, that the bond was granted for no valuable consideration, and therefore discharging all execution thereupon for ever. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. 297 A valuable consideration is such as money, marriage, or the like, which the law esteems an equivalent given for the grant. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 64 Not even an alienation, for a valuable consideration, to a purchaser..will avoid it. 1898Ld. Harris in Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 7/1 Who will satisfy themselves that no valuable consideration has passed between the respective county clubs to bring about the transfer.
2. Having value or worth, of great use or service, to a person or for a purpose.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §182 King James..would often say, that his access to the Crown of England was the more valuable to him, as it redeem'd him from the subjection to the ill manners..of those Preachers. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iv. 164 These were the principal goods on board her, but we found besides what was to us much more valuable than the rest of the cargoe. 1851Carlyle Sterling iii. iv, I..saw most of the usual wonders,—the Pæstan Temples being to me much the most valuable. 1878Jevons Polit. Econ. 96 We may say that quinine is valuable for curing fevers,..or that water is valuable for putting out fires. 1883Law Times 20 Oct. 405/2 Young solicitors will find many hints valuable to them interspersed among its contents.
b. Possessed of qualities which confer value or bring into high estimation.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 146 Somewhat further, over heaps of stones of valewable portraictures, we mount towards the most lofty part of this Pallace. 1737H. Walpole in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 270, I should be glad of purchasing a good collection of y⊇ ancient Classicks, and other valuable authors. a1768Secker Serm. (1770) IV. xviii. 387 Yet we never..doubt of their having a real, though unknown, Subserviency to valuable Ends. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 173 If they should accord with the spirit of your very valuable Journal, you are at full liberty to insert them. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 248 At such a moment the ministers could not refuse to listen to any person who professed himself able to give them valuable information. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 81 No instrument of education is more valuable than arithmetic.
†c. Of persons: Entitled to consideration or distinction; estimable. Obs.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §65 [They] appear'd to be a good Number of very valuable Men, on whose behalf he had only Authority to conclude. 1703Hatton Corr. (Camden) II. 250 Mr. Pepys, who was a very valuable person,..is dead, and was yesterday buryed. 1727Swift To Young Lady Wks. 1755 II. ii. 49 A lady of your acquaintance married to a very valuable person. 1730Southall Treat. Buggs 3 The late Learned and truly Valuable Dr. Woodward..approv'd the Design.
†3. That can be valued; capable of having the value estimated. Obs. rare.
1627Sanderson Serm. (1682) I. 263 That sin..from which he hath once escaped without shame, or so much as valueable loss. 1690Locke Govt. i. ix. ⁋10 We are..now speaking..of Possessions and Commodities of Life Valuable by Money.
†4. Capable of being compared or equated in value with something. Obs.
1646Quarles Judgem. & Mercy Wks. (Grosart) I. 86/2 Is..a puffe of breath wee call life, valuable with his honour, in comparison of whom the very Angels are impure? 1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. ii. §14. 28 His Will..hath simply before it, for its object, a certain good valuable with the thing promised.
†5. Valid, sound. Obs.—1
1647N. Ward Simple Cobler 8 He that will rather make an irreligious quarell with other Religions then try the Truth of his own by valuable Arguments.
B. n. An article of worth or value. Usually in pl., valuable goods or possessions.
1775in Ash. 1797S. & H. Lee Canterb. T. I. 188 With such valuables and papers as he deemed most likely to secure him either impunity or revenge. 1829Lytton Devereux iii. v, I did not long wrestle with my pride before I obtained the victory, and sent all my valuables to the hammer. 1842R. I. Wilberforce Rutilius & Lucius 22 No one but had furnished himself with some valuable. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 123 Which the crews helped by throwing overboard their valuables. |