| 释义 |
progenitor|prəʊˈdʒɛnɪtə(r)|
Also 4–6 -our.
[ME. progenitour, a. obs. F. progeniteur (14th c. in Godef.), ad. L. prōgenitōr-em ancestor, agent-n. f. prōgign-ĕre to beget, f. prō, pro-1 1 a + gign-ĕre to beget.]
1. A person from whom another person, a family, or a race, is descended; an ancestor, a forefather.
[1347Rolls of Parlt. II. 180/1 En salvation de lui & des almes de ses progenitours.] 1382Wyclif 2 Tim. i. 3, I do thankyngis to my God, to whom I serue fro my progenitours. 1490Caxton Eneydos Prol. 4 The most renommed of alle his noble progenytours. 1542–5Brinklow Lament. (1874) 107 Let them consider howe tyrannously the bisshoppes kyngedome hath vsed their progenitours, Kynges of Englonde. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. To Rdr., The English-Saxon tongue which our Progenitors the English spake. 1742–3Ld. Lonsdale in Johnson's Debates 23 Feb. (1787) II. 508 Another principle of government which the wisdom of our progenitors established, was to suppress vice with the utmost diligence. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. vii. 251 Their fabulous progenitor, Thessalus, was called by some a son of Hercules. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 70 He supposes that in the course of ages every man has had numberless progenitors.
b. Biol. An ancestor or ancestral species of animals or plants.
1859Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1873) 108 We may believe that the progenitor of the ostrich genus had habits like those of the bustard. 1894H. Drummond Ascent of Man 240 The progenitors of Birds and the progenitors of Man at a very remote period were probably one.
2. fig.
a. A spiritual, political, or intellectual ‘ancestor’ or predecessor.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663) 103 We take them for our progenitors, who going before, have taught us the way to follow after. 1678R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1776) 310 All these worthy men are our progenitors, if we will but..become their disciples.
b. The original of which anything is a copy.
1875Scrivener Lect. Text N. Test. 5 Two several manuscripts which sprang from the same progenitor. 1883Glasgow Weekly Herald 5 May 3/2 What are precedents, and how do they originate without progenitors? |