| 释义 |
inferior, a. and n.|ɪnˈfɪərɪə(r)|
Also 6 -oure, 6–8 -our.
[a. L. inferiōr lower, comp. of inferus low. Cf. F. inférieur, 16th c. in Littré (also rare inferiore, 15th c.). (The 16–17th c. spelling inferiour followed words from AF. -our, F. -eur.)]
Lower: opposed in all senses to superior, and often antithetical to it in designating pairs of things, as ‘superior and inferior courts of law’.
A. adj.
1. Lower in position; situated below, or farther down than, something else; nether; subjacent. (Now chiefly in technical use; see also senses 3–8.)
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 255 The inferior Germany, towarde the weste, is abowte the floode callede Renus. 1517Domesday Inclos. I. 257 A messuage in Tynton inferior belongyng to John Richerdson. 1563T. Gale Enchirid. 13 a (Stanf.), The inferior ventricle receyuing the liuer, stomacke, splene, kidneyes. a1631Donne Epigr. (1652) 98 Here the swoln sea views the inferiour ground. 1751Falconer To Pr. of Wales 59 The soul..sails incumbent on inferior night. 1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 97 The heated elastic matter must remain longer in contact with the inferior than with the superior portion. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 297 The result would be the same if, the swiftness being equal, the inferior current had only a fourth of the volume of the superior. 1862Dana Man. Geology v. 576 The old Glacial drift..being observed in several places as an inferior deposit.
b. Const. to (that which is higher). rare.
1571Digges Pantom. i. xvii. E iij b, So that the vent or end..be inferior to the Fountaine whence it is deriued.
2. Lower in the stream of time; later. (Cf. descend v. 5, down adv. 15.)
1641Vind. Smectymnuus vii. 90 The Bishops of inferior times. 1894Daily News 20 Dec. 6/2 The year which has been chosen as the inferior limit.
3. Lower in degree, rank, importance, quality, amount, or other respect; of less value or consideration; lesser; subordinate.
1531Elyot Gov. i. i, In hym [man] shulde be no lasse prouidence of god declared than in the inferiour creatures. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 241 b, The chief of his nobilitie..beside merchauntes, and other inferior persones. 1606G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 38 The basest of their retinue, and the inferrior of their friends. 1607Norden Surv. Dial. A vj, Revenues..brought in..by the labours of inferiour tenants. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 822 The people worship the Sunne..the Moone also..but in an inferiour degree. 1754Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 13 Inferior courts are those whose sentences are subject to the review of the supreme courts. 1756Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 11 The body, or, as some love to call it, our inferiour nature. 1878Stewart & Tait Unseen Univ. iv. §146. 150 To obtain at least an inferior limit to the density of the ether.
b. With to († unto); = lower than, less than, not so good or great as; unequal to.
1535Coverdale Job xiii. 2 Nether am I inferior vnto you. 1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 29 A man farre inferior vnto them both in lerning, iugement, and vertew. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 20 The noyse not inferiour to a Cannon. 1706H. Maule Hist. Picts in Misc. Scot. I. 8 It had been nothing inferiour to them in beauty and profit. 1768Boswell Corsica Introd. (ed. 2) 9, I feel myself inferiour to the task. 1841Myers Cath. Th. iii. §48. 180 How inferior is it [the Koran] to any preceptive or prophetic portion of even the Hebrew Scriptures.
†c. With other constructions. Obs. rare.
1539Tonstall Serm. Palm Sund. (1823) 7 He was made inferiour vnder angels. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 15 The Elephant is a beast..little inferiour from humaine sense.
4. In a positive or absolute sense (admitting comparison with more and most): Of low degree, rank, etc.; in mod. use esp. in reference to quality: Of no great value or excellence; comparatively bad, poor, mean.
(In early instances, more inferior may be regarded simply as a double comparative = inferior.)
1531Elyot Gov. i. i, Begynnyng at the moste inferior or base, and assendynge upwarde. 1699Garth Dispens. ii. 17 I'le calmly stoop to more inferiour things. 1714J. Fortescue-Aland Pref. Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 34 It [English Law] provides for the Security and Happiness of every Individual, tho' never so inferior. a1745Swift (Seager), The black A more inferiour station seeks, Leaving the fiery red behind. 1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. I. 265 The hand..did but its duty, and must have done the same thing.. for the most inferior of his fellow creatures. 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 413 Richard Masters..was too inferior a man to deal properly with such an outbreak. 1878Gladstone Primer Homer 14 The country with which he shows so inferior an acquaintance.
b. adverbially. In a lower position.
1597tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 22/2 It is situated more inferior, wher all the fibers of the Scrotum doe end.
5. Astron.
a. Applied to those planets (Venus and Mercury) whose orbits lie within that of the earth (originally, according to the Ptolemaic astronomy, as having their spheres below that of the sun).
b. inferior conjunction: see conjunction 3.
c. inferior meridian: that part of the celestial meridian which lies below the pole; so inferior passage (of the meridian), etc.
1658Phillips s.v., Inferiour Planets are those which are placed below the Globe of the Sun. 1787Bonnycastle Astron. ii. 26 The two first, because they move within the earth's orbit, are called inferior planets. 1833Herschel Astron. viii. 253 The inferior conjunction will happen when..the planet has reached a point between the sun and earth. 1834M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xiii. (1849) 105 Once under the superior and once under the inferior meridian. 1854Moseley Astron. x. (ed. 4) 47 Let the altitude of the star be observed..at the time of its inferior passage.
6. Bot. Growing below some other part or organ; said of the calyx when growing below or free from the (superior) ovary, and of the ovary when adherent to the sides of the (superior) calyx so as to be below the lobes of it.
[1765Lee Introd. Bot. Gloss., Inferus flos, Flowers whose Receptacle are situated below the Germen.] 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. v. 55 The greater number of plants..have the germ inclosed within the flower; these are called inferior flowers as inclosing or being below the germ. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. Introd. 25 The difference between a superior and inferior calyx consists only in the cohesion of that organ with the ovarium in the one case, and its separation from it in another. 1857Henfrey Bot. §285 The Bacca, or true berry, differs from the nuculanium only in being inferior, so that it is crowned by the withered teeth of the calyx. 1880Gray Struct. Bot. (ed. 6) 416/2 An inferior ovary is one with adnate or superior calyx.
7. Anat. and Zool. Applied to parts or organs situated below others of the same kind (distinguished as superior), or below the usual or normal position.
[1563: see 1.] 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 314 Eyes..Inferior..When they are placed on the lower side of the head. Ibid. 336 Wings..Inferior. The posterior wings are so denominated if the anterior wings, when at rest, are placed upon them. 1840E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. (1842) 39 The Inferior Maxillary Bone.—The lower jaw is the arch of bone which contains the inferior teeth. Ibid. 349 The inferior Vena Cava is formed by the union of the two common iliac veins. 1878Foster Phys. iii. i. 392 The latter degenerate from the inferior cervical ganglion below upwards to the superior cervical ganglion above.
8. Printing. Applied to small letters or figures cast or made to range at the bottom of the ordinary letters, in a line of type, as in H2, CnH2n–2.
1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., Inferior Letters, small letters which are cast on the lower part of the body, e.g. a e i o u—the reverse of ‘superior’ letters— a e i o u.
B. n.
1. A person inferior to another (in rank, or in some respect specified or implied); one who ranks below another; one of less consideration, attainments, etc.; a subordinate. (Commonly with possessive pronoun; cf. better A. 7.)
1502W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iii. xxiv. 217 He may nat very worthely exalte hym selfe aboue other ne vylypende his inferyoure or the poore. c1530L. Cox Rhet. (1899) 46 Superyours whiche haue power to make lawes to the inferiours. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 4, I have not shoun mi self so surli towards mi inferiors. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 524 The Governours have absolute rule over their inferiours. 1754Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. xiii. 344 Love towards Inferiors is Courtesy and Condescension. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. ix. (1877) 194 He finds out how much harder it is to be fair to an equal than ever so generous to an inferior.
2. A thing inferior to another; something of less amount, subordinate importance, etc.; † also formerly (in pl.), things of this lower world, sublunary affairs or events (cf. inferial 1).
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xiv. [xv.] (Arb.) 137 All aboue the number of three are but compounded of their inferiours. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 461 And such is he, that doth affirm the Stars To have no force on these inferiours. 1658tr. Porta's Nat. Magic i. viii. 13 Whosoever is rightly seen in all these things, he will ascribe all these inferiours to the stars as their causes. 1871M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. viii. 247 The..Manor..had been the manorial inferior of the lords of Ashridge.
3. Printing. An inferior letter: see A. 8.
1884Southward Pract. Printing (ed. 2) 17 The distinction between ordinary letters and superiors or inferiors is found in the unusually large white space at the top or bottom of them respectively. |