| 释义 |
▪ I. instance, n.|ˈɪnstəns|
Forms: 4–6 instaunce, 5 instauns, 5–6 instans, 4– instance.
[a. F. instance (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) eagerness, anxiety, solicitation, a judicial process, a new argument rebutting the reply to a former argument, formerly also an instant of time, ad. L. instāntia (1) a being present, presence, (2) urgency, earnestness in supplication, (3) a pleading or process in a court of justice (Ulpian), (4) in med. Schol. L. an objection to a general statement, an instance to the contrary, transl. Gr. ἔνστασις (Buridan, c 1350, In Metaphysicen Aristotelis Quæstiones: see Prantl): f. instānt-em instant a.]
I. Urgency; pressure; urging influence.
1. a. Urgency in speech or action; urgent entreaty, solicitation; earnestness; persistence. arch., exc. in phr. at the instance of (a person), at the solicitation, suit, instigation, or suggestion of.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 26 At þe prayere and instaunce of oþer. 1382Wyclif Judith iv. 8 Al the puple criede to the Lord with gret instaunce. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 176 The Kyng compelled..on the othir party be instauns of the lordes. 1526Tindale Eph. vi. 18 Watch thervnto with all instance and supplicacion. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xix. 23 b, Declaryng unto them..that at the instaunce and request of [etc.]. 1642Rogers Naaman 31 The instance and unweariednesse of the besieging army hath battered downe the forts. 1664Jer. Taylor Dissuas. Popery ii. ii. §4 The French Embassador.. made instance for restitution of the Chalice to the Laity. 1770Junius Lett. xxxvi. 173 The unhappy man, who yields at last to such personal instance and solicitation. 1851Hussey Papal Power i. 29 The Emperor, at the Pope's instance summoned Flavianus to Rome. 1866D. Greenwell, Ess. 175 The reverend gentleman labours his point with strong instance and perseverance.
†b. rarely at (in) the instance of (a thing). Obs.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 219 b/1 Wherfore mayst not thou atte instaunce of my merytes and prayers be meued to pennaunce. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lvi. [lviii.] 195, I praye you, in the instaunce of loue and peas, to conuey me to speke with the kynge.
†c. pl. Urgent entreaties, repeated solicitation. [Cf. F. instances.] Obs.
1647–8Sir C. Cotterell Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 34 To satisfy their instances and complaints. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §50 The Parliament made many sharp instances ‘that the King might be deliver'd into their hands’. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. iv. vi. §3 At the earnest instances and fervent intreaties of Balak. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) IV. xxxvii. 279 Tiberius..thought it decent to interfere for her in a letter; but his instances were sternly rejected.
†2. Something which urges or impels; impelling motive; cause. Obs.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. ii. 25 Tell him his Feares are shallow, without instance. 1602― Ham. iii. ii. 192 The instances that second Marriage moue, Are base respects of Thrift, but none of Loue. 1665Evelyn Corr. 16 June, His Royal Highness being safe becomes a double instance of rejoicing to us.
II. Instant time.
†3. A being present, presence; the present time.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. vi. 135 (Camb. MS.) Þou ne shalt nat demyn it as prescience of things to comyn, but þou shal demyn it moore ryhtfully, þat it is science of presence, or of Instaunce. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 83 The examples Of euery Minutes instance (present now) Hath put vs in these ill-beseeming Armes.
†4. An instant, a moment. Obs.
1631North's Plutarch, Add. Lives (1657) 931 Immediatly they pulled out the spill of the Dart, and at that instance he gave up the ghost. 1642Perkins' Prof. Bk. xi. §730. 319 The attornement cannot be so soone done but that there shall bee an instance betweene the grant and the attornement. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §11 Those continued instances of time which flow into thousand yeares. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 144 We hold time to be made out of nows or instances.
III. In Scholastic Logic, and derived senses.
†5. A case adduced in objection to or disproof of a universal assertion (= med.L. instantia, Gr. ἔνστασις). Obs.
1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 115 A marvelous instance Against all dalliance. c1590Marlowe Faust. v. 134, I am an instance to prove the contrary. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. xiv. §2 Against the former of these two constructions instance hath sundry ways been given. 1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. ii. i, I can repel that paradox..of those, which hold the face to be the index of the mind..for instance I will now give you the particular and distinct face of every your most noted species of persons. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. ii. §3 It is almost without instance contradictory. Ibid. ii. xiii. §3 To conclude upon an enumeration of particulars, without instance contradictory, is no conclusion, but a conjecture. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Instance,..a new Objection in School disputes to destroy the Solution which the Respondent has made to the first Argument.
6. a. A fact or example brought forward in support of a general assertion or an argument, or in illustration of a general truth. Hence, any thing, person, or circumstance, illustrating or exemplifying something of a more general character; a case, an illustrative example. Also, in broader sense, a case occurring, a recurring occasion. † to give or make instance; = instance v. 2.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 36, I will but give you an instance of the same. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 156 Full of wise sawes, and moderne instances. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 101 Hee adds, that many miracles are heere done, and first gives instance in the person of the Marques of ―. 1675Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. vi. 117 Did not you confess that they were able..to do the works of common Grace? and that in abundance of instances? a1682Sir T. Browne Misc. Tracts (1684) 46 Theophrastus..making instance in the Olive, hath left this Doctrine unto us. 1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 250, I thought him a very great instance of continency. 1790Paley Horæ Paul. Rom. i. ii This is an instance of conformity. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. iv. 57 Noy..is an instance that mere knowledge is not true wisdom. 1860Abp. Thomson Laws Th. Introd. 19 Without something more than the mere form, there can be no instance of a law, an instance being the presence of the law in an object capable of containing it. 1874Green Short Hist. iv. §4. 189 We may take..a foreign instance to illustrate this fundamental point in our municipal history.
b. for instance: (a) for example, as an instance of what has been said.
1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 19 The proof of this I found by looking on the Stars.., for instance, there is a little Star call'd Auriga [etc.]. 1723Chambers tr. Le Clerc's Treat. Archit. I. 30 It..can never happen, unless in the inside of a Building: for instance, of a Dome, or the like. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. iv. (1870) §326 The daily motion of the Earth is very different in different parts—at the equator and at a pole, for instance. 1885Lyell's Stud. Elem. Geol. (ed. 4) 20 Deposits..are still in progress at many points, as, for instance, at the mouth of the Var.
(b) As n., an example. Freq. in phr. to give (one) a for instance. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1959in Amer. Speech (1962) XXXVII. 202 We'll give you a couple of ‘for instances’ here... Carpets that sold for $199.95 selling for $129. 1961Easton (Pa.) Express 10 July 20/4 A forinstance is the case of a Ring Lardner story he included in an anthology of humorous talks. 1966Punch 25 May 772/3 ‘Name us a for-instance, Sid, mate,’ suggested Jack abstractedly... ‘Only now and again the chat round here gets a bit difficult to pin down.’ 1978New Yorker 26 June 26/2 ‘I'll give you a for instance’, a man named Irving Goltz told us... ‘My real name was Irving. For a while there, they called me Sidney, and then, all of a sudden, they were calling me Sussy. Don't ask me why.’
†c. Any particular or point characteristic of or included in something general or abstract; a detail, circumstance. Obs.
1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Ep. Ded. 4 All the instances of morality serve man's naturall and politicall ends. 1732Law Serious C. xvi. (1761) 282 Many people live in all the instances of pride. 1737Whiston Josephus, Hist. i. vii. §4 Nor did they leave off the instances of their divine worship. a1745Swift Diffic. knowing one's self Wks. 1745 VIII. 249 To pursue the heart of man through all the instances of life, in all its several windings and turnings.
†7. Something which proves or indicates; a proof, evidence; a sign, token, mark. Obs.
1590Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 60 These droppes are not signes of sorrowes, but instances of content. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1511 Cheeks neither red, nor pale, but mingled so, That blushing red, no guiltie instance gaue. 1607Heywood Wom. Kilde w. Kindn. Wks. 1874 II. 120 What instance hast thou of this strange report? 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. ix, I beg you to accept a guinea as a small instance of my gratitude. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ii, [She] gave the first instance of her kindness by endeavouring to revive those of her friend.
IV. In legal use, and phrase thence derived. [From L. instantia in Ulpian.]
8. a. A process in a court of justice, a suit. court of first instance, court of primary jurisdiction. [Cf. Fr. tribunal de première instance.]
1661Bramhall Just Vind. vii. 206 To seek for a remedy of these abuses at Rome, was such an insupportable charge, by reason of three instances and three sentences necessary to be obtained. 1681Stair Form of Process 3 Processes are brought in before the Lords..some in the first instance, some in the second. 1684Sir G. Mackenzie Inst. iv. iii, If there has been a Debate in the first instance, (for so we call the action before the Decreet). 1692Earl of Nottingham in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. ii. 28 The Judges in the first instance are sometimes of the number of the Commissioners upon the Appeale. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 151 The Instance of a Cause is said to be that Judicial Process, which is made from the Contestation of a Suit, even to the Time of pronouncing Sentence in the Cause, or till the end of three years. 1860Trench Serm., Rev. ii. 3 (1861) 174 There lies an appeal to a tribunal of higher instance in Heaven. 1865Spectator 25 Feb. 199 The loser is seldom satisfied with the decision of a Court of first instance. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. I. 337 Any court, be it a State court of first instance or the Federal court of last instance.
b. instance court, a branch of the former Admiralty court, having jurisdiction in cases of private injuries to private rights occurring at sea or closely connected with maritime subjects and in contracts of a maritime nature. See admiralty 4. instance side of the court, a district court of the United States sitting in the exercise of its ordinary jurisdiction in admiralty to determine cases of the same kind.
1802(title) Formulare Instrumentorum: or, a Formulary of..Standing Orders used in the High Courts of Admiralty..of Prize and Instance. 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 189 The Court of Admiralty is twofold; the Instance Court, which takes cognisance of contracts made and injuries committed on the high seas; and the Prize Court. 1863H. Cox Instit. ii. xi. 573 The Instance Court has cognizance of maritime causes arising upon the sea or in parts out of the reach of the common law.
9. Sc. Law. See quot. 1693.
1693Stair Inst. Law Scotl. iv. iii. §22 An Instance is that which may be insisted in at one dyet or course of Probation. 1861W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Diets of Compearance, The indictment, or the criminal letters, must be called on the precise day to which the accused is cited..otherwise the instance perishes, and a new libel must be raised. Ibid., Where the prosecutor is absent, the Court may desert the diet, and thus the instance will be lost, and no farther proceedings can take place on that libel.
10. Hence, in the first instance: as the first step in proceeding; in the first place.
a1676Hale Hist. Com. Law i. (1779) 11 The statutes..were not in the first instance drawn up in the form of acts of parliament; but the petition and the answer were entred in the parliament rolls, and out of both..the act was drawn up. 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. viii. 108 The penalty is in the first instance, corrective not penal. 1880Muirhead Gaius iv. §170 The praetor turned his attention to the matter and introduced interdicts of another sort, which we call secondary, because they are had recourse to only in the second instance. Mod. I applied to the local post office in the first instance, and then to the Secretary at the General Post Office: I had to write thrice and wait five weeks for an explanation.
▪ II. instance, v.|ˈɪnstəns|
[f. prec. n. With sense 1 cf. OF. instancier to plead.]
I.
†1. trans. To urge, entreat urgently, importune. Obs.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 645 The Kynge sent..vnto the forenamed Iohn..& hym by many meanys instaunsyd to leue the company of the lordys. 1515Plumpton Corr. 211, I instaunced & desired you to shew your fatherly kindnes unto my poore wife & me. 1611Florio, Instare, to instance, to vrge, to presse with diligence, to importune. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I 30 To carry his Majesty their Prince into Spain, to the end he might be enforced, and instanced in the Romish Religion. 1736[see instancing below].
†b. To urge (things). Obs. rare.
1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. lxxxix. (1612) 363 So many Incantations, lyes, feares, hopes instanced shee..As lastly did the non-plust Nunne vnto her Charmes agree.
II.
2. intr. To cite an instance, to adduce an example in illustration or proof. Const. in (the example adduced), rarely upon (the matter illustrated); with indirect passive, to be instanced in, to be cited or adduced as an instance. Now rare.
1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 259, I say, that generally (to instance first of all in the Pope) that his catholike majestie, will have him [etc.]. 1624Gataker Transubst. 8 Hee instanceth in that very particular that wee now treate of. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. (1650) 230 It were easie to instance, but charity bids me forbeare. a1670Hacket Cent. Serm. (1675) 549 The victory over death after that bloudy passion, which I shall instance upon in this verse. 1736Butler Anal. i. vi. 153 Which is the fallacy instanced in by the ancients. 1789G. White Selborne (1853) II. xxiv. 233 It would be needless to instance in sheep which constantly flock together. 1827C. Wordsw. Chas. I 113 note, To instance merely in one short work. 1882C. Short in Amer. Jrnl. Philol. III. 151 We will instance in a single writer, Walton.
†b. Of a thing: To receive illustration, be exemplified. Obs. rare.
a1667Jer. Taylor (Webster 1864), This story doth not only instance in kingdoms, but in families too.
3. trans. To illustrate, prove, or show, by means of an instance; to exemplify; to exhibit. Now rare.
1608D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 44 b, I coulde instance the truth of this assertion vpon many. 1627F. E. Hist. Edw. II in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 49 Main reasons are given, probable enough to instance the necessity of his fall. 1769Goldsm. Rom. Hist. (1776) I. 484 Without uttering a word, or instancing the least civility. 1783M. W. W. Grenville Let. to Ld. Temple 28 Mar. in Dk. Buckhm. Crt. Geo. III (1853) I. 213 This he instanced in the American war, and in the riots of 1780. 1842–3Grove Correl. Phys. Forces 34 The above doctrine is beautifully instanced in the experiment of Thilarier.
4. To cite as an instance or example; to mention in illustration. In imperative = ‘Take as an instance’; but here perhaps orig. the n.: cf. witness.
1622[E. Misselden] Free Trade 64 Other like dispensations of Statutes I might instance. 1645Boate Irel. Nat. Hist. (1652) 174 Yet it hath happened that..abundance of snow hath fallen, instance that of the year 1635. a1725Pope Observ. Homer's Catal. (Seager), He proceeds to instance several others who..have no farther notice taken of them throughout the poem. 1822R. G. Wallace 15 Yrs. India 304 Some of the customs are curious, but only one or two can be instanced. 18..H. Spencer Induct. Biol. (L.), The arousing of a thought or feeling, always involves the overcoming of a certain resistance..instance the fact that during nervous prostration [etc.]. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 148, I may instance olive oil, which is mischievous to all plants.
†5. To indicate, point to. Obs.
1616J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. viii. 366 Others bethought them that this noble scheone instancd Canac, and Ethelta the queene.
Hence ˈinstanced ppl. a.; ˈinstancing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1606Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. xci. 370 Not lother, did æneas, to instancing Dido tell His Cities sack. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. v. 437 That worthy Divine did not heedfully observe the great difference betwixt these instanced degrees. 1736Eliza Stanley tr. Hist. Pr. Titi 106 There passed between them a little Scuffle of Instancings and Refusings. |