释义 |
irrevocable, a.|ɪˈrɛvəkəb(ə)l| Also 5 inrevocable, 7–8 irreˈvokable. [ad. L. irrevocābil-is, f. ir- (ir-2) + revocābilis, f. revocāre to recall: perh. in part through F. irrévocable (1357 in Godef. Compl.). Irrevokable follows Eng. revoke.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xii[i]. (Arb.) 130 Not content with the vsual Normane or Saxon word, would conuert the very Latine and Greeke word into vulgar French, as to say innumerable for innombrable, reuocable, irreuocable,..and such like, which are not naturall Normans nor yet French, but altered Latines. ] That cannot be recalled. 1. That cannot be called, brought, fetched, or taken back; that is beyond recall or recovery. (In reference to past time or events often with admixture of sense 2.)
1382Wyclif Ezek. xxi. 5 For I the Lord ledde out my swerd of his sheethe irreuocable [gloss or that may not be clepid aȝen]. 1490Caxton Eneydos xi. 42 Alas he..hath my loue entierly wyth hym, wherof inreuocable a yefte I doo make to hym. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 15 Sith that he is gone irrevocable. 1607Rowlands Guy Warw. 74 Irrevocable time is posting gone. 1706Rowe Ulysses iv. i. 1768 She is lost—most certain—gone irrevocable. 1865Kingsley Herew. xii, She sat..half wishing that the irrevocable yesterday had never come. 1866Liddon Bampt. Lect. vi. (1875) 345 Regarded historically these events belong to the irrevocable past. 2. That cannot be revoked, repealed, annulled, or undone; unalterable, irreversible. (The prevailing sense.)
1490Caxton Eneydos iv. 20 Bi the sentence irreuocable of theym [the gods]. 1575–85Abp. Sandys Serm. (Parker Soc.) 303 As a seal and sure pledge of his irrevocable promise. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. iii. 85 Firme, and irreuocable is my doombe, Which I haue past vpon her, she is banish'd. 1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. v. Wks. (1851) 141 The Laws of the Medes and Persians; which Laws were irrevocable. 1791Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 145 An hereditary aristocracy, assuming and asserting indefeasible, irrevokable rights and authority, wholly independent of the Nation. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. xxii. (1865) III. 33 This tenant-right was equivalent to actual possession; it was perpetual and irrevocable. 1880Mrs. Forrester Roy & V. I. 81 You need feel certain that her decision of to-night is irrevocable. |