| 释义 |
whatever, pron. and a.|hwɒtˈɛvə(r)|
Also poet. whate'er |hwɒtˈɛə(r)|; 6–7 whatere.
[Orig. two words, what A., B. and ever adv. 8 e.]
1. interrog. An emphatic extension of what, used in a question (direct or indirect), implying perplexity or surprise. Now colloq.
(More properly written as two words: see ever adv. 8 d.)
a. pron.
13..Seuyn Sag. (W.) 3514 Son, what may al this noys be,..Whateuer sal it sygnyfy? 14..in Anglia XXVII. 285 Scho..thoght: what euer menes þis message to me. c1440York Myst. xxiii. 85 Petrus. Brethir, what euere ȝone brightnes be? 1823Spirit Publ. Jrnls. 409 Whatever possessed her, I know no more than the child unborn. 1856F. E. Paget Owlet of Owlst. xiv. 143 ‘Gracious heart alive, whatever in all the world was that?’ asks one. 1880Mrs. Oliphant He that will not etc. xxiii, Whatever can you want to emigrate for?
b. adj.
Mod. Whatever [or What ever] contrivance is that? I wonder whatever [or what ever] queer thing he'll do next.
2. As compound relative, in a generalized or indefinite sense: see ever adv. 8 e. (Occas. with correl. demonstrative following.)
a. pron. Anything at all which, anything that; sometimes contextually (esp. poet.), all that, everything that.
c1375Cursor M. 321 (Fairf.) Quat euer þe haly gaste wille, Þe fader and sone wil tyte fulfil. c1450Godstow Reg. 31 Holdynge ferme & stable what euyr he wolde do ther-with. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 228 Quhatever sik men dois, it is comperit to the dede of a beste. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 39 Quhat euer I haif, all that is thyne. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 623 Being mou'd he [sc. the boar] strikes, whatere is in his way. 1671Milton P.R. i. 149 Whose constant perseverance overcame Whate're his cruel malice could invent. 1726Swift Gulliver iv. v, It is a Maxim among these Men, That whatever has been done before may legally be done again. 1832H. Martineau Life in Wilds vii. 88 In a few months we shall have stores of whatever we want. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts i, We'll lay in whatever you want to-morrow.
b. adj. (sing. or pl., of things or persons): Any..at all which (or who), any..that; sometimes (poet.), all or every..that.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 343 Whatever reasoun men maken of Crist, of Petir, or oþer good ground, it goiþ opinli aȝen sich a pope. 1382― Ezek. xxxiii. 12 The riȝtwijsnesse of a iust man shal not delyuere hym, in whateuer day he shal synne. c1449Pecock Repr. iv. viii. 463 What euer gouernaunce God in his Holi Scripture of the Newe Testament blameth. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 29 Quhateuir thing the handis of men had twechet,..frome al sik thay absteined mony dayes thaireftir. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. vi. 22 What-ever successive Duration, shall be bounded at one end, and be all past and present, must come infinitely short of Infinity. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 113–117 Whatever fruits in different climes were found,..Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear... Whatever sweets salute the northern sky..; These, here [sc. in Italy] disporting, own the kindred soil. 1821–2Shelley Chas. I, ii. 374 They will hear homilies of whatever length Or form they please. 1887Goldw. Smith in Contemp. Rev. July 3 The Governor-General has been stripped of whatever little authority he retained.
3. Introducing a qualifying dependent clause equivalent to a conditional or disjunctive clause, often with verb in subjunctive (whatever happen = ‘if any (sort of) thing happen’, ‘whether one thing or another happen’).
a. pron. = ‘No matter what’; frequently implying opposition (equivalent to a conditional clause with though): = ‘Notwithstanding anything that’.
As predicate sometimes (esp. of persons) expressing quality or character, and thus approaching a pred. adj. (cf. what A. 17). Often with ellipsis (whatever its merits = ‘whatever its merits may be’).
13..Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xlix. 344 Whon þe þef passeþ quyt a-way, Þe trewe mon haþ schome, what-euer men sai. a1425Cursor M. 11143 (Trin.) But what euer he had in þouȝt Mis-likyng chere had he nouȝt. 1559Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade i, Whateuer it were this one poynt sure I know. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 100 Take no repulse, what euer she doth say. c1600― Sonn. cxiii. 11 Whatere thy thoughts, or thy hearts workings be, Thy lookes should nothing thence, but sweetnesse tell. 1600― A.Y.L. ii. vii. 109 What ere you are That in this desert..Loose, and neglect the creeping houres of time. 1606― Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 77 æne. If not Achilles sir, what is your name? Achil. If not Achilles, nothing. æne. Therefore Achilles: but what ere, know this. 1623Heminge & Condell 1st Folio Shaks. A 3, But, what euer you do, Buy. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 162 Whatever doing, what can we suffer more..? 1668Dryden Secret Love i. iii, Phil. And yet, there is a thing, which time may give me The confidence to name. Lys. 'Tis yours whatever. 1697― æneis vi. 526 Mortal, what e're, who this forbidden Path In Arms presum'st to tread, I charge thee stand. 1712Steele Spect. No. 497 ⁋3 Whether it were from Vanity,..or whatever it was, he carried it so far, that [etc.]. 1780Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 342, I am glad to hear you speak of a little horse, what⁓ever his colour be. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxxiii, So Richard asked her; whatever she said, it wasn't No. 1842― Amer. Notes iii, Whatever the defects of American universities may be, they disseminate no prejudices. 1856Newman Univ. Sk. (1902) 191 Men of one idea and nothing more, whatever their merit, must be to a certain extent narrow-minded. 1857Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 326, I have had nothing to suffer from heat, whatever else.
b. adj. = ‘No matter what..’; often implying opposition: = ‘Notwithstanding any..that’.
Also (after a prep.) with ellipsis, passing into sense 4 a (a).
1561Winȝet Bk. Questions Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 77 We addict our selfis to the doctrine of na man, of quhateuir leirning and auctoritie he be. 1595Shakes. John iv. i. 84. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. v. 17 What-ever Considerations of this nature you propose to this Atheist,..he hath this one subterfuge from them all. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 142 ⁋10 Money, in whatever hands, will confer power. 1794Paley Evid. (1825) II. 74 Whatever fables they have mixed with the narrative, they preserve the material parts. 1889Nature 19 Sept., Rocks of whatever origin, crushed and ground to pieces,..reconstruct themselves into new forms. 1906H. Belloc Hills & Sea 176 In whatever place a man may be the spring will come to him.
c. adv. Whatever may be the case, at all events. dial. (and colloq.).
1870‘R. Piketah’ Forness Folk 15, I cuddent leave t' pleass whativver wi'out seein' her. 1900‘A. Raine’ Garthowen 93 She's got a tidy pair of ankles, whatever. 1933‘R. Connor’ Girl from Glengarry 120, I am doing my utmost whatever. 1960R. Williams Border Country i. ii. 58 What do it matter it's down?.. He is Will whatever. 1962Amer. N. & Q. I. 15/1 Whatever, from the early 1700s to the present day..it was the musical that struck root as an indigenous form. 1980New Musical Express 12 Jan. 33/1 Whatever, the myth looks momentous in its sleek new American threads.
4. As indefinite adj. or pron., with loss of the relative force: cf. what D.
a. adj. (sing. or pl., of things or persons); Any..at all. † (a) preceding the n.: cf. what C. 9 c. Obs. or merged in the elliptical use under 3 b.
c1383in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1911) Oct. 742 Prelatis curatis & preestis or what euere clerkis: shulen not do symonie. c1449Pecock Repr. i. xvii. 99 Lete hem not come into what euer examynacioun of argumentis whiche mowe be mad ther upon. 1620–55I. Jones Stone-Heng (1725) 11 Accounting it their chiefest Glory to be wholly ignorant in whatever Arts. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 442 If thence he scape into what ever world, Or unknown Region. 1709Shaftesbury Charac. II. ii. i. iii. 93 The Bull alone makes head against the Lion, or whatever other invading Beast of Prey.
(b) following the n.: usually, now only, after any, no, all (anything, nothing), etc., which it qualifies like an adv. = ‘at all’: cf. ever 8.
1623N. Rogers Str. Vineyard 78 We see that the Barke of the Vine seemeth more withered and dry than the..Barke of any other Tree whateuer. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §13 (1689) 42 The most holding Bait of all other whatever. 1718Prior Poems Ded. (1905) p. xx, He was so strict an Observer of his Word, that no Consideration whatever, could make him break it. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ii. i, I shall not look on myself as accountable to any Court of Critical Jurisdiction whatever. 1823Scott Quentin D. xvii, Fortifying her strong castle against all assailants whatever. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. iv, I know nothing whatever of Mr. Jellyby. 1855Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. 195 All bodies whatever are liable to the state of sonorous vibration. 1884Marshall's Tennis Cuts 94 That a player using a racket had no chance whatever against an opponent catching and throwing the ball.
b. pron. Anything at all: cf. what D. 1. rare.
1637Earl of Monmouth tr. Malvezzi's Romulus & Tarquin 211, I surely should not put this behinde what ever else. 1892M. Dods Gosp. John II. xiv. 218 The torrent bursts in on me and pours over my wasted bulwarks, resolves, high aims, and whatever else.
c. or whatever: used after a noun (or nouns) to suggest that some other unspecified term might be employed instead, as being more usual, preferable for any reason, or more applicable; or something similar; or the like. colloq.
1905W. James Let. 25 Apr. (1920) II. 225 Poor Professor De Sanctis, the Vice President or Secretary or whatever. 1913E. Pound Let. 7 Nov. (1971) 24 If Chicago (or the U.S.A. or whatever) will slough off its provincialism, if it will begin to be aware of Paris (or of any other centre save London),..there is no reason for Chicago or Poetry or whatever not being the standard. 1917H. James Sense of Past ii. 83 One of those concentrated terms of pious self-dedication or whatever by which the aspirants of the ages of faith used to earn their knighthood. 1958P. Scott Mark of Warrior ii. 167 I'd get on to battalion or brigade, or whatever, and tell 'em. 1964[see Kiwanis]. 1975I. Murdoch Word Child 47 And even if we are all thoughts in the mind of God or whatever why should you be able to become God? 1981‘M. Innes’ Lord Mullion's Secret ii. 21 There isn't a handy second title around. Viscount Tom Noddy, or whatever. 1984J. Barnes Flaubert's Parrot x. 129 Bourgeois monarchy, or bureaucratised totalitarianism, or anarchy, or whatever.
d. Similarly replacing other parts of speech.
1947Periodical XXVII. 93 It was in one with a brown (or whatever) cover. 1976Church Times 6 Aug. 9/1 Now that the Archbishop of Canterbury has ‘relinquished’, ‘delegated’ or whatever his metropolitical authority to the local Arab Anglicans.., is it not proper [etc.].
Add:5. a. In noun phrases, as whatever-it-is, etc. (cf. what-d'ye-call-'em n. and whatsit n.), denoting an unnamed person, thing, quality, etc.; chiefly used as a perfunctory designation of anything a speaker is reluctant or unable to describe specifically.
1915D. H. Lawrence Let. 12 Feb. (1962) I. 319 The adventure into the unexplored, the woman, the whatever-it-is I am up against. 1954J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. ix. 399 The whatever-it-was was coming along fast now and getting close behind Gimli. 1990K. Amis Folks that live on Hill xvi. 176 A strongly heterosexual man whom she knows to have very serious designs on her whatever-you-call-it.
b. ellipt. as n. Chiefly in pl.
1948E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxvi. 32 In the synagogue in Gibraltar The sense of humour seemed to prevail During the preliminary parts of the whatever. 1957J. Kerouac On Road viii. 50, I absolutely..and without any whatevers have to sleep now. 1963Times 8 May 17 (Advt.), Astronomical quantities of flawlessly printed whatevers must come fast and fabulous from the press, colour rich and accurate, type crisp and sparkling. 1970J. Lennon in J. Wenner Lennon Remembers (1971) 31 ‘God’ and ‘Working Class Hero’ are probably the best, whatevers, you know..sorts of ideas or feelings on the record. 1986New Yorker 3 Mar. 41/3 He cooked his beans and bacon, his mutton.., his whatever.
▸ int. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Usually as a response, suggesting the speaker's reluctance to engage or argue, and hence often implying passive acceptance or tacit acquiescence; also used more pointedly to express indifference, indecision, impatience, scepticism, etc.: ‘as you wish’; ‘if you say so’; ‘it makes no difference to me’; ‘have it your own way’; ‘fine’.
1973To our Returned Prisoners of War (U.S. Secretary of Defense, Public Affairs) 10 Whatever, equivalent to ‘that's what I meant’. Usually implies boredom with topic or lack of concern for a precise definition of meaning. 1982San Francisco Examiner 7 May a3 When someone responds ‘whatever’, he or she seems to be saying ‘I'm amenable to anything. I'll defer to you.’ But in my experience, when a person says ‘whatever’, he or she is really saying, ‘I don't want to take any responsibility. You do all of the deciding and then I'll pass judgment.’ 1986D. A. Dye Platoon (1987) iii. 21 Feed any of these guys a full-scale briefing..and you'd get the same response: ‘Yeah, right. Whatever, man, whatever’. 1990G. G. Liddy Monkey Handlers iv. 53 Levin gave a mirthless smile. ‘The Heads from Hell. They wear embroidered signs on the back of vests.’.. ‘Colors,’ Stone interjected. ‘Whatever,’ said Levin. ‘You'll be able to tell them by it.’ 1995New Yorker 16 Oct. 131/2 You get to the point where it would be foolish to be surprised at anything. A sports bar opens. Then it closes. Whatever. 1998Village Voice (N.Y.) 21 July 28/1 If someone came running to say he'd just seen Jesus preaching on the steps of the 72nd Street subway stop, most New Yorkers would reply, ‘Whatever’. 2000D. Waugh in J. Adams et al. Girls' Night In 529 The secretary admitted that the list had been ‘temporarily mislaid’. Whatever. |