| 释义 |
licence, n.|ˈlaɪsəns|
Forms: 4–6 li-, lycens, 4–7 lycence, 5–6 lysence, -ens, (6 laysance, lysans, -aunce, Sc. lecens, 7 licience), 5–9 license, 4– licence.
[a. F. licence, ad. L. licentia, f. licēre to be lawful. Cf. Sp. licencia, Pg. licença, It. licenza.
The spelling license, though still often met with, has no justification in the case of the n. In the case of the vb., on the other hand, although the spelling licence is etymologically unobjectionable, license is supported by the analogy of the rule universally adopted in the similar pairs of related words, practice n., practise vb., prophecy n., prophesy vb. (The rule seems to have arisen from imitation of the spelling of pairs like advice n., advise vb., which expresses a phonetic distinction of historical origin.) A slight argument for preferring the s form in the vb. may be found in the existence of the derivatives licensable and licensure (U.S.) which could not conveniently be spelt otherwise.
Johnson and Todd give only the form license both for the n. and the vb., but the spelling of their quots. conforms, with one exception, to the rule above referred to, which is recognized by Smart (1836), and seems to represent the now prevailing usage. Late 19th-c. Dicts., however, almost universally have license both for n. and vb., either without alternative or in the first place.]
1. a. Liberty (to do something), leave, permission. Now somewhat rare. † Also occas. exemption from (something). † Formerly often in phr. licence and leave; by, with, without (a person's) licence; to get, give, have, obtain, take (a) licence. (Cf. leave n.1 1.)
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 82 And askeþ leue and lycence at londun to dwelle. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 855 If I have licence of this worthy frere. 1422Hoccleve Min. Poems (1892) 223 Now, sire, yit a word, by your licence. c1450Merlin 17 She ansuerde prayinge she myght speke with hir confessour; and they yaf hir lycence. 1493Charter in A. Laing Lindores Abbey xvii. (1876) 179 Anentis the making of out men burges but licens of the said abbot. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 146 Whose names we purpose to shewe with lycens. 1526Tindale John xix. 38 And Pilate gave him licence. 1532Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 119 Hou long any of them may be absent, hou he schal have his leve and licence..may be conceyvyd by leysure. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 10 The duke was banished..and yet without license of Kyng Richarde he is returned again into the realme. 1549Compl. Scot. xvii. 146 He gat neuyr lecens to marye quhil on to the tyme that [etc.]. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 148 The people..haue geuen a perpetual licence from labour to learnyng. 1640Order Ho. Commons in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 143 Mr. R. H. has License to go and speak with Sir G. R. 1675Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. i. 122 Doth God forbid it? No; he commandeth it, which is more than leave or licence. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. x. (1840) 225 It would be difficult to go from hence without their license. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. I. App. ii. 256 If he sold his estate without licence from his lord. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. i. i. 133 The king..may..prohibit any of his subjects from going into foreign parts without licence. 1807Crabbe Village ii. 61 Who take a licence round their fields to stray. 1838Thirlwall Greece V. 81 The declaration..was now interpreted..as a license to restore their political unity. 1861Mill Utilit. v. 66 Others would confine the license of disobedience to unjust laws. 1888M. Morris Claverhouse vi. 110 The same license was granted to him for dealing with all future criminals of the same class.
†b. spec. Leave or permission to depart; chiefly in phrase, to take one's licence, to take one's leave; also licence and congee. Obs. (Cf. congee n. 2 b and leave n.1 2.)
[c1450Lonelich Grail xvi. 67 The king hem ȝaf license Forto gon from his precense.] 1475Bk. Noblesse 30 Good men of armes..discoragethe them as sone as paiment failethe, and takethe theire congie and licence of theire prince. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. v. (Percy Soc.) 24 Of her than I dyd take my lycence. 1556–8T. Phaer æneid iv. K j b, Fayne wold he flee, and of that contrey sweete his licence take.
2. a. A formal, usually a printed or written permission from a constituted authority to do something, e.g. to marry, to print or publish a book, to preach, to carry on some trade, etc.; a permit. Also in phrases † book of licence (see book n. 1), letter of licence and composition (see quot. 1809), licence of mortmain (see mortmain); (to marry) by licence in opposition to by banns.
1433Rolls of Parlt. IV. 467/1 To praye..the kynge to graunte licence of Exchaunge, under his grete Seal. 1463Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 187 We..charge you to suffyr hym..to enjoye our sayd lycence wyth outyn any let. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 81 This is she that in maner hath destroyed all religyons by the reason of dispensacyons or lycences. 1549in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. i. 136 [To] requyre yow..to drawe a booke of Lysaunce from his Maiestie, to the Maior and Auldremen [etc.]. 1552–3Inv. Ch. Goods, Staffs. in Ann. Lichfield IV. 46, xl s. peyd to the bysshope for his laysance to byrrey. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 6 They must first get a Licence in writing before they may vse them [the Scriptures]. 1617in Grosart's Spenser (1882) III. p. ci, John fflorio, esquier, and Rose Spicer marrd by licence from Mr. Weston's Office. 1641Declar. Both Houses in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 515 Captain S. did by vertue and authority of Your Majesties License, embark at White-Haven. 1649Thorpe Charge at York Assizes 20 For a Badgers or Drovers License two shillings. 1683Robin Consc. 15 If I [a publican] my Licence should observe,..Both I and mine alas would starve. 1724R. Wodrow Life J. Wodrow (1828) 53 The form of his licence [to preach] I insert from the original. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. x. 410 A licence for the shipping of his stores and provisions. 1763Brit. Mag. IV. 495 Would you keep your pearls from tramplers, Weigh the licence, weigh the bans. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 269 It..is..necessary, for corporations to have a licence of mortmain from the crown. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. vi. (1869) I. 52 He must pay for the licence to gather these fruits. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 406 Licences to dealers in spirits and wine. 1809R. Langford Introd. Trade 108 A Letter of License is an instrument or writing granted to a debtor by his creditors, giving him respite and time for payment of his debts... When..they not only grant respite and time for payment, but agree to allow an abatement on their respective accounts, then this instrument is called a Letter of License and Composition. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. iv. 92 A fine of {pstlg}100 for every act of issue after the term of license has expired. 1840Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1843) III. 240 A congregation is formed. A license is obtained. A plain brick building,..is run up, and named Ebenezer or Bethel. 1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. i, Do you marry by license? No; my intended is not of age. 1851Dixon W. Penn vii. (1872) 61 ‘The Sandy Foundation Shaken’ was printed without a license from the Bishop of London. 1851R. Nesbit in Mem. xii. (1858) 305 After receiving ‘licence’, he preached in the Mission Lecture Room.
b. The document embodying such a permission.
1598Yong Diana 393 The Kings licence being now come. 1625Massinger New Way iv. i, Pray ride to Nottingham, get a license. 1683in Songs Lond. Prentices (Percy Soc.) 81, I bade her [an alewife] on her licence look. 1888Daily News 28 Sept. 3/3 There was a custom among cab proprietors of ‘chair-marking’ their drivers' licences. 1899Raymond Two Men o' Mendip xv. 249 He'd have no choice but to marry us, when I did come, licence in han'.
c. In some Universities, a certificate of competency in some faculty.
1727–41Chambers Cycl., Licence is also applied to the letters, or certificates, taken out in universities, whether in law, physic, or divinity. 1900–1901Durh. Univ. Cal. 141 Final Examination for the Licence in Theology. Ibid. 487 Licence in Sanitary Science.
3. a. Liberty of action conceded or acknowledged; an instance of this.
a1400Morte Arth. 457 Thy lycence es lemete in presence of lordys. a1605Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxvi. 48 That nou sik licience haif we none. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. ii. 112 Taunt my faults With such full License, as both Truth and Malice Haue power to vtter. 1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 157/1 The true Licence of Disputations. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. vi. 39 Do you so understand the license you have, Miss? 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. ix. 299 English law..has neither definition nor words to..circumscribe the license of the Judge. 1834M. Edgeworth Helen xxxvii. (1883) 312 The first little fib in which Lady Cecilia, as a customary licence of speech, indulged herself the moment she awoke this morning. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke xi. (1876) 127, I thanked him again for what license he had given me. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. xiii. 249 He..allowed great and public licence to his tongue. 1875Browning Aristoph. Apol. 5225 The rooted plant aspired to range With the snake's license. 1884Manch. Exam. 20 Feb. 4/7 Ordinary license of speech has seldom been more shamefully exceeded.
b. Excessive liberty; abuse of freedom; disregard of law or propriety; an instance of this.
c1450tr. De Imitatione i. xvi. 18 Oþer mennes large licence displesiþ us, but we to ourself wol have no þinge denyed þat we aske. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. ii. 48 Taunt him with the license of Inke. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 35, I should be condemn'd of introducing licence, while I oppose Licencing. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables xv. (1708) 20 Under the Allegory of the Ass is Insinuated the License of a Buffoon. 1719Young Busiris ii. i, Your heart resents some licence of my youth. a1720Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) I. 272 They are for licence, not for liberty. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. i. i, The licence of invention some people take is monstrous indeed. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 366 The intolerable licence with which the newspapers break..the rules of decorum. 1813Scott Rokeby i. xvii, Thy license shook his sober dome. 1840Thirlwall Greece VIII. 315 The license which he gave to his troops to enrich themselves with the spoil of the country. 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. i. (1864) 3 The first license given to the tongue is slander. 1867Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Prog. Cult. Wks. (Bohn) III. 226 The freedom of action goes to the brink..of license. 1881Westcott & Hort Grk. N.T. Introd. §13 The mixture has been accompanied or preceded by such licence in transcription.
c. Licentiousness, libertinism.
1713Steele Guardian No. 18 ⁋3 The cause of much license and riot. 1823Scott Peveril xvii. His unlimited license..has disgusted the minds of all sober and thinking men. 1841Trevelyan Life Macaulay (1876) I. ii. 84 The reaction from Puritanic rigour into the license of the Restoration. 1847James J. Marston Hall ix, The license of every kind that then existed in the city no tongue can tell nor pen can describe. 1901Expositor May 367 These implements of license were originally made by God.
4. Deviation from recognized form or rule, indulged in by a writer or artist for the sake of effect; an instance of this. Frequent in phrase poetic (poetical, etc.) licence.
1530Palsgr. 44 Which auctors do rather by a lycence poetycall. 1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 49 By the licence of this figure we give names to many things which lack names, &c. 1697Dryden æneid Ded. (f), I generally join these two Licenses together. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Licence, in painting, are the liberties which the painter takes in dispensing with the rules of perspective, and the other laws of his art. a1771Gray Corr. (1843) 260 As to any license in the feet, it is only permitted in the beginning of a long verse. 1819Byron Juan i. cxx, This liberty is a poetic licence. 1859Kingsley Misc. (1860) I. 227 The poem..allows a metrical licence. 1877L. Tollemache in Fortn. Rev. Dec. 846 By a prophetic license, perpetual means transitory. 1899F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 179 Coleridge's simile of ‘A painted ship upon a painted ocean’ is only a poet's licence.
5. attrib. and Comb., as licence-duty, licence-fee, licence-holder, licence-money, licence number, licence plate, licence-tax.
1859K. Cornwallis New World I. 137 The infliction of the *license fee..tended very much to exasperate the miners.
1897Westm. Gaz. 7 Sept. 3/3 The old *licence-holders are going to the wall, and the brewers are stepping in.
1692Ann. Albany (1850) 121 Ordered that the sheriffe have a warrant to levy the *lycence money. 1900Daily News 4 June 3/4 The Boers collected licence money from all the shops.
1937D. & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murder ii. 48 ‘Did you get the *licence number?’..the grey car had vanished. 1972L. Lamb Picture Frame xx. 178 We found his van... It was Mallender's licence number.
1926Amer. Speech I. 686/1 American: Number plates. English: *License plates. 1962‘E. McBain’ Like Love (1964) xiv. 189 You didn't happen to notice the licence plate number, did you? 1974R. C. Dennis Conversations with Corpse xiv. 140, I..landed..a 1968 license plate.
1885Pop. Sci. Monthly XXVIII. 464 (Cent.) The *license-tax, as it is called there [in Wisconsin] applies to railroads, insurance, telegraph, and telephone companies. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. ii. xliii. 135 Licence taxes..are directly levied by..State officials. |