| 释义 |
‖ ne plus ultra|niː plʌs ˈʌltrə|
Also 7–8 ne plus.
[L. ‘(let there) not (be) more (sailing) beyond’, alleged to have been inscribed on the Pillars of Hercules. In French the phrase has the forms nec and non-plus-ultra.]
1. A command to go no further; a prohibition of further advance or action; also, an impassable obstacle or limitation.
c1661Argyle's Last Will in Harl. Misc. (1746) VIII. 27/1 That Bound-mark of Presbytery, its ne plus Ultra, Hitherto shall you go and no further. 1664J. Worthington Life Mede in M's Wks. (1672) p. xiii, To look upon their Resolves as if they were Hercules's Pillars with a Nè plus ultrà upon them. c1730Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 293 He may wander into a bog to impassable bourns or rocks, and every ne plus ultra oblige him to change his course. 1786H. More Bas Bleu 131 Her fancy of no limits dreams, No ne plus ultra bounds her schemes.
attrib.1845Ford Hand-bk. Spain i. 340 The ne plus ultra land and sea marks of jealous Phœnician monopoly.
2. The utmost limit to which one can go or has gone; the furthest point reached or capable of being reached.
1638Sanderson Serm. II. 120 Here then we have our bounds set us; our ne plus ultra; beyond which if we pass, we transgress. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 254 Historians some fix his Ne plus at the River Indus; others at the River Ganges. 1751Eliza Heywood Betsy Thoughtless II. 227 Mr. Munden often found himself at his ne plus ultra, but was not in the least disconcerted at it. 1776Mickle tr. Camoen's Lusiad Introd. 27 Cape Nam, as its name intimates, was then the Ne plus ultra of European navigation. 1805E. de Acton Nuns of Desert II. 182 It might be supposed that the gentry of Ivy Tower would now have found themselves at their ne plus ultra. 1835Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xxix. 418 Victory point; being the ‘ne plus ultra’ of our labour.
b. esp. The point of highest attainment; the highest point or pitch of some quality, etc.; the acme or final culmination.
1696D'Urfey 3rd Pt. Don Quix. Ep. Ded., Whilst I with Pride fix my Fame at its Ne plus ultra. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 145 He was the superlative Degree of Avarice, and he was the very Neplus of Want. 1736Ld. Chesterfield Misc. Wks. (1777) I. 2 This example should hinder one from thinking any thing brought to its ne plus ultra of perfection. 1760–72H. Brooke Foot of Qual. (1792) II. 81 The populace..have arrived to their ne plus ultra of insolence. 1823Scott Let. to Terry 14 Feb. in Lockhart, It may be called the ne plus ultra of bell-ringing. 1893Nation (N.Y.) 29 June 469/2 The people of Leinster..do not vaunt Dublin as the ne-plus-ultra of cities.
attrib.1823Byron Age of Bronze xi, The all-prolific land Of ne plus ultra ultras. 1830Marryat King's Own xlviii, By..ne-plus-ultra corkscrews.
†3. As pl. Unsurpassable persons. Obs. rare—1.
1672Clarendon Ess. Tracts (1727) 237 Since men have looked upon the ancients as fallible writers, and not as upon those Ne plus ultra, that could not be exceeded. |