| 释义 |
officious, a.|əˈfɪʃəs|
[ad. L. officiōs-us obliging, dutiful, f. officium office: cf. F. officieux.]
†1. Doing or ready to do kind offices; eager to serve or please; attentive, obliging, kind. Obs.
1565Stapleton tr. Bæda's Hist. Ch. Eng. v. iv. 157 She..came to the table, shewed her selfe very officious in caruinge..to the bysshope and all the hole table. 1570Marr. Wit & Sc. ii. i. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 339 Shew thyself officious and servicable still. 1679Season. Adv. Protest. 6 The Peoples aversion they took away by degrees by their officious kind behaviour. 1782Johnson Death of Levet ii, Officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 251 They were tolerably well-bred; very officious, humane, and hospitable. 1827Keble Chr. Y., Burial Dead v, Feeling more bitterly alone For friends that press officious round.
†b. officious lie (L. mendacium officiosum, F. mensonge officieux): a lie told as an act of kindness to further another's interests. So officious falsity. Obs.
1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 321 An officious lye, that is, when I fitten or tell an vntruth for duties sake to the end that by my lye, I may keepe my neighbour harmlesse. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 416 An officious lie, when one telleth a lie to do another good. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 39 Make this merry and officious lie for my sake. 1676G. Towerson Decal. 520 Concerning officious falsities. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §16. 283 Ignorantly zealous Christians, who were for Officious Lyes and Pious Frauds. 1788Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 42 Concerning officious lies, those that are spoken with a design to do good, there have been numerous controversies.
†2. Dutiful; active or zealous in doing one's duty. Obs.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. v. ii. 202 Come, come, be euery one officious, To make this Banket. 1598Bacon Sacr. Medit., Hypocrites Ess. (Arb.) 117 As to these others who are so officious towards God. 1642R. Carpenter Experience i. iv. 13 To stand like officious and dutifull servants. 1726–46Thomson Winter 311 In vain for him the officious wife prepares The fire fair-blazing and the vestment warm. a1770Akenside Odes i. vi. To Cheerfulness, The officious daughters pleas'd attend.
b. Of a thing: Performing its office or function, serving its purpose, efficacious. rare.
1618Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. i. i, If twise in the day we doe not present God with our solemn invocations, we make the Gospell lesse officious, than the Law. 1884Ld. Selborne in Law Times Rep. L. 314/1 That interpretation which makes [the words] more officious with respect to the..purpose of the instrument is to be preferred.
3. Unduly forward in proffering services or taking business upon oneself; doing, or prone to do, more than is asked or required; interfering with what is not one's concern; pragmatical, meddlesome.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlv. (1612) 213 Wolsey, that slye, officious, and too Lordly Cardnall. 1676G. Etherege Man of Mode i. i. (1684) 13 He..knows not whom, without Some officious Sot has betray'd me. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 163/2 He would not be so officious as to interpose. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey v. vi, One of those officious, noisy little men who are always ready to give you unasked information. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xxv, He glanced suspiciously at the officious stranger.
†4. Pertaining to an office or business, official; hence, formal. Obs.
1610J. Dove An Advert. 16 He sheweth, that, as there is one adoration which is religious, belonging to God, so there is an other, onely officious, belonging to all ecclesiasticall rites and ceremonies. a1734North Lives (1826) II. 44 He put off officious talk of government or politicks with jests. 1796Burney Mem. Metastasio II. 264 To waste his precious moments in answering letters purely officious. 1852J. H. Newman Scope Univ. Educ. 221 The Sermons..of Protestant Divines in the seventeenth century, how often are they mere repertories of miscellaneous and officious learning.
5. Diplomacy. As opposed to official: Having an extraneous relation to official matters or duties; having the character of a friendly communication, or informal action, on the part of a government or its official representatives. (= F. officieux (Littré), It. uffizioso.)
1852Ld. Palmerston in Mem. Ld. Malmesbury (1885) 238 When the diplomates call, do not be too reserved, but preface your observations by stating that what you say is officious. Ibid. 226 note, Old diplomatists must know the difference between an officious and an official conversation. The first is the free interchange of opinions between the two Ministers, and compromises neither; the latter would do so, and bind their Governments. 1866Pall Mall G. No. 447. 165/1 Feelers put out in the officious press. 1887Ibid. 9 Nov. 2/1 Every individual who receives [official] protection from a foreign Government becomes in his turn a centre of protection to his friends and dependants, and spreads this diluted form which is known as ‘officious’ protection at a rate of arithmetical progression. 1900Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 2/1 We want the great European Powers to consent to be our guarantees with the Sultan. They would act in an officious, if not in an official capacity. |