| 释义 |
permissive, a.|pəˈmɪsɪv|
[a. OF. permissif, -ive, f. L. permiss-, ppl. stem of permittĕre to permit: see -ive.]
1. Having the quality of permitting or giving permission; that allows something to be done or to happen; not forbidding or hindering. In modern use freq.: tolerant, liberal, allowing freedom, spec. in sexual matters; freq. in phr. permissive society. Hence as n., a permissive person.
permissive bill: spec. a bill, introduced into Parliament several times between 1864 and 1877, having as its object to give to each parish the right to refuse the issue of licences to sell intoxicating liquors: the ‘local option’ movement is a later development of the principle of the bill.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iii. 38 When euill deedes haue their permissiue passe. 1646S. Bolton Arraignm. Err. 18 God would by this permissive providence of his, have us take heed as well what we heare, as how we heare. 1664H. More Apol. vii. Aph. v. 537 This command is not a Positive but a Permissive command. 1808Bentham Sc. Reform 112 Was it not meant that it should be, in the first instance, imperative upon somebody, and then eventually permissive to somebody else? 1832Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms 36 Permissive legislation as in the case of legal rules established by courts of justice. 1865Morn. Star 6 July, An Elector asked Mr. Mill if he was in favour of the Permissive Bill. 1887Cayley Coll. Math. Papers XII. 434 This result..may contain only integer powers of z - c..and we then say that the point on the curve is a ‘permissive’ point. Or it may contain fractional powers of z - c..and we then say that the point..is a ‘prohibitive’ point. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 25 May 6/2 All he asked was that the ‘permissive’ features of the pay-off provisions be made ‘directive’. Later he explained that this would mean simply that the FDIC be ‘authorized and directed’ instead of ‘authorized and empowered’ to appraise the assets of the closed banks. 1946Amer. Psychologist I. 416/2 If the counselor creates a warm and permissive atmosphere in which the individual is free to bring out any attitudes and feelings which he may have [etc.]. 1956C. A. Tonsor in Clearing House XXX. v. 289, I realize that in the face of the permissive tendencies of the age, there is not much respect for rules. 1967Punch 15 Mar. 372/2 If, in the nineteenth century, sadists in mortar-boards, and often in dog-collars also, belaboured little Johnny's bottom in order to knock Latin grammar into his head, some of today's jeans-and-gimmicks permissives may go too far the other way. 1968Listener 4 Jan. 18/3 This dreadful dilemma of the puritan in a permissive society. 1970Times 5 Feb. 9 It [sc. a proposal for a world-wide cricket tour] also irritates the extreme cricket-establishment people, some of whom seem to relish the thought of the tour, barbed wire and truncheons and all, to show that they are not going to be dictated to by the long-haired permissives. 1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 45 The permissive society has done much to neutralize sexual drives by containing them. 1971Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1969 lii. 14 Americans tend to be permissive in matters of pronunciation and vocabulary. 1971J. Wainwright Last Buccaneer ii. 106 He was nineteen years old and there are few nineteen-year-old male virgins in the permissive age. 1972Guardian 6 July 14/1 The charge against the permissive society is that the controls have slipped: things are being permitted that ought not to be permitted. 1976U. Holden String Horses ix. 106 My kiddies all have their Daddies. My Herb belongs to Jim. I'm not permissive. 1976F. Zweig New Acquisitive Society i. v. 47 The prevailing ethic of today is the ethos of the permissive society. 1977Time 10 Oct. 24/3 Neither a cajoling arm twister like Lyndon Johnson nor a permissive parent like mild-mannered Mike Mansfield, Byrd is distinguished by his ability to gauge correctly what a majority of the Senate wants.
2. Permitted, allowed; not forbidden or hindered; done, or acting, under permission or on sufferance; that may or may not be done, optional.
permissive waste (Law): waste that is allowed to happen by neglect of repairs.
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1731 The dedely enemy of mankynde, By hys power permyssyue, entryd the ymages Withyn the temples. 1586J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 239 For that which is lawfull with Kings is not permissiue to subjects. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 435 Thus I embolden'd spake, and freedom us'd Permissive, and acceptance found. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 319 At present the officers are known at best to be only permissive, and on their good behaviour. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 266 Tenant for years is also punishable for permissive waste. 1971Mod. Law Rev. XXXI. 698 A student who uses a conventional law textbook may be excused if he gains the impression that much of his professional career will be spent in advising about perpetuities, permissive waste and the principal mansion house.
3. Expressing permission or exhortation: applied to the verbal mood which expresses permission or an exhortation. Also as quasi-n.
1845[see adhortative a.]. 1892H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. I. 108 The combination of may and its preterite might with the infinitive (may see, might see) is called the permissive mood, as in may you be happy! 1898Ibid. II. 116 Thus the present permissive is used in independent sentences to express wish: may you succeed! 1924O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. xxiii. 320 As a tentative scheme of the purely notional ideas expressed more or less vaguely by the verbal moods and auxiliaries of various languages we might perhaps give the following list... 1. Containing an element of will... Permissive: you may go if you like. 1955J. L. Austin How to do Things with Words (1962) xii. 158 In the special case of permissives we might ask whether they should be classified as exercitives or as commissives. 1976J. S. Gruber Lexical Struct. Syntax & Semantics i. vi. 167 Let can be used as a fairly general Permissive Agent of Motion.
Hence perˈmissively adv., in a permissive way, by permission; perˈmissiveness, the quality or fact of being permissive.
1622Bacon Holy War Misc. Wks. (1629) 108 To heare it spoken to concerning the Lawfulnesse, not only permissiuely, but whether it be not obligatory. 1835Gladstone Let. to Pusey in Liddon, etc. Life Pusey (1893) I. xiii. 306 It would give me pleasure to see Dissenters avail themselves, permissively, but to the utmost practicable extent, of our Church education. 1837Syd. Smith Let. to Archd. Singleton Wks. 1859 II. 278/1 There is in the declaration a permissiveness and good humour which in public men has seldom been exceeded. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xlviii, She threw a royal permissiveness into her way of saying [etc.]. 1946Amer. Psychologist I. 420/2 When genuine acceptance and permissiveness are your tools it requires nothing less than the whole complete personality. 1958B. Spock Baby & Child Care (new ed.) 56 Strictness or permissiveness?.. This looms as a big question for many new parents. 1966Listener 6 Oct. 492/2 Permissiveness can rarely have gone further than it does today, and it may be..that we shall soon be due for a reaction, and a return to stricter standards. 1969J. Mander Static Society ix. 303 The permissiveness of Brazilian society is an important element in her reputation for tolerance in racial and social matters. 1971Daily Tel. 21 July 14 Perhaps it is time..for Parliament to have another look at the whole subject of abortion, family planning and perhaps permissiveness in general. 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 130 The so-called new philosophy, ‘permissiveness’ if you like, seen from the right perspective, is only a new puritanism, whereby you're accused of being repressed or unenlightened if you happen to object to infidelity, promiscuity, and so on. 1974F. Warner Meeting Ends ii. i. 35 With the new laws I suppose we've priced ourselves out of the marriage market. With ‘permissiveness’ a man can have it all, so why should he take on a bloodsucking estate as well? |