| 释义 |
▪ I. prefect, præfect, n.|ˈpriːfɛkt|
Forms: 4 Sc. prefec, -fet(e, -feit, 4–5 -fecte, 5– prefect; 7–9 præ-.
[a. OF. prefect (12th c.), mod.F. préfet = Pr. prefeit, Sp. prefecto, It. prefetto, ad. L. præfect-us an overseer, president, commander, superintendent of a public office, civil or military; in later use the governor of a province or city; n. use of pa. pple. of præficĕre to set over, place in authority over, f. præ, pre- A. 5 + facĕre to make, constitute, appoint.]
1. A person appointed to a position of command; a chief officer or magistrate; a governor, commander, superintendent, director, overseer. Applied as a title to various officers in ancient or modern times.
a. Representing L. præfectus, In ancient Rome and the Roman empire, the title of various officers civil and military, e.g. the prefect or chief magistrate of the city, præfectus urbi, the civil governor of a province, a colony, or provincial city, the commander of the pretorian troops, præfectus prætorio, and of the fleet, præfectus classis.
c1350St. Ambrosius 57 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 9/1 Ambrose of Rome was prefecte. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints i. (Petrus) 308 Fra Agrippe, Þat prefet was of þat Cite, Fowre concubynis he drew a-way. c1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 368 Oon Maximus that was an Officer Of the Prefectes and his Corniculer Hem hente. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 13 A tyraunt, the prefect of that cuntre. 1494Fabyan Chron. v. cxxiv. 103 But Clothayre..sent his sone Meroueus, vnder the gydyng of Laundry, prefect or ruler of his paleys, into Neustria. 1611Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. i. (1614) 2/2 Severus..divided the government therof into two Provinces, and placed two Prefects over the same. a1719Addison Chr. Relig. i. vii, The præfects and viceroys of distant provinces. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 51 The private apartments of the palace were governed by a favourite eunuch, who, in the language of that age, was styled the præpositus or præfect of the sacred bed-chamber. 1868Smith's Dict. Gr. & Rom. Antiq. s.v. ærarium, In b.c. 28, Augustus deprived the quaestors of the charge of the treasury and gave it to two praefects, whom he allowed the senate to choose from among the praetors. 1874Green Short Hist. i. §2. 15 York had been the capital of Britain and the seat of the Roman prefect.
b. In other countries, in ancient times: in similar uses.
1382Wyclif Dan. ii. 48 Thann the kyng..ordeynyde hym vpon alle prouyncis of Babiloyne prince and prefect. 1388― 1 Kings iv. 7 Forsothe Salomon hadde twelue prefectis [gloss ether cheef minystrys] on al Israel. 1659Hammond Annot. Ps. xxii. Wks. 1684 IV. 69 The Psalm thus composed by David, was committed to the Præfect of his Musick. 1850W. Irving Mahomet, Successors xvi. (1853) 72 The prefect of Ammon, with 5000 men, was near at hand.
c. In mod. Europe: A president, chief officer, chief magistrate, etc.
1540Coverdale Let. to C. Hubert Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 507, I settled this business..in the presence and hearing of the prince, in the company of our prefect. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 13 Father Darcy, Præfect of the Sodalitium Beatæ Mariæ, and the refectory. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 86 The office of the Prefect of the Signature of Justice, is executed by a Cardinal. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 64 Andrea Cornelio,..prætor of Verona, prefect of Bressia, proveditor-general of the army on the Venetian terra ferma.
d. esp. (repr. F. préfet.) The chief administrative officer of a department of France. Prefect of Police, the head of the police administration in Paris and the department of the Seine.
1827Scott Napoleon xxxviii, These prefects..were each the supreme governor of a department, answering to the old lieutenants and governors of counties. 1848W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Years I. 390 The minister of the interior wrote on the subject to the prefect of police. 1861Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 523 The experiment..seems to have satisfied the Emperor that he can rely upon his faithful prefects to supply him with a Chamber which will relieve him of the odium of extravagance without diminishing his power to squander.
e. Used to represent Chinese chih-fu, head or governor of a fu or department (cf. prefecture 2 b).
1890Cent. Dict. s.v. Chih-fu, A prefect, having general supervision of all the civil business of the hiens comprising his prefecture. 1894[see prefectural].
f. fig. = Director, minister, etc.
16..B. Jonson Hue & Cry after Cupid Wks. (Rtldg.) 563/1 Venus..is Præfect of Marriage. a1633Austin Medit. (1635) 251 Angels being Prefects to particular Men; and Archangels to People or Nations.
2. transf. In some English public, preparatory, and secondary schools, the name given to one of the body of senior pupils to whom authority is delegated for the maintenance of order and discipline: otherwise called præpostors, prepositors, etc.
1865W. L. C. Etoniana ii. 24 The senior [præpostor] was called, as he is to this day at Winchester, ‘Prefect of Hall’ and the two next ‘Prefects of Chapel’. 1876R. Lowe in Life (1893) I. 10 In the fourth year of my residence at Winchester I became a prefect. 1879Jessopp One Gen. Norfolk Ho. 102 The next two years and a half he [Henry Walpole] spent at Pont à Mousson, during which time he was ‘Prefect of the Convictors’. 1891Wrench Winchester Word-bk., Præfects, the senior members of the School, to whom authority is delegated for the management and control of the community. The number of Præfects was eighteen in College, three to each chamber... The ‘Præfect of Tub’..who presided over meals,..and the ‘Præfect of Cloisters’, are obsolete.
▪ II. † preˈfect, v. Obs.
[f. L. præfect-, ppl. stem of præficĕre: see prec.]
trans. To appoint to a position of command or authority.
1489Rolls of Parlt. VI. 428/2 Kyng Henry the VIth..prefected and erected John then Lord Talbott..into Erle of Shrewesbury. 1534Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 3 §2 Euery suche person..nominated, elected, prefected, presented, collated or..appointed to haue any..promocion spiritual. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 52 b, Rycharde Foxe bishop of Durham, was prefected to the bishoprike of Winchestre. 1602W. Fulbecke 2nd Pt. Parall. 17 The owner of the ship is..charged, because he prefected him, and made him Master. |