| 释义 |
bankruptcy|ˈbæŋkrəpsɪ|
Also 8 -sie.
[f. bankrupt + -cy, prob. on the analogy of insolvency, but with -t erroneously retained in spelling, instead of being merged in the suffix -cy = -tie, -tia. The sense was orig. expressed by the simple bankrupt (F. la banqueroute): on the application of this to the person involved (F. le banqueroutier), the fact was successively termed bankrupting, bankruptism, bankrupture, bankruptship, and finally, c 1700, bankruptcy.]
1. The state of being bankrupt; the fact of becoming bankrupt.
1700J. Law Counc. Trade (1751) Introd. 14 By wilful fraud or bankruptsie of councellors of trade. 1712Steele Spect. No. 428 ⁋2 That most dreadful of all human Conditions, the Case of Bankruptcy. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. viii. 39 The state might thus be reduced to bankruptcy. 1776Adam Smith W.N. I. i. i. x. 116 Bankruptcies are most frequent in the most hazardous trades. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xviii, His bills were protested: his act of bankruptcy formal. 1875Poste Gaius iii. 342 Roman law never established any distinction between traders and non-traders, in other words, between bankruptcy and insolvency.
b. attrib., as Bankruptcy Court, bankruptcy laws, etc.
1864Derby Merc. 7 Dec., The Bankruptcy Court officials. 1883Law Times 20 Oct. 408/1 The object of a bankruptcy law..should be the economical and honest distribution of a bankrupt's estate.
2. fig. Utter wreck, ruin, or loss of (any good quality).
1761Brit. Mag. II. 441 They dread a bankruptcy of head and sense. 1797Burke Corr. IV. 433 A general bankruptcy of reputation in both parties. 1853A. Morris Business v. 104 The greatest bankruptcy is not of fortune but of faith. |