| 释义 |
puissance Now arch. exc. in sense 1 c.|ˈpjuːɪsəns, pjuːˈɪsəns, ˈpwɪsəns|
Forms: see below.
[a. F. puissance (12th c. in Littré), f. puissant: see puissant and -ance.
Not reckoning the final e, the Fr. is a disyllable |pwisɑ̃s|; hence the historical pronunciation in Eng., exemplified from Lydgate to J. M. Neale, is |pwɪˈsɑːns|, later |ˈpwɪsəns|; but a trisyllabic |puːɪˈsɑːns|, now |ˈpjuːɪsəns|, appears in 16th c., esp. in Spenser, and is found in some later poets, and since 1790 has been favoured by the Dictionaries, although before Walker all orthoepists exc. Sheridan had approved of |ˈpwɪsəns| or |pjuːˈɪsəns|; the last is also used by some 19th c. poets. Shakes. and Tennyson have both |ˈpwɪsəns| and |pjuːˈɪsəns|; Milton always the former.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
5 puiss-, pysauns, puysshaunce, peusawns, 5–6 puiss-, puyss-, puis-, puys-, pusaunce, 6 puysance, -auns, puissence, pusans, Sc. pusi-, puss-, pissance, piscence, 6–7 puisance, 5– puissance.
1420G. Stokes Let. to Hen. V in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 70 The grete manhode myghtynesse and puissaunce. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 139 That his Pusaunce be not emblemyshit. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 60 Oure lorde god most of puysshaunce. 1449J. Metham Amor & Cleopes 302 Returnyd to Rome with hys oste & pysauns. 1503Dunbar Thistle & Rose 108 Beistis that bene of moir piscence. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiii. (Percy Soc.) 165 So great and huge of puysaunce. 1513Douglas æneis vi. x. 79 The pissance quhilk in just battell, Slane in defence of thair kynd countre fell. 1519Interlude Four Elements (Percy Soc.) 42 A lorde I am of gretter pusans. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 192 b, Of puyssance sufficient to inuade, and likely to recouer the duchy of Guyen. 1563Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. §29 Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 94 Albeit he haif wit and pissance thairto. a1600Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxv. 15 My pen thy princely pussance sall report. 1604T. Wright Passions v. §4. 215 Such is Loves puisance.
B. Signification.
1. a. Power, strength, force, might; influence.
1420,1422[see A]. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 25 Where been..Rome and Cartage, moost soverayn of puisaunce? c1507Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 202 She will helpe to promoote me to the uttermost of her puyssaunce. 1508Dunbar Lament for Makaris 33 He spairis no lord for his piscence, Na clerk for his intelligence. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 3 To prove his puissance in battell brave. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 52 O flye to Scotland, Till that the Nobles, and the armed Commons, Haue of their Puissance made a little taste. 1644Bulwer Chiron. 128 The puissance of the Right Hand proceeds from a veine fine pari. 1667Milton P.L. v. 864 Our puissance is our own, our own right hand Shall teach us highest deeds. a1850Rossetti Dante & Circ. i. (1874) 141 This stroke..From eyes of too much puïssance was shed. 1866Neale Sequences & Hymns 12 Ah! they little know the Puissance of the Cake of Barley Bread! 1868Longfellow Dante's Inf. v. 36 There they blaspheme the puissance divine.
b. The persons in whom power is vested.
1871R. Ellis Catullus lxviii. 89 Now to revenge fair Helen, had Argos' chiefs, her puissance, Set them afield.
c. Show-jumping. A competition testing a horse's ability to jump large obstacles. Also attrib.
1951M. P. Ansell Show Jumping vi. 48 Test (Puissance). This competition is designed to test the horse's ability to jump large obstacles. 1952R. S. Summerhays Encycl. Horsemen 218/2 ‘Puissance’ Jumping Competition. In this all the straight fences in the course, with the exception of the first, are a minimum height of 4 ft. 7 in. (1 m. 40 cm.). The course usually consists of from six to eight fences, one of which is a double jump counting as one obstacle. 1954P. Smythe Jump for Joy iv. 68, I lived for the week-ends, and many a lesson was passed in the haze of daydreams about jumping paddocks and over Puissance courses. 1959Times 10 Aug. 5/6 It was the third triumph of the [Dublin Horse] show for Dundrum, who..shared first place in the puissance with Hollandia. 1974Country Life 3 Jan. 9/2 Alcatraz, ridden by last year's puissance winner..attempted all three fences. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 281/1 The competition which tests jumping ability alone is known as a Puissance... There is no recourse to the clock, since the object is to test the horse over ‘a limited number of large obstacles’.
†2. concr.
a. An armed force. Obs.
1450Rolls of Parlt. V. 177/1 If this puyssaunce come into this Reame. 1452Acts Privy Council (1835) VI. 120 To have the leding..of oure saide puissance upon the see. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lviii. 201 These two kynges fought one agaynst the other, pusaunce agaynst pusaunce. 1595Shakes. John iii. i. 339 Cosen, goe draw our puissance together.
†b. A number, a crowd, a ‘power’ of people. Obs.
c1450Cov. Myst. xxvii. (Shaks. Soc.) 261 Ȝe se weche peusawns of pepyl drawyth hym to, ffor the mervaylys that he hath wrowth. c1502in Grose Antiq. Rep. (1808) II. 286 note, In is solempnites was a great and a right pleasant puysauns of people. |