| 释义 |
senate|ˈsɛnət|
Forms: 3 senaht, 4 senas, 4–7 senat, 6 cenate, pl. Sc. senat(t)is, 4– senate.
[a. F. senat, senaz (mod.F. sénat), ad. L. senātus (u-stem), lit. council of old men, f. sen-em (nom. senex) old (see senior a.), absol. old man: see -ate1. Cf. Pr. senet, Sp., Pg. senado It. senato, G. senat, Du. senaat.]
1. An assembly or council of citizens charged with the highest deliberative functions in the government of a state.
a. In ancient Rome: A legislative and administrative body, consisting originally of representatives elected by the patricians, and in later times composed partly of appointed members and partly of the actual and former holders of certain high offices of state.
c1205Lay. 25388 Þis weoren þa sixe þe þat senaht al biwusten. 13..K. Alis. 1477 His lettres come Into þe cite of grete Rome. Þe riche people, & þe senas, Spaken togedres of þis cas. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxix. (Placidas) 352 Al þe hale senat [of Rome]. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xvi. (1885) 149 The Romaynes, while thair counsell callid þe senate was gret, gate, through þe wysdome off that counsell, the lordschippe off gret partye of the world. 1531Elyot Gov. i. ii. (1880) I. 20 The Senate..which was fyrste ordayned by Romulus. 1614Gorges Lucan v. 166 The Consuls both did then decree The Senate should assembled be. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. Wks. (1841) 247 Cato..used to read philosophy in the senate-house, while the senate was assembling. 1879Froude Cæsar viii. 79 The Senate was..a body composed of men of any order who had secured the suffrages of the people.
b. Applied to bodies having more or less similar functions in other states of the ancient world, esp. as the equivalent of Gr. γερουσία (lit. ‘body of elders’) and βουλή (lit. ‘council’).
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (Sommer) 21 b, By the king and Senat of Lacedæmon, Demagoras was..banished the countrie. 1607Shakes. Timon v. i. 132 Th' Athenians By two of their most reuerend Senate greet thee. 1658Harrington Prerog. Pop. Govt. i. xii. 108 The Senate of the Beane being the proposing-Assembly (for that of the Areopagites, called also a Senate, was a Judicatory) consisted of four hundred Citizens chosen by Lot, which was performed with beanes. 1738Glover Leonidas i. 408 Lacedæmon's senate now approach'd. 1842Smith's Dict. Grk. & Rom. Antiq. s.v. βουλή, This senate of 500 [at Athens] was divided into ten sections of fifty each, the members of which were called prytanes (πρυτανεῖς), and were all of the same tribe.
c. In the Middle Ages, and subsequently, used as the official title of the governing body in various free cities of Europe.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. iv. (1868) 19 At þe citee of verone whan þat þe kyng gredy of comune slauȝter caste hym to transporten vpon al þe ordre of þe senat þe gilt of his real maieste. 1530in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 193 The day after our coming the Senate [at Nuremberg] sent gentilmen to shew us their provision of harneis, ordinance, and corne. 1838Murray's Hand-bk. N. Germany 444/1 In the election chamber (Wahlzimmer), the Senate of Frankfort now holds its sittings. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 344 On the mainland there are four Supreme Tribunals, called Senates, placed at Turin, Chambery, Nice, and Genoa. 1880H. A. Webster in Encycl. Brit. XI. 404/1 According to the present constitution [of Hamburg].., the legislative power is in the hands of the senate [of 18 members] and the general body of citizens, and the executive is committed to the senate alone.
d. gen. The governing or legislative assembly of a nation. Often applied, more or less rhetorically, to the British parliament.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 15 b, That he appointe a Cenate or counsell within the empire. 1584D. Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 12 At the table of whose Hon. Senat [app. of Privy Council], our supplications were..read. 1659Milton Let. Friend Wks. 1738 I. 583 Being now in Anarchy, without a counselling and governing Power..the first thing to be found out with all speed, without which no Commonwealth can subsist, must be a Senate, or General Council of State. 1718Prior On Corrup. Man. vi, And senates vote, as armies fight, for pay. 1742Johnson's Debates (1787) II. 139 (Ld. Hervey) It declares, my Lords, that there is now an enquiry depending before the Senate. 1775A. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 227 Whether you are in the American Senate [i.e. Congress] or on board the British fleet, is a matter of uncertainty. 1787J. Lewis's Mem. Dk. Glocester 58 note, [The Duke of Buckingham] was..an eloquent orator in the British Senate. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 22 The pernicious influence of this lax morality extends from the nursery and the school to the cabinet and senate. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lviii, He says there is no place in the bar or the senate that Georgy may not aspire to.
†e. Applied (perh. in passages translated from Latin) to the Corporation of London. Obs.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 52 b, The Mayre of London and the Senate appareled in orient grayned Skarlet. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 633 Continuall watch was kept by the Maior and senate of London,..for the preseruacion of the peace, and continuance of good order.
f. In the 18th and 19th c. adopted as the official name for the upper and smaller branch of the legislature in various countries, as the United States (and each of the separate states of the Union), France, Italy, etc.
1776A. Adams Let. 15 Sept. (1875) 227 Whether you are in the American Senate or on board the British fleet, is a matter of uncertainty. 1780A. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 388 Hancock will be Governor, by a very great majority; the Senate [of Massachusetts] will have to choose the Lieutenant-governor. 1789Constit. U.S. Art. i. §3 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state. 1796T. Twining Trav. Amer. (1894) 52 From the hall of the Representatives, I went to that of the Senate, or Upper Chamber. a1817Dwight Trav. New Eng. (1823) IV. 159 New Hampshire... The legislature consists of a senate and house of representatives, chosen annually by ballot. 1887W. C. Ford Amer. Citizen's Man. i. 11 In all the States the upper or smaller House is known as the Senate.
g. transf. and fig.
1540Palsgr. Acolastus v. i. Y ij, Suerly the senate of my harte is sedicious. 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 209 Like Cato give his little Senate laws And sit attentive to his own applause. 1820Combe Syntax, Consol. ii. (Chandos) 152 Sometimes my bosom's senate sits In silent thought. 1821Shelley Hellas Prol. 73 The senate of the Gods is met, Each in his rank and station set.
2. a. In the University of Cambridge, and in some other British universities, the official title of the governing body. Cf. senatus.
The Senate of the University of Cambridge corresponds to the Convocation of Oxford University, and consists of all Doctors, Masters of Arts, Law, and Surgery, and Bachelors of Divinity, who keep their names on the books. In the newer English universities, Durham, London, Liverpool, Birmingham, etc., the senate is a smaller body, its composition being different in different universities. In Scotland, the Latin form Senatus (Academicus) is commonly employed.
1736Charter etc. Coll. Will. & Mary, Virginia 78 Concerning the College Senate. 1748Salmon Foreigner's Comp. Cambr. 16 All Graces intended to be proposed to the Senate, must first pass the Caput. 1797Cambr. Univ. Cal. 147 By the senate is meant all the doctors and masters of arts in the university, who have their names on the boards of their college. 1804Med. Jrnl. XII. 286 Regulations enacted by the Senate of the University of Glasgow, respecting Degrees in Medicine. 1829R. Gilbert Liber Scholast. 50 The Senate [of Cambridge], in 1818, decreed the foundation of three scholarships.
b. U.S. In some American colleges, a council composed of members of the faculty and elected students, having the control of the discipline, etc., of the students.
1891in Century Dict.
†3. A senate-house. Obs. rare.
1616Bullokar Eng. Expos., Senat, the Counsell house, where the Magistrates of a citie assemble themselues. 1623Cockeram i. 1700tr. Danet's Dict. Grk. & Rom. Antiq. s.v. Senatus, The Tribunes of the People at first stood at the Door of the Senate to know their Deliberations.
¶4. Misused for: A senator. Obs. rare.
157.Sempill Compl. Fort. 87 in Satir. Poems Reform. xliii, Of Julius Cesar..Slaine be his Senatis,.. By his awin kinsmen Brutus and Cassus. Ibid. 210 To keip sic senattis it sall decore ȝour land. 1609Ev. Woman in Hum. C 4 b, The olde Senate has put on his spectacles, and Lentulus and hee are turning the leaues of a dog-hay, leaues of a worme eaten Chronicle, and they want Tullies iudgement.
5. attrib. as senate-chamber, senate-fight, senate-hall, etc.
a1700Evelyn Diary June 1645, The Senate-hall [at Venice]. 1736Thomson Liberty v. 568 In the warm struggles of the senate-fight. 1737Savage Of Public Spirit 161 Bid Courts of Justice, Senate-chambers join, Till various All in one proud Work combine! 1855Dickens Dorrit ii. vii, The rugged remains of temples and tombs and palaces and senate halls and theatres. |