| 释义 |
commitment|kəˈmɪtmənt|
[f. commit + -ment. Commettement is found in Anglo-Fr. statutes of Henvy V (Godef.).]
The action of committing, in various senses; committal.
1. a. The action of entrusting, giving in charge, or commending.
1677R. Cary Chronol. ii. ii. ii. iii. 211 To forbear the Commitment of his Fathers Government unto him. 1815Chalmers Let. in Life (1851) II. 12 A daily..commitment of ourselves to those promises which are in Christ Jesus. 1853Tait's Mag. XX. 516 The irrevocable commitment of the public welfare..to the numerical majority.
b. The committing of the care and custody of idiots to a responsible person. (Cf. committee 3.)
1885Law Rep. 14 Q. B. Div. 896 The Lords Justices..entrusted..with the care and commitment of the custody of idiots and lunatics.
2. a. The action of officially consigning to custody or confinement, or the state of being so consigned; imprisonment, confinement, esp. previous to trial.
1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 25 His warrant to the Keeper of Newgate for the comittment of Roberte Moore. 1645Marquis of Worcester in Dircks Life viii. (1865) 127 Since my commitment to the Castle of Dublin. 1688Col. Rec. Penn. I. 241 No Order to keepe him under Commitment. 1765–9Blackstone Comm. iv. xxii. (R.), In this dubious interval between the commitment and trial, a prisoner ought to be used with the utmost humanity. 1824Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 40/1 This..makes every simple commitment more terrible than a conviction. 1851Dixon W. Penn viii. (1872) 65 Warrants of commitment to the Tower. 188319th Cent. May 904 Juvenile commitments for crime have largely diminished.
b. A warrant or order of committal to prison.
1755Mem. Capt. P. Drake I. xv. 142 We..chose Newgate, and a Commitment was ordered to be drawn accordingly. 1817Ld. Folkestone in Parl. Deb. 1365 The name or names of the persons who signed the commitment. 1836Marryat Japhet lix, My commitment to the county gaol was made out.
3. Legislation. The action of referring or entrusting (a bill, etc.) to a committee.
1640–1Ld. Digby Parl. Sp. 9 Feb. 8 When this Petition was first presented, there might bee more reason for the Commitment of it. 1658–9Burton's Diary (1828) III. 190 The proper question before you is the commitment of this Bill. Now how shall you commit it? a1797H. Walpole Mem. Geo. III (1845) II. vi. 128 Mr. Conway..advised deferring the motion till the day of the commitment. 1800T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 448 They have got their judiciary bill forwarded to commitment. 1870Stanhope Hist. Eng. II. 102 Upon the commitment got a sufficient party to add such a Clause.
†4. The action of committing or perpetrating (an offence); = commission 12. Obs.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xx. (1632) 972 The commitment of that parricide. 1650W. Hartley Good News to all People 19 Upon the Commitment of sin. 1651W. Durham Maranatha 18 The outward acts and grosser commitments of sin. 1738Common Sense (1739) II. 71 To prevent the frequent Commitment of new Crimes.
†5. The action of engaging in or commencing (hostilities); hostile engagement. Obs. rare.
1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1738 I. 234 To be made the commitment and close fight of enmity and hate. 1793T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 75 Prohibiting the commitment of hostilities.
6. a. The committing of oneself, or being committed (to a particular course of conduct, etc.).
1793T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 62 Urge one [an answer] as much as you can without commitment. 1871Daily News 9 Feb., An unreserved and open commitment to measures of Reform. 1880E. Myers in Hellenica 5 Without commitment to any especial political opinions.
b. An engagement; a liability; pl. pecuniary obligations.
1864Disraeli in Daily Tel. 22 Sept., The commitments of the country are too great..we have entered into engagements which it is difficult to fulfil. 1882Pall Mall G. 13 July 5/2 Money is of course easy still, as there are no fresh commitments. 1892Ibid. 2 Mar. 7/3 The Murrieta commitments are enormous. 1897Daily News 24 Apr. 9/4 ‘Bear’ commitments have been largely closed during the past few days. 1927Daily Tel. 5 Apr. 11/5 The Peterel will be an additional commitment. 1966Listener 17 Mar. 375/1 The cuts in British forces and commitments.
c. [tr. Fr. engagement.] An absolute moral choice of a course of action; hence, the state of being involved in political or social questions, or in furthering a particular doctrine or cause, esp. in one's literary or artistic expression; moral seriousness or social responsibility in artistic productions.
1948P. Mairet tr. Sartre's Existentialism 16 [An] important Sartrean concept—engagement—is here translated as ‘commitment’. Ibid. 47 At the very heart..of existentialism, is the absolute character of the free commitment, by which every man realises himself. 1948Mind LVII. 259 Commitment ends anguish, but what happens then is a matter of dispute among the different schools of Existentialism. 1948Partisan Rev. Aug. 856 How are cultural interests affected by this struggle and do you think a writer should involve himself in it (as writer? as person?) to the point of commitment? 1955H. Read Grass Roots of Art (ed. 2) iv. 84 This demand for the commitment, or ‘engagement’, of the artist..originated in communist ideology. 1956C. Wilson Outsider ii. 38 Sartre, whose theory of commitment or ‘engagement’..led him to embrace a modified communism. 1961J. Mander (title) The writer and commitment. |