| 释义 |
compel, v.|kəmˈpɛl|
Forms: 4–5 -elle, 4–7 -ell, 7– -el. pa. tense and pple. compelled, pres. pple. compelling.
[a. OF. compeller and compellir (14th c. in Godef.) to compel, ad. L. compell-ĕre f. com- together + pell-ĕre to drive.]
1. trans. To urge irresistibly, to constrain, oblige, force:
a. a person to do a thing (the usual const.).
c1380Antecrist in Todd 3 Treat. Wyclif 116 Þe first persecution..Whenne cristen men weren compellid bi exilyngis, betyngis, and deþis, to make sacrifices to ydols. 1382Wyclif Gal. ii. 3 Nether Tyte..was compellid for to be circumsidid. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋518 If so be that the lawe compelle yow to swere. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 1 a, Whiche grace..hath compelled me to sette a parte alle ingratitude. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 48 He is compelled to do him seruice. 1611Bible Luke xiv. 23 Compell them to come in. 1769Robertson Chas. V, III. xi. 335 As they could not persuade they tried to compel men to believe. 1874Green Short Hist. iii. 139 Hunger compelled him to surrender.
b. a person to (into) a course of action, etc.
1541Barnes Wks. (1573) 328/1 Thou hast with a Lordly violence compelled them to it [chastitie]. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxii. 122 To compell them to performance. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 619 If our proposals once again were heard We should compel them to a quick result. 1767Babler No. 63 I. 277 A most excellent lady, who was compelled into a marriage with my betrayer. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. 26 Russia should unite her arms with ours, and compel that power to peace. 1869Ruskin Q. of Air §128 Compel the idle into occupation.
c. with simple object: To constrain, force.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 19 Though it [grace] may not compell the wyll of man. 1535Coverdale Job xxxii. 18 For I am full of wordes, & the sprete that is within me, compelleth me. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 175 The lawless Tyrant, who denies..thir..message to regard, Must be compelld by Signes and Judgements dire.
d. absol.
1903R. Langbridge Flame & Flood vi, A voice that..asked like a child,..coerced like a man, compelled like the bidding of the Cosmos. 1904L. T. Meade Love Triumphant iii. i, ‘I have powerful hands,’ was his answer, ‘hands that compel.’
2.
†a. To take or get by force, to extort. Obs.
a1500in Gairdner Three 15th c. Chron. (Camden) 76 [They] compelled, dispoyled, rubbed, and distroyed all manner of cattell, vetayll, and riches. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 116 We give expresse charge, that..there be nothing compell'd from the Villages. 1601― All's Well iv. iii. 356 And I were not a verie Coward, I'de compell it of you.
fig.1829Scott Anne of G. i, Men, who..compelled from the soil a subsistence gained by severe labour.
b. To constrain (an action); to bring about by force, constraint, or moral necessity; to exact by rightful claim; to command.
1671J. Flavel Fount. Life vi. 16 He compell'd the Devil's assent. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 74 Our union with the English counties was either compelled by force, etc. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 35 The government had no power to compel submission to injustice. 1880McCarthy Own Times III xxxvii. 141 He compelled a certain admiration from all men.
3. a. To force to come, go, or proceed; to drive forcibly, to force. Also (esp. in transl.) in the literal sense of the Latin: To drive or force together; to gather into a company by force. Cf. cloud-compeller. (Now rare and poetic.)
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 55 To thy tabernacle compelle not me. c1450Castle Howard Life St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 599 Þair frendes..Compeld þaim to þair erytage. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 5 She had this Knight from far compeld. 1606G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 28 b, They compelled the thirty Tyrants out to Eleusis. 1628Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 129 Having compelld them within their walled towns. 1622–62Heylin Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 133 They..sent out 300 Horse and 200 Foot to compell them back unto their Ships. a1700Dryden (J.), Attended by the chiefs who sought the field, Now friendly mix'd, and in one troop compell'd. 1704Swift Batt. Bks., Compelling here and there the Stragglers to the Flock. 1720Pope Iliad xiii. 454 The fatal tye Is stretch'd on both, and close compell'd they die. 1725― Odyss. vii. 291 By heav'n's high will compell'd from shore to shore. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xvii, Such a breeze Compell'd thy canvas. 1887Athenæum 1 Oct. 429 He can, Zeus-like, compel the clouds.
b. To force by pressure, compress. Obs. exc. fig.
1657Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 77 Wine is compelled from the grapes into hogsheads. 1859Trench Epist. Ch. Asia (1861) 167 Before they can compel such scriptures as these into the limits of their system.
†4. To overpower, constrain. Obs. rare—1.
1697Dryden Virg. (1806) II. 271 Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd. |