| 释义 |
▪ I. competent, a.|ˈkɒmpɪtənt|
Also 5 conpetent, 5–6 competente, 6 compu-, -po-, -pytent.
[a. F. compétent ‘terme de droit’ (15th c. in Littré), and ad. L. competent-em suitable, fitting, proper, lawful, pr. pple. of competĕre in its neuter senses: see compete v.1]
†1. Suitable, fit, appropriate, proper. Obs. in general sense.
c1400Apol. Loll. 34 Euer bi oportunite, or conpetent acordauns, to be redi to fil it. c1430Lydg. Bochas vi. i. (1554) 146 b, What maner torment..Wer competent, couenable, or condigne To him. a1450in Eng. Gilds (1870) 445 And to kepe hir fest in competent place be the alderman and maistres assigned. 1534More Passion Wks. 1284/2 God in the creacion of man, gaue to hym two states: one, competent and conuenient for hys mortal nature. 1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. i. (1870) 127 Good vytales, good meate, wine, and competent Ale. 1667N. Fairfax in Phil. Trans. II. 549 A common Sudorifick..in competent time relieved him. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. (1793) §192 Materials..very competent to our purpose.
2. Suitable to a person's rank or position; suitable or sufficient for comfortable living. arch.
1440Close Roll 23 Hen. VI, A competent annuite for lyff. 1463Bury Wills (1850) 33 A competent bed with ij peyre shetys. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 18 A competent liuing, and honestly had, makes such as are godlie both thankfull and glad. 1651Nicholas Papers (1886) I. 242 To have a competent Joynter for her and estate for her children. 1667E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. x. (1743) 244 Officers..who have all competent salaries. 1865Grote Plato I. iii. 128 Leaving a competent property. 1876Digby Real Prop. iii. §1. 115 If she [a widow] depart from the castle, then a competent house shall be provided for her.
3. a. Suitable, adequate, or sufficient, in amount or extent.
c1440Gesta Rom. lxi. 257 (Harl. MS.) A semly yonge knyȝte.. he wolle fiȝt for yow..yf ye wolle yeve to him competente salarye. 1491Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 14 As muche therof..as shuld be competent or nedefull to the seid reparacion. 1571Digges Pantom. i. xxxv. L j b, Draw a streight line of competente length. 1626Bacon Sylva §108 Harmony requireth a competent distance of Notes. 1664Evelyn Pomona vi. (1729) 68 A competent while before Christmas. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. (1793) §272 A competent quantity being put down to the bottom of the hole. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 705 Mr. Pitt's bill..being now supported by a competent majority, was passed into an act.
†b. Sufficient but not going beyond this: fair, moderate, reasonable, enough. Obs.
1535J. Mason in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. II. 55 Vitaylls be of a competent pryce: all other things as cloth, lether, books, etc. be unresonable dere. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxiii. (1887) 120 Such as be newly recouered from sicknes..must content themselues with small and competent exercise. 1625Bacon Ess., Vicissitude (Arb.) 576 They grew to rest upon Number, rather Competent, then Vast. 1780Harris Philolog. Enq. Wks. (1841) 409 Greek was spoken with competent purity in Constantinople even to the fifteenth century.
4. Adequate or sufficient in quality or degree.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 76 You haue giuen me a competent reason. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. ii. §4 Had brought their work to some competent perfection. 1683Burnet tr. More's Utopia Pref. 1 He that undertakes it, has a competent skill of the one Tongue, and is a Master of the other. 1691Ray Creation i. (1704) 78 Necessary to define with competent certainty. 1798Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 387 Impossible to form any competent notion of what we are doing. 1817Keatinge Trav. I. 63 A model of this mountain..would supply infinitely the most competent idea of it.
5. Possessing the requisite qualifications for, or to; properly qualified.
a. Of persons.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 7/2 The King asked him only of the Journey..of which he might be a competent councellour. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 128 A matter..allowed by all competent Judges. 1787T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 207 The merchant..will be competent to this measure whenever he finds it a necessary one. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 41 If all the wealth in the planet should perish..they..know themselves competent to replace it. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 13 We engaged a strong and competent guide.
b. transf.
1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. i. ii, Religion is our competent guide. 1794J. Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 57 Our sight..is not always competent for determining the absolute want of light. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 127 A river is competent to effect its own purification unless overtaxed with pollution.
c. Of a stream: capable of transporting fragments of a certain size. (Cf. quot. 1878 s.v. sense 5 b.)
1877[see competence 4 d]. 1960B. W. Sparks Geomorphology v. 81 If a stream is not competent to move load of the calibre available.
d. Geol. Of a stratum of rock: able to transmit lateral pressure and, when formed in an anticline, to bear weight.
1893B. Willis in U.S. Geol. Surv. Ann. Rep. ii. 250 If we describe the sufficiently firm stratum by the word competent, we may formulate the law of anticlinal development... In strata under load an anticline arises along a line of initial dip, when a thrust, sufficiently powerful to raise the load, is transmitted by a competent stratum. The resulting anticline supports the load of an arch, and being adequate to that duty it may be called a competent structure. 1953E. S. Hills Outl. Struct. Geol. (ed. 3) iv. 82 Relatively strong (‘competent’) beds. 1965A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) x. 234 Strong competent beds of rocks like quartzite cannot readily change their thicknesses.
e. Biol. Of a cell: having a latent ability to develop in reaction to a stimulus.
1932[see competence 4 e]. 1935Discovery May 136/2 The ectoderm is continually changing through internal causes and is only reactive or ‘competent’ during a certain period of its existence, but within this period several different substances can cause a nervous differentiaton.
6. Law. Legally qualified or sufficient.
a. Of a judge, court, etc.: Possessing jurisdiction or authority to act;
b. Of a witness, evidence, etc.: Capable of being brought forward, admissible;
c. Of a case, etc.: Within the jurisdiction of a court.
1483Caxton Cato A viij, Make thy self redy for to answere before thy competent juge. 1536Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 14 §6 Any competente courte, hauynge iurysdiction in the place. 1581Lambarde Eiren. iii. ii. 345 Whereof the Justices of Peace bee competent Judges. 16435 Years Jas. I, in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 310 Some few words touching the nature of the proofs, which in such a case are competent. 1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. ii. vi. (1743) 389 The causes competent to the Admiralty Court of Scotland, are these among others. 1768–78Blackstone Comm. III. iii. xxiii. (ed. 8) 369 All witnesses..except such as are infamous or such as are interested in the event of the cause..are competent witnesses. 1883Law Rep. Q. Bench Div. XI. 597 It has been held..that..an action for damages was not competent against a supreme judge for a censure passed by him..on a counsel.
7. More generally. Of things, etc.:
a. Belonging to as a rightful possession or property; proper, appertaining, due.
b. Within one's rights, legally or formally open or permissible.
c. Admissible by rule, legitimate.
1614Selden Titles Hon. 118 Som abstracts are proper notes of Soueraigntie: as Maiestie which is now competent to none but supreme Princes. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. i. §10 That, perhaps, is the Privilege of the infinite Author and Preserver of things..but is not competent to any finite Being. 1765–9Blackstone Comm., It is not competent to the defendant to allege fraud in the plaintiff. 1794Paley Evid. iii. ii. (1817) 286, I think that it is competent to the Christian apologist to return this answer. 1845Stephen Laws Eng. I. 104 Though it is competent to Parliament to legislate for the colonies. 1850T. S. Baynes New Anal. Logical Forms 76 Having particular conclusions where universal are competent. 1850Sir W. Hamilton in Ibid. 154 Two arrangements are competent.
†8. Compatible, congruous with. Obs. rare.
a1670Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 138 'Tis no more competent with obedience than light with darkness.
†9. ? Requiring competence. Obs.
1720Swift Mod. Educ. Wks. 1755 II. ii. 33 How..so great share in the most competent parts of publick management hath been..entrusted to commoners.
†10. quasi-adv. In circumstances of competence.
1557F. Seager Sch. Vertue in Babees Bk. 354 Ye that are poore, with your state be contente, Not hauinge wherwith to lyue competente.
†11. quasi-n. A competency. Obs.
1575Brieff Disc. troub. Franckford 156 Their are not paste 17 or 18 whiche haue competent ynoughe to liue vpon. 1614Selden Titles Hon. 235 An annuall summe and competent.
Senses 5 d, e in Dict. become 5 e, f. Add: [5.] d. Med. Of a valve or sphincter: functioning normally; able to prevent reflux. Opp. incompetent a. 2 b.
1881G. Steell Physical Signs Cardiac Dis. 16 Tricuspid incompetency may exist without this sign, if the venous valves remain competent. 1915A. E. Barclay Alimentary Tract xii. 124 This [ileo-cæcal] valve was found to be perfectly competent at the operation. 1977Jrnl. Cardiovasc. Surg. XVIII. 506/2 Only 4 out of ten pulmonary valves were competent at 20 mm of Hg pressure and all were incompetent at a mean pressure of 100 mm of Hg. 1982Brit. Heart Jrnl. XLVII. 473 Relief of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction was achieved in a majority of cases and the valves were entirely competent.
▪ II. ˈcompetent, n. Eccl. Hist.
Pl. also -entes.
[ad. L. competens (in Augustine, Jerome, etc.; ‘competens vocatur qui post instructionem fidei competit gratiam Christi’, Isidore Orig. vii. xiv. §8), pr. pple. of competĕre in its active sense, ‘to strive after something in company’, usually in pl. competentes as a name of the class.]
A candidate for baptism.
a1655Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 413 Men and women, competents or candidates of this Sacrament. 1659H. L'Estrange Alliance Div. Off. 260 Infants and competents. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. iv. iv. (1852) 73 Men, who were catechumens and competentes. 1729W. Reeves Serm. 115 In the first, the Competent professed to this effect, I renounce Satan, etc. |