| 释义 |
▪ I. able, a.|eɪb(ə)l|
Forms: 4–6 abill(e, 5 abyl, abylle, abel, 5–6 abul, 5–7 hable, 6–8 habil, 7–8 habile, 4– able;
[a. OFr. hable, able (mod.Fr. habile):—L. habil-em, verbal adj., f. habē-re to hold; lit. ‘easy to be held or handled, handy,’ hence ‘pliant, suitable, fit for a purpose.’ The initial silent h has been generally dropped in Eng. from the first, though many classical scholars tried to restore it in 6–7. In 5 the Fr. hable, able was refashioned after L. as abille, habil, habile, and spellings imitating either these or L. habil-em occur in Eng. and Sc. writers in 6–7, of which habile has come down to the present day, as a differentiated form, able leaning in mod. use to the sense of power, habile to that of skill. Of the derivatives ability has lost the h, but habilitate, habilitation, habiliment retain it, through being narrowed down to senses which connect themselves with mod.Fr. habit, habiller. In earlier senses, which clearly connected themselves with able and ability, we find abiliment, abilitate, and abilitation.]
I. passively.
†1. Easy to handle or use. Obs.
a. Of persons: Facile, complaisant.
1382Wyclif Nahum iii. 3 The fornycaciouns of the hoore fair and able. a1423James I King's Quair iii. xxxvi, By vertew pure of zour aspectis hable.
b. Of things: Manageable, handy, convenient.
1710T. Betterton in Oldys Eng. Stage v. 67 The Hands are the most habil members of the Body.
†2.
a. Suitable, fit, appropriate; suited, adapted, fitted. Const. to, for. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. de P.R. xiv. 49 A felde oþer lyeþ leye..or is able to pasture..or bereþ floures and is able to been. c1430Freemasonry 125 He may not ben able To lordys profyt. 1583Stubbes Anat. of Abuses 103 (1877) A good peece of beef was thought than good meat, and able for the best. 1659Brome Queen v. vii. 118 To the next able Tree with him, and hang him presently. 1717Wodrow Correspondence (1843) II. 335 An ecclesiastical judicatory are most habile judges of what is necessary.
†b. Seemly, proper. Obs.
a1480in Babees Book 44 Ne spitte þow not over the tabylle, Ne therupon, for that is no þing abylle.
†3. Liable, apt, subject, likely, fit. Const. to. Obs. exc. in dial.
1413Lydgate Pilgr. of Sowle ii. lx. (1859) 57 Thyne was the action, and I nought but abyl for to suffre. a1423James I King's Quair i. xiv, To fortune both and to infortune hable. 1536Bellendene Boece's Croniklis (1821) I. 11 Becaus thay knew al pepil but successioun abill to perische, thay send thair ambassatouris to the Scottis, desiring to have thair dochteris in mariage. 1656Earl of Monmouth Advert. Parnassus etc. 40 A spectacle able to make a man die for anger. 1866Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Lizzie Lorton III. 116 [He] is noo yeble to be beggared if folks hev a mind.
II. actively.
4. a. Having the qualifications for, and means of, doing anything; having sufficient power (of whatever kind is needed); in such a position that the thing is possible for one; qualified, competent, capable. Const. for, to.
c1325E.E. Allit. P., Pearl 598 (1864) 18 Þenne þe lasse in werke to take more able. c1400Tale of Beryn 3237 (1876) Tyll it [the child] be abill of prentyse to crafft of tanery. c1440Gesta Rom. 269 (1879) To be abill to wed hure. c1450Myrc 1231 For he was more abeler þen þow To alle manere gode and prow. 1489Caxton Faytes of Armes ii. v. 99 Whan they see the ost so lessed they thought to be able for theym. 1535Coverdale 1 Kings xxii. 22 Thou shalt disceaue him, and shalt be able. c1538Starkey England ii. i. 150 Grettur nombur of men than he ys Abul to promote. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. i. 79 I thank my good Father, I am able to maintaine it. 1611Bible Matt. xxii. 46 No man was able to answere him a word. 1627Feltham Resolves i. xxxiv. Wks. 1677, 59 Worth without wealth, is like an able servant out of imployment. 1758S. Hayward Sermons iv. 108 Christ is thus a compleat and able saviour. 1850Kinglake Crimea VI. ix. 228 Abler..than others to bring their country new strength. 1860Tyndall Glaciers i. §16. 105 He finally concluded that I was able to take care of myself. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Able seaman, a thorough or regular bred sailor.
b. Legally qualified.
1708Kersey, Admission, or Admittance..in Law is when a presentation to a void Benefice being made by the Patron, the Bishop allows the Clerk to be able. 1751Chambers Cyc. s.v. Admission, A bishop..allows a clerk to be able, or competently qualified for the office; which is done by the formula Admitto te habilem.
†5. Having general physical or material strength; strong, vigorous, powerful. Obs.
c1375Morte Arthure 2636 He wille be Alexander ayre,..Abillere þane ever was syr Ector of Troye. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplandyshman 71 His shoulders large, for burthen strong and able. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. v. 86 His Highnesse comes post..of as able bodie as when he number'd thirty. 1607Rowlands Diog. Lanth. 30 But in thy youth and able strength, Giue prouidence thy hand. 1642R. Carpenter Experience i. xv. 108 Dores strengthened with able barres. 1690Petty Polit. Arith. (1691) ii. 37 So many able Men, whose lives are taken away, for the crimes which ill Discipline doth occasion. 1863Atkinson Whitby Gloss. A yabble kind of a man, a strong stout person.
†6. Having material resources; influential, powerful, wealthy. Obs.
1578Ps. cxxviii. in Scot. Poems of 16th cent. II. 122 So will the Lord make thee abill. 1665Pepys Corresp. (1879) VI. 103 It was the child of a very able citizen in Gracious Street. 1863Mrs. Toogood Spec. Yorkshire Dialect He's an able man, he has a good bit o' land hereabouts.
7. Having or showing general mental power or skill; talented, clever. Said of men and their achievements. When applied to the cleverness of tact or dexterity, it is now commonly differentiated as habile after mod.Fr.
1577–87Harrison England i. ii. i. 29 (1877) Such number of able pastours as may suffice for everie parish to haue one. 1611Bible Ex. xviii. 21 Thou shalt prouide out of all the people able men. 1686Dryden Hind & P. ii. 432 Those able heads expound a wiser way. 1734tr. Rollin, Anc. Hist. III. vii. 449 Much more able with his tongue than his sword. 1792Anecd. of W. Pitt III. xliv. 197 General Washington proved himself..an abler general. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral Tales I. xiii. 107 (1816) F{ddd}was by no means so able a boxer as his opponent. 1840Gen. Thompson Exercises (1842) V. 211 The ablest exposure of..the Factory fraud, which it has been my fortune to see. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iii. 114 An able king is practically absolute.
8. Comb. able-minded, able-souled. able-bodied, able-whackets, q.v.
1849Thoreau Week on Concord 81 Let not the apprehension..discourage the cheerful labors of the able-souled man. 1934G. B. Shaw On the Rocks Pref. 151 Every able-bodied and able-minded and able-souled person.
9. Used for the letter ‘A’ in transmitting messages (first adopted by services signalling units in Dec. 1942). Cf. ack.
1943Signal Training (All Arms) No. 5, p. 7 The letters will be spoken in the following form A able B baker C charlie.
¶ Used by Sc. writers adverbially = ables, ablins. Possibly, perhaps.
c1528Lyndesay Dreme 893 Quho wyll go sers amang sic heirdis scheip, May, habyll, find mony pure scabbit crok. 1651D. Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 523 Both write and say he is evill spokin of..and able he will give credite.
▪ II. † able, v. Obs.
For forms see able a.
[f. able a. Cf. Fr. habiller, used in all the senses of this verb, from which a by-form, habyle, habylle, Sc. abilȝe, abulȝe, is also found in senses 1 and 2. In sense 3 replaced by enable.]
1. trans. To fit, adapt; to prepare, make ready. (Const. to, into, unto.)
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 20 Tille oure soule be somwhat..abiled to gostely werke. c1430in Babees Book (1868) 27 First þi silf able with al þin herte to vertuose discipline. 1449Pecock Repr. iii. viii. 324 Deedis..disposing and Abling into the grettist Unpitee. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. v. iii. (1652) 148 Unto Regeneratyon them ablyng. 1553–87Foxe A. & M. I. 601/2 There are but few in number, that do able them thus faithfully to grace. 1583Stanyhurst Poems 140. §2 This new strange passadge winter his hoarnes habled.
2. To fit out or prepare the person; to attire, to dress. (Cf. ordinary mod. sense of Fr. habiller.)
a1450Knt. de la Tour 159 He abled hym selff in an other gowne.
3. To endow with fitting power or strength; to make capable; to capacitate, or enable (to do anything).
1506W. de Worde Ordinary of Crysten Men iv. iv. 172 It hym dysposeth & ableth to contynue in good werkes. 1617Hieron Wks. II. 249 Indowments..whereby the hauer of them is abled of God to performe & to discharge the seruices of that calling. 1693Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 335 If God shall me able.
4. To endow with general power or skill (of body or mind); to make strong or powerful; to empower, strengthen, confirm, or fortify.
1483Caxton Cato h vi b, In lyke wyse by ofte studyeng..men able them in whatsomeuer scyence that it be. 1550Bale Im. of Both Ch. B. v, The Apostle of bothe testamentes, abled both by the lawe and the gospell. 1592W. Wyrley Armorie ii. 115 Ioue abled much our might. 1631J. Donne Resurrection in Farr S.P. (1848) 14 And life, by this death abled, shall controule Death.
b. To empower legally, to make competent.
c1470E.E. Gilds 316 And, whan he is abelled, to give a brekefast to the Maister and Wardons, or he bee admytted. c1600Strype Ann. Ref. xxvii. 284 (1709) That none be abled in law to receive any benefice..unless he be a preacher.
c. To warrant, vouch for.
1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 172 None do's offend, none, I say, none, I'll able 'em. |