| 释义 |
credential, a. and n.|kriːˈdɛnʃəl|
[f. med.L. crēdentia (see credence) + -al1. (A crēdentiālis in med. or mod.L. may be the immediate source.)]
A. adj. Recommending or entitling to credit or confidence; usually in phr. † credential letters = ‘letters of credence’; see credence n. 4 b. rare.
1524Instruct. to Pace in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. xiii, After the..deliveraunce of his letters credentials. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. 467. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. ix. 377 The Earl keeping the credential papers for a proof of the Conspiracie. 1788Gentl. Mag. LVIII. i. 79/1 The Baron de Thugut has presented his credential letters, as Envoy Extraordinary. 1826De Quincey Lessing Wks. XIII. 292 This very sceptre..as the credential distinction of Mercury.
B. n. (Usually in pl.)
1. pl. Letters or written warrants recommending or entitling the bearer to credit or confidence; ‘letters of credence’; a letter of recommendation or introduction; esp. one given by a government to an ambassador, or envoy.
a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. ix. (1843) 590/2 The queen regent..sent Montrevil..with credentials to the king, as well as to the Parliament. 1709Steele Tatler No. 33 ⁋3 We will not take a Footman without Credentials from his last Master. 1787F. Burney Diary Sept., The whole ceremony of delivering his credentials to the King in state. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 710 An Envoy Extraordinary from Savoy..proceeded..to London [and] presented his credentials in the Banqueting House.
b. in sing.
1756Johnson Lett. to Lewis Paul 12 Mar., A short letter for me to show as a kind of credential. 1815Wellington in Gurw. Desp. XII. 238 Lord Fitzroy Somerset ought also to have a credential to enable him to act here. 1852Conybeare & H. St. Paul (1862) II. xxvii. 473 He probably felt that Timotheus might need some more explicit credential from himself than a mere verbal commission.
2. transf. and fig.
1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. 38 The Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles, the Seals and Credentials of the Truths they delivered. 1784Cowper Task ii. 339 There stands The legate of the skies! His theme divine, His office sacred, his credentials clear. 1860Whittier Quaker Alumni xxxvi, No longer they need Credentials of party and pass-words of creed.
b. in sing.
1660tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. i. i. 12 Light carries it's credential in it's natural splendor. 1877Mozley Univ. Serm. ii. 40 The superiority of the virtues is no credential to the motive. |