electiveadj.n.

Brit.

/ᵻˈlɛktɪv/, U.S.

/əˈlɛktɪv/,

/iˈlɛktɪv/

Forms: Also 1500s–1600s electif.

Etymology: < French électif (compare Italian elettivo , Spanish electivo ), on Latin type *ēlectīvus : see elect v. and -ive suffix. In English, as apparently in Romanic, the active sense (normally belonging to words similarly formed) is of later origin than the passive sense.

A. adj.

I. Connected with election to office or dignity.

a. In passive sense. Of the holder of an office, dignity, etc.: Appointed by election. Of an office, etc.: Filled up by election. Of authority: Derived from election. elective monarchy n. one in which the monarch is determined by election as opposed to heredity.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > [adjective] > filled by election (of an office)

elective1530

electory1660

electoral1849

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > [adjective] > appointed by election

elective1530

electory1660

electoral1849

1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII c. 12 Every..baylye electif and elected.

1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 4/1 Abbaties, Priories conuentual, and other benefices electiue.

1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. x. §4. 385 It may be that those Kings were electiue, as the Edumæans anciently were.

a1618 W. Raleigh Prince (1642) 2 Monarchies..are of 3 sorts touching the right or possession of them; viz. 1. Hereditary,..2. Elective,..3. Mixt... Monarchies are of 2 sorts touching their power or authority; viz. 1. Intier..2. Limited.

1641 J. Milton Of Prelatical Episc. 12 A Temporary, and elective sway.

1735 Visct. Bolingbroke Diss. upon Parties (ed. 2) 167 The Gothick Kings were at first elective, and always limited.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Æsymnetic monarchy, among antient writers on government, denotes a limited elective monarchy.

1790 Coll. Voy. round World I. iv. 78 A regent being necessary, that office, though elective, generally falls upon the father.

1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iii. 87 The hereditary prince..may be exchanged for an elective chief magistrate.

†b. Subject to election (at specified intervals).

ΚΠ

1659 J. Harrington Art of Law-giving i. iv. 29 Annually elective of the People; as in the..Archontes of Athens.

1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. II. 86 He is elective every three years.

2. In active sense: Having the power of electing officers or representatives by vote.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > [adjective] > having the power of electing

elective1632

1632 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 155 At the reading of the said letters he had the greater number of elective voices.

1861 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constit. (ed. 2) iv. 61 Elective body, a body whose functions are confined to the choice of representatives.

1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands iv. xxiii. 527 The business of the Elective States [in Guernsey] is limited to the election of the jurats and the sheriff.

a. Pertaining to the election of officers or representatives; (of a system of government, etc.) based upon the principle of election.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > [adjective]

elective1643

electionary1837

1643 W. Bridge Wovnded Conscience Cvred iv. 27 When the government is elective and pactionall, are not the Princes the Ministers?

1791 J. Mackintosh Vindiciæ Gallicæ ii. 141 The elective constitution of the new Clergy of France.

1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus iii. vii. 90/1 He appears to make little even of the Elective Franchise.

1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire IV. xxxix. 389 The preference of the elective to the hereditary principle in every department of government.

b. Of college or high-school studies: subject to the student's choice; optional. So elective system. Originally U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [adjective] > optional

elective1847

1847 in Ann. Rep. Harvard Coll. 1883–4 14 The elective system is now given up in this department.

1868 C. W. Dilke Greater Brit. I. i. vii. 89 The system of elective studies pursued at Michigan [University] is one to which we are year by year tending in the English universities.

1880 Harper's Mag. July 254/1 In the German Universities the studies are all elective and optional; in the colleges of the United States compulsory.

1890 J. G. Fitch Notes Amer. Schools 59 In the high schools and universities the practice of prescribing ‘elective’ subjects is very common.

1957 G. G. Reader in R. K. Merton Student-Physician 84 Two months of elective work.

1969 Brit. Jrnl. Med. Educ. 3 102 There should be an elective period of, say, 10 weeks, in which the student should be able to choose from a wide variety of elective topics.

II. Pertaining to choice in general.

4. Pertaining to the action of choosing. Of actions: Proceeding from free choice, optional, voluntary. Formerly Obsolete, but now revived in medical use: optional, not urgent (see quot. 1941).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > free will > [adjective] > proceeding from free will

selflyOE

self-willOE

willesOE

needlessc1225

wilninga1250

wilfulc1374

voluntaryc1449

spontany1532

voluntarious1532

spontaneal1602

voluntaire1615

self-willing1625

ultroneous1637

unimposed1642

elective1643

spontaneous1656

contingent1660

unmechanic1709

volitient1844

unmechanical1865

the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [adjective] > relating to preference > chosen in preference to others

predilectc1475

pre-electc1475

elective1643

preferable1747

preferential1754

predilected1767

preferred1777

the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [adjective] > elective

elective1941

1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 43 God delights not to make a drudge of vertue, whose actions must be all elective and unconstrain'd.

1656 T. Hobbes Questions Liberty, Necessity & Chance 315 All elective actions are free from absolute necessity.

1668 J. Howe Blessedness of Righteous Disc. (1825) 4 To apply at last his intellectual and elective powers.

1775 S. Johnson Taxation no Tyranny 14 A duty temporary, occasional, and elective.

1941 Dorland's Med. Dict. (ed. 19) 476/2 Elective, subject to the choice or decision of the patient or physician.., applied to procedures that are only advantageous to the patient but not necessary to save his life.

1963 Lancet 19 Jan. 132/1 A self-contained, thirty-bed hospital which catered solely for elective surgical cases.

1963 Lancet 19 Jan. 132/1 The theatre was used twice weekly for elective operating sessions.

1964 G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? iv. 65 An elective operation such as tonsillectomy.

1966 Lancet 24 Dec. 1394/1 A reversed intestinal segment was inserted as an elective procedure after massive resection for a mesenteric embolus.

†5. Preferentially selected according to circumstances. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1636 T. Goodwin Childe of Light i. 123 There are to be peculiar elective plaisters to heal these wounds, because these wounds are usuall oft a differing nature.

†6. Proper according to astrological election. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > astrology > judicial astrology > judgement > [adjective] > election

electional1652

elective1689

1689 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum (ed. 2) ix. 96 Elective Times most propitious to Anglers.

†7. = eclectic adj. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosopher > [adjective] > following specific branch or method

electic1636

elective1681

eclectic1683

1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel Pref. p. xx Like a Philosopher of the Elective Sect, addicting my self to no persons.

a. Of physical forces and agencies: Having a tendency to operate on certain objects in preference to others. elective affinity (Chemistry): the tendency of a substance to combine with certain particular substances in preference to others; formerly elective attraction, which is still used, but chiefly in a wider sense.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > chemical bonding > [noun] > chemical attraction

attraction1664

affinity1753

elective attraction1767

vital affinity1850

1767 Philos. Trans. 1766 (Royal Soc.) 56 100 There seems..to have been a double elective attraction in the fourteenth Experiment.

1794 J. Hutton Diss. Philos. Light 50 The elective affections of this irradiated influence.

1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xxi. 401 It is owing to this original elective power in the air, that we can effect the separation which we wish.

1806 W. Henry Epitome Chem. (ed. 4) i. ii. 16 Tables of elective affinity have been formed.

1869 J. Tyndall Notes 9 Lect. on Light §257 Light..which has been sifted..by elective absorption.

1876 tr. P. Schützenberger On Fermentation 32 Dubrunfant has given this phenomenon the name of elective fermentation.

b. figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > tendency > [adjective] > inclined > to do something or towards some physical state

inclinedc1450

prone1561

subject1566

propense1568

inclininga1576

inclinable1590

partial1615

proclive1653

elective1796

1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France iii, in Wks. (1808) VIII. 285 Sympathetick attraction discovers..our elective affections.

1827 T. Carlyle Goethe in German Romance IV. 12 In the Romance department, Goethe has written..Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, and Die Wahlverwandtschaften (The Elective Affinities).

1834 T. De Quincey Sketches Life & Manners in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 91/1 The effect of the music is, to place the mind in a state of elective attraction for everything in harmony with its own prevailing key.

1860 Harper's Mag. July 205/1 We hear much of passional attraction, of elective affinity, etc.

1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table v. 151 A chance for the elective affinities.

1926 M. Baring Daphne Adeane xvii. 212 These things happen: ‘elective affinities’, you know.

B. n.

†1. An elected representative. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [noun] > a representative assembly > member of > elected

elective1701

1701 Answ. to Black-List i The Just and Prudent Proceedings of their Electives.

2. A subject of study specially selected by the student in a college or university; an optional subject or course of study. Originally U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > teaching > means of teaching > [noun] > class or course > types of

summer session1594

evening class1762

summer school1793

training course1822

shop class1844

elective1850

optional1855

night class1870

correspondence class1876

Chautauqua1884

correspondence course1902

gut1902

holiday course1906

shop1912

pud1917

training seminar1917

film school1929

day school1931

refresher1939

farm shop1941

survey course1941

weekend course1944

crash programme1947

sandwich course1955

thick sandwich1962

module1966

bird course1975

1850 Documents City of Boston No. 38. 45 Making some studies electives and giving to the members of the first class some liberty of choice.

1876 J. D. Whitney in E. T. Brewster Life J.D.W. (1909) 330 I shall have an elective this winter in economical geology.

1895 Cal. Univ. Nebraska 1895–6 212 The elective in the History of Sculpture and Painting will be given at three o'clock.

1901 Westm. Gaz. 30 May 12/1 At Yale, where the study of this language had been neglected for many years, more than a hundred students have chosen it as one of their ‘electives’.

1902 J. Corbin Amer. at Oxf. 167 The idea of grouping electives is the fundamental difference between English and American education.

1926 Amer. Oxonian July 100 Oxford is a school for specialists. There are no minors, no electives, nothing but majors.

1930 Lambeth Conference Rep. 174 For the Priesthood he [sc. a candidate] must pass a further examination in..The Bible..Pastoral Care and one of a long list of Electives.

1957 G. G. Reader in R. K. Merton Student-Physician 84 The student..would divide his time between pediatric and psychiatric clinics and part-time electives.

1962 B. Lennox Rep. Visit to U.S.A. & Canada ix. 25 Once we have broken ground with the new curriculum [at Glasgow], I think we should next consider the introduction of electives.

1969 Brit. Jrnl. Med. Educ. 3 182 An exciting range of electives in community medicine.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	elective
释义	electiveadj.n. Brit. /ᵻˈlɛktɪv/, U.S. /əˈlɛktɪv/, /iˈlɛktɪv/ Forms: Also 1500s–1600s electif. Etymology: < French électif (compare Italian elettivo , Spanish electivo ), on Latin type ēlectīvus : see elect v. and -ive suffix. In English, as apparently in Romanic, the active sense (normally belonging to words similarly formed) is of later origin than the passive sense. A. adj. I. Connected with election to office or dignity. 1. a. In passive sense. Of the holder of an office, dignity, etc.: Appointed by election. Of an office, etc.: Filled up by election. Of authority: Derived from election. elective monarchy n. one in which the monarch is determined by election as opposed to heredity. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > [adjective] > filled by election (of an office) elective1530 electory1660 electoral1849 society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > [adjective] > appointed by election elective1530 electory1660 electoral1849 1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII* c. 12 Every..baylye electif and elected. 1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 4/1 Abbaties, Priories conuentual, and other benefices electiue. 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. x. §4. 385 It may be that those Kings were electiue, as the Edumæans anciently were. a1618 W. Raleigh Prince (1642) 2 Monarchies..are of 3 sorts touching the right or possession of them; viz. 1. Hereditary,..2. Elective,..3. Mixt... Monarchies are of 2 sorts touching their power or authority; viz. 1. Intier..2. Limited. 1641 J. Milton Of Prelatical Episc. 12 A Temporary, and elective sway. 1735 Visct. Bolingbroke Diss. upon Parties (ed. 2) 167 The Gothick Kings were at first elective, and always limited. 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Æsymnetic monarchy, among antient writers on government, denotes a limited elective monarchy. 1790 Coll. Voy. round World I. iv. 78 A regent being necessary, that office, though elective, generally falls upon the father. 1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iii. 87 The hereditary prince..may be exchanged for an elective chief magistrate. †b. Subject to election (at specified intervals). ΚΠ 1659 J. Harrington Art of Law-giving i. iv. 29 Annually elective of the People; as in the..Archontes of Athens. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. II. 86 He is elective every three years. 2. In active sense: Having the power of electing officers or representatives by vote. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > [adjective] > having the power of electing elective1632 1632 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 155 At the reading of the said letters he had the greater number of elective voices. 1861 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constit. (ed. 2) iv. 61 Elective body, a body whose functions are confined to the choice of representatives. 1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands iv. xxiii. 527 The business of the Elective States [in Guernsey] is limited to the election of the jurats and the sheriff. 3. a. Pertaining to the election of officers or representatives; (of a system of government, etc.) based upon the principle of election. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > [adjective] elective1643 electionary1837 1643 W. Bridge Wovnded Conscience Cvred iv. 27 When the government is elective and pactionall, are not the Princes the Ministers? 1791 J. Mackintosh Vindiciæ Gallicæ ii. 141 The elective constitution of the new Clergy of France. 1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus iii. vii. 90/1 He appears to make little even of the Elective Franchise. 1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire IV. xxxix. 389 The preference of the elective to the hereditary principle in every department of government. b. Of college or high-school studies: subject to the student's choice; optional. So elective system. Originally U.S. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [adjective] > optional elective1847 1847 in Ann. Rep. Harvard Coll. 1883–4 14 The elective system is now given up in this department. 1868 C. W. Dilke Greater Brit. I. i. vii. 89 The system of elective studies pursued at Michigan [University] is one to which we are year by year tending in the English universities. 1880 Harper's Mag. July 254/1 In the German Universities the studies are all elective and optional; in the colleges of the United States compulsory. 1890 J. G. Fitch Notes Amer. Schools 59 In the high schools and universities the practice of prescribing ‘elective’ subjects is very common. 1957 G. G. Reader in R. K. Merton Student-Physician 84 Two months of elective work. 1969 Brit. Jrnl. Med. Educ. 3 102 There should be an elective period of, say, 10 weeks, in which the student should be able to choose from a wide variety of elective topics. II. Pertaining to choice in general. 4. Pertaining to the action of choosing. Of actions: Proceeding from free choice, optional, voluntary. Formerly Obsolete, but now revived in medical use: optional, not urgent (see quot. 1941). ΘΚΠ the mind > will > free will > [adjective] > proceeding from free will selflyOE self-willOE willesOE needlessc1225 wilninga1250 wilfulc1374 voluntaryc1449 spontany1532 voluntarious1532 spontaneal1602 voluntaire1615 self-willing1625 ultroneous1637 unimposed1642 elective1643 spontaneous1656 contingent1660 unmechanic1709 volitient1844 unmechanical1865 the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [adjective] > relating to preference > chosen in preference to others predilectc1475 pre-electc1475 elective1643 preferable1747 preferential1754 predilected1767 preferred1777 the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [adjective] > elective elective1941 1643 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce 43 God delights not to make a drudge of vertue, whose actions must be all elective and unconstrain'd. 1656 T. Hobbes Questions Liberty, Necessity & Chance 315 All elective actions are free from absolute necessity. 1668 J. Howe Blessedness of Righteous Disc. (1825) 4 To apply at last his intellectual and elective powers. 1775 S. Johnson Taxation no Tyranny 14 A duty temporary, occasional, and elective. 1941 Dorland's Med. Dict. (ed. 19) 476/2 Elective, subject to the choice or decision of the patient or physician.., applied to procedures that are only advantageous to the patient but not necessary to save his life. 1963 Lancet 19 Jan. 132/1 A self-contained, thirty-bed hospital which catered solely for elective surgical cases. 1963 Lancet 19 Jan. 132/1 The theatre was used twice weekly for elective operating sessions. 1964 G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? iv. 65 An elective operation such as tonsillectomy. 1966 Lancet 24 Dec. 1394/1 A reversed intestinal segment was inserted as an elective procedure after massive resection for a mesenteric embolus. †5. Preferentially selected according to circumstances. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1636 T. Goodwin Childe of Light i. 123 There are to be peculiar elective plaisters to heal these wounds, because these wounds are usuall oft a differing nature. †6. Proper according to astrological election. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > astrology > judicial astrology > judgement > [adjective] > election electional1652 elective1689 1689 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum (ed. 2) ix. 96 Elective Times most propitious to Anglers. †7. = eclectic adj. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosopher > [adjective] > following specific branch or method electic1636 elective1681 eclectic1683 1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel Pref. p. xx Like a Philosopher of the Elective Sect, addicting my self to no persons. 8. a. Of physical forces and agencies: Having a tendency to operate on certain objects in preference to others. elective affinity (Chemistry): the tendency of a substance to combine with certain particular substances in preference to others; formerly elective attraction, which is still used, but chiefly in a wider sense. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > chemical bonding > [noun] > chemical attraction attraction1664 affinity1753 elective attraction1767 vital affinity1850 1767 Philos. Trans. 1766 (Royal Soc.) 56 100 There seems..to have been a double elective attraction in the fourteenth Experiment. 1794 J. Hutton Diss. Philos. Light 50 The elective affections of this irradiated influence. 1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xxi. 401 It is owing to this original elective power in the air, that we can effect the separation which we wish. 1806 W. Henry Epitome Chem. (ed. 4) i. ii. 16 Tables of elective affinity have been formed. 1869 J. Tyndall Notes 9 Lect. on Light §257 Light..which has been sifted..by elective absorption. 1876 tr. P. Schützenberger On Fermentation 32 Dubrunfant has given this phenomenon the name of elective fermentation. b. figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > tendency > [adjective] > inclined > to do something or towards some physical state inclinedc1450 prone1561 subject1566 propense1568 inclininga1576 inclinable1590 partial1615 proclive1653 elective1796 1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France iii, in Wks. (1808) VIII. 285 Sympathetick attraction discovers..our elective affections. 1827 T. Carlyle Goethe in German Romance IV. 12 In the Romance department, Goethe has written..Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, and Die Wahlverwandtschaften (The Elective Affinities). 1834 T. De Quincey Sketches Life & Manners in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 91/1 The effect of the music is, to place the mind in a state of elective attraction for everything in harmony with its own prevailing key. 1860 Harper's Mag. July 205/1 We hear much of passional attraction, of elective affinity, etc. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table v. 151 A chance for the elective affinities. 1926 M. Baring Daphne Adeane xvii. 212 These things happen: ‘elective affinities’, you know. B. n. †1. An elected representative. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [noun] > a representative assembly > member of > elected elective1701 1701 Answ. to Black-List i The Just and Prudent Proceedings of their Electives. 2. A subject of study specially selected by the student in a college or university; an optional subject or course of study. Originally U.S. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > means of teaching > [noun] > class or course > types of summer session1594 evening class1762 summer school1793 training course1822 shop class1844 elective1850 optional1855 night class1870 correspondence class1876 Chautauqua1884 correspondence course1902 gut1902 holiday course1906 shop1912 pud1917 training seminar1917 film school1929 day school1931 refresher1939 farm shop1941 survey course1941 weekend course1944 crash programme1947 sandwich course1955 thick sandwich1962 module1966 bird course1975 1850 Documents City of Boston No. 38. 45 Making some studies electives and giving to the members of the first class some liberty of choice. 1876 J. D. Whitney in E. T. Brewster Life J.D.W. (1909) 330 I shall have an elective this winter in economical geology. 1895 Cal. Univ. Nebraska 1895–6 212 The elective in the History of Sculpture and Painting will be given at three o'clock. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 30 May 12/1 At Yale, where the study of this language had been neglected for many years, more than a hundred students have chosen it as one of their ‘electives’. 1902 J. Corbin Amer. at Oxf. 167 The idea of grouping electives is the fundamental difference between English and American education. 1926 Amer. Oxonian July 100 Oxford is a school for specialists. There are no minors, no electives, nothing but majors. 1930 Lambeth Conference Rep. 174 For the Priesthood he [sc. a candidate] must pass a further examination in..The Bible..Pastoral Care and one of a long list of Electives. 1957 G. G. Reader in R. K. Merton Student-Physician 84 The student..would divide his time between pediatric and psychiatric clinics and part-time electives. 1962 B. Lennox Rep. Visit to U.S.A. & Canada ix. 25 Once we have broken ground with the new curriculum [at Glasgow], I think we should next consider the introduction of electives. 1969 Brit. Jrnl. Med. Educ. 3 182 An exciting range of electives in community medicine. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.n.1530
随便看	to whip one's weight in wildcats to whip the cat to whip the devil round the post to whip the devil round the stump to whip the game to whistle down the wind to whistle for to whistle in the dark to whistle on one's thumb to white out to white two walls with one brush to white up to white-knuckle it to whiteknuckle it to whiten up to whom it may concern to whon to whoop it up to whoop out to whoop things up to whoop up to whore it up to whore one's way to whore out to wick a bore