| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈattribute, ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. L. attribūt-us, pa. pple. of attribuĕre, f. at-, ad- to + tribuĕre to assign, bestow, grant, yield, deliver. After the formation of the verb to attribute, the regular attributed gradually took its place as pa. pple., and attribute not being needed as an adj. became obs. Cf. -ate2.]
Attributed; assigned, given.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. i. (1495) 5 Power is appropryd to the fader . to the sone wysdome is attrybute: and to the holy ghost is attrybute grace. 1539Tonstall Serm. Palme Sund. (1823) 51 All these honorable names be attribute by theym vnto hym. 1599Thynne Animadv. 48 Heccate, which name is attribute to Diana.
▪ II. attribute, n.|ˈætrɪbjuːt|
[prob., in the main, a subst. use of attribute ppl. a., though the L. attribūtum (neuter n. from the pa. pple. attribūtus), common in theological language, or its F. adaptation attribut (14th c. in Littré), may well have been the prototype.]
1. A quality or character ascribed to any person or thing, one which is in common estimation or usage assigned to him; hence, sometimes, an epithet or appellation in which the quality is ascribed.
a1400Cov. Myst. 193 To the Sone connynge doth longe expres, Therwith the Serpent dyd Adam asay..Thus the secunde person attrybute Was only towchyd by temptacion. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 44 The verie Etimologie of the name [God]..declaring plainely the nature of the attribute, which is all one as if we sayd good. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 195 Mercy is aboue this sceptred sway..It is an attribute to God himselfe. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. 3/2 The attribute of Wise..was conferr'd upon the rest in respect of their moral Rules and Practice. 1846Wright Ess. Mid. Ages II. xiii. 88 It is surprising how soon historical personages become invested with romantic attributes.
†2. Distinguished quality or character; honour, credit, reputation ascribed. (Cf. the parallel use of quality, rank, position, etc. in ‘a person of quality,’ i.e. ‘quality worth naming.’) Obs.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 22 It takes From our achievements..The pith and marrow of our attribute. 1606― Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 125 Much attribute he hath, and much the reason, Why we ascribe it to him. c1690Temple Heroic Virt. Wks. 1731 I. 194 Cæsar..possessed very eminently all the Qualities..that enter into the composition of an Heroe, but failed of the Attribute or Honour.
3. A material object recognized as appropriate to, and thus symbolic of, any office or actor; spec. in Painting, Sculpture: A conventional symbol added, as an accessory, to denote the character or show the identity of the personage represented.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 191 His Scepter shewes the force of temporall power, The attribute to awe and Maiestie. 1705Addison Italy Rome, The sculptor, to distinguish him, gave him what the medallists call his proper attributes, a spear and a shield. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Attributes, The Club is an attribute of Hercules. 1814Wordsw. Excurs. v. 492 A crown, an attribute of sovereign power. 1880Waldstein Pythag. Rhegion 19 A..remnant of marble, which shows that he also held a long attribute in his left hand. 1883Queen Victoria More Leaves 6 A small room full of his rifles and other implements and attributes of sport.
4. A quality or character considered to belong to or be inherent in a person or thing; a characteristic quality.
1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. viii. (1870) I. 151 Attribute is a word properly convertible with quality, for every quality is an attribute and every attribute is a quality; but in our language, custom has introduced a certain distinction in their application. Attribute is considered as a word of loftier signification, and is, therefore, conventionally limited to qualities of a higher application. Thus, for example, it would be felt as indecorous to speak of the qualities of God, and as ridiculous to talk of the attributes of matter.
(This distinction is hardly borne out by historical usage. Originally, ‘the attributes of God’ was preferred probably because men assumed no knowledge of the actual qualities of the Deity, but only of those more or less fitly ‘attributed’ him; i.e. ‘attributes’ in sense 1. But the exalted sense 2 may have associated itself with the expression in the minds of many who used it. J. A. H. M.)
[Cf. 1400 and 1596 in sense 1.]1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 26 All other fabulous fictions and attributes given unto them [the Gods]..have been devised only to give contentment to the readers. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §1 The attributes and acts of God, as far as they are revealed to man. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. vi. 208 Neither Matter, nor Motion as its Attribute and Property, can have existed from all Eternity. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. 72 Demonstrations of the Being and Attributes of God. 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. i. 2 An attribute or quality of those articles only which it requires some portion of voluntary human labour to produce. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 208 Truth, wisdom, power, justice, holiness and other attributes..have in God their real being; in creatures a shadow of being only. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 359 Endowed with all the highest attributes of the statesman.
b. rarely applied to: A bodily quality.
1820Scott Monast. xxiv, Beauty was an attribute of the family. 1862Trollope Orley F. xix. 130, I will begin with her exterior attributes.
c. in Logic, That which may be predicated of any thing; a quality, mode of existence, affection; strictly an essential and permanent quality.
1785Reid Int. Powers 440 Every attribute is what the ancients called an universal. 1843Mill Logic i. ii. §4 Whiteness, again, is the name of a quality or attribute of those things. 1870Bowen Logic i. 8 The Concept is the Intuition stripped of its contingent or unessential attributes or marks.
5. Gram. Sometimes used for: A word denoting an attribute; an attributive word; a predicable. esp. in Sentence Analysis: = Attributive adjunct, i.e. an adjective, or a word, phrase, or clause, performing the function of an adjective.
1808Middleton Grk. Article (1855) 56 By Attributes Mr. Harris means Adjectives, Verbs, and Participles. 1867Morell Eng. Gram. (ed. 3) 53 The attribute to the noun, i.e. the adjective or whatever takes the place of the adjective. 1873J. Curtis Analysis 5 The subject may be enlarged by an attribute.
▪ III. attribute, v.|əˈtrɪbjuːt|
[f. the prec. ppl. adj., which continued for some time to act as the pa. pple. of this, alongside of attributed. The poets down to Dryden and Scott show the pronunciation attriˈbute or ˈattribute, as in the ppl. adj. and n.]
I. As an external act.
1. To assign, bestow, give, concede, yield to any one, as his right (property, title, authority, worship, honour). arch. or Obs.
1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. 375 These two townes were attributed to Flaunders by reason of gage. 1537Hen. VIII in Strype Cranmer (1694) App. 49 Whether this word Sacrament be, and ought to be, attribute to the Seven only? 1565T. Randolph in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 184 II. 201 All honor that maye be attributed unto anye man by a wyf. 1620Melton Astrolog. 62 Idolatry is a Diuine Worship, attributted to Idols. 1771Junius Lett. xlix. 255 The power of depriving the subject of his birthright [was] attributed to..the legislature.
b. To give or ascribe in assertion (praise or honour).
1563Shute Archit. F ij b, To whom vndoubtedly, the praise and commendation is chiefly to be attrybuted. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxii. §15 What celsitude of honour Plinius Secundus attributeth to Trajan in his funeral oration.
2. To add to the representation of a personage, the conventional symbolic ‘attribute.’ rare.
1756J. Warton Ess. Pope (1782) I. ii. 25 The trite and obvious insignia of a river God are attributed.
II. As a mental act.
3. To ascribe to as belonging or proper; to consider or view as belonging or appropriate to.
1538Starkey England 45 In the felycyte of man you put dyverse degres, to some attrybutyng more, and to some les. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 836 God attributes to place No sanctity, if none be thither brought By men. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. xxiv. 409 They..attribute the Highest place to that which is divine. 1832Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms Introd. 6 A sense is attributed to them which was never intended.
†4. to attribute (much), etc.: to ascribe great importance to, to hold in high estimation. Obs.
1586Let. to Earle Leycester 32, I attribute not so much to mine owne iudgement. 1611Bible Pref. 4 Epiphanius..doeth attribute so much vnto it [the LXX], that he holdeth the Authours thereof..for Prophets. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 565 Attributing overmuch to things Less excellent. Ibid. ix. 320 Eve, who thought Less attributed to her Faith sincere.
5. To ascribe as a quality or ‘attribute’ belonging, proper, or inherent. (To attribute wisdom to one = to hold that he is wise.)
1534More Answ. Pois. Bk. Wks. 1121/1 To attribute to hys manhed yt property which onely is appropried to his godhed, is to confounde bothe y⊇ natures in Christ. 1611Bible Job i. 22 In all this Iob sinned not, nor charged God foolishly [marg. attributed folly to God]. 1638Wilkins New World i. (1684) 172 Such a strange Efficacy in the Bread of the Eucharist, as their Miraculous Relations do Attribute to it. 1862Mill Utilit. 42 The sort of mystical character which..is apt to be attributed to the idea of moral obligation.
6. To ascribe, impute, or refer, as an effect to the cause; to reckon as a consequence of.
1530Palsgr. 440/1, I attrybute, I ascrybe the cause of a mater to one cause or other, J'attribue. 1626Dk. Buckhm. in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 329 III. 234, I cannot attribute this honour to any desert in me. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 39 To the deluge he attributed the changes of the earth. 1876Green Short Hist. vi. §1 (1882) 268 The shrivelled arm of Richard the Third was attributed to witchcraft.
7. To ascribe to an author as his work.
1599Thynne Animadv. 15 [They] whiche attribute that choyse of armes to Chaucer. 1628Prynne Cens. Cozens 29 Others attribute the inuention of them to St. Hierome. 1728Newton Chronol. Amended i. 86 The people of the Island Corcyra attributed the invention of the Sphere to Nausicaa. 1816Singer Hist. Cards 157 To Gutenberg..we are inclined to attribute that which is said to be in the characters afterwards used by Albert Pfister at Bamberg. 1854(title) Edward III: a Play attributed to Shakespeare.
8. To assign in one's opinion to its proper time or place.
1567Triall Treas. (1850) 27 To the ende he semeth to attribute that thing When men be asociate with treasures celestiall. 1601Holland Pliny I. 75 They attribute the birth of the Muses in the wood Helicon. 1875Scrivener Lect. Grk. Test. 12 Several copies which may fairly be attributed to the fourth century.
†9. With complement: To allow any one the ‘attribute’ of; to hold him to be.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch. Hen. IV, 192 When a Naturall Motley makes a Hood Vnto a Man, wee attribute him wise. |
