| 释义 |
greatest, a. (n.) and adv.|ˈgreɪtɪst|
Forms: 3–5 grettest, (5 -yst, -ist, -ust), 4 gratest, 4–5 grattest, -ist, gretest, Sc. -ast, (5 grattes, -us), 6– greatest. β. 3–5 greste.
[f. great a. + -est; app. not recorded in OE.]
A. adj.
1. a. The superlative of great in various senses.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 220/17 Nou is þe se [of] Occean grettest and mest al-so. 1340Ayenb. 44 Huanne me..beggeþ be þe gratteste wyȝtes, oþer be þe gratteste mesures, and zelleþ by þe leste. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 398 One of þo grattest synnes of alle. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 134 The gretteste clerkes ben noght the wysest men. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. ii. (1495) 598 The grettest tree synkyth not in water though it be heuy. c1420Sir Amadas (Weber) 306 The grattes maysters yede hym beforne. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xii. (1885) 138 Whan any rysinge hath be made..the pouerest men þeroff haue be þe grettest causers and doers therin. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. xx. 67 Birds faile in their flight, yea, those of the greatest wing, vpon the passage of so great a Gulph. 1683A. D. Art Converse 40 The greatest swearers are commonly the greatest liars. 1834Sir H. Taylor Artevelde i. i. v, The world knows nothing of its greatest men. 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus xlix. 1 Greatest speaker of any born a Roman, Marcus Tullius. 1895Ld. Esher in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 701/2, I have the greatest respect and admiration for American decisions.
βa1225Ancr. R. 66 Ower greste, & ower lodlukeste sunnen. c1315Shoreham 8 Of alle other sacramens Thes sevene beth the greste. c1420Chron. Vilod. st. 490 In my greste nede.
b. greatest part: the largest amount or proportion (of); the majority (cf. greater A. 1 b).
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxxiii. 300 In many partes of the Indies, and I thinke in the greatest part, small cattell do not increase and profite well. 1644Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 133 The greatest part of the Romish Doctors. 1648Ld. Byron in Hamilton Papers (Camden) 166 The greatest part of Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 3 The greatest part of our company were reprobate persons. 1741Johnson Debates in Parlt. (1787) I. 358 Both inn-holders and soldiers are, for the greatest part, of this rank and temper. 1771T. Hull Sir W. Harrington (1797) I. 180 It attracted his eyes greatest part of the evening. a1774Goldsm. Grecian Hist. I. 194 He died..aged threescore and five years, the greatest part of which he had spent in the intrigues and bustles of active employment.
c. greatest happiness of the greatest number (see happiness 2 b).
d. greatest common measure (see measure).
†2. Eldest. (Cf. greater A. 2.) Obs.
1535Coverdale 1 Sam. xviii. 17 Saul sayde vnto Dauid: Beholde my greatest [Wyclif, more, A.V. elder] doughter Merob wyl I geue the to wyfe.
3. absol. and ellipt. (quasi-n.)
c1350Will. Palerne 1196 He slou six of þe grettes. c1400Destr. Troy 1006 The grettyst of Grise gremyt þerat. c1420Anturs of Arth. xxxiii, My nome is Syr Galrun..The grattus [Douce MS. grettest, Thornt. MS. gretteste] of Galway, of greuys and of gillus. 1450–70Golagros & Gaw. 1168 Al the gretest Of gomys that grip has. c1470Henry Wallace i. 133, Vij score thai led off the gretast that thai fand Off ayris with thaim. 1602Dekker Satire mastix A 4 b, Ad Lectorem..It shall not be amisse..first to beholde this short Comedy of Errors and where the greatest enter to giue them in stead of a hisse, a gentle correction. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 163 Mecha (neere which..is buried their greatest Mahomet). 1784Cowper Task ii. 168 Since from the least The greatest oft originate. 1852Tennyson Ode Wellington 29 Our greatest yet with least pretence. 1946Jazzways I. 104/1 ‘Duke's the greatest’ is certainly the easiest cliché tossed around swing circles. 1954Time 8 Nov. 70 A term of high approbation in the swing era..is ‘the greatest’. 1964Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 Nov., Joe Kapp and Willie Fleming swung in a jubilant jig, and Kapp hollered, ‘Baby, you're the greatest.’ 1970New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/1 Everything about this broad spelled class,..she was the greatest.
†B. adv. Most greatly or highly; most. Obs.
1553in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. 369 Articles..gathered..by the greatest learned men of the bishops.
▸ Greatest Generation n. U.S. (also with lower-case initials) the generation of Americans reaching adulthood during the Second World War (1939–45).
1998T. Brokaw Greatest Generation p. xxx, I said, ‘I think this is the *greatest generation any society has ever produced.’ 2001N.Y. Mag. 1 Oct. 42/1 When we say war and think war, we're invoking it in a grander more classic, Greatest Generation sense—that is, to occupy, subjugate, and, ultimately, reform. 2004Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 15 Jan. vi. 8 No one can stick a ‘greedy geriatrics’ label on the Greatest Generation without acknowledging that the Me Generation will be demanding far more than a free cup of Starbucks coffee. |
