| 释义 |
probable, a. and n.|ˈprɒbəb(ə)l|
[a. F. probable (14th c. in Littré), or ad. L. probābil-is that may be proved, probable, credible, f. prob-āre to try, test, approve, make good: f. prob-us good: see -able.]
A. adj.
1. Capable of being proved; demonstrable, provable. Now rare.
1485Surtees Misc. (1888) 43 Which..duly examined by hym..and no thing probable object ayenst the same, the..Maire..decreed and finally determyned [etc.]. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 33 It is probable by an inuincible reason and an argument infallible. 1659Milton Civ. Power Wks. 1851 V. 312 No man in religion is properly a heretic,..but he who maintains traditions or opinions not probable by scripture. 1678Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. ii. xiii. §2 (1699) 209 Executions by a Barrons Officer are valid, though not given in Writ, and that the same are probable by Witnesses. 1865Grote Plato I. xix. 536 Neither proved nor probable.
†2.
a. Such as to approve or commend itself to the mind; worthy of acceptance or belief; rarely in bad sense, plausible, specious, colourable. (Now merged in the modern sense 3.)
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 339 It is more probable and more skilful [= reasonable], þat þis lond was from þe bygynnynge alwey wiþ oute suche wormes. 1467–8Rolls of Parlt. V. 622/2 As it appereth by probabill persuacions of Philosofers. 1538Starkey England i. iv. 139, I can not wel tel what I schal say, your resonys are so probabyl. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 178 It cannot be but he was murdred heere, The least of all these signes were probable. 1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 129 One of his most probable excuses was to frame some journeyes out of towne. a1715Burnet Own Time (1823) I. ii. 401 His schemes were probable. 1780Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 280 He assigns the most probable reasons for that opinion. 1872Jervis Gallican Ch. II. v. 165 It was proclaimed that an opinion was probable, and might therefore be safely followed in practice, which had the sanction of any single theologian of established reputation.
b. Of a person: Worthy of approval, reliable. Obs.
1597Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 213 There is not one example here mentioned, but it hath a credible or probable Author for the auoucher of it. 1682G. Topham Rome's Trad. 223 If this be but the single opinion of a probable Doctor, we may have the same asserted by an Infallible one.
3. a. Having an appearance of truth; that may in view of present evidence be reasonably expected to happen, or to prove true; likely.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 356 Most probable That so she dyed. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 142 The birds neither sow, reape, &c. as you doe, Ergo tis lesse probable that they should be fed. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 134 The necessary or probable consequences of the action. 1736Welsted Wks. (1787) 469 This were a probable opinion, though not warranted by holy writ. 1809Roland Fencing 67 Is it probable that a man will thrust if he expects that he will be parried? 1814D. Stewart Philos. Hum. Mind II. ii. iv. §4. 240 In our anticipations of astronomical phenomena..philosophers are accustomed to speak of the event as only probable; although our confidence in its happening is not less complete, than if it rested on the basis of mathematical demonstration. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §392 The Probable Error of an observation is a numerical quantity such that the error of the observation is as likely to exceed as to fall short of it in magnitude. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 317 This was the more probable solution.
†b. with infinitive as complement: Likely to be or to do something. Obs.
1653Gauden Hierasp. 114 These rustick and rash under⁓takers..are only probable to shipwrack themselves. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §10 None is conceived so probable to have first peopled Greece, as he whose name was preserved..with very little alteration. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 223 'Tis probable to be the truest test.
c. Relating to or indicating probability.
1736Butler Anal. Introd. 1 Probable Evidence is essentially distinguished from demonstrative by this, that it admits of Degrees.
d. Likely to be (something specified).
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 215 He essayed to make choice of a probable companion.
e. Now chiefly U.S. Law. probable cause, reasonable cause or grounds (for making a search or preferring a charge).
a1676M. Hale Historia Placitorum Coronæ (1736) II. xviii. 150 They are not to be granted without oath made before the justice of a felony committed, and that the party complaining hath probable cause to suspect they are in such a house or place, and do shew his reasons of such suspicion. And therefore I do take it, that a general warrant to search in all suspected places is not good, but only to search in such particular places, where the party assigns before the justice his suspicion and the probable cause thereof, for these warrants are judicial acts, and must be granted upon examination of the fact. 1789J. Madison in Congress. Reg. I. 428 The rights of the people to be secured in their persons, their houses, their papers, and their other property from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, or not particularly describing the places to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized. 1811U.S. Circuit Court Rep. (1827) 37 What, then, is the meaning of the term ‘probable cause’? We answer, a reasonable ground of suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious man in the belief, that the person accused is guilty of the offence with which he is charged. 1850Calif. Sup. Court I. 11 The offence which..there is probable cause to suppose he has committed. 1878U.S. Rep. XCVII. 646 If there was probable cause of seizure, there was a reasonable cause. If there was a reasonable cause of seizure, there was a probable cause. 1927Ibid. CCLXXV. 106 The liquor was obtained by a search and seizure instituted without warrant or probable cause. 1937N. B. Lasson in Johns Hopkins Stud. Hist. & Pol. Sci. LV. ii. iv. 125 In the searching of automobiles..no warrant but only the existence of probable cause is necessary to constitute the search a reasonable one. 1954Fed. Reporter (1955) CCXXII. 556/1 An ‘anonymous tip’ to officers..was not ‘probable cause’ for arrest without warrant. 1976Washington Post 14 Dec. a18/2 Why should the United States, without even a whisper of probable cause, be bugging a dependent ward that had been formally delivered into its care by the United Nations?
f. probable error: the difference between the mean of a distribution and the first or third quartiles, i.e. an error of such a magnitude that larger and smaller errors are equally likely.
It has now been largely superseded as a measure of accuracy or consistency by the standard error.
1812Phil. Mag. XXXIX. 241 All that can be gained is, that the errors are as trifling as possible—that they are equally distributed—and that none of them exceed the probable errors of the observation. 1854Amer. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts XVII. 396, I have calculated..the amount of probable error in the determinations of many of the atomic weights. 1872Thomson & Tait Elem. Nat. Philos. i. iii. 113 The probable error of the sum or difference of two quantities, affected by independent errors, is the square root of the sum of the squares of their separate probable errors. 1886Proc. R. Soc. XL. 66 Throughout this discussion the technical term ‘probable error’ has been used; it may in every instance be replaced by Mr. Galton's very apt name ‘quartile’. 1889F. Galton Natural Inheritance v. 58 The term Probable Error is absurd when applied to the subjects now in hand, such as Stature, Eye-colour, Artistic Faculty, or Disease. I shall therefore usually speak of Prob. Deviation. 1903Biometrika II. 273 Unfortunately custom has not taken this standard deviation as the measure of the goodness of the sample, but the whole theory having developed from the normal curve, the probable error instead of the standard deviation has been chosen, i.e. ·67449 × standard deviation. 1938D. C. Barton in A. E. Dunstan et al. Sci. of Petroleum I. viii. 369/2 Determinations of relative gravity with a probable error of {pm}10 or even {pm}5 tenth milligal are of value in geophysical prospecting. 1968R. A. Lyttleton Mysteries Solar Syst. iii. 104 The value of approximately 0·08 × 1012 dyn cm-2..suggests a radius as large as 2770 km, which exceeds the quoted observed value by a little more than twice the probable error.
B. n.
†a. Something probable; a probable event or circumstance; a probability. Obs.
1647Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. vi. §8. 117 These probables are buskins to serve every foot. 1652Gaule Magastrom. 27 What talk ye of some immediate and imminent probables, such as even sense may ghesse at? 1692South Serm. (1697) I. 114 If a thing in it self be doubtfull, let it make for interest and it shall be raised at least into a Probable; and if a truth be certain, and thwart interest, it will quickly fetch it down to but a Probability.
b. One who will probably, though not certainly, be successful; a likely candidate, competitor, etc.; spec. a member of the supposedly stronger team in a trial match (opp. to possible n. 1 d).
1906Pall Mall Gaz. 23 Jan. 2 The last two ‘probables’ are untried men as far as Parliament is concerned. 1909Westm. Gaz. 28 May 12/3 All probables ran. 1976West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 8 Dec. 18/1 Fylde lock Bill Beaumont is one of four Lancashire players included in the Probables team for the first England trial at Twickenham on December 18. 1977R. Ludlum Chancellor Manuscript xxxii. 349 ‘What have you found out about our four candidates?’..‘One..I'd say a probable.’
c. Mil. An aircraft recorded as probably shot down. Also, a submarine probably destroyed.
1940in Winged Words (1941) 27 They were the new Heinkel 113s... We got..three or four of what we call ‘probables’. 1940W. S. Churchill in D. McLachlan Room 39 (1968) vi. 131 At least 5 probables [sc. submarines] have occured since the beginning of new year. 1944Sat. Even. Post 22 July 73/3, I chalked him up with only a probable, because I did not see it crash. 1955C. S. Forester Good Shepherd ii. 278 Out of his escort force he had lost a destroyer... But he had sunk two probables and a possible. 1977L. Deighton Fighter v. 278 The RAF announced that..584 aircraft ‘were probably destroyed’... One assumes that half the probables were downed. |
