| 词组 | administer |
| 释义 | administer 1. As late as 1942 Eric Partridge was expressing disapproval of administer when used of a blow; he cites with approval Weseen 1928 on the question. Several earlier handbooks also censured the use, beginning perhaps with Utter 1916 who termed it "humorous" (as did the OED), but Vizetelly 1920 was not amused and neither were several subsequent commentators. Bernstein 1971, calling the objectors "driven-snow purists," cites Webster's Second in defense of the use and asks, "What more is needed to administer a fatal blow to those purists?" Not much, apparently; no writer since Partridge seems to have objected. The use may have developed from the administering of medicine, which is not always pleasant. If the earliest uses were humorous, current use is neutral, straightforward, and standard: • The spider descends, embraces its victim while administering a paralyzing bite, then slowly wraps it securely in silk —William G. Eberhard, Natural History, January 1980 • ... administered an overwhelming defeat to her Republican opponent —Current Biography, September 1967 2. The Oxford American Dictionary tells us that "nurses do not administer to the wounded," echoing a sentiment expressed in Follett 1966 and F. K. Ball's Constructive English, 1923. Longman 1984 also notes that some disapprove of this intransitive use of administer. The OED traces the sense to The Spectator in 1712. No definite reason seems to be adduced by objectors as a basis of their objection, although there is an underlying feeling that administer should forever be a transitive verb and that, in this use, it is usurping the place of minister. Perhaps it is also the relative infrequency of this use that makes them feel it to be improper. It is entirely standard: • Dr. Binder had often traveled with his wife into the Peruvian jungles to administer to the Indians —Current Biography, September 1964 • ... the church was erected over a period of years, 1906-36, to administer to the largest French parish in Lewiston —American Guide Series: Maine, 1937 • ... to prevent him from administering to the last wants of Pulaski —Dictionary of American Biography, 1928 3. See administrate. |
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