核心畫面

You can picture warrant as something that stands behind an action and vouches for it — a backing that says 'this is allowed / this is guaranteed.' In its clearest form it's a signed paper that gives someone authority to act; stretched wider, it's any solid reason or promise that backs a claim up.

可以把 warrant 想成「站在一個行動背後、替它掛保證的東西」——它像在說「這是被允許的/這是有把握的」。最清楚更多收起可以把 warrant 想成「站在一個行動背後、替它掛保證的東西」——它像在說「這是被允許的/這是有把握的」。最清楚的樣子是一張簽了名的公文,給人行動的權力;再往外延伸,就是任何撐得住一個說法或做法的紮實理由或承諾。

From the word’s history

Warrant comes (c.1200) from Old North French 'warant' — a defender, surety, or pledge — from a Germanic root *war- 'to guard, protect.' So at root a warrant is a guardian who stands behind you and vouches. That backing then hardened into the written document that authorizes, and softened into 'a good reason' and the verb 'to guarantee.'

warrant 約在 1200 年來自古法語 warant「保護者、擔保、抵押」,再往上是日耳曼字根 *war-「守護、保護」。所以它骨子裡是「替你撐腰、替你掛保證的那個人或東西」。這個「撐腰」後來一邊硬化成授權的公文,一邊軟化成「正當理由」和動詞「保證」。

etymonline: warrant (Old North French warant, Germanic *war- 'to guard/protect')

Three branches

官方授權文件

核心的「替行動撐腰、給它許可」寫成白紙黑字,就成了官方文件——一張蓋章簽名的紙,替持有的人擋掉責任、給他行動的權力。

warrant (legal document) · noun · B2

An official paper signed by a judge that lets the police do something, like search a place or take someone in.

令狀;搜索令

正當理由 / 值得

把「撐腰」抽象化:不是一張紙,而是「有沒有夠格的理由撐住這件事」。事情夠重要,才配得上、才需要某個回應。

justify, deserve · verb · C1

To be serious or important enough to need or deserve something.

值得;需要

保證 / 我敢說

回到「掛保證」這一支:不是替行動背書,而是替「一句話是真的」背書——我拿我的話替它擔保。

promise, guarantee · verb · C1

To promise or say firmly that something is true.

保證

原始詞典資料16 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

warrantnoun/ˈwɒɹənt/

  • 1

    Authorization or certification; a sanction, as given by a superior.

    • Two years after the first appearance on the London stage by an English actress, a royal warrant of 1660 decreed that women rather than boys were to play all female roles.
  • 2

    Something that provides assurance or confirmation; a guarantee or proof.

    • a warrant of authenticity; a warrant for success
    • The brazen serpent, lifted up in the centre of Israel's camp, with the publick declaration of its use, was a sufficient warrant to every man, when bitten by a fiery serpent, to look unto it. But [...] if any looked without at all expecting a cure according to the word of the Lord, they must have perished; not for want of a warrant to believe; but because they did not submit to the wisdom and authority of God, or rely on his faithfulness and mercy, in this appointed way of preservation.
  • 3

    An order that serves as authorization; especially a voucher authorizing payment or receipt of money.

    • And also be in enactid by the auctorite aforseid that no manꝰ [man's] clerke or clerkes or other parsone or parsones do wryte or make any maner of wryting warraunt or warrauntes, upon any maner gyfte or graunte made by the Kynges Highnes or by any other his Gracys offycers as aforsaide, [...]
    • A Warraunt to Sir Edmond Peckham Knight, for twenty Pounds to be delivered to Fraunces Pitche, being ſent with Lettres to the Quene's Ambaſſador reſydent with the Frenche King.
  • 4

    businessfinanceAn option, usually issued together with another security and with a term at issue greater than a year, to buy other securities of the issuer.

    • But they [police juries] have no power to [...] issue promissory notes or warrants to cover funds which may be set aside for this purpose in future taxation without express authority from the supreme political power of the state.
    • The first Eurobond offering was for Crédit National who issued $50m 13.75% five-year notes with six-month warrants to purchase the same principal amount of 13.75% ten-year bonds. The cum-warrant price of the note quickly rose to 105.5% in a rising market, yet the warrants alone were quoted at $15.
  • 5

    lawA judicial writ authorizing an officer to make a search, seizure, or arrest, or to execute a judgment.

    • an arrest warrant issued by the court
    • Mr. Musso said he desired to make an application at this stage on behalf of the accused, namely, that he be discharged on the ground that he was improperly held in custody, there being no warrant issued by the Court and no counter-signature to any warrant by the Senior-Consul. At the last hearing the fact was disclosed that the accused was arrested without a warrant.
  • 6

    governmentmilitarypoliticsEllipsis of warrant officer.

    • Several days passed away, and at length down came an order for [Harry] Bartlett to go on shore and take up his warrant for a sloop of war that was then round at Plymouth, to which place he was to make all haste to join. […] "Well, my man," said Sir Joseph [Sydney Yorke], in his usual deliberative manner, "and so it has pleased the powers aloft to reward your deserts, and you are now a warrant officer."
  • 7

    roadtransportA document certifying that a motor vehicle meets certain standards of mechanical soundness and safety; a warrant of fitness.

    • Some years ago he had bought a motor vehicle with a warrant issued the same day only to find that the hand brake was not functioning properly and only one brake drum had any lining on it. He had recently heard of a similar case of a vehicle which had been issued with a warrant by the Christchurch City Council testing station, and the purchaser had to pay $60 to have the hand brake and hydraulic brake equipment fixed and the brakes relined.
    • She had inherited from Rufus a 1994 Nissan Vanette that routinely failed its warrant and was always breaking down;
  • 8

    obsoleteA defender, a protector.

    • And whanne I ſawe her makynge ſuche dole / I asked her who ſlewe her lorde ¶ Syre ſhe ſaid the falſest knyght of the world now lyuyng and he is the mooſt vylayne that euer man herd ſpeke of / and his name is ſir Breuſe ſaunce pyte / thenne for pyte I made the damoyſel to lepe on her palfroy / and I promyſed her to be her waraunt / and to helpe her to entyere her lord
另外 1 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    businessminingUnderclay in a coal mine.

warrantverb/ˈwɒɹənt/

  • 1

    obsoleteTo protect, keep safe (from danger).

    • [A]ll honeſt meanes for a man to warrant him-ſelfe from euills, are not onely tolerable, but commendable.
    • I'le warrant him for drowning, though the Ship were no ſtronger then a Nutt-ſhell, and as leaky as an vnſtanched wench.
  • 2

    obsoleteTo give (someone) an assurance or guarantee (of something); also, with a double object: to guarantee (someone something).

    • Crato in a conſultation of his for a noble patient, tels him plainly, that if his Highneſſe will keepe but a good diet, hee will warrant him his former health.
    • The warranty that a ship shall sail on a given day must be strictly performed. Thus, if a ship, warranted to sail on or before a particular day, be prevented from sailing on that day by an embargo, the warranty is not complied with.
  • 3

    To guarantee (something) to be (of a specified quality, value, etc.).

    • Tuc[ca]. [...] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: [...]
    • The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a Quaker by descent. [...] His pure tight skin was an excellent fit; and closely wrapped up in it, and embalmed with inner health and strength, like a revivified Egyptian, this Starbuck seemed prepared to endure for long ages to come, and to endure always, as now; for be it Polar snow or torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his interior vitality was warranted to do well in all climates.
  • 4

    To guarantee as being true; (colloquial) to believe strongly.

    • That tree is going to fall, I’ll warrant.
    • "I warrant you," said Chiffinch the female, nodding, but rather to her own figure reflected from a mirror, than to her politic husband, "I warrant you we will find means of occupying him that will sufficiently fill up his time."
  • 5

    To authorize; to give (someone) sanction or warrant (to do something).

    • I am warranted to search these premises fully.
    • [S]ince by our commission we are not warranted to treat but with the noblemen named by his majesty with the advice of the peers, and are particularly warranted to make exception against the earl of Traquair, for his malversation in the matter of the assembly and parliament, [...]
  • 6

    To justify; to give grounds for.

    • Circumstances arose that warranted the use of lethal force.
    • A strong pressure was brought by consumers to this end; but neither the combinations nor the independent interests have felt that the pressure was sufficiently strong in warranting them in making a cut.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形:

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。