eˈlative, a. (and n.)
[as if ad. L. *ēlātīvus: see elate v. and -ive.]
† a. That raises, elevates. (obs. rare). b. That elates, causes elation. rare. c. Gram. Having a superlative or intensive force. Also absol. d. Gram. Denoting the case used in some languages to express motion away from. Also absol.
| 1595 Lodge Fig for Momus i, By their attracted moyst humiditie, Drawne from a certain vertue elative..Seeke more than their accustom'd nutriment Whence raine his generation doth derive. 1838 Struthers Poetic Tales 125 Thither shall gratitude's feelings elative wend. 1860 Trans. Philol. Soc. 1857 34 The declension of the personal pronouns [in the Tushi language] is as follows..Elative..Comitative..Terminative. 1906 J. H. Moulton Gram. N.T. Greek I. v. 78 In the NT the obsolescence of the superlative, except in the elative sense, is most marked. Ibid. 79 Mt 1120 may show the elative—‘those very numerous mighty works’. Ibid. 97 The repetition of an adjective produces an elative. 1915 A. H. M{supc}Neile St. Matt. 59/2 Ἐλάχιστος..may be elative, ‘very small’. 1922 Foakes-Jackson & Lake Beginnings Christianity II. 505 This is what the grammarians call an elative superlative. 1951 Archivum Linguisticum III. i. 60 An elative-ablative type of case suffix. 1959 J. C. Catford in Quirk & Smith Teaching of English vi. 186 Roughly the same field is covered by the system of ‘local cases’ in Finnish.. ‘illative’..‘ablative’..‘elative’. |