资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Mature \Ma*ture"\, a. [Compar. {Maturer}; superl. {Maturest}.]
[L. maturus; prob. akin to E. matin.]
1. Brought by natural process to completeness of growth and
development; fitted by growth and development for any
function, action, or state, appropriate to its kind;
full-grown; ripe.
Now is love mature in ear. --Tennison.
How shall I meet, or how accost, the sage, Unskilled
in speech, nor yet mature of age ? --Pope.
2. Completely worked out; fully digested or prepared; ready
for action; made ready for destined application or use;
perfected; as, a mature plan.
This lies glowing, . . . and is almost mature for
the violent breaking out. --Shak.
3. Of or pertaining to a condition of full development; as, a
man of mature years.
4. Come to, or in a state of, completed suppuration.
Syn: Ripe; perfect; completed; prepared; digested; ready.
Usage: {Mature}, {Ripe}. Both words describe fullness of
growth. Mature brings to view the progressiveness of
the process; ripe indicates the result. We speak of a
thing as mature when thinking of the successive stayes
through which it has passed; as ripe, when our
attention is directed merely to its state. A mature
judgment; mature consideration; ripe fruit; a ripe
scholar.
Maturer \Ma*tur"er\, n.
One who brings to maturity.