| 释义 |
▪ I. discourse, n.|dɪˈskɔəs, ˈdɪs-|
Also 4–5 discours, discors.
[a. F. discours, ad. L. discurs-us ‘running to and fro, conversation, discourse’ (after cours:—L. cursus): cf. It. discorso, Sp. discurso. L. discurs-us is f. discurs-, ppl. stem of discurrĕre: see next.]
†1. Onward course; process or succession of time, events, actions, etc.; = course. Obs.
1540–1Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 134 The naturall discourse of the sunne. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Pet. i. (R.), But when y⊇ day shal come, & the discourse of things turned vp side down, they shall be tormented, and you shal reioyce. 1565Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 91 It is most euident by the whole discourse of the Text. 1577Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 65 The riuer Tygris in the discourse of his currant maketh an Ilande. 1588Greene Pandosto (1607) 18 This tragicall discourse of Fortune so daunted them, as they went like shadowes. 1612Shelton Quix. I. ii. v. 89 The Knights-errant..did..suffer much Woe and Misery in the Discourse of their Lives.
b. In the following the meaning is perhaps ‘course of arms or combat’ (cf. course n. 5); though other explanations have been proposed.
1596Spenser F.Q. vi. viii. 14 The villaine..Himself addrest unto this new debate, And with his club him all about so blist That he which way to turne him scarcely wist: Sometimes aloft he layd, sometimes alow, Now here, now there, and oft him neare he mist..At last the caytive, after long discourse, When all his strokes he saw avoyded quite, Resolved in one t'assemble all his force. 1611Beaumont & Fl. King & No King ii. i, Good captain Bessus, tell us the discourse [viz. of single combat] Betwixt Tigranes and our king, and how We got the victory.
†2. ‘The act of the understanding, by which it passes from premises to consequences’ (J.); reasoning, thought, ratiocination; the faculty of reasoning, reason, rationality. Obs. or arch.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. Pr. iv. 165 It [intelligence] byholdeþ alle þinges so as I shal seye by a strok of þouȝt formely wiþ oute discours or collacioun. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxviii. 75 He knoweth all thynge, therfore there is nought ferther to seken by discours. 1604Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 39 The soule of man is endued with a power of discourse, whereby it concludeth either according to the certainetie of reason, or the learning of experience. a1618Raleigh Rem. (1644) 131 The Dog..we see is plentifully furnished with inward discourse. 1672Wilkins Nat. Relig. 56 The discerning of that connexion or dependance which there is betwixt several propositions..which is called ratiocination, or discourse. 1788Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 353 Discourse, strictly speaking, is the motion or progress of the mind from one judgment to another. 1864Bowen Logic vii. 177 Discourse (discursus, διάνοια) indicates the operation of comparison.
†b. Phr. discourse of reason: process or faculty of reasoning. Obs. or arch.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxviii. 74 The soule seketh by discors of reson the skyles and the causes of the wonderful beaute of creatures. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 9 As could hardely be comprehended by the discourse of reason. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 150 A beast that wants discourse of Reason. 1675South Serm. Ingratitude (1715) 455 By the Discourses of Reason, or the Discoveries of Faith. 1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. App. I. 415 No one with the ordinary discourse of reason could commit an error in regard to them.
3. Communication of thought by speech; ‘mutual intercourse of language’ (J.); talk, conversation. arch.
1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 112 But what make I discourse in these thinges to you, whiche knowe them muche better then I. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 99 Ample enterchange of sweet Discourse. 1597–8Bacon Ess., Discourse (Arb.) 14 Some in their discourse, desire rather commendation of wit..then of iudgement. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 211 Sweeter thy discourse is to my eare Then Fruits of Palm-tree. 1713Swift Frenzy J. Dennis, I..laid hold of that opportunity of entering into discourse with him. 1726Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 306, I finding she did not much care for talking upon that Subject, chang'd the Discourse. 1863Longfellow Wayside Inn ii. Prel. vii, Meanwhile the Student held discourse With the Musician.
†b. The faculty of conversing; conversational power. Obs.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 109, I know a wench of excellent discourse, Prettie and wittie. 1606― Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 275 Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse..and so forth..the Spice, and salt that seasons a man? 1641Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 1 His wisdom was great, and his judgement most acute: of solid discourse, affable, humble.
c. (with a and pl.) A talk, a conversation. arch.
1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 286 In the midst of my Discourses, I told his Highnesse..the Guardians request. 1644Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 98/1 The satisfaction which you profess to have received from those incidental discourses. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. viii, I have had a long discourse with my father. 1727Swift Gulliver iii. ii. 183 They neither can speak nor attend to the discourses of others. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid i. 748 Dido the while with many discourses lengthens the night.
†d. A common talk, report, rumour. Obs.
1692R. L'Estrange Josephus' Antiq. ii. ix. (1733) 43 There went a Discourse about that made their malice against them still more implacable. a1715Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 287 Many discourses were set about upon this occasion.
†4. Narration; a narrative, tale, account. Obs.
1572Sir T. Smith in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 21 This is hitherto a brief discourse of that which hath passed sith my lord Admiralls commyng to Paris. 1575(title), A brief Discours off the Troubles..abowte the Booke off Common Prayer and Ceremonies. 1632Lithgow Trav. v. 237 Troubling me..to show them the rare Discourses of my long two yeares survey of Turkey. 1647May Hist. Parl. ii. i. 545 Out of whose faithfull relation of that Rebellion..I have partly collected my discourse of it.
5. A spoken or written treatment of a subject, in which it is handled or discussed at length; a dissertation, treatise, homily, sermon, or the like. (Now the prevailing sense.)
1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. 18 b, Referring to y⊇ long discourses which y⊇ divines make of it. 1596Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 15 The discourse ensuing is divided into three parts. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 47 The acute and distinct Arminius was perverted meerly by the perusing of a namelesse discours writt'n at Delf. 1711Addison Spect. No. 106 ⁋7 Authors who have published Discourses of Practical Divinity. 1764Reid Inquiry iii. 116 Dr. N. Grew read a discourse before the Royal Society in 1675. 1803Med. Jrnl. IX. 84 The volume opens with a short preliminary Discourse on the education and duties of a Surgeon. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 176 In the pulpit the effect of his discourses, which were delivered without any note, was heightened by a noble figure.
†6.
a. Familiar intercourse, familiarity.
b. Familiarity with a subject; conversancy (in). Obs.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 108 If you be honest, and fair, your Honesty should admit no discourse to your Beautie. 1604E. G. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. v. 17 The Portugals..a Nation that hath more discourse in the Arte of Navigation then any other.
7. Comb.
1628Earle Microcosm., Scepticke in Relig. (Arb.) 67 He is strangely vnfix't, and a new man euery day, as his last discourse-books Meditations transport him.
8. Special Comb.: discourse analysis Linguistics, a method of analysing the structure of texts or utterances longer than one sentence, taking into account both their linguistic content and their sociolinguistic context; analysis performed using this method.
1952Z. S. Harris in Language XVIII. 1 (title) *Discourse analysis. Ibid., One can approach discourse analysis from two types of problem, which turn out to be related. 1957― in Discourse Analysis Reprints (1963) 7 Discourse analysis is a method of seeking in any connected discrete linear material..which contains more than one elementary sentence, some global structure characterizing the whole discourse. 1964K. L. Pike in Oceanic Linguistics III. 5 (title) Discourse analysis and tagmeme matrices. 1969W. A. Cook Introd. Tagmemic Analysis ii. 40 Discourse analysis, however, has been little developed. 1983Brown & Yule Discourse Analysis i. 26 ‘Doing discourse analysis’ certainly involves ‘doing syntax and semantics’, but it primarily consists of ‘doing pragmatics’.
Add:[3.] e. Linguistics. A connected series of utterances by which meaning is communicated, esp. forming a unit for analysis; spoken or written communication regarded as consisting of such utterances. Also transf. in Semiotics. Cf. discourse analysis, sense 8 below.
1951Z. S. Harris Methods in Structural Linguistics ii. 11 The universe of discourse for each statement in the descriptive analysis is a single whole utterance in the language in question. Ibid. iii. 28 For the incidence of formal features of this type only long discourses or conversations can serve as samples of the language. 1957G. L. Trager in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 162h/2 The syntax of any language can be arrived at in analogous ways. The phonologically determined parts of a discourse are found, and their constituent phrases separated out. 1976T. Eagleton Crit. & Ideology ii. 54 A dominant ideological formation is constituted by a relatively coherent set of ‘discourses’ of values, representations and beliefs. 1983Brown & Yule Discourse Analysis ii. 29 We can see little practical use, in the analysis of discourse, for the notion of logical presupposition.
▪ II. discourse, v.|dɪˈskɔəs|
[f. discourse n.; prob. influenced by F. discourir ‘to discourse of’ Cotgr., ad. L. discurrĕre to run to and fro, discourse, f. dis- 1 + currĕre to run: cf. F. courir to run, secondary form of OF. courre:—L. currĕre. OF. had also the more literal senses ‘to run to and fro, to traverse’.]
†1. intr. To run, move, or travel over a space, region, etc.; transf. to ‘run out’, extend. Obs. rare.
a1547Surrey Aeneid iv. 475 With silence [silent] looke discoursing over al. 1555Eden Decades 213 A greate parte of lande..discoursynge towarde the West.
†2. intr. ‘To pass from premises to conclusions’ (J.); to reason. (Also with obj. clause.) Obs. (Cf. discourse n. 2.)
1592Davies Immort. Soul i. (R.), Nor can herself dis⁓course or judge of ought, But what the sense collects, and home doth bring; And yet the pow'rs of her discoursing thought, From these collections is a diverse thing. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 105 A mind, i.e. something within us that thinks, apprehends, reasons, and discourses. 1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. i. ii. rule iii. §5 If in philosophy we discourse that the true God, being a Spirit without shape or figure, cannot be represented by an image. a1700Dryden Ovid's Met. xv. (R.), Those very elements..translated grow, have sense or can discourse.
†b. trans. To turn over in the mind, think over. Obs.
1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 19 He discoursed many things in his minde. c1611Chapman Iliad ii. 2 He discourst, how best he might approue His vow made for Achilles grace.
3. intr. To hold discourse, to speak with another or others, talk, converse; to discuss a matter, confer. (Cf. discourse n. 3.)
1559[see discoursing vbl. n.]. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 152 For all the rest, Let Lyon, Moone-shine, Wall, and Louers twaine, At large discourse. 1601― Jul. C. iii. i. 295 Thou shalt discourse To yong Octavius, of the state of things. 1660Trial Regic. 154 We would sit up discoursing about these unhappy wars. 1677C. Hatton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 152 Several persouns are discoursed of to succeed him. 1695–6R. Fisher in Blackmore Hist. Conspir. (1723) 75 It was discoursed..about seizing on the King in Kensington House. 1726Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 204 And he in return, instructed me in the Portugueze Language: so that in a short time we could discourse in either. 1801Southey Thalaba ii. xxxvi, Now his tongue discoursed of regions far remote. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 89 I am quite willing to discourse with Socrates in his own manner.
fig.1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 13 She speakes, yet she sayes nothing, what of that? Her eye discourses, I will answere it. 1607Beaum. & Fl. Woman-Hater iii. i, I'll promise peace, and fold mine arms up; let but mine eye discourse. 1644[see discoursing ppl. a. 2].
b. trans. (with compl.) To pass (time) away in discourse or talk; to bring (a person) by discourse into (some state).
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 38 How..shall we discourse The freezing houres away? 1672Eachard Hobbs' State Nat. 106, I always found it an endless thing to reason and discourse people into any soundness of mind. 1820Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 137 Seated round [they] discourse the silent hours away.
4. intr. To speak or write at length on a subject; to utter or pen a discourse. (Cf. discourse n. 5.)
1564[implied in discourser]. 1628Prynne Cens. Cozens 23 They haue discoursed of these seuen sinnes. 1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 239 Josephus..largely discourseth of many hundred thousands famished..within this multipotent City. a1704Locke (J.), The general maxims we are discoursing of are not known to children, ideots, and a greater part of mankind. 1750Lardner Wks. (1838) III. 38 Mr. Wolff has discoursed largely of this matter. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. iv. 203 If he discoursed for two hours without intermission, he was valued as a zealous pastor.
5. trans. To go through in speech; to treat of in speech or writing; to talk over, discuss; to talk of, converse about; to tell, narrate, relate. arch.
1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 357 We have discoursed the Story of Mr. Robert Glover. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iv. 26 How wert thou handled, being Prisoner?.. Discourse I prethee on this Turrets top. a1592Marlowe & Nashe Dido ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 256/2 To discourse at large, And truly too, how Troy was overcome. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. iii. (1821) 422 Having discoursed the nobleness of religion in its original and nature; we come now to consider the excellency of religion in its properties. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 388 Alcibiades cut of his Dogs Taile..that so the talkative people might lesse discourse his other Actions. 1716Collier tr. Greg. Nazianzen 57, I need not discourse, that Passion, Rancour, and Malice, are not allow'd a Christian. 1727Swift Gulliver ii. viii. 170 Discoursing this matter with the sailors while I was asleep. 1822B. Cornwall Dram. Scenes, Tartarus, Moans, beside Its waters rising, discourse tales of sin.
fig.1591Greene Maiden's Dreame xxix, His open hands discours'd his inward grace.
†b. To utter, say; to speak or write formally. (With the utterance or thing said as object.) Obs.
1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 282 Drunke? And speake Parrat?.. And discourse Fustian with ones owne shadow? 1654Whitlock Zootomia 446 Who it may be can discourse nothing but slander, or censure. 1744Harris Three Treat. iii. i. (1765) 108 The Joy..in recollecting what we have discoursed on these Subjects.
c. To utter, give forth (musical sounds).
(Chiefly as a reminiscence of the Shakespeare passage.)
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 374 Giue it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most excellent Musicke. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iii. ix. (1872) 135 The tocsins discourse stern music. 1881Scribner's Mag. XXI. 267/2 The Ridgemont brass band was discoursing familiar strains. 1882Besant Revolt of Man xi. (1883) 263 On the Green the band was discoursing sweet music.
†6. trans. To speak or converse with (a person), to talk to; to discuss a matter with, confer with; to speak to, address, harangue. Obs. or arch.
(Very common down to 1750).
1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 25 All the People..will discourse their Parliament Men in these things hinted at. 1689–92Locke Toleration iii. ii. Wks. 1727 II. 330 A Friend whom I discoursed on this Point. a1695Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 408 He overtook me on horse back..and discours'd me aloud. 1702Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 226 While Peter thus discoursed the people. 1763Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 III. 229 That I might..have more convenient opportunities of discoursing them on our publick affairs. 1866Whittier Marg. Smith's Jrnl. Prose Wks. 1889 I. 21 Sir Thomas discoursed us in his lively way. |