| 释义 |
acquaintance|əˈkweɪntəns|
Forms: 3–4 acoyntaunse; 3–5 acqueyntaunce, aquayntonce; 4–5 acqueintance, -aunce, acqueyntanse; 6 accoynt-, acquent-, acquayntaunce; 6– acquaintance. North.: 4–5 aquentance; 5 aqweyntans, -ance, acqueyntawns. Aphet.: 3–4 queyntance; 5–6 quayntaunce; 6–7 quentance.
[a. OFr. acointance, 15th c. accointance, n. of action, f. acointer. See acquaint v. and -nce.]
1. a. Personal knowledge; knowledge of a person or thing gained by intercourse or experience, which is more than mere recognition, and less than familiarity or intimacy. Const. with (of obs.). to take acquaintance of, with: to acquaint oneself with (Obs.); = mod. to make the acquaintance of, form an acquaintance with. on acquaintance, on becoming (or being) acquainted with.
1393Gower Conf. I. 212 Deth comend er he besought Toke with this king such acqueintaunce. c1400Destr. Troy v. 1865 He has no knowlage, ne acoyntaunse of my cors. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 36/2 Vortiger..thought prevely in his herte thrughe quayntaunce for to be kynge hym selfe. 1595Shakes. John v. vi. 15 Pardon me, That any accent breaking from thy tongue, Should scape the true acquaintance of mine eare. 1675Crowne Country Wit iv. 61 What would this fellow have? who let him in without my acquaintance? 1756Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 164 Knowledge and acquaintance make the most striking causes affect but little. 1875Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vii. (ed. 5) 116 An acquaintance with those works themselves such as only minute and long-continued study could give.
a1450Knt. de la Tour 55 Eue..toke aqueintaunce lightly of the serpent. 1490Caxton Eneydos x. 40 He toke grete acqueyntaunce and ofte repayred vnto the palays. 1509Hawes Past. Pl. xxx. xii, I toke acquaintaunce of her excellence. 1647Crashaw Poems 208 For who so hard, but, passing by that way, Will take acquaintance of my woes. 1860Tyndall Glaciers i. §6. 43 We spent a day or two in making the general acquaintance of the glacier.
1905A. Burvenich Eng. Idioms 23 Acquaintance..to gain on—; gagner à être connu. 1912‘Saki’ Unbearable Bassington xiii. 240 One rode for sweltering miles for the chance of meeting a collector or police officer, with whom most likely on closer acquaintance one had hardly two ideas in common. 1922E. O'Neill Anna Christie ii. 150 Are you trying to kid me? Proposing—to me!—for Gawd's sake!—on such short acquaintance? 1983Economist 2 July 90/3 Far more intelligent than most people thought on first acquaintance.
b. Philos. Knowledge of a person, thing, or other entity (e.g. sense-datum, universal) by direct experience of it, as opposed to knowing facts about it. So knowledge of, by, acquaintance (opp. knowledge-about or by description).
1865Grote Expl. Philos. i. iv. 61 If by knowledge we mean acquaintance or familiarity, kenntniss, then we know the thing in itself. 1885W. James in Mind X. 28 An interminable acquaintance, leading to no knowledge-about. 1890― Princ. Psychol. I. viii. 221 There are two kinds of knowledge broadly and practically distinguishable: we may call them respectively knowledge of acquaintance and knowledge-about. Most languages express the distinction; thus, γνῶναι, εἰδέναι; noscere, scire; kennen, wissen; connaitre, savoir. 1905B. Russell in Mind XIV. 479 The distinction between acquaintance and knowledge about is the distinction between the things we have presentations of, and the things we only reach by means of denoting phrases. 1911― in Proc. Aristot. Soc. XI. 127 We began by distinguishing two sorts of knowledge of objects, namely, knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Of these it is only the former that brings the object itself before the mind. 1954J. A. C. Brown Soc. Psychol. Industry iii. 95 Two kinds of knowledge: ‘knowledge-about’, based on reflexion and abstract thinking, and ‘knowledge-of-acquaintance’, based on direct experience.
2. The state of being acquainted, or of knowing people and being known by them; mutual knowledge. Const. with (of obs.), obj. gen. as ‘her acquaintance’; reciprocal gen. as ‘our acquaintance.’
c1300K. Alis. 6173 Queyntaunce of al men they schoneth. Ibid. 7259 For acqueyntaunce that hath beon..heom bytweone. 1375Barbour Bruce ii. 167 Thusgat maid thai thar aquentance. c1386Chaucer Friar's T. 42 For here acqueintaunce was not come of newe. c1400Rom. Rose 6493, I love bettir the queyntaunce, Ten tyme, of the kyng of Fraunce. c1425Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 64 In swylk a-qweyntans swa þai fell. 1514Barclay Cytezen & Uplondyshm. (1847) 62 For olde acquayntance betwene them erst had bene. 1530Rastell Purgatory Prol., Of old famylyer accoyntaunce. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 185, I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. 1603Philotus 41 To mak mair quentance vs betwene, I glaidly could agrie. 1611Bible 2 Macc. vi. 21 The olde acquaintance they had with the man. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. i. (1854) 36 Give me leave to introduce Miss Neville to your acquaintance. 1822Byron Werner 1 i, Let's have some wine, and drink unto Our better acquaintance. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxx. (C.D. ed.) 244 Those who had not the honour of his acquaintance.
3. A person or persons with whom one is acquainted. (Originally a collective noun, with both sing. and pl. sense, but now usually singular, with pl. acquaintances.)
c1386Chaucer (6-text MSS.) Sompn. T. 283 Ne make thyne aqueyntance nat for to flee [3 MSS. acquaintances, Harl. MS. acqueyntis]. c1525Skelton Bowge of Courte 45 There coude I none aquentaunce fynde. 1526Tindale Luke ii. 44 Sought him amonge their kynsfolke and acquayntaunce [Wyclif knowleche]. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 1557, 702/2 He was his acquaintaunce and familyar. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iv. 102 What? Old Acquaintance? Could not all this flesh Keepe in a little life? 1663Cowley Verses & Ess. 89 (1669) Now meditate alone, now with Acquaintance talk. a1794Gibbon Miscell. Wks. 1814 II. 96 If among a crowd of acquaintances, one friend can afford you any comfort. 1816Jane Austen Emma i. iii. 17 The acquaintance she had already formed were unworthy of her. 1861Geo. Eliot Silas M. 31 He might meet some acquaintance in whose eyes he would cut a pitiable figure.
Add:4. Special Comb. acquaintance rape, rape of a woman by a man who is known to her.
1980S. Trott When your Lover Leaves (1981) 212, I'd fallen into the trap of so many women..who..could not bring themselves to report *acquaintance rape. 1984Gainesville (Florida) Sun 28 Mar. 1c/1 Bright street lights won't prevent acquaintance rape. 1991N.Y. Times 2 Jan. a1/5 The growing prominence of the phenomenon, acquaintance rape or date rape, raises as many questions about subtleties in male–female relationships as it does about criminality on campus. 1992Premiere Feb. 94/2 After a charged battle of wits, Dino..initiates an acquaintance rape of the misguided missy (yeah, sure—she's crazy about him). |