| 释义 |
▪ I. suitor, n.|ˈs(j)uːtə(r)|
Forms: 3 syutor, 4 sewtour, suytour, 4–5 sutere, 4–7 -er, -our, 5–6 sewter, 5–7 sutor, (5 sutoure, sutter, 6 sueter, sutar, swttar, shu-, shewter, suitour, -ore; Sc. 6 soytor(e, 6–7 soytour, 7 swotar), 6–8 suiter, 6– suitor.
[a. AF. seutor, suitour, sut(i)er, -or, ad. late L. secūtor, -ōrem (f. secūt-, sequī to follow, sue), with assimilation to suite suit n.]
†1. A frequenter (of a place). Obs. rare.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. 413 He wax a syutor of tauernes.
†2. One of a retinue or suite; hence, an adherent, follower, disciple. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 141 Þat Crist is every⁓where..wiþ his apostlis and her suters. c1380― Wks. (1880) 292 He þat hatiþ blamynge is sutere of þe fend. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. iii. (Bodl. MS.), Plato and his suytors. c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 201 Oure Lorde God, that comyth me to, Hese pore servaunt and his sutere. a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 23 Lordes & gentyls & other comyn sutors. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 262 Yet dyvers suters suche folysshe wytches have. 1517in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 4 note, So that who shall be a suitour to him may have no other busynesse but give attendaunce upon his plesure. 1586Holinshed's Chron. III. 920/2 Other officers, seruants, reteiners, and suters, that most commonlie dined in the hall. 1601F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II (1876) §94. 56 None of the kinges meignee,..Knight or clarke serjant, esquier,..page or sutor. 1830Tennyson How & Why 1, I am any man's suitor, If any will be my tutor.
3. One who owed suit (see suit n. 1) to a court, and in that capacity acted as an assessor or elector. Now only Hist.
14..Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1890) 60 All maner of playnttes..schall be..jugyd be y⊇ sutterys of y⊇ sayd cowrte. 1506in Exch. Rolls Scotl. XII. 704 All officeris and ministeris of court sic as baillie and juge,..sutour, dempstar. 1541Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 24 §3 Any Mayres Sheriffes Recorders, Stewardes Bayliffes Sewters or other officers.. within any Cittie Boroughe or Towne. c1550Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 4 Great members of Court baith mair & les All is Sutour, to gif finall sentence. 1597Skene De Verb. Signif. s.v. Sok, Na judge aucht of law, or of reason, to accept ony man in court as Soytour, bot gif he can make sufficient and lauchfull reporte of processe. 1609― Reg. Maj. 79 Ilke soytour before the Schiref represents the person of ane Baron, for quhom he was soytour in that court. Ibid. 93 That the court (the soytours of court) be lawfull. 1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Emp. (1854) II. 87 By directing the election to be made by all the suitors,..this statute secured the constituency from undue practices. 1863[see suit n. 1].
†b. A tenant who owes suit to a mill. Obs.
1602Carew Cornwall 13 This casualtie may be worth the owner some ten pound, by the yeere, or better if his mil have store of sutors.
4. One who sues or petitions; a petitioner, suppliant. arch.
1402Quixley Ball. in Yorksh. Arch. Jrnl. (1908) XX. 48 Se, lo! How sche [sc. Fortune] tourneth þe face hir sutoure fro. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xx. (1885) 157 The kyng shal..be wele defended ageyn suche importune suters. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 21 §6 All Suters for dispensacions, faculties, licences and other wrytynges. 1576Gascoigne Kenelworth Castle Wks. 1910 II. 131 That you would..be a suter for him unto the heavenly powers. 1581H. Walpole in Allen Martyrdom Campion (1908) 56 He stands before the throne with harmonie, And is a glorious suter for our sinne. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 178 The apostle is a suter to God on the behalfe of the Ephesians. 1651Walton Life Wotton in Reliq. Wotton. c 4 b, The Provostship of..Eton became Void.., for which there were..many..powerfull suiters to the King. 1718Free-thinker No. 147. 310 The frank Philosopher shall be the favourite Suiter. 1822Scott Nigel iii, Those suitors who shall be so bold as to approach the Court. 1878C. Gibbon For the King xvii, The officers stared in amazement at the importunate suitor. 1892A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus I. 195 The colonies of Worthington and Franklinton became rival suitors for the location of the Capital of the State.
†b. One who seeks earnestly. Obs.
1548Udall Erasmus Par. Pref. 18 Studentes and suters to atteigne to the philosophye of the gospell.
5. A petitioner or plaintiff in a suit.
1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 28 Preamb., The seid sueters & peticioners were..in dispayre of expedicion of ther suetes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 108 b, Lawes, whiche concerned partly the judges, partly the advocates, and partly the suters. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. ii. viii. (1584) 50 In all iudgements necessarily being two parties, the first we call the impleader, suiter, demaunder or demaundaunt and plaintiffe. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 108 Amonge sutors in love and in lawe money is a comoun medler. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability, In the courts, the independence of the judges and the loyalty of the suitors are equally excellent. 1883Law Times 20 Oct. 410/2 The effect of the rule will be to deprive the suitor of the right of conducting his case as he thinks most conducive to his own interest.
6. One who seeks a woman in marriage; a wooer.
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. xi, My court quickely swarmed full of suiters; some perchaunce loving my state, others my person. 1588Kyd Househ. Philos. Wks. (1901) 273 That noble Grecian dame that bated in the night As much as she had wouen by day, to bleare her sutors sight. 1637T. Heywood Emblem. Dial. xxxvii, Merry Suiters, make mad Husbands. 1781Cowper Retirem. 237 The suitor's air indeed he soon improves, And forms it to the taste of her he loves. 1870L'Estrange Life Miss Mitford I. i. 5 She was rich—her fortune was at her own command—of course she had suitors. 1888F. Hume Madame Midas i. i, Miss Curtis soon brought crowds of suitors around her.
7. attrib., as (sense 6) suitor-crowd, etc.; † suitor-fee, a fine paid in lieu of suit at court.
1725Pope Odyss. i. 353 To their own districts drive the *suitor-crowd.
1601Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 425/1 Necnon 6s. 8d. pro sectis curie de Rescobie vulgo lie *swotar-fie.
▪ II. suitor, v. Now chiefly dial.|ˈs(j)uːtə(r)|
Also 7 suter, souter, 9 suiter, sooter.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To court, woo.
1672Shadwell Miser i, How did you go to work to suitor my Mother? 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., He Suitor'd her in vain several Years. 1824Scott Redgauntlet ch. v, The miller's son..suitored me.
2. intr. To be a suitor or wooer (to): chiefly in gerund (to come or go a suitoring). Also fig.
1668Sir C. Sedley Mulberry Gard. ii. ii, You are over⁓serious For a man that comes a Sutering. 1730Fielding Tom Thumb ii. v, In vain to me a suitoring you come, For I'm already promised to Tom Thumb. 1777Franklin Lett. Wks. 1889 VI. 83 A virgin State should preserve the virgin character, and not go about suitoring for alliances. 1817Scott Let. to Terry 12 Mar. in Lockhart, A daughter, suitored unto by the conceited young parson. 1838Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. St. Nich. vii, Counts a many, and Dukes a few, A suitoring came to my father's Hall.
Hence ˈsuitoring vbl. n., wooing, courtship; also attrib.
1671A. Behn Amorous Prince iv. iv, Well, I see there is nothing but soutering I' this Town; wo'd our Lucia were here too for me. 1746(title) Exmoor Courtship, or A Suitoring Discourse, in the Devonshire Dialect and Mode. 1847Halliwell, Sootering... Devon. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Suitering. 1889Athenæum 14 Dec. 816/3 The usual ‘suitorings’, sulkings, makings-up, of various couples.
▪ III. suitor
var. suiter. |