| 释义 |
superstition|s(j)uːpəˈstɪʃən|
Also 5–7 -icion, 6 -icioun, -itioun, -icyon, -ycyon.
[a. OF. superstition (= It. superstizione, Sp. supersticion, Pg. superstição) or their source L. superstitio, -ōnem, n. of action f. superstāre to stand upon or over, f. super- super- 2 + stāre to stand.
The etymological meaning of L. superstitio is perhaps ‘standing over a thing in amazement or awe’. Other interpretations of the literal meaning have been proposed, e.g. ‘excess in devotion, over-scrupulousness or over-ceremoniousness in religion’ and ‘the survival of old religious habits in the midst of a new order of things’; but such ideas are foreign to ancient Roman thought.]
1. Unreasoning awe or fear of something unknown, mysterious, or imaginary, esp. in connexion with religion; religious belief or practice founded upon fear or ignorance.
1538Starkey England (1878) 189 Theyr [sc. monks'] solytary lyfe, wych hath brought forth, wyth lytyl profyt to the publyke state, much superstycyon. 1549Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 30 Where the Deuyll is residente..vp wyth al superstition and Idolatrie, sensing,..holye water, and newe seruice of menes inuenting. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. iii. §2 Superstition is, when things are either abhord or obserued, with a zealous or fearefull, but erroneous relation to God. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvii. 155 A man may stand in fear of Spirits..through his own superstition. 1653Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. ix. 116 It is superstition to worship any thing..besides the Creator. 1776Adam Smith W.N. v. i. (1904) II. 435 Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. iv. Wks. 1851 V. 372 Wherever superstition is so established as to form a regular system, this desire of penetrating into the secrets of futurity is connected with it. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) iii. App. 24 The people's superstition is so great that they are running after the holy father in the streets, and endeavoring to kiss the hem of his garment. 1854Milman Lat. Christ. iv. vii. (1864) II. 367 A copious list of miracles wrought by certain images..showing the wretched superstition into which the worship of images had degenerated. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn li, Nero had fits of superstition.
b. In particularized sense: An irrational religious belief or practice; a tenet, scruple, habit, etc. founded on fear or ignorance.
1402Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 56 Foure general synnes, sett up bi sir Adam, Jakke, among ȝour maistris, cediciouns, supersticions, the glotouns, and the proude. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 283 Diuerse supersticiones began of ydolatry. 1547Homilies i. Serm. of Good Wks. iii. (1859) 61 Other kinds of papistical superstitions..as of Beads, of Lady Psalters and Rosaries. 1608Shakes. Per. iii. i. 50 1st Sailor. The sea workes hie, The Wind is lowd, and will not lie till the Ship Be cleard of the dead. Per. That's your superstition. 1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. iii. rule 13. §23. 465 When they began to say, that..all wine was an abomination, they pass'd into a direct superstition. 1736Butler Anal. i. iv. 75 By Religion's being corrupted into Superstitions, which indulge Men in their Vices. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 621 The notion would still prevail that the kingly office is the ordinance of God in a sense different from that in which all government is his ordinance. It was plain that, till this superstition was extinct, the constitution could never be secure. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. vi. ii. 160 The Portuguese have a superstition according to which the soul of a man who has died, leaving some duty unfulfilled..is frequently known to enter into another person.
2. An irrational religious system; a false, pagan, or idolatrous religion. Now rare or Obs.
1526Tindale Acts xxv. 19 They..hadde certayne questions agaynst him off their awne supersticion. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 5 The Turks received the Mahometane superstition. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage ii. vi. 110 The present Iewish superstition. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 564 [Mohammed] making him [sc. Ali] the head of his superstition, with the title of Caliph. 1671Milton Samson 15 Unwillingly this rest Thir Superstition yields me. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 4 July, A conference with his friend Voltaire, about giving the last blow to the Christian superstition. 1813Prichard Phys. Hist. Man viii. §1. 402 These authors regard the latter [sc. Buddhism] as the ancient and indigenous superstition of the East.
b. A religious ceremony or observance of a pagan or idolatrous character. Now rare or Obs.
a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 1350 The Phitonesse..by her supersticyons, And wonderfull condityons,..raysed vp..Samuell that was dede. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxx. 293 They did assemble there for theyr dances and superstitions. 1608Heywood Lucrece ii. i, Our superstition's ended, sacred priest, Since we have had free answer from the gods. 1849Rock Ch. Fathers I. iii. 294 The heathen Britons made use of balls of crystal in their idle superstitions.
†c. Religious observance. Obs. rare—1.
1513Douglas æneis xii. xiii. 63, I sweir tharto be the onplesand well Of Stix,..Quhais only dreidfull superstitioun heyr The Goddis kepis, that nane dar it forsweyre.
†d. Idolatrous or extravagant devotion. Obs.
1625Fletcher, etc. Lover's Progress iii. iii, May I not kiss ye now in superstition? For you appear a thing that I would kneel to.
†3. ‘Over-nicety; exactness too scrupulous’ (J., 1755). (Cf. superstitious 3.) Obs. rare—0.
4. transf. (from 1). Irrational or unfounded belief in general; an unreasonable or groundless notion.
1794Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 107, I am afraid there are many men of science..that only believe the theory of heat and cold in prejudice or superstition, i.e. without having seen its evidence. 1851Spencer Social Statics xix. 209 Of the political superstitions,..none is so universally diffused as the notion that majorities are omnipotent. 1868M. Pattison Academ. Org. v. 120 The superstition of the law-courts that a man can exercise rights of property after his death to all time.
Hence superˈstitional a., characterized by superstition, superstitious; superˈstitionist, one given to superstition, or holding superstitious beliefs; superˈstitionless a., free from superstition.
1683E. Hooker Pref. Pordage's Mystic Div. 44 Doctrines Traditional, *Superstitional, and Deductional. c1850Lady Blanche Balfour Prayer in J. Robertson Remin. (1897) 54 From careless or superstitional acquiescence where I should inquire, Good Lord, deliver me.
1651H. More Second Lash in Enthus. Tri., etc. (1656) 184 The arbitrarious precepts of supercilious Stoicks, or surly *Superstitionists. 1676Glanvill Seasonable Reflect. 139 Melancholy Superstitionists or distracted Enthusiasts. 1798W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. VI. 549 The disguising reverence with which superstitionists have regarded them [sc. the Hebrews]. 1846Wordsworth in Chr. Wordsw. Mem. (1851) II. 425 A wretched set of religionists.., superstitionists I ought to say, called Mormonites.
1890A. J. Vogan Black Police xii. 188 The *superstitionless training Billy had received. |