| 释义 |
Easter, n.1|ˈiːstə(r)|
Forms: 1 (as pl.) éastron, -un, -an, -u, -o, Northumb. éastro, éostro, éostru; (as sing.) éastre, Northumb. éostro; genit. (as pl.) eastreno, -ana, eastra; (as sing.) éastran, Northumb. éastres, éostres; 2 eastran, eastren, 3, 5 eastre, 3–6 esterne, 4–6 ester, (4 hestern), 5 aster(e, estren(e, eesterne, estryn, 6 estur, 6– easter.
[OE. éastre wk. fem. = OHG. ôstara; more freq. in plural éastron, corresponding to OHG. ôstoron (MHG., mod.G. ostern pl.); the strong forms occas. appearing seem to have been derived from the combining form éastor-. Bæda Temp. Rat. xv. derives the word from Eostre (Northumb. spelling of Éastre), the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox; her name (:—OTeut. *austrôn- cogn. w. Skr. usrā dawn; see east) shows that she was originally the dawn-goddess.]
1. a. One of the great festivals of the Christian Church, commemorating the resurrection of Christ, and corresponding to the Jewish passover, the name of which it bears in most of the European langs. (Gr. πασχά, ad. Heb. pésaḥ, L. pascha, Fr. Pâques, It. Pasqua, Sp. Pascua, Du. pask). According to the modern rule it is observed on the first Sunday after the calendar full moon—i.e. ‘not the actual full moon, but the 14th day of the calendar moon’ (Bp. Butcher)—which happens on or next after 21 March. In ordinary language Easter is often applied to the entire week commencing with Easter Sunday.
c890K. ælfred Bæda v. xxi. Ic ðas tide Eastrena ecelice healdan wille. c1050Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 471 Phase, eastran. a1123O.E. Chron. an. 1101 Heold se cyng Heanrig his hired..to Eastran on Winceastre. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 101 Þe þre dage biforen estre [ben] cleped swidages. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3288 Ðor-of in esterne be we wunen Seuene siðes to funt cumen. c1300St. Brandan 148 Ther ȝe shulle this Ester beo. 1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 35 Þe soneday fourtnythe after esterne. c1420Chron. Vilod. 785 Þis miracle was þus..y do, In þe Astere nexste after hurre body dyenge. c1440Promp. Parv. 143 Eesterne, Pascha. 1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye 278 From passyon Sonday tyl Esterne. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxiii. 254 The clergye..wold not graunte vnto Estre next comyng. 1593Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xi, Keeping the feast of Easter on the same day the Jews kept theirs. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. 55 The Springtime, wherein the Feast of Easter..was celebrated. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. viii. 129 The first..festival..that was observed..was Easter. 1837Howitt Rur. Life vi. iv. (1862) 432 Easter was the great festival of the Church.
b. R.C. Ch. to make († do) one's Easter (see make v. 57 e): to perform one's Easter duties (see below). Hence Easter is used for an individual performance of these.
1700T. Marwood Diary 8 Apr. in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (1909) VII. 62, I was at St Gomars & Saw ye Quire do their Easter. Ibid. 11 Apr., I was at my Easter at St Gomars. 1885E. H. Dering Lady of Raven's Combe I. ii. 20 Mick..is..very happy about everything, when he has made his Easter. 1892Month May 37 Taking in those who have made their Easters at Melior St...we may count the Easters as 2000.
†2. The Jewish passover. Obs.
971Blickl. Hom. 67 Hælend cwom syx daᵹum ær Iudea eastrum. c1000Ags. Gosp. Mark xiv. 1 æfter twam daᵹum wæron eastron. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxxi. (1495) 366 Ester is callyd in Ebrewe Phase, that is passynge other passage. 1535Coverdale Ezek. xlv. 21 Vpon y⊇ xiiij. daye of the first moneth ye shal kepe Easter. 1563Homilies ii. Whitsunday i. (1859) 453 Easter, a great, and solemne feast among the Jewes. 1611Bible Acts xii. 4 Intending after Easter to bring him foorth.
3. Comb. and attrib.
a. Obvious combinations: in sense 1, as easter-festival, Easter-gambols, Easter-holidays, Easter-lamb (see also b), Easter-morning, † Easter-morrow, † Easter-pence, Easter-Sunday (Easter-Monday, Easter-Tuesday, etc.).
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 133 On Eester monedai. 1460in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 249 He ros on estryn morwe. 1517R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 66 Ther we a bode..Ester evyn, Ester Day, And also Ester munday..Ester Tewysday..we Departyd. 1676Marvell Mr. Smirke Wks. 1875 IV. 11 [Some] would..have ventur'd their coffer-farthing, yea their Easter-pence by advance. 1722Lond. Gaz. No. 6052/1 The Easter-Holidays having passed. 1815Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxviii, How there the Easter gambols pass. 1826in Cobbett Rur. Rides II. 193 The house-lambs and the early Easter-lambs.
b. Special combs., as Easter-book, an account-book for recording easter-dues; Easter bunny chiefly U.S.: in popular folklore, a rabbit (symbolizing fertility) said to bring gifts of Easter eggs to children at Easter; a representation of this; Easter-dues, money payable at Easter to the parson of a parish by the parishioners; Easter duty (or duties), the religious duties (viz. of confession and communion) obligatory at Eastertide; Easter-eggs, eggs painted in bright colours, which it was (and, by a partial revival, still is) customary to present to friends at Easter (= pace-eggs); now chiefly, egg-shaped forms of confectionery presented at Easter; Easter-eve, † -even, the evening, and hence the day, before Easter-Sunday; † Easter-lamb, the paschal lamb; Easter lily, any of several species of (white) lily, or other spring-flowering plant (chiefly U.S.); Easter-offering = Easter-dues; formerly also used for the paschal sacrifice; Easter Parade: see parade n. 3 c; Easter sitting(s = Easter term (a); † Easter-supper, the passover; Easter-taper [L. cereus paschalis], a taper used in church ceremonies at Easter; Easter term, (a) a term in the law-courts formerly movable and falling between Easter and Whitsuntide, now fixed within a certain period each year; (b) in the older universities, a term which was kept formerly between Easter and Whitsuntide, but which is now included in the Trinity term; in some universities and schools, the term between Christmas and Easter; Eastertide, time, the church season of Easter, either Easter Sunday, or the Sunday with the following days until Ascensiontide; Easter week, the week beginning with Easter Sunday. Also Easter-day.
1546Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 10 Item the *Easter Booke communibus Annis, lxvjs. viijd. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxv. 229 Necessity will..make him study his Easter⁓book more then all other Writers.
1909St. Nicholas Apr. 548 (title) The *Easter bunny. 1922Child Life Apr. 225/1 It was Easter Eve. The Easter Bunny with his basket of eggs, was on his way home across the fields to wherever he lives, singing to himself. 1957T. Sturgeon Thunder & Roses 206 A child's implicit belief in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. 1983Times 26 Aug. 1/3 The last time he recalled seeing Miss Honegger was when she was dressed up as an Easter bunny in the White House Easter egg roll.
1720in Jrnl. Derbysh. Archæol. Soc. (1905) XXVII. 215 *Easter dues 1. 11. 0. 1848in J. T. Bunce Old St. Martin's, B'ham (1875) 35 Easter dues 4d. for a man and his wife, and 4d. for each single person above the age of 16, and 2d. from each housekeeper.
1723S. Ll. Gen. Instruct. Hist. & Tenets Relig. ii. v. 256 What Punishments hath the Church decreed against those who have not perform'd their *Easter Duty? 1809J. Milner in F. C. Husenbeth Life (1862) viii. 166 To be particularly anxious that all should make their Easter duty.
1804M. Wilmot Let. 11 May in Russian Jrnls. (1934) i. 97, I must not forget Easter Sunday..the service is the same, and after it is over *Easter Eggs are presented painted and carv'd and decorated in a variety of ways. 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 426 Easter Eggs..pass about at Easter week under the name of pask, paste, or pace eggs. 1894G. du Maurier Trilby I. i. 34 They would..marvel at the beautiful assortment of bonbons..especially, at this particular time of the year, the monstrous Easter-egg, of enchanting hue. 1949A. Huxley Let. 6 Mar. (1969) 594, I am enclosing an Easter egg.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 95 On *estereuen gon abuten þe fantston. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. (1617) 391 That one Sabboth or Saturday which falleth out to bee the Easter-eue. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 66 Vpon Easter even we were called vnto the tent.
1535Coverdale 1 Esdr. vii. 10 They that came out of captiuyte, kylled the *easter lambe. 1587Golding De Mornay xxx. 481 Jesus the true Easterlamb.
1877Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 4) The Calla is frequently called the *Easter Lily. 1894Jrnl. Amer. Folk-Lore VII. 101 Zephyranthes Atamasco,..Easter lily. 1896T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) 206 Lilium..Bermuda Easter Lily. 1909Webster 693/2 Easter lily. a. The Annunciation lily (Lilium candidum). b. A large-flowered and early forcing variety..of the common trumpet lily (Lilium longiflorum). 1932Discovery Aug. 256/2 The Easter lily,..the royal lily, and the leopard or tiger lily of California.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 339 Iosue offrede þe *Ester offrynge. 1818Bentham Ch. Eng. 422 Were it only by Easter-offerings.
1875Act 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77. Sched. i. Order lxi, The *Easter sittings shall commence on the Tuesday after Easter week and terminate on the Friday before Whitsunday. 1910Law Times 9 Apr. 509/2 On Tuesday last the Easter Sittings commenced with 145 appeals and 1514 causes awaiting hearing. 1913Halsbury et al. Laws Eng. XXVII. 436 The third, Easter sitting.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark xiv. 15 There prepare you for vs our *easter souper.
1848Secret Soc. Mid. Ages 361 The bone..he had filled with the wax of an *Easter-taper, and with incense.
1603J. Stow Survey of London (ed. 2), Of towers & castles, *Easter tearme beginneth not afore xvii. dayes after Easter. 1641G. Cavendish Negotiations Cdl. Woolsey xi. 30 Untill such time as the Cardinall resorted thither to him, where after Easter terme was ended, he kept his feast of Whitsontide. 1672Cowell Interpr. s.v. Terme, Terminus Paschae, Easter term, which begins the Wednesday fortnight after Easter-day, and ends the Monday next after Ascension-day. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Term, Oxford Terms... Easter-term begins the 10th day after Easter, and ends the Thursday before Whitsunday. Cambridge Terms... Easter-term begins the Wednesday after Easter-week, and ends the week before Whitsunday. 1818Cruise Digest II. 477 The fine levied..in Easter term 1697. 1905H. A. Vachell Hill viii, Racquets, the chief game in the Easter term. 1930Law Times 26 Apr. 373 The Easter Law Term will commence on..the 29th April, and will end on..the 26th May.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 312 Nu is his ðrowung and his ærist ure *Easter-tid. c1440Prose St. Brandan (Percy) 39 A place lyke Paradyse wherein they shold kepe theyr Eestertyde. 1856Smyttan Hymn, ‘Forty days’ vi, That with thee we may appear At the eternal Eastertide. 1868Morris Earthly Par. ii. 213 If one chanced to fare Into that place at Easter-tide. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 Apr. 5/2 The weather this Eastertide is bright.
14..Gesta Rom. lxii. 266 (Add. MS.) Our Lord Jhesu Crist, the whiche many desire for to norisshe, and namly in *Esterne tyme. 1579L. Vaux Catech. f. 77 Euery man and woman..should receiue the blessed Sacrament at Easter time. 1849M. Arnold Strayed Reveller 104 'Twill be Easter-time in the world.
c1000Ags. Gosp. John xx. i. rubric, Ðys sceal on sæternes dæᵹ on þære *easter wucan. c1406in G. R. Owst Preaching Med. Eng. (1926) i. 23 At Seint Marie Spitel, in Estir Weke. 1549Bk. Com. Prayer 54 b, Tewesdaye in Easter weke. a1558G. Cavendish Wolsey (1959) 133 The thursday in Ester weke. a1670S. Collins Pres. State Russia (1671) 18 In the Easter week all his Majesties Servants and Nobility kiss the Patriarchs Hand, and receive either gilded, or red Eggs. 1728[see Easter term]. a1773A. Butler Moveable Feasts & Fasts Cath. Ch. (1839) viii. 233 Every day during Easter week. 1884Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. 285/1 Down to the twelfth century each day in Easter week was a holiday of obligation.
▸ Easter basket n. orig. N. Amer. a basket, typically filled with sweets or coloured eggs, used as a decoration or given as a gift at Easter.
1882Chicago Daily Tribune 2 Apr. 2/2 (advt.) Easter goods... Easter eggs, *Easter baskets. 1931M. Elderton Case Stud. Unemploym. 70 Now we can give the children an Easter basket. 2007Gold Coast Sun (Austral.) (Nexis) 14 Mar. 92 Its Easter basket is a chocolate lover's dream overflowing with everything from individual Easter mud cakes to deliciously decadent rum balls. |