| 释义 |
adventurer|ædˈvɛntjʊərə(r)|
[a. Fr. aventurier, adv-, f. aventure adventure n.; see -er1.]
†1. One who plays at games of chance, or adventures his money in such games; a gamester. Obs.
1474Ord. Royal Housh. 29 That no person..being within our sayd sonnes householde be customable swearer, brawler, backbyter, common hasorder, adventorer.
2. One who seeks adventures, or who engages in hazardous enterprises.
1667Milton P.L. x. 440 Now expecting Each hour their great adventurer from the search Of foreign worlds. 1794Sullivan View of Nat. II. The first voyages into the ægean, Euxine, and Mediterranean Seas made by the various adventurers. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 506 A succession of Irish adventurers..attempted to earn the bribe.
3. esp. One who engages in warlike adventures, attaching himself to no party; a soldier of fortune; also, a volunteer, one who makes war at his own risk.
1548Hall Chron. (1809) 646 He gave them a Pennon of St. George and bade them, Adventure (of whiche they were called Adventurers). 1555Fardle of Facions ii. xi. 244 Much lyke to our aduenturers, that serue withoute wages. 1665Manley Grotius's Low-Countrey-Warrs 251 One of the famous Adventurers in the taking of Breda. 1844Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxi. 78 Military adventurers ready to flock to any standard.
4. One who undertakes, or shares in, commercial adventures or enterprises; a speculator; as in the ancient Society of Merchant Adventurers, so named by Henry VII.
1609Thorpe in Shaks. Cent. Praise 86 To the onlie begetter of these insving sonnets, Mr. W. H., all Hapinesse wisheth..the well-wishing adventvror in setting forth. T.T. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 166 Fewer Aduenturers here will aduenture any more. 1644Heylin Life of Laud i. 220 The party so designed shall be presented to their Lordships by the Merchant Adventurers. 1653(27 Sept.) Ordinance for the Satisfaction of the Adventurers for Lands in Ireland, and the Arrears due to the Soldiery there. 1713Guardian No. 54 (1756) I. 240, I became an adventurer in one of the late lotteries. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 135 Private adventurers had sometimes..fitted out ships for the Eastern seas. 1881R. W. Raymond Mining Terms, Adventurers (Eng.), Shareholders or partners in a mining enterprise.
5. One who is on the look-out for chances of personal advancement; one who lives by his wits.
1663Gerbier Counsel g 1 a, Since Courtaines, Bastions, and Contrescarps are to be traced for Old Eyes, as well as for young Adventurers. 1704Swift T. of Tub §1. 22 To encourage all aspiring adventurers. 1762Goldsm. Nash 50 Wherever people of fashion came, needy adventurers were generally found in waiting. 1879Froude Cæsar xv. 224 He saw adventurers pushing themselves into office. |