| 释义 |
thousand, n. and a.|ˈθaʊzənd|
Forms: 1–3 þusend, 2–3 -ent, (Orm.) -ennd, 3 -and, -und, þousunt, 3–4 -end, 3–6 thousande, 4 thus(s)-, thos(s)and(e, 4–5 þous-, þows-, thous-, thows-, -and(e, -ant(e, -aund, -end, -ent, -ind(e, -ond(e, -ynd, 4–7 thowsand, 5 þou-, þow-, thouzand; 4– thousand (mod.Sc. thoozan(t).
[OE. þúsend, n. fem. and neut. = OFris. thûsend, OS. thûsundig, thûsind (Du. duizend), OHG. dûsunt (MHG. tûsent, G. tausend), Salfrank. þûschunde, ON. þúsund (þúshund, þúshundrað, Sw. tusen, Da. tusind), Goth. þûsundi n. fem. and neut. Generally held to be cognate with Lith. túkstanti-s, Lett. tûkstůts, OPruss. *tūsimta (acc. pl. tūsimtons), OSlav. tysąʃta, -ęʃta, Russ. ˈtysjatʃa, Pol. tysiac, Czech tisíc, pointing to an orig. Slavo-Teut. *tūssontiā or tussntjā, whence also OTeut. *þūsundi. The first element is considered by many to be an Indo-Eur. *tūs meaning ‘multitude, force’; cf. Skr. tawás ‘strong, force’; as to the rest of the word etymologists differ.
The general result is that þūsundi was prob. an indefinite term for a ‘great multitude’ (cf. Gr. µυριάς, -αδ-, in its indefinite, and myriad in its common English use), which was used as the available equivalent of Gr. χῑλιάς and L. mille, themselves prob. originally indefinite words, there being no general Indo-Eur. word for ‘thousand’.]
1. The cardinal number equal to ten times one hundred: denoted by the symbols 1000 or M (for L. mille), formerly often by m , or m, as xxxm.
a. As n. or quasi-n., with plural. (a) In singular. Usually a thousand, emphatically or precisely one thousand.
971Blickl. Hom. 119 Nis..næniᵹ mon þe..wite..hwæþer þis þusend sceole beon scyrtre ofer þæt þe lengre. c1000ælfric's Vocab. in Wr.-Wülcker 110/12 Ciliarcus, þusendes ealdor. c1205Lay. 21401 Bi þusund & bi þusend þer feollen [sc. Sexes] æuere in þene grund. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7490 Men and wymmen, many a thousand. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxiii. (1495), Ten hundryd makyth a thousande. 1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 49 A thousande fiue hundred seuentie and nine. 1668R. Steele Husbandman's Calling x. (1672) 256 A thousand to one, they have..some gnawing care..that defeats their comfort. Mod. Bricks are sold by the thousand.
(b) In plural thousands (OE. þúsendu, -o, -a, ME. -e, -es).
In Arith. often ellipt. for the digits denoting the number of thousands: cf. units, tens, hundreds.
Beowulf 2196 He..him ᵹesealde seofan þusendo. c893K. ælfred Oros. v. iv. §2 Þider for mid moneᵹum þusendum. c1000ælfric Josh. vii. 3 Ac twa þusenda oððe þreo læt faran. a1120O.E. Chron. an. 694 (Laud MS.) Cantwara..him ᵹesealdon xxx þusenda. c1205Lay. 545 Þider in iwenden moni þusunde [c 1275 mani þusend]. c1275Ibid. 465 Ich habbe..in þan mountes mani þusendes. a1300Cursor M. 19134 (Edin.) Þare was conuertid thusandis [Gött. thousandes] v. c1425[see (c)]. 1542Recorde Gr. Artes 120 Then adde I y⊇ thousandes together. 1615Mure Misc. P. xiv. 12 Metamorphos'd his thowsands in milleounes. 1771Hist. Eur. in Ann. Reg. 24/2 They amounted in all to some thousands. 1877H. Spencer in Min. Evid. Copyright Comm. (1878) 258 Now I simply have to print additional thousands as they are demanded.
(c) After another numeral the singular is now commonly used as a collective plural. (Cf. dozen, hundred.)
But in OE. the plural form was usual: see (b).
c1000ælfric Gram. (Z.) 282 Tweᵹen îas, ᵹetitelode ī ī, ᵹetacniað twa þusend. c1205Lay. 83 Hire weoren..hund þousunt deade. Ibid. 465 Ich habbe in þane munten monie þusund [c 1275 þusendes]. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1789 Þe brutons sywede after,..& slowe mani þousend. 1382Wyclif Luke xiv. 31 If he may with ten thousynd go aȝens him that cometh to him with twenty thousynd. c1425Crafte Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 29 In þe 5 place [he schuld betoken] sexty þowsant... In þe 8 place sexty þowsant thowsantes. 1587Golding De Mornay xviii. (1592) 288 For one that triumpheth, a hundred thousand are led in captiuitie. Mod. How many followers has he? He claims to have fifty thousand. The hall will seat four thousand.
(d) As a n. it takes after it of, representing the OE. genitive pl. Now after a numeral only as a unit of quantity by which things are sold.
(A thousand of, thousands of, are used partitively as in the case of other numerals.)
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. x. §4 On an scip mæᵹe an þusend manna. Ibid. ii. v. §2 Hie acuron endlefan þusend monna. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 334 Ða ᵹehyrde he..sang..maneᵹa ðusenda engla. c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 311 Eahta þusend tida. c1175Lamb. Hom. 35 Moni þusent monne mahte libben fele ȝere mare þenne he do. c1275Shires & Hund. 58 in O.E. Misc. 146, xxvi. þusend hida.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 4078 Godes wreche ðor haueð of-slaȝen xx.iii. ðusent of daȝen. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. i. (1495) A iv/2 He fedde many thousandes of people wyth fewe looues of brede. c1449Pecock Repr. (Rolls) 540 Many hundrid thousind of soulis. c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xi. 78 What shal I ȝeue þe for all þese þousand of godes? c1475Rauf Coilȝear 327 Ane thousand and ma of fensabill men. 1596–7in Ducarel Hist. Croydon App. (1783) 153 Four loads of flinte..will well save one thousand of bricke. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Lives Emperors in Hist. Ivstine Ii j, The King of Persia with his wife Cæsarea and many thousand of their followers. 1663Gerbier Counsel 52 Twenty Thousand of Bricks. 1671S. Clarke (title) A Mirrour, or Looking-Glass, both for Saints and Sinners, held forth in some Thousands of Examples. 1748in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 41 Some thousands of pounds were depending on this match. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 51 Thousands of arrobas were..obtained.
b. As adj. or quasi-adj., followed immediately by a plural (or collective) noun.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 458 Iob..wæron eft forᵹoldene..þusend ᵹetyme oxena and þusend assan. a1123O.E. Chron. an. 1101, Rotbert..sceolde..þreo þusend marc seolfres habban. c1200Vices & Virt. 115 Mani þusend hali saules. c1200Ormin 15510 He fedde fif þusennde menn Wiþþ fife barrliȝ lafess. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 8/243 More þane a þousend ȝer. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 465 Þis þousinde wynter & more. 1489Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 2 Manye knightes with seaven thowsand men. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. 672 He brought over the mountaynes a xxx. thousande fyghtinge men. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 66 b, Him..that was once worthe three thousande pounde, and is not nowe worthe three grotes. 1650Baxter Saints' R. ii. vii. (1654) 269 So many thousand Christians so barbarously murdered. 1891Kipling Light that Failed xiv. (1900) 263 You've lost about a thousand pounds' worth of sketches.
2. a. Often used vaguely or hyperbolically for a large number: cf. hundred.
So ten thousand, thousands, thousands of thousands, thousand and one.
c1000Ags. Ps. (Th.) iii. 5 Ic me nu na ondræde þusendu folces. a1300Cursor M. 10090 Þe sunn o rightwisnes,..Hir mad a thusand sith sa bright. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1 A Thousent sythis haue I herd men telle That there is Ioye in heuene. 1549Coverdale Erasm. Par. Epist. Ded. 2 What vayne pylgremages, what offerynges and lyghtes to stockes and stones,..with thousandes moe inconueniences. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III.) 37, I give you a thousand thanks. 1700T. Brown Fresny's Amusem. v. 49 Some of them [sc. ladies] having Scab'd, or Pimpled Faces, wear a Thousand Patches to hide them. 1713Young Last Day iii. 159 Ten thousand thousand fathoms still remain. 1779Mirror No. 67 ⁋11 You may do good to thousands. 1786tr. Beckford's Vathek 157 A thousand ridiculous stories were propagated, at his expence. 1821Byron Juan iii. lxxxvi. Isles of Greece iv, And ships, by thousands, lay below, And men in nations;—all were his! 1832F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. II. xxxiii. 239 Of all the thousand and one towns I saw in America, I think Buffalo is the queerest looking. 1839E. W. Lane (title) The thousand and one nights, commonly called, in England, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. A new translation from the Arabic, with copious notes. 1842Dumfries Herald Oct., Clean them from the worms of the thousand-and-one flies that feed on them. 1880W. S. Gilbert Pirates of Penzance 1, You will find me a wife of a thousand. a1895in Baring-Gould Nursery Songs & Rhymes vii. 17 Ten thousand parks where deer run, Ten thousand roses in the sun. 1910W. L. Phelps Essays Mod. Novelists iii. 63 All the thousand and one details that make up the daily routine of the average person. 1962J. Wain Strike Father Dead iv. 206 Would I be likely to suggest coming along as your manager if I didn't know a thousand and one ways of making myself useful?
b. Phrases: a thousand times, no: certainly not; similarly a thousand times, yes (rare); I believe you, thousands wouldn't (and similar expressions): ambiguous responses to remarks received with scepticism; death of (or by) a thousand cuts: a succession of minor hurts that are cumulatively very serious or annoying; a thousand of bricks: see brick n.1 5 a.
1896‘M. Rutherford’ Clara Hopgood v. 57 ‘No,’ said Madge, ‘a thousand times no.’ 1897H. James Spoils of Poynton xxii. 279 A thousand times yes—her choice should know no scruple. 1926R. H. Mottram Crime at Vanderlynden's 46 ‘I did twelve months in the line, as a platoon commander. How long did you do that?’ ‘Twelve months about!’ ‘I believe you where thousands wouldn't.’ 1932A. Christie Peril at End House xvii. 199 Am I sure, myself, about anything at all? No, no—a thousand times, no. 1966tr. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung xxvii. 258 ‘He who is not afraid of death by a thousand cuts dares to unhorse the emperor’—this is the indomitable spirit needed in our struggle to build socialism and communism. 1968C. Aird Henrietta Who? x. 97 ‘I don't even know..what I don't know.’ Bill Thorpe nodded comprehendingly. ‘I follow you—though thousands wouldn't.’ 1974D. Seaman Bomb that could Lip-Read ix. 73 The head of the rocket..chips off tiny fragments of steel... The poor buggers who get in the way die the death of a thousand cuts. 1980G. Greene Doctor Fischer vii. 39 It had to be the death of a thousand cuts. He told her he forgave her..but he told her also that he could never forget her betrayal. 1980P. Moyes Angel Death xx. 255 I can believe it. Thousands wouldn't. 1981P. Turnbull Deep & Crisp & Even vii. 116 ‘Don't you think I'm too old?’ ‘No, a thousand times, no!’ 1982P. Inchbald Sweet Short Grass xx. 172 Oh, Franco! Yes! A thousand times yes!
3. Elliptical uses.
a. A thousand of some weight, measure, or quantity; e.g. acres, pounds, cubic feet, years, pieces, packages, etc. according to the nature of the commodity, etc.
a900O.E. Chron. an. 648 (Parker MS.), Her Cenwalh ᵹesalde Cuþrede his mæᵹe iii þusendo londes be æsces dune. c1000Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxviii[i]. 72 Me is micle betere,..þonne mon me ᵹeofe ᵹeara ðusende goldes and seolfres. a1300E.E. Psalter ibid., Ouer thousandes ofe siluer ore golde. 1443Acts Privy Counc. (1835) V. 281 To delivere Johan Dawnsonn maister of þordenances of my Lorde of Somerset iiijml salpetre iijml sulphure. 1482in Charters, &c. Edinb. (1871) 169 Of the thousand irne ij s. 1840Thackeray Cox's Diary May, Instead of looking twenty, he looked a thousand. 1873Trollope Phineas Redux II. xxi. 172 Mere words, supplied at so much the thousand. 1884Sat. Rev. 7 June 758/1 He dines at 6, plays [billiards] a thousand-up by gaslight. 1896G. B. Shaw Let. 15 Feb. (1965) I. 597 Men who rattle off their copy at anything from 20/- to 40/- a thousand. 1901Daily Express 28 Feb. 4/6 The price of gas in London in 1876 was 3s. 9d. per thousand. 1919W. S. Maugham Moon & Sixpence iii. 14 We would talk..of editors and the sort of contributions they welcomed, how much they paid a thousand, and whether they paid promptly or otherwise.
b. A thousand pounds sterling; (U.S.), a thousand dollars.
1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 65 A merchant's compters, that is to day worth thousands. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 5 Come downe you bishopps from your thousands, and content you with your hundreds. 1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. v, A man of two thousand a yeere. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xiii, A clear rental of five-and-twenty thousand per annum. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. ix, A merchant on 'Change,..having lost his thousands, embarks a few guineas upon the next ship. 1919E. O'Neill Moon of Carib. 163 Smith said he would give two thousand cash if I would sell the place to him. 1942Amer. Mercury July 85 He might confidence Sweet Back out of a thousand on a plate.
†4. As ordinal: = thousandth. Obs.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xvi. 74 He knew noȝt þe thowsand parte of his gude. 14..Tundale's Vis. 1923 (Edinb. MS.) Not by an hvndryþe þowsand part. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 46 Breake but a part of the thousand part of a minute in the affairs of loue. 1680N. Lee Cæsar Borgia Ep. Ded., My best Merits are not the ten thousand part of his smallest labours.
5. Comb. Forming (a) attrib. compounds with a n., as thousand-acre, thousand-dollar, thousand-guinea, thousand-mile, thousand-pound, thousand-round, thousand-year (hence thousand-year-long, thousand-year-old, etc.); (b) parasynthetic combs., as thousand-eyed (having a thousand eyes), thousand-footed, thousand-handed, thousand-headed, thousand-hued, thousand-petalled, thousand-sided, thousand-souled, thousand-voiced, etc. adjs.; also thousand-feet, a millepede or centipede; thousand-head(ed) kale, a branching variety of cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. fruticosa, cultivated as fodder for sheep or cattle; thousand island [f. Thousand Islands, name of a large group of islands in the St. Lawrence River], used attrib. and absol. to designate Russian salad-dressing containing added pieces of garnishing; also thousand isle; thousand-jacket N.Z. = houhere; thousand-legs = thousand-feet; thousand-miler slang, a dark shirt that does not show the dirt; thousand-year(-old) egg, a Chinese delicacy consisting of a pickled egg that has been kept in earth, lime, and chopped straw for some weeks; thousand-yearist, nonce-rendering of chiliast; Thousand-Year Reich [G. tausendjähriges Reich], the German Third Reich (1933–45), as a regime envisaged by the Nazis as established for an indefinite period.
1895Daily News 30 Nov. 3/4 The attempt to turn England into a rural arcadia of *thousand acre farms.
1871Alabaster Wheel of Law 171 There the *thousand-eyed Lord..is attended by thousands of houris. Ibid. 209 The thousand-eyed is a common epithet of Indra.
1704in Churchill Collect. Voy. III. 828/2 *Thousand Feet, called Millepie by the Portugueses.
1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vii, To take shelter..under one of the *thousand-footed bridges.
1894Du Maurier Trilby II. 111 Princes..who pay them *thousand-guinea fees.
1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. vii. 133 This *thousand-handed art.
a1618Sylvester Miracle of Peace xxiv, Thou *thousand-headed head-lesse Monster-most.
1887Times 22 Oct. 8/1 This practice of making *thousand-headed kale stand down..on poor land..is likely to come rapidly into favour. 1925Thousandhead kale [see marrow-stem (kale) s.v. marrow n.1 5]. 1929Oldershaw & Porter Brit. Farm Crops v. 235 Thousand-headed kale is a very useful crop to grow both for sheep- and cattle-feed. 1975Park & Eddowes Crop Husbandry (ed. 2) xiii. 294 Marrow stem kale should be used before the new year followed by the hardier thousand head kale.
1839Bailey Festus xxxi. (1852) 490 Fluttering its wings in lightnings *thousand-hued.
1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 19 July 6/1 (Advt.), Mrs. Porter's *Thousand Island Salad Dressing, bottle 35¢. 1945J. L. Marshall Santa Fe 106 For years, Bill Gardner, steward on the Kansas City–Chicago run, handed out a special ‘1001 Dressing’, an improvement on the usual Thousand Island mixture. 1962Thousand-isle [see Roquefort b]. 1981Times 2 Mar. 12/5 In a year or two she will be specifying that the thousand island dressing (a pinkish salad cream with bits of vegetables in it) should be low-calorie.
1888Cassell's Picturesque Austral. III. 210 Toi-toi, supplejack, *thousand-jacket, are names of things known well enough to the inhabitants of Napier and Taranaki. 1946Thousand-jacket [see houhere].
1807Young Agric. Essex I. 392 The *thousand-legs eats and makes them [potatoes] scabby. 1962Gordon & Lavoipierre Entomol. for Students of Med. vii. 41 The class Diplopoda contains all the millipedes or ‘*thousand legs’.
1875‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Apr. 450/1 The *thousand-mile wall of dense forest.
1929F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 139 *Thousand milers, black twill shirts. 1959Washington Post 8 Oct. c3/3 A thousand-miler is a navy blue shirt which doesn't show the gravy stains and may be worn for days at a time without washing. Slim must have a wardrobe of thousand-milers. 1978K. Bonfiglioli All Tea in China vii. 86 A ‘thousand-miler’ turned out to be a sort of durable shirt made of black twill; so-called..because it should be washed..after every thousand miles of the voyage.
1951L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust ii. ii. 204 But here at Pharsalus was fought a master model To prove how might opposes greater might and tears To shreds the lovely *thousand-petalled wreath of freedom. 1970Times 10 Mar. 17/2 (Advt.), A hitherto unrecorded Baccarat ‘thousand-petalled’ rose weight.
1898Westm. Gaz. 17 June 5/1 A *thousand-pound projectile..tore a gaping hole in the emplacement. 1902Lond. Mag. June 484/1 Accused of systematically uttering forged Bank of England thousand-pound notes.
1704Norris Ideal World ii. ix. 387 Four, five, or a *thousand-sided figures..are capable of a greater number of relations..than simple triangles are.
1838–9Hallam Hist. Lit. III. iii. vi. §49. 313 Coleridge has most felicitously applied to him a Greek epithet..µυριόνους, the *thousand-souled Shakspeare.
1898Westm. Gaz. 2 Sept. 5/1 Amidst the *thousand-voiced tumult.
1886Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (1899) 45 So I fled with steps uncertain On a *thousand-year long race.
1961E.-M. Wong Chinese Cookery v. 36 Everyone has heard of ‘*thousand-year-old’ eggs, but in reality these eggs are only a few months old. 1972K. Lo Chinese Food i. 47 Thousand-Year-Old Egg (which, to be more precise, should be called Pickled Eggs)..can be incorporated into a Chinese breakfast. 1980E. Behr Getting Even xviii. 208 Seaslugs, jellyfish and thousand-year eggs appeared on the table.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 798 The worde [Chiliasts] is greeke, and may bee interpreted, Millenaryes, or *Thousand-yere-ists.
[1934Times 6 Sept. 12/4 Herr Hitler's proclamation to the rally was read... Herr Hitler declares that ‘there will be no further revolution in Germany for a thousand years.’] 1946A. Huxley Let. 27 Oct. (1969) 553 When people think of far-off communist Utopias or *Thousand-Year Reichs, they are so much dazzled by the beauty of what they see..in the unknowable future, that they are ready to commit any atrocity in the present. 1970A. Price Labyrinth Makers vi. 89 The Wagnerian last hours of the Thousand Year Reich. 1979J. Crosby Party of Year xviii. 109 Now that the 1,000-year Reich had crumbled, what else was there?
Hence thousandˈaire (nonce-wd. after millionaire), one who has a thousand pounds; † ˈthousandly adv., thousandfold.
1896Eclectic Mag. Mar. 350 To prevent their possessor from ever becoming even a thousandaire. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 4920 Now shalle I the rewarde innoumbrable thovzandly. |