| 释义 |
▪ I. filibuster, n.|ˈfɪlɪbʌstə(r)|
Forms: 6 flibutor, 8–9 flibustier, 9 filibustier, fillibuster, filibuster.
[The ultimate source is certainly the Du. vrijbuiter in Kilian vrij-bueter (see freebooter). It is not clear whether the 16th c. Eng. form flibutor, of which we have only one example, was taken from Du. directly or through some foreign lang. Late in the 18th c. the F. form flibustier was adopted into Eng., and continued to be used, with occasional variations of spelling, until after the middle of the nineteenth century. About 1850–54, the form filibuster, ad. Sp. filibustero, began to be employed as the designation of certain adventurers who at that time were active in the W. Indies and Central America; and this has now superseded the earlier flibustier even with reference to the history of the 17th c.
The mutual relation of the forms is involved in obscurity. It is possible that the corruption of fri- into fli- may be due to the influence of the word flyboat (Du. vlieboot, whence F. flibot, Sp. flibote); but against this it may be urged that in our first quot. the word seems to be applied to marauders on land. In Fr. the form fribustier (which may be a corruption of Eng. freebooter) occurs in Du Tertre Hist. des Ant-Isles (1667) III. 151; but flibustier is app. first recorded in A. O. Oexmelin (Esquemeling) Hist. des Avanturiers (1686); this writer says that it comes from the Eng. flibuster ‘corsair’; in the earlier ed. of the work in Dutch (1678) the word does not occur. It is possible on the one hand that the corrupt form of the Du. word may be of Eng. origin, and may have been taken into F. from its use in the Eng. colonies in the W. Indies; or, on the other hand, that the F. form arose in the European wars of the 16th c., and is the immediate source of Garrard's flibutor. In any case the insertion of the s probably originated in Fr. as a mere sign of vowel-length, though from the Dictionnaire de Trévoux we learn that the s was already pronounced in 1704. In the Dict. étymologique of Ménage (who died in 1692), s.v. flibot, the form flibutier occurs, with the explanation (doubtless erroneous) ‘celui qui gouverne un flibot’. The Sp. filibustero is presumably ad. F. flibustier.]
†1. gen. = freebooter. Obs. rare—1.
a1587Garrard Arte Warre (1591) 236 Such..as bring wares to the campe, he [the High Marshall of the Field] must take order that they be courteously..vsed..procuring them a conuoy..to the intent they may..remaine..satisfied, without suspect of being robbed..of theeues and flibutors. Ibid. 154 Clearing..the hye wayes..from fleebooters.
2. spec.
a. One of a class of piratical adventurers who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies during the 17th c.
1792Burke Heads for Consid. Wks. VII. 93 The Flibustiers..about a century back..brought..calamities upon the Spanish colonies. 1822–56De Quincey Confess. (1862) 6 This..man is a buccaneer, a pirate, a flibustier.
b. A member of any of those bands of adventurers who between 1850 and 1860 organized expeditions from the United States, in violation of international law, for the purpose of revolutionizing certain states in Central America and the Spanish West Indies.
1854Lowell Camb. 30 Y. Ago Prose Wks. 1890 I. 85 He who was ordained to-day might..accept a colonelcy of filibusters to-morrow. 1855Thoreau Let. in Atlantic Mo. (1893) LXXII. 744/1 The gold-diggers and the Mormons, the slaves and the slaveholders and the flibustiers. 1856Whittier Panorama, Haschish ix, A raving Cuban filibuster!
attrib.1857Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. ii. 6 To avoid a collision with the filibuster power [i.e. the U.S.A.].
c. In wider sense: One who resembles a ‘filibuster’ (sense a or b) in his actions; now esp. one who engages in unauthorized and irregular warfare against foreign states.
1860W. G. Clark Vac. Tour 31 The contrast which these filibusters [Garibaldians] presented to the royal troops was exceedingly striking. 1863Draper Intell. Devel. Europe iv. (1865) 95 The Greek colonists were filibusters; they seized by force the women wherever they settled. 1896E. Dowson Let. 5 July (1967) 372 Yet they have always their Austin, & his praise of filibustiers.
d. nonce-use. A vessel employed in filibustering; a pirate craft.
1860Motley Netherl. (1868) II. xviii. 455 The coast of..Dunkirk swarmed with their..craft, from the flybooter or filibuster of the rivers to the larger armed vessels.
3. U.S. One who practises obstruction in a legislative assembly: see filibuster v. 2.
1889Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 14 Jan. 2/2 A humiliating ‘treaty’ with a single determined filibuster.
4. An act of obstruction in a legislative assembly. Chiefly U.S.
1890Congress. Rec. 11 Feb. 1217/2 A filibuster was indulged in which lasted..for nine continuous calendar days. 1915Morn. Post 13 Feb. 8/3 It has been decided..to suspend the filibuster in order to attend to important appropriations. 1917Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 1/7 The bill..was talked to death. Its last hours were spent in a filibuster against Senator Lafollette. 1923E. F. Wyatt Invis. Gods iii. iii. 121 There was a three hours' filibuster against the civil service clause. 1965Daily Tel. 5 Apr. 23/3 Need we tolerate the use of ‘filibuster’ as meaning ‘obstruction’ instead of ‘obstructionist’?
▪ II. filibuster, v.|ˈfɪlɪˌbʌstə(r)|
[f. prec. n.]
1. a. intr. To act as a filibuster.
1853Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 247 Youths..rather inclined to filibustering in Cuba. 1862S. Lucas Secularia 135 He prayed with fervour as he went fillibustering.
b. quasi-trans. Also trans. To subject to the methods of a filibuster.
1862B. Taylor Home & Abr. Ser. ii. ii. 67 When the inmates [of a prison] have enjoyed a satisfactory period of rest and seclusion, they join in companies, and filibuster their way out. 1887L. Oliphant Episodes 122, I was..endeavouring to filibuster a constituency. 1955C. E. Carrington Rudyard Kipling ix. 228 Dr. Jameson's attempt to filibuster the Transvaal Republic into the British Empire was defeated.
2. U.S. To obstruct progress in a legislative assembly; to practise obstruction.
1853Congress. Globe 4 Jan. 194/1, I saw my friend..filibustering, as I thought, against the United States. 1882Sir M. Hicks Beach in Standard 24 Mar. 3/2 The objectionable practices of ‘filibustering’ and ‘stone-walling’. 1885Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 20 Feb. 2/3 Ex-Confederates Filibuster to Prevent a Vote on the Bill.
Hence filiˈbustering vbl. n., also attrib. and ppl. a.; also filiˈbusterer, one who filibusters.
1856Tait's Mag. XXIII. 433 They are willing to find a safety valve for a portion of their filibusterers and loafers. 1856Gentl. Mag. New Ser. I. 111/1 The President has recognised Walker, the filibustering chief of Nicaragua. 1857Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. xxiv. 89 America has long been engaged in two courses of avowed and notable injustice, ‘filibustering’ and slave-dealing. Ibid., Nobody would look..for economy..to a filibustering nation. 1859Jephson Brittany ii. 14 Palmy days of..filibustering prosperity. 1885Times (weekly ed.) 23 Jan. 1/2 A flibustering expedition to Cuba is being prepared. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. I. i. x. 137 Systematic obstruction, or, as it is called in America, ‘filibustering’. 1893Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 5 Dec., He found that the men..were high-minded, law-abiding citizens instead of filibusterers. |