| 释义 |
fosterage|ˈfɒstərɪdʒ|
Also 7 fosteridge.
[f. as prec. + -age.]
1. The action, also the office or charge, of fostering or bringing up (another's child).
1614Raleigh Hist. World i. (1634) 182 Some one or other adjoyning to this Lake, had the charge and fosteridge of this childe. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxvii, Thou art already envied of many of our tribe, for having had the fosterage of the young Chief. 1882J. Payne 1001 Nts. I. 161 For the sake of my fosterage of thee..spare this young lady.
b. The condition of being a foster-child.
1867Pearson Hist. Eng. I. 114 It was rather a sort of clientship or fosterage. 1872E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 157 Placed upon a footing with the foster-child during his fosterage.
2. The custom of putting (a child) under the care of a foster-mother; esp. the now obsolete custom amongst the Irish and Scottish nobility of giving over their children to a tenant to be nursed and brought up.
1775Johnson West. Isl. Wks. X. 484 There still remains in the islands, though it is passing fast away, the custom of fosterage. 1875Maine Hist. Inst. viii. 241 This was Fosterage, the giving and taking of children for nurture. 1893Joyce Short Hist. Irel. 85 One of the leading features of Irish social life was fosterage.
attrib.1881Leisure Hour Apr. 226 Where the fosterage ties had most strength..were the north-west of Ulster..and Munster. 1893Joyce Short Hist. Irel. 86 A fine of two-thirds of the fosterage fee.
3. The action of encouraging or helping forward.
1816Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 125 A branch of human morals so important; one which calls for the statesman's fosterage, the patriot's countenance. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 262 [Under her] fosterage our evil habits throve apace. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 848 Its [a conspiracy's] fosterage and management Richmond described very graphically. 1867Q. Rev. Apr. 430 The scope afforded by one and all to the fosterage of the imaginative quality. |