| 释义 |
foundling|ˈfaʊndlɪŋ|
Forms: 4 fynd(e)ling, 4–8 fondling, 4–6 -elyng, 4–6 found(e)lyng, (4 -eling), 4–5 fund(e)ling, -lyng, 4, 6 foundling.
[ME. fundeling (= Du. vondeling, MHG. vundelinc), f. funden, pa. pple. of find v. + -ling; ME. had also findling (= Ger. findling), f. the pres. stem of the vb. Cf. also ME. funding.]
1. A deserted infant whose parents are unknown, a child whom there is no one to claim. Also transf.
a1300E.E. Psalter lxvii[i]. 5 (Horstm.) Of fadre of foundlinges ma. c1305Judas 56 in E.E.P. (1862) 108 So þat þe quene vpbreid adai: þat he fyndling was. c1440Promp. Parv. 182/2 Fundelynge, as he þat ys fowndyn, and noman wote ho ys hys fadur, ne hys modyr. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Phil. iii. 5, I am an Israelite, not by engraffynge, but by kyndred: not a straunge foundlyng, but a Jewe, beynge borne of the Jewes. 1602Withals Dict. 271/1 A childe which is laid and found in the streete..or else⁓where, which they call commonly a foundling. 1735Berkeley Querist §372 Whether there should not be erected..an hospital for orphans and foundlings, at the expense of old bachelors? 1789G. White Selborne xliv. 113, I myself have seen these foundlings in their nest displaying a strange ferocity of nature. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxix, He roared again until the very foundlings near at hand were startled in their beds.
appositively.a1712King Ulysses & Tiresias 25 Tho' he a foundling bastard be. a1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iv. xxiii. (1876) 250 The discovery of a foundling orphan.
b. fig.
1587Golding De Mornay Pref. 8 As for lying or vntruth, it is a foundling, and not a thing bred. 1827–38Hare Guesses (1867) 210 Employ such words as have the largest families, keeping clear of foundlings and of those of which nobody can tell whence they come unless he happens to be a scholar. 1853Trench Proverbs 39 The great majority of proverbs are foundlings, the happier foundlings of a nation's wit, which [etc.].
2. the Foundling: the Foundling Hospital, London.
1829Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 123 It would be as wise to recommend wolves for nurses at the Foundling, on the credit of Romulus and Remus.
3. attrib. and Comb., as foundling-hospital, † -house, an institution for the reception of foundlings; foundling-stone, an erratic boulder.
1756Nugent Gr. Tour, France IV. 39 The enfants trouvés, or *foundling-hospital. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 166 The Crêches of Paris, or the foundling hospital of Dublin.
1750Johnson Rambler No. 12 ⁋6 What, you never heard of the *Foundling House?
1892Edin. Rev. Apr. 305 *‘Foundling-stones’ innumerable have become objects of popular superstition and scientific curiosity. |