| 释义 |
▪ I. gesture, n.|ˈdʒɛstjʊə(r)|
Also 6–7 jesture.
[ad. med.L. gestūra, n. of action f. gerĕre to carry.]
†1.
a. Manner of carrying the body; bearing, carriage, deportment (more fully, gesture of the body); rarely in pl. Obs. (merged in 3).
c1410Sir Cleges 483 He was a knyght of yours full trewe, And comly of gesture. 1509Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess. Richmond Wks. (1876) 292 In wordes, in gesture, in euery demeanour of herself, so grete noblenes dyde appere, that [etc.]. 1532Becon Pomander Prayer Wks. 1560 II. 211 b, That I may reuerence and honoure my father and mother, not onely with outwarde gestures of my body, but also with the vnfayned affeccyon of the hart. 1548–9Bk. Com. Prayer, Baptism, By his outwarde gesture and dede he declared his good wyll towarde them. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 160 To behaue himselfe decently in his going, and gesture of his bodie. 1587Turbervile Trag. Tales (1837) 127 Hee usde his gestures so unto this gallant dame..that she at length his friend in love became. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. v. ii. 69 If you do loue Rosalinde so neere the hart, as your gesture cries it out. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 168 In gesture and habit of a mad-man. 1756Burke Subl. & B. i. iii, The fashion of the countenance and the gesture of the body on such occasions is so correspondent to this state of mind. 1770Junius Lett. xxxviii. 188 [He] had a voice to persuade, an eye to penetrate, a gesture to command. 1786W. Thomson Watson's Philip III (1793) II. v. 119 The voice, the looks, and gestures of the young king made an impression. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. xxi, Yet seemed that tone, and gesture bland, Less used to sue than to command.
†b. Grace of manner. Also pl. Obs.
1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 51 Lest he should seeme to want gestures, or to be dashed out of conceipt with her coy countenance. 1704Steele Lying Lover iii. (1747) 46, I haue a Kindness for her, but she has no Gesture in the least.
†2.
a. Manner of placing the body; position, posture, attitude, esp. in acts of prayer or worship. Also, a specified posture. Obs.
1533Coverdale Treat. Lord's Supp. (1540) c vij b, The olde congregacion..dide in theyr gesture & ricte figurate a certayne ymage of a sacrifice. 1560Becon Catech. Wks. 1564 I. 480 As concerning syttyng at the Lordes table..I could alowe that gesture best. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 852 Some foolishly imagine that praier is made either better or worse, by the jesture of our bodyes. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 154 What position of body hee was in the Sabbath morning, in the same hee ought to continue all that day, without change of gesture or place. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. vi. 241 As for their gesture or position, the men lay downe leaning on their left elbow. 1676Allen Address Nonconf. 178 Gesture in Prayer, such as is kneeling, lifting up hands and eyes, and the like. 1729Burkitt On N.T. Mark iv. 2 Observe our Saviour's gestures in preaching: he sat, it being the custom of the Jewish Church to do so.
†b. (See quot.) Obs.
1612Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 72 What call you verbs of gesture? A. Verbs of bodily moving, going, resting, or doing. Ibid. 72 note, They are called verbs of Gesture, because they signifie some special gesture of the body.
3.
†a. In early use: The employment of bodily movements, attitudes, expression of countenance, etc., as a means of giving effect to oratory (obs.).
b. Now in narrower sense, as a generalized use of 4: Movement of the body or limbs as an expression of feeling.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 56 No man can wryte a thing so earnestlye, as whan it is spoken wyth iesture. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 118 Gesture is a certaine comely moderacion of the countenaunce and al other partes of mans body, aptely agreeyng to those thynges whiche are spoken. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxii. §12 To put life into words by countenance, voice, and gesture. 1607–12Bacon Ess., Seeming Wise (Arb.) 216/1 Some helpe themselves with countenance, and gesture, and are wise by signes. 1697Evelyn Numism. ix. 303 The Tongue spake to Men's Ears, but it was the Gesture which spake to their eyes. 1712Addison Spect. No. 407 ⁋1 Our Orators are observed to make use of less Gesture or Action than those of other Countries. 1791Boswell Johnson 15 Apr. an. 1758 His unqualified ridicule of rhetorical gesture, or action. 1804Med. Jrnl. XII. 510 She seized the ice, and rubbed her face, neck, and arms with it, signifying by gesture the ease it afforded. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 106 Gesture is the imitation of words.
4. a. A movement of the body or any part of it. Now only in restricted sense: A movement expressive of thought or feeling.
1551–6R. Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 141 Theire armoure or harneys..is..handsome for all mouinges and gestures of the bodye. 1555Eden Decades i. vi. (Arb.) 89 They signified also by certeyne scorneful gestures that they nothyng esteemed perles. 1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 115, I shall name these letters. Looke well what gesture I make with my mouth. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 325 That at certain signes and tokens, he [a Horse] be taught of his owne accord to performe diuers and sundry jestures. 1626Bacon Sylva §717 The Shaking of the Head..is a Gesture of slight refusal. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 220 An Oration, intermixt with more Faces and Gestures than any Player can shew on the stage. 1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 17 May, Two buffoons..diverted the mob with their antic gestures. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxxi, His speechless gesture thanks hath paid. 1843Prescott Mexico ii. v. (1864) 98 The natives supplied the deficiency..by their uncommon vivacity and significance of their gestures,—the hieroglyphics of speech. 1878M. A. Brown Nadeschda 62 She took a seat, And with a gesture, motioned her son to his.
b. transf. and fig.; spec. [after F. geste; cf. beau geste] a move or course of action undertaken as an expresssion of feeling or as a formality; esp. a demonstration of friendly feeling, usu. with the purpose of eliciting a favourable response from another.
1916Daily News 2 Feb. 4/4 The cost of museums and galleries ought to be considered as part of the cost of the war... To shut them is a mean and shabby gesture before the whole world. 1921Times 18 Oct. 10/4 The gift of your Medal of Honour to a British comrade in arms, whose tomb in Westminster Abbey stands for all our best endeavour and hardest sacrifice in the war, is a gesture of friendly sympathy and good will which we will not forget. 1921Daily News 9 Nov., The hope that Sir James Craig might make a generous gesture. Ibid. 24 Nov., You cannot quite get that gesture from Mr. Balfour. 1922Daily News 9 Nov. 9 So far as the movement against Prohibition is concerned, the victory of Mr. Edwards, Governor of New Jersey, is only a gesture. As Governor he promised to make the State as wet as the Atlantic. Ibid. 16 Dec. 9 The United States Cabinet to-day sat..to consider a world gesture which is intended..to assist Europe and to allay discontent at home. 1922Westm. Gaz. 20 Dec., The semi-official gestures of Greece towards a reconciliation with this country. 1933Bloomfield Lang. ix. 147 Vocal gestures, serving an inferior type of communication, occur not only outside of speech, as in an inarticulate outcry, but also in combination with speech-forms. 1959Listner 8 Oct. 563/2, I do not advocate, instead, an imitation of the gestures of the new ‘Holy Trinity’ of European music: Stockhausen, Boulez, and Nono. 1963Ibid. 7 Mar. 418/2 The Lijnbaan..would be a very long, completely straight two-storey street for pedestrians were it not for a single formal gesture which acts like a magic wand, providing canopies across the Lijnbaan as well as along it. 1964Ann. Reg. 1963 253 France did not sign the test ban treaty, described..as ‘a purely platonic gesture’.
5. attrib., as gesture language, gesture-sign, gesture-speech, gesture-syntax; gesture theory, a theory of the origin of language (see gestural a.); hence gesture-theorist.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ii. 15 The Gesture Language, or Language of Signs. Ibid. 19 The educated deaf mutes can tell us from their own experience how gesture-signs originate. Ibid. iv. 64 The leading principle of the gesture-syntax. 1885Clodd Myths & Dr. ii. ix. 199 A girl who was a deaf-mute as well as blind..telling a dream in gesture language. 1889Mivart Orig. Hum. Reas. 139 The gesture-speech of mankind. 1930R. Paget Babel ii. 54 The gesture theory of human speech is not new. Ibid. 62 To the gesture-theorist it is a natural consequence of the fact that every tongue- and lip-gesture can be construed in a variety of ways.
Hence ˈgestureless a., without gesture.
1847in Craig. Hence in mod. Dicts.
▪ II. gesture, v.|ˈdʒɛstjʊə(r)|
Also 6 jester, jesture, 6–8 gester.
[f. the n.]
1. intr. To make or use gestures, to gesticulate.
1542Udall tr. Erasm. Apoph. 253 b, Augustus settyng twoo iesters together forto plaie their merie partes in gesturyng the one after the other by course. 1565J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Cross 93 b, Whosoeuer hath y⊇ vse of eyes or his right wits, wil see & consider, that there is meant, no priest gesturing, but holy ghost working. 1609R. Barnerd Faithf. Sheph. 85 Some in meditating doe vse to speake and gesture. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. i. vi, The Mayor speaking and gesturing his persuasivest. 1890Harper's Mag. Feb. 417/1 They peered for white faces at windows..gesturing with knives as if opening fish.
b. Sc. To walk proudly, to swagger.
a1783J. Scott Poems 339 (Jam.) The like o' me they'll har'ly own, But geck their head, and gester on.
2. trans.
†a. To order the attitudes or movements of (the body, oneself). Obs.
1542[see gesturing vbl. n. below]. a1639Wotton Dk. Buckhm., Reliq. W. (1651) 110 His young Nephew, Lord Viscount Fielding..undertaking so to gesture and muffle up himself in his hood, as the Duke's manner was to ride in cold weather, that none should discern him, from him.
b. To express by gestures; † to accompany with or emphasize by gestures.
1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. E ij b, They have leisure to gesture the mislike of his rudenes. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxvii. §1 It is not orderly read nor gestured as beseemeth. 1607Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. ii. x. 141 The player hath no purpose to commit the acte of adulterie: his sinne is in that he gestureth and expresseth the dalliances of it. 1890Pall Mall G. 12 Apr. 7/2 He..gestured his intention of throwing the baby to the ground if anybody attempted to approach him.
c. in nonce-uses.
1879G. Meredith Egoist III. x. 221 He swept his arm to Vernon, and gestured a conducting hand to Clara. 1885Howells S. Lapham (1891) I. 248 His father made an offer to rise. ‘Don't go’, said Lapham, gesturing him down again.
Hence ˈgestured ppl. a., expressed by gestures; ˈgesturing vbl. n. and ppl. a. Also ˈgesturer, one who gestures.
1542Udall tr. Erasm. Apoph. 344 a, Y⊇ accion or pronunciacion comprehendeth..the gesturyng or conueighaunce of all the whole bodye. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 3 We must..folowe the moste wise and learned menne, and seke to fashion..their speache and gesturyng. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xviii. (1634) 713 There is eachwhere too much of pompes, ceremonies and gesturings. 1576Newton Lemnie's Complex. ii. ii. 101 Counterfaiters, Skoffers, Tumblers, and Gesturers. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xiv. vi, 13 No meane furniture for gesturing actors and stage players. 1644Bulwer Chiron. 114 This doth usually appeare in many in the gesturing and skipping motions of joy. 1651J. F[reake] Agrippa's Occ. Philos. 226 By whose gesturings the Magicians did silently signifie words unknown by sound. 1879W. L. Lindsay Mind in Lower Anim. I. 355 Not only does it [the dog] understand man's gestured threat, but [etc.]. 1889Amer. Ann. Deaf July 202 When the educated gesturer is compared with the deaf-mute as he was before the invention of the gesture language. |