| 释义 |
▪ I. governess, n.|ˈgʌvənɪs|
[shortened form of governeress: see -ess.]
1. a. A woman who governs (e.g. a kingdom, province, a community, religious institution); a female governor or ruler. Obs. exc. as nonce-use. † Formerly often applied to the presiding or ruling goddess (of a department of nature, art, etc.).
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 296/2 Thappostle halowed to god Ephygene the kynges doughter and made her maystresse and gouuernesse of moo than two hondred Vyrgyns. 1539Act 31 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §2 Abbottes, priours, abbesses, prioresses, and other ecclesiasticall gouernors & gouernesses of such late monasteries. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1550) 145 The Lady Margaret gouernesse of Flaunders. 1577Harrison England ii. xxiii. (1877) i. 352 Minerva was the cheefe goddesse and governesse of those waters. 1590Greenwood Collect. Sclaund. Art. B iij b, All true Christians..acknowledg her Maiestie to be the supreame maiestrate and gouernesse of all persons. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 718 The Abbay..whereof her selfe was first Governesse. 1663Davenant 2nd Pt. Siege Rhodes ii. Dram. Wks. 1873 III. 325 As if our sex's governess, the moon, Had plac'd us but for sport on fortune's lap. 1703J. Savage Lett. Antients lx. 174 As it is a great Cruelty in Barbarians to make Slaves of their Wives, so is it no less a Folly in us Romans, to let them be our Governesses. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 168 Diana, the Governess of all kinds of Hunting. 1737Whiston Josephus, Hist. i. iii. §1 John had left her to be the governess of the public affairs. 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. vii, The landlady was..absolute governess in these regions. 1754Richardson Grandison (1781) IV. xviii. 143 The governesses or matrons of the society I would have to be women of family. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxv. (1824) 665 This lady was a shining example to governesses of religious houses. 1826C. Butler Life Grotius xiv. §3. 219 His mother was named by the states Governess of the United Provinces. 1875I. L. Bird Sandwich Isl. (1880) 65 The governess of Hawaii, the Princess Keclikolani, has a house on the beach.
†b. fig. of things personified. Obs.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xvii. (1634) 90 That providence, which is the governesse of all things. 1587Golding De Mornay xx. (1617) 345 Religion is the gouernesse of all vertues. 1604T. Wright Passions ii. ii. 58 The Will, being the governesse of the Soule. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. xvii. §5. 97 The Prouince reduced to the obedience of the fatall Gouernesse Rome. 1643Milton Divorce ii. xx. (1851) 116 To teach us that charity is the high governesse of our beleefe. 1706Z. Cradock Serm. Charity (1740) 25 Eternal damnation may be..the instrument of wise men, but the mistress and governess of fools only.
†2.
a. A woman who has charge or control of a person, esp. of a young one. Obs.
1587Holinshed Chron. III. 335/2 The Ladie Marie of Biskie, gouernesse [1577 gouerneresse] of the King of Castile and Leon. 1615G. Sandys Trav. iii. 180 Virgins who neuer past the bounds of their Couents but on Sundayes onely (and then attending on their seuerall Gouernesses). 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. liii. 209, I Nhay Nivolau, a poor woman, Governess, and Tutress of my Son, an Orphan, do prostrate my self before thee. 1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2360/4 He [the infant son of James II] being then in the Arms of the Lady Governess, the Right Honourable the Lady Marchioness of Powis. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 6 Apr., To Mrs. Jermyn, My worthy governess may believe me.
b. A female teacher; an instructress; now chiefly, one so employed in a private household. (The current use.)
1712Steele Spect. No. 314 ⁋8 Pray proceed to detect the male administration of governesses as successfully as you have expos'd that of pedagogues. 1759Ann. Reg. 425 The mistress of the school is called governess, for the word mistress has a vulgar sound with it. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxxviii, Their language-masters, music-masters, hair-frizzers, and governesses, are all from abroad. 1804G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 187 The head governess for the..princess. 1850C. M. Yonge Langley School xix. 172 There is governess gone to Mr. Howard's. 1884Pae Eustace 22 But in two years thereafter he had married the governess. 1890‘L. Falconer’ Mlle. Ixe (1891) 16 ‘For my part’, said Mrs. Merrington,..‘I think good looks are rather out of place in a governess’. 1939F. Thompson Lark Rise xi. 204 There was no assistant mistress; Governess taught all the classes simultaneously.
3. The wife of a Governor. Obs. exc. as jocular nonce-use.
1697tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 22 The Lady Governess of the Town drew near to me. 1814Heyne Tracts India 345 The common wood strawberry..was introduced by the Right Hon. Lady Powis when Governess at Madras. 1855Thackeray Newcomes I. 234 Lady Trotter, the Governess of St. Kitts, you know.
4. attrib. and Comb., as governess-instructor, governess-tongue, governess-trade; governess-like, governess-made, governess-moulded, governess-taught, governess-trained adjs.; governess-cart, -car, a light two-wheeled vehicle with seats at the sides only, face to face; Governess-General (cf. 3), the wife of a Governor-General; governess-pupil, -student, a girl or young woman who is being trained to be a governess.
1893Chicago Exhib., Catal. Brit. Section 171 The ‘Governess Car’—a small wagonette body, without boot, hung—on elliptic springs, and with a deep cranked axle—very near the ground, and used either with a donkey or very small pony.
1878Porcupine 16 Nov. 516/1 The brothers of the Governess-General arrived at the station.
1909Westm. Gaz. 5 July 5/2 The governess-instructor stood at the right and the nursery-governess at the left.
1928Manch. Guardian Weekly 10 Aug. 114/1 Some of them—and this applies chiefly to..the calfas and elderly governess-like slaves—are gradually selling off the treasures that their sojourn in the Palace brought to them.
1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. II. ix. 769, I have already said that Tyrell's mind was governess-made.
1934Ibid. 771 Another of these governess-moulded minds.
a1900Mod. Advt. Governess-student required.
1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. II. ix. 772, I declare that the greatest present dangers to the human race are those governess-trained brains which apparently monopolize the Foreign Offices of the world.
1906Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 2/1 That governess-taught conception of the classics.
1892Hardy Well-Beloved (1897) i. ii. 20 To drown the local ballads by songs purchased at the Budmouth fashionable music-sellers', and the local vocabulary by a governess-tongue of no country at all.
1816Jane Austen Emma II. xvii. 324, I was not thinking of the slave-trade..; governess-trade, I assure you, was all that I had in view.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈgoverness-dom, ˈgovernesshood, the state of being a governess; ˈgovernessless a., without a governess; ˈgovernessship, the office of a governess.
1866Q. Rev. No. 238. 515 If but a few such women would combine here and there to elevate the tone of *governess⁓dom.
1867E. Yates Forlorn Hope xv. 183 She was always on the look-out for that knight who was to come and deliver her from the bonds of *governesshood.
1859Freeman in Stephens Life (1895) I. 245, I am still houseless, as well as boroughless, and am soon going to be *governessless.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 403 She..proceeded to give me the history of her successive *governess⁓ships. 1862Spectator 13 Dec. 1390/1 She seems to have finally abandoned governessship.
▪ II. governess, v.|ˈgʌvənɪs|
[f. the n.]
1. intr. (Only in gerund.) To work or earn one's living as a governess.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 405 Sixteen years of governessing..might well have..tamed that romantic imagination. 1848C. Brontë J. Eyre (1857) 276 You will give up your governessing slavery at once. 1860Sala Lady Chesterf. 43 The girls had to go out governessing. 1882Spectator 11 Feb. 182 Governessing was the only occupation open to ‘ladies’ without means.
2. trans. To act as governess to; to teach.
1847C. M. Yonge Scenes & Characters xiii. 162 She has been governessed and crammed till she is half sick of all reading! 1852Tait's Mag. XIX. 346 Esther yet remains single, and governesses her brother's rising family. 1884Harper's Mag. Oct. 692/2 I'm going to ‘governess’ the children of a Mrs...Caryl. |