释义 |
‖ hara-kiri|ˌhɑːrəˈkiːriː| Also corruptly hari-kari, hurry-curry. [Japanese (colloquial and vulgar), f. hara belly + kiri cut. (The more elegant expression is said to be seppuku.)] Suicide by disembowelment, as formerly practised by the samurai of Japan, when in circumstances of disgrace, or under sentence of death. Also called (by Englishmen) happy dispatch: see dispatch n. 4. Also transf.
1856Harper's Mag. Mar. 460 (title) Hari-kari of Japan. 1859Times 18 Aug. 10 These officers no longer perform hari-kari, or in other words disembowel themselves, rather than survive the disgrace of admitting foreigners. 1862Holmes Hunt after Captain in Old Vol. of Life (1891) 58 He will very commonly consent to the thing asked, were it to commit hari-kari. 1871A. B. Mitford Old Japan II. 195 The ceremony of hara-kiri was added afterwards in the case of persons belonging to the military class being condemned to death. 1888Scott. Leader 17 Mar. 4 The Liberal Unionist party..will hesitate long before committing ‘hari-kari’ in that fashion. 1888J. L. Atkinson in Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 7 June, Hara-kiri, the Japanese method of self-destruction in the baronial days, was practiced only by the Samurai, who were the two-sworded retainers of the barons or Daimiyos..Hari-kiri is rarely if ever heard of as being done in Japan nowadays. |