| 释义 |
‖ vade-mecum|ˈvɑːdeɪ ˈmeɪkəm, ˈveɪdɪ ˈmiːkəm|
Also vade mecum, vademecum.
[L., vāde imper. sing. of vādĕre to go + mēcum with me. So F., Sp., Pg. vademecum (Pg. also -meco).]
1. A book or manual suitable for carrying about with one for ready reference; a handbook or guidebook. (Sometimes used as the title of such a work.)
1629(title), Vade Mecum: A Manuall of Essayes Morrall, Theologicall. 1649F. Roberts Clavis Bibl. 405 Among the very Ethiopians this book was in such repute, that the Ethiopian Eunuch made it his (Vade mecum) his companion in his journey. 1679(title), A Vade-mecum for the Lovers of Musick. 1731Fielding Grub St. Op. Introd., It is a sort of family Opera. The husband's vade-mecum; and is very necessary for all married men to have in their houses. 1797Monthly Mag. III. 128 The Odéon shall possess a literary journal,.. to be a valuable vade-mecum for such persons as are not in the habit of deciding on the merits of theatrical performances. 1818Byron Juan i. cci, Aristotle's rules, The Vade Mecum of the true sublime, Which makes so many poets, and some fools. 1880Muirhead Gaius Introd. p. xv, It is the remains..of a handbook for the practitioner; a vade mecum, as modern law-writers would call it. 1927New Republic 12 Oct. 216/1 His little book, indeed, is a religious document, and might well serve as a vade mecum for all those disillusioned moderns who think that, because they cannot have all, they must be content to accept nothing. 1963Times 2 May 15/3 In 1935, someone did collect James's prefaces together into what has become a vade-mecum for practitioners (‘required reading’ for students). 1977Amer. N. & Q. XV. 108/1 From the standpoint of the non-expert buyer.., it is a singularly useful and dependable vademecum. 1983Archæology Jan.–Feb. 72 This is the book that all of us have been looking for: a reasonably complete vade mecum to every worthwhile site in mesoamerica.
fig.a1631Donne Select. (1840) 51 His vade mecum, the abridgment of all nature, and all law, his own heart, and conscience.
2. A thing commonly carried about by a person as being of some service to him.
1632Lithgow Trav. viii. 355 Gold..was my continuall vade Mecum. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 71 Whose Vade mecum is an Aqua vitæ Bottle. 1678Yng. Man's Call. 50 You may safely take it [a maxim] as your vade mecum along with you, in reference to the things of this life. 1774‘J. Collier’ Mus. Trav. App. 23 To write a pamphlet against the use of a medicine which had been his vade mecum in all his journies. 1966C. Mackenzie Paper Lives iv. 55 A fellow Jacobean called Horner had won {pstlg}77 in what are called the Pools and this sum was being used as the financial vade mecum for their escapade. |