| 释义 |
▪ I. vagary, n.|ˈveɪgərɪ, vəˈgɛərɪ|
Also 6–7 vagare, 6 -arie.
[prob. ad. L. vagārī (It. vagare) to wander. Cf. fegary.]
1.
†a. A wandering or devious journey or tour; a roaming about or abroad; an excursion, ramble, stroll. Obs.
Freq. in the 17th c., chiefly in verbal phrases as to fetch, make, or take a vagary.
1577Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 24 The Irish enimie spieing that the citizens were accustomed to fetch such od vagaries,..they..laid in sundrie places for their comming. 1582― æneis ii. (Arb.) 44 Thee gates vncloased they skud with a liuely vagare. 1600Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 19 These haue often vagaries ouer the deserts vnto the prouince of Tedgear. c1613Soc. Cond. People Anglesey (1860) 40 To entice his neighbours wifes..to leave their husbands..and to follow him by turns, into other countreys, and after a long vagare, to return again. 1657S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. i. v. 12 A hot Sun-shine..will quickly prompt them out of their Hives to take a short vagary. 1677Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 320 The like did Dinah, when she made a needless vagary to see the daughters of the land. 1826W. E. Andrews Crit. Rev. Fox's Bk. Mart. II. 413 Whether..it is likely that such a person should be permitted to make a walking vagary throughout all London.
transf. and fig.c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §225 (1810) 237 Torridge, after a long vagary, making many meanders, emptieth itself in the..sea. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xvi. (1665) 359 Our hearts are soon gone away from the duty in hand, and taken a vagary to the furthest part of the world. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy i. xxii, My aunt Dinah and the coachman..led us a vagary some millions of miles into the very heart of the planetary system.
†b. to play his vagary, of a horse, to leave or refuse to follow the proper or desired course. Obs.—1
1580Blundevil Art of Riding i. 11 If he will then play his vagarie, beate him forthwith with your wand.
c. An irregular course or distribution.
1923World's Work May 566/1 Huster's attention was arrested by the uniformity in the course and distribution of nerves in comparison with the vagary of blood-vessels.
†2. A wandering in speech or writing; a rambling from the subject under consideration; a digression or divagation. Obs. (passing into sense 5).
1579G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 67 Countenauncinge oute the matter ether with tunge or penne withoute the same discoursinge vagaries. 1596R. H. tr. Lavaterus' Ghostes & Sp. To Rdr. a ij, His histories seeme not idle tales, or impertinent vagaries, but very truthes. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. Apol. 15 When ever he was at a loss, that the people might not perceive it, he presently would fall into a wordy vagary. 1681― Answ. Dodwell iv. 54 You must talk at other rates than you have done in your tedious fallacious Vagaries. 1762in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 451 Mr. Beckford..had his vagaries as usual, and gave the House a little prelude of what they were to expect.
3. a. A departure or straying from the ordered, regular, or usual course of conduct, decorum, or propriety; a frolic or prank, esp. one of a freakish nature. Now rare or Obs. (passing into sense 4).
1588Babington Prof. Exp. Lord's Pr. (1596) 274 A short vagare..layde a grinding griefe vpon his conscience during life. 1593B. Barnes Parth. & Parth. vi, I will be His bail for this offence; and if he make Another such vagary, take of me A pawn. 1609W. M. Man in Moon (1849) 21 Hee that might doe well and would not, when hee wanteth shal be unpittied..; then shall you hear of your olde vagaries. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 614 Strait they chang'd thir minds, Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell, As they would dance. 1693Locke Educ. §96 Would your Son engage in some Frolic, or take a Vagary, were it not..better he should do it with, than without your Knowledge? 1714Gay What d'ye call it i. iv, Ye Goblins and Fairys, With Frisks and Vagarys. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Vagaries, frolicks, wild rambles. a1845Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. House-Warming, That should she incline to play such a vagary..She could turn a knight into a waggon of hay. 1862C. Stretton Chequered Life II. 100, I could not sleep: I was too much amused at the vagaries of my new acquaintances [sc. rats], and kept watching them.
fig.1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, Let us hear what vagaries fancy has been playing in your mind.
†b. Without article: Frolic, gambolling. Obs.
1791Wolcot (P. Pindar) Rights of Kings Wks. 1812 II. 401 Here—there, Up, down, she dances it; now far, now near, In mad and riotous vagary.
4. a. A capricious, fantastic, or eccentric action or piece of conduct.
1629Massinger Picture v. iii, An old bachelor, as I am,..is not troubled With these fine vagaries. 1711Steele Spect. No. 260 ⁋1 The Vagaries of a Child are not more ridiculous than the Circumstances which are heaped up in my Memory. 1753Richardson Grandison (1781) IV. xxi. 162 She.., not having so great a fortune to support vagaries, would have shone..in Italy. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. vi, A noble natural Courtesy shines through him, beautifying his vagaries. 1861Tulloch Eng. Purit. iv. 409 Ignorance and vanity once unbridled knew no limit to the vagaries..into which they ran. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. lxxxvi. 150 The sentiment of the nation at large..acts but slowly in restraining the vagaries..of one particular State.
b. A caprice or trick of fortune, fancy, the brain, a malady, etc.
1717Dennis Remarks Pope's Homer Pref. A, A vagary of fortune who is sometimes pleased to be frolicsome. 1840Hood Up Rhine 27 The vagaries of the perspective, originating in such an arrangement, were rather amusing. 1862Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 17, I must yet notice another and a peculiar vagary of his malady. 1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. iv. 123 To follow the vagaries of fashion.
5. An erratic play of fancy; a fantastic, eccentric, or extravagant idea or notion. (Cf. 2.)
1753Richardson Grandison (1781) VI. xxxii. 218 These ideal vagaries, which, for the time, realize pain or pleasure to us. 1771Gray in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 137 But by all means curb these vagaries and wandering imaginations. a1806H. K. White To Contemplation Rem. (1825) 384, I alone, A wayward youth, misled by Fancy's vagaries, Remain'd unsettled. 1856Dove Logic Chr. Faith i. §2. 77 Every system that would land in such a conclusion is a mere logical vagary. 1882Farrar Early Chr. II. 270 note, But it is worse than useless to record the vagaries of Apocalyptic interpretation.
▪ II. † vaˈgary, v. Obs.
[Cf. prec.]
intr. To wander or roam. Also transf.
1598Florio, Vagare,..to vagarie, or range, to straie abroade. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 224 The marishes and lower grounds lying vpon the three riuers that vagary vp to her. 1611Cotgr., Vaucrer, to raunge, roame, vagarie, wander, idle it vp and downe. 1656S. H. Gold. Law 60 Though he might decline Law, yet he vagari'd not therefrom. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1257 To vagary, vagari, palari. |