| 释义 |
inquisitor|ɪnˈkwɪzɪtə(r)|
Also 6 inquesytor, inquisiter, enquisitour, (-ysy-), 6–7 inquisitour, (-ysi-).
[a. OF. inquisiteur (1404 in Hatz.-Darm.), in AF. -itour, ad. L. inquīsītōr-em a searcher, detective, spy, inquisitor, examiner; agent-noun from inquīrĕre to search into, inquire. Cf. It. inquisitore, Sp. inquisidor.]
1. One who makes inquisition or inquiry; an inquirer, seeker, investigator; a curious or prying inquirer, an inquisitive person. Const. of, into.
1504C'tess Richmond tr. De Imitatione iv. xviii. 282 That a man shulde nat be to curious a inquisitor of that holy sacrament. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) II. clxiii. [clix.] 450 Enquisitours..inquysitours..enquysytours. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 152 Curious Inquisitors of the causes of all naturall things. 1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 18 They..become rather curiouse inquisitors then Godlie learners. 1665Walton Life Hooker in H.'s Wks. (1888) I. 5 My affection to them made me a diligent inquisitor into many things that concerned him. 1779H. Swinburne in Crts. Europe close last Cent. (1841) I. 252 The Grand Duke..pries into everything, and knows all that passes. This royal inquisitor seems, however, to be very popular. 1841Emerson Misc. 160 Here comes by a great inquisitor with auger and plumb-line, and will bore an Artesian well through our conventions and theories, and pierce to the core of things.
2. One whose official duty it is to inquire, examine, or investigate, in matters of crime, taxation, etc.
1513Douglas æneis vi. vii. 17 King Mynos, inquisitour and justice. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 60 b, Hys people, beynge sore vexed with inquysitors, pollers and promoters. 1549Thomas Hist. Italie 81 b, There be certaine inquisitours, called Sindici, sent foorth to refourme extorcions. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. ii. 6 The subtilty of that Inquisitor shall not present unto God a bundle of calumnies or confutable accusations. 1706Phillips, Inquisitor, a Sheriff, Coroner, etc. having Power to inquire into certain Cases. 1864D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stor. 231 The three Inquisitors of State were met in their chamber of the Ducal Palace.
†b. A detective, informer, or spy. Obs.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Informateur, an Informer, an Inquisitour. 1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 56 For such a turbut who durst sell or buy, So many inquisitours and informers nigh? 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 114 There are certain officers, called private overseers, who inspect into the offences, clandestine meetings, and other misdemeanors of their fellow-citizens... These inquisitors are private, and swear to the faithful execution of their office. 1797Godwin Enquirer i. xiv. 127 Refrain from acting the spy or inquisitor.
c. transf. and fig.
1734Fielding Univ. Gallant ii. i, What's that to you, brother? Who made you the inquisitor of my actions? 1878Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 125 While at Rome Stucley and Shelley acted in concert as inquisitors into the lives of the English who happened to come there.
3. An officer of the Inquisition: see inquisition 3.
(Inquisitores ad conquirendos et eruendos hereticos, ‘inquisitors for searching out and rooting out heretics’, were first appointed by the Constitution of Theodosius I in 382. Inquisitores were sent into the south of France in the 13th c. to extirpate the heresy of the Albigenses. But the name is chiefly associated with the Spanish Inquisition as reconstituted in the end of the 15th c.)
1545Coverdale Def. cert. poor Chr. Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 455, I mean euen thee, thou accuser, which..art called an inquisitor of heresy. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 84 The bloodie Inquisitors in Italie..their care and charge is..onelie to watch and ouersee that Christes trewe Religion set no sure footing, where the Pope hath any Iurisdiction. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 6 They will not trust the people with it [the Scripture]..no not with the Licence of their owne Bishops and Inquisitors. a1745Swift Pulteney's Answ. Walpole (Seager), The mercy of a Spanish inquisitor. 1841Borrow Zincali I. x. 1. 171 He..having been an inquisitor, was doubtless versed in the annals of the holy office. 1856Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 20 One age enrolling the mystic among the saints, another committing him to the inquisitor's torch.
fig.a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 187 Those fierce Inquisitors of Wit, The Critics, spare no Flesh, that ever writ.
b. Inquisitor-General, the head of the court of Inquisition in certain countries, esp. in Spain. Grand Inquisitor, a director of a court of Inquisition in certain countries.
1659Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 78 Gregory the Fifteenth, then Pope, exhorted the Bishop of Conchen Inquisitor-General of Spain, to improve the opportunity. 1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4854/1 The Duke of Anjou has created Cardinal de Giudicis Inquisitor General of Spain. 1840Penny Cycl. XVI. 408/2 Soon after [1482], the pope appointed Thomas de Torquemada, prior of the Dominican convent of Segovia, to the new dignity of inquisitor-general of the kingdom of Castile. 1852C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xl. 341 They were to be tried before the grand inquisitor, Guillaume Humbert, a Dominican friar. 1862Longfellow Wayside Inn, Torquemada 4 Torquemada, with his subtle brain, Ruled them as Grand Inquisitor of Spain. |