释义 |
instigate, v.|ˈɪnstɪgeɪt| Pa. pple. -ated; also 7 instigat. [f. L. instigāt-, ppl. stem of instigāre to urge, set on, incite, f. in- (in-2) + *stigāre: cf. Gr. στίζειν (root στιγ-) to prick.] 1. trans. To spur, urge on; to stir up, stimulate, incite, goad (now mostly to something evil).
1542Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 245 It doth instygate and lede a man to synne. 1639Woodall Wks. Pref. (1653) 2 Some Noble man, who was instigated thereunto through an excellent and divine power. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 278 To instigate Princes to warre upon one another. 1671True Nonconf. 469 The only motive..whereby Henry was instigat to reject the Pope. 1747Johnson Plan Eng. Dict. Wks. 1787 IX. 185 Commonly, though not always, we exhort to good actions, we instigate to ill. 1841Brewster Mart. Sc. iii. iii. (1856) 204 The proud Duke of Tuscany, instigated no doubt by Galileo, sent Kepler a gold chain. 1855Browning Fra Lippo 316 ‘Ay, but you don't so instigate to prayer!’ Strikes in the Prior. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 335 You..must not instigate your elders to a breach of faith. 2. To bring about by incitement or persuasion; to stir up, foment, provoke.
1852Thackeray Esmond ii. iv, What he and they called levying war was, in truth, no better than instigating murder. 1868Milman St. Paul's iii. 47 The mission of Otho had been instigated by the King. Hence ˈinstigated, ˈinstigating ppl. adjs.; ˈinstigatingly adv., in an instigating manner, so as to instigate.
1611Cotgr., Instigué, instigated, incited, vrged. 1702De Foe Reform. Manners Misc. (1703) 81 How Clito comes from instigating Whore, Pleads for the Man he cuckold just before. 1856Webster, Instigatingly. |