| 释义 |
▪ I. we, pron.|wiː, wɪ|
Forms: 1 we, wé, Northumb. woe, 2 weo, hwe, 4–5 whe, 5 whee, 4–7 wee, Sc. ve, 2– we. Also 7 rarely w' (before a vowel or h).
[Com. Teut.: OE. wē̆ corresponds to OFris. wî (WFris. wi, wy, NFris. wi, we, wü), OS. wî, wê, MDu. wî (mod. Du. wij), OHG. wir, wêr, wier (MHG., mod.G. wir), ON. vér, vær (Sw., Da. vi), Goth. weis.
These forms seem to go back to more than one OTeut. type. The Gothic form represents OTeut. *wīz:—pre-Teut. *weis, an extension (with nominative suffix -s) of Indogermanic *wei found in Skr. vayám, Avestic vaēm, we. With regard to the OE., ON., and some other forms, there is difference of opinion, some scholars referring them to an ablaut-variant (either *wĕ-z or *wē-z) of *wī-z, and others to a pre-Teut. *wĕ of which *wei is supposed to be an extension by the addition of a demonstrative particle.]
1. a. The pronoun of the first person plural nominative, denoting the speaker and one or more other persons whom he associates with himself as the subject of the sentence.
For the obsolete dual see wit pron. For emphasized compounds see ourself 2, ourselves 2.
Beowulf 260 We synt gumcynnes Ᵹeata leode. c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke xxii. 71 And hiᵹ cwædon: hwi ᵹyrne we ᵹyt ᵹewitnesse? sylfe we ᵹehyrdon of hys muðe. a1250Owl & Night. 1690–1 Ah hit was unker uoreward Þo we come hiderward Þat we þarto holde scholde Þar riht dom us ȝiue wolde. a1300Cursor M. 4820 ‘Childer,’ he said, ‘weþen are yee?’ ‘Sir, wee are o farr cuntre.’ 1382Wyclif 2 Thess. i. 4 So that we silf glorien in ȝou. c1420Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxiii. 5785 Ȝhe se þat þai ar ma þan we. c1460Oseney Reg. 174 Vppon the texte whee sware, both I and my wiffe. 1640J. Gower Ovid's Festiv. i. 8 Gold-temples please us, though the old w' approve. 1673Hickeringill Greg. F. Greybeard 142 Hold, w' have sprung a mast. 1697Dryden æneis xi. 392 We; (for myself I speak, and all the Name Of Grecians, who to Troy's Destruction came). 1847Helps Friends in C. i. vii. 103 A thorough perception of the simple fact, that they are not we. 1879M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot xx, ‘We must have everything ready for him.’ ‘So we will, ma'am, spick and span,’ answered Mrs. Trimmer.
b. following, as subject, a verb in the subjunctive mood; = let us (do something). Now only rhet. or poet.
971Blickl. Hom. 11 Arweorþian we Crist on binne asetene. a1250Owl & Night. 177 (Cott.), Ac lete we awei þos cheste. a1300K. Horn 1527 Make we vs glade eure among. 13..Guy Warw. 5060 ‘Lordinges,’ he seyd, ‘ginneþ ȝou armi, & gin whe hem to asaily.’ c1325Metr. Hom. 53 Forthi I red we it forsak, And hald we us in rihtwisnes. 1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xv. 235 Noo leue we the knyghte and the dwerf, and speke we of Beaumayns. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus i. iv. G iv, Go we in adores. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. ii. 6 Put we our quarrell to the will of heauen. 1657–83Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. 33 Consider we, first, the structure of his body. 1814Wordsw. Excurs. viii. 391 Turn we then To Britons born and bred within the pale Of civil polity.
c. defined or made precise by some qualifying word or phrase.
a900Cynewulf Crist 746 Swa we men sculon heortan ᵹehyᵹdum hlypum styllan. 1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 35 Wee caytiefe Troians. a1596Sir T. More i. i. 121 And if you men durst not vndertake it, before God, we women would. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. i. 1 When shall we three meet againe? 1612R. Churton Olde Thrift newly revived 39, I must confesse that we poore Farmers..doe exclaime against Inclosures. 1631Chapman Cæsar & Pompey i. B 3 b, Met...We will haue the army Of Pompey entred. Cato. We? which we intend you? Haue you already bought the peoples voices? 1702De Foe Shortest Way w. Dissenters 23 We of the Church of England. 1751F. Coventry Pompey the Little i. iii. 27 We Girls are under so many Restraints. 1848Dickens Dombey xlii, ‘We in the City know you better,’ replied Carker. 1865Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys xl, Mother, we two must make our wills. 1883J. W. Sherer At Home & in India 99 She must have been what we westerns should call a child. 1918Act 8 Geo. V, c. 1 We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom..in Parliament assembled.
d. qualified by a prefixed adj. poet.
[1607,1635: see 3.] 1646Crashaw Steps to Temple 27 (Ps. 137) While unhappy captiv'd wee Lovely Sion thought on thee. 1697Dryden æneis v. 810 O wretched we, whom not the Grecian Pow'r, Nor Flames destroy'd, in Troy's unhappy hour!
e. used confidentially or playfully to mean the person addressed, with whose interests the speaker thus identifies himself; esp. by a doctor in friendly or cheering address to a patient.
1702Vanbrugh False Friend i. i. C 3, Well, old Acquaintance, we are going to be Married then? 1834Dickens Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho. ii, ‘Well, my dear ma'am, and how are we?’ inquired [Doctor] Wosky, in a soothing tone. 1884Harper's Mag. Dec. 172/2 Well, Jane, and how are we this morning?
f. used indefinitely in general statements in which the speaker or writer includes those whom he addresses, his contemporaries, his fellow-countrymen, or the like.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 442 On ðisum wræcfullum life we sceolon earmra manna helpan. a1300Cursor M. 247–8 Giue we ilkan þare langage, Me think we do þam non outrage. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 408–10 We seken faste after felicitee, But we goon wrong ful often trewely. Thus may we seyn alle and namely I. a1450Le Morte Arth. 2363 Launcelot hyr brydelle ledde, In the romans as we rede. a1500Hist. K. Boccus & Sydracke (? 1510) P ij, And yf they [sc. fishes] felt the ayre also As we or foules or beastes do. 1612in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914) XXIX. 251 Yf we should have any difference with Spaine (as happely wee may have before wee looke for yt). 1712Addison Spect. No. 512 ⁋1 There is nothing which we receive with so much Reluctance as Advice. 1752J. Hill Hist. Anim. 263 The Swedes and Danes call it Fjarsing;..the French, Viver; and we, the Weever. 1845Carlyle Cromwell (1871) II. 7 Of Sheriff Morgan..we have no farther notice whatever. 1865Ruskin Sesame i, I say first we have despised literature. What do we, as a nation, care about books? 1875Jevons Money (1878) 25 In ordinary life we use a great many words with a total disregard of logical precision. 1876Stedman Victorian Poets vi. 183 He is well broken, as we say of a thoroughbred.
g. used in conjunction with they to allude to the tension between two mutually exclusive groups or categories of people, or their opposing interests. Cf. them and us s.v. them pers. pron. 1 e.
[1884F. Maurice F. D. Maurice II. xvii. 531 That division of all men into the two classes of ‘we’ and ‘the rest’,..which we most of us adopt.] 1926Kipling Debits & Credits 327 Would you believe it?—They look upon We As only a sort of They! 1942H. Haycraft Murder for Pleasure xv. 316 The..fundamental contradiction between the We and They in government. 1948R. H. Tawney in F. A. Iremonger William Temple v. 88 The ‘We and They’ complex..could not survive continuous co-operation with colleagues..whose experience of life was quite different from his own. 1965Observer (Colour Suppl.) 25 Apr. 13/1 The children have a chance of learning to deal with adults, without the we-they feeling. 1973Guardian 30 Mar. 14/2 Anything which emphasises the ‘we’ and ‘they’ of the situation will drive men..towards the extremes of politics.
2. Used by a single person to denote himself:
a. by a sovereign or ruler. Often defined by the name or title added.
Beowulf 958 Beowulf maþelode..: We þæt ellenweorc..feohtan fremedon. c1425Eng. Conq. Irel. (1896) 6 We, dermot, prince of leynester. 1436Hen. VI in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. Var. Coll. IV. 199 We forse alle the gret discoragyng and discomfort that mygte growe to oure trwe sugectis. 1482in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1910) XXV. 122 We Elizabeth abbas of þ⊇ Monastere of Syon..wylle and ordeyne that [etc.]. 1603Jas. I in Rymer Fœdera (1705) XVI. 538 Wee, Myndinge of our Royall and absolute Power to Us commytted, to visitt [etc.]. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iv. 71 Sir, I am about to weepe; but thinking that We are a Queene [etc.]. 1642Chas. I in Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §20 In plain English, it is to take away the freedom of our vote; which were we but a subject were high injustice; but being your king, we leave all the world to judge what it is. 1835Lytton Rienzi iv. vii, Noticed you the we— the style royal? 1850Wiseman Pastoral 7 Oct., In that same Consistory we were enabled ourselves to ask for the Archiepiscopal Pallium, for our new See of Westminster. 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 362 But Arthur, ‘We sit King, to help the wrong'd Thro' all our realm’.
b. by a speaker or writer, in order to secure an impersonal style and tone, or to avoid the obtrusive repetition of ‘I’.
Regularly so used in editorial and unsigned articles in newspapers and other periodicals, where the writer is understood to be supported in his opinions and statements by the editorial staff collectively.
c893ælfred Oros. i. i. §11 Nu hæbbe we scortlice ᵹesæd ymbe Asia londᵹemæro. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 556 We mihton ðas halᵹan rædinge meniᵹfealdlicor trahtnian. a1300Cursor M. 265 Now o þis proloug wil we blin. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 295 The second sone of Penda, we meane kynge Wulfere. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xix. (Arb.) 56 We our selues who compiled this treatise. 1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God iii. xviii. 133 Should we particularize, wee should become a direct Historiographer. 1807Copleston Advice to Yng. Reviewer 1 There is a mysterious authority in the plural we, which no single name, whatever may be its reputation, can acquire. 1836Dickens Sk. Boz, Criminal Courts, We shall never forget the mingled feelings of awe and respect with which we used to gaze on the exterior of Newgate in our schoolboy days. 1860Leader 11 Feb., The volume that we have now before us. 1879T. P. O'Connor Beaconsfield xiv. 577 In this official report [of a speech] the vain-glorious and significant ‘I’ is toned down to the softer and less candid ‘we’.
c. Hence jocularly as quasi-n.: The editor of a periodical, or a contributor who uses this style; the periodical itself.
1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour ix, It reached the ears of the great Mr. Seedeyman, the mighty we of the country, as he sat in his den penning his ‘stunners’ for his market-day Mercury. 1866Chamb. Jrnl. 15 Dec. 788/2 Not only was I myself overwhelmed by these accounts of foreign travel, when I was a We, but I noticed [etc.]. 1902Monthly Rev. Aug. 124 Yet the two great ‘Wes’ of the eighteenth century, the ‘Monthly’ and the ‘Critical’ played no unimportant part in the literary education of our great⁓grandparents.
3. Used for the accus. us (now only by the uneducated). Cf. let v.1 14 b.
c1500Melusine xix. 106 Lete we send for the two knightes. 1553Respublica iii. iii. 682 People..He fliereth on youe & beareth vs faire in hande And therewhile robbeth bothe youe & we of oure Lande. 1607Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 103 And to poore we Thine enmities most capitall. 1635R. Carew in Lismore Papers (1888) Ser. ii. III. 222 Those..fauours..vouthsafed vnto poore immeritinge we. 1782Cowper John Gilpin 16 So you must ride On horseback after we. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts xxxii, Not as ever you was proud to folks like we. 1890Bickley Surrey Hills III. 207 He a' never disappinted we afore, why should 'un now? Ibid. 209 Maister Fenton ain't here yet, so let we have another hymn.
Add:4. dial. and W. Indies. As possessive pronoun: = our poss. pron.
1848A. B. Evans Leicestersh. Words 104 ‘We’ and Wer pr., ‘our’. ‘We'll go and get wer dinners.’ ‘We heave'nt had we teas.’ 1912C. McKay Songs of Jamaica 14 We caan' 'peak sake o' we naybor tongue. 1928J. Peterkin Scarlet Sister Mary 29 Satan is de one sent dat rat here to kill we joy an' make we have sin to-day. 1977M. Woodhouse in Winter's Crimes 9 150 We all going to lose we jobs. 1984D. Dabydeen Slave Song 17 Babee strap like burden to we back.
▪ II. † we, int. Obs.
Also 5 whe.
An exclamation app. used for emphasis, or to demand attention. Cf. wi int.
13..Sir Orfeo 176 (Sisam) O we, quaþ he, allas allas. 13..Gosp. Nicod. 28 (MS. Harl.) We, whatkyn godes er þire? 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2185 We, lorde, quoth þe gentyle knyȝt, Wheþer þis be þe grene chapelle. c1440York Myst. xi. 139 We! lord, þai wil noght to me trayste. Ibid. xv. 46 Whe! hudde! be-halde into the heste! c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 147 We! ryn on, in the dwills nayme Before!
▪ III. we
see wee n.1 and a., woe, wy (man). |