释义 |
knavery|ˈneɪvərɪ, ˈneɪvrɪ| Also 6 Sc. knaifrie. [f. knave n. + -ery.] 1. Performance characteristic of a knave; dishonest and crafty dealing; trickery, roguery. With a and pl., A knavish deed or practice.
1528Tindale Obed. Chr. Man Wks. (1573) 147/2 Because of a litle knauery which a Deacon at Constantinople plaide thorough confession with one of the chiefe wiues of the citie. 1546Bale Eng. Votaries i. (1560) 64 All suche knaueryes must haue a pretensed colour. 1612Dekker If it be not good Wks. 1873 III. 312 The Sun sees much Knauery in a yere, and the Moone more in a quarter. 1673Temple Ess., Ireland Wks. 1731 I. 115 The Unskilfulness, or Carelesness, or Knavery of the Traders. 1724Ramsay Vision xiii, Knaivry, and slaivrie, Ar equally dispysd. 1747Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) p. xiv, Either through the Ignorance or Knavery of Physicians. 1870Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxxiii. 10 He frustrates their knaveries, and makes their promising plots to end in nothing. b. As a mock title: = knaveship 1.
1871R. Ellis Catullus xxxiii. 5 Please your knaveries hoist a sail for exile, Pains and privacy? †2. In weakened sense: Roguishness, waggishness, playing of tricks. Obs.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 346 This is thy negligence, still thou mistak'st, Or else committ'st thy knaueries wilfully. 1599― Hen. V, iv. vii. 52 He was full of iests, and gypes, and knaueries, and mockes. 1646Evelyn Diary 7 Oct., Yet are they chereful and full of knavery. †b. concr. Tricks of dress or adornment. Obs.
1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 58 With Scarfes, and Fannes, and double change of brau'ry, With Amber Bracelets, Beades, and all this knau'ry. †3. A popular name for the plant Narthecium ossifragum, Bog Asphodel. (Cf. honesty, pride, thrift.) Obs.
[1547Boorde Brev. Health §151 Put no Lubberworte into theyr potage, and beware of knauerynge aboute theyr hert.] 1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 1219 My good friend Doctor Anthony Salter of Exeter,..could understand of the countrey people no other name thereof, or propertie appropriate unto it but knavery. |