| 释义 |
liken, v.|ˈlaɪk(ə)n|
Forms: 4 licne(n, (likkin), 4–5 li(c)kne, lykne(n, -nyn, 4–6 licken, -yn, 5 lycken, lykeny, lykyne, (leccon, legeny, lekyn, likon, -yn), 4–6 lyken, 4– liken.
[f. like a. + -en5; cf. OHG. ki-lîhinôn (MHG. gelîchenen), MLG. lîkenen, Sw. likna, Da. ligne.]
1. trans. To represent as like; to compare. Const. † into, to, unto, with. Also to liken together.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4759 And to þe croys by gode skylle Ys þe harpe lykenede weyle. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 97 Þei may be wel licned to swolwis of þe see & helle. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 168 To a torche oþer to a taper the trinite is likened. a1400–50Alexander 3095 It limps noȝt all-way þe last to licken with þe first. c1420Chron. Vilod. (Horstm.) 1128 Dowuys..ben legenyd to þe holy gost. c1430Hymns Virg. 22 Loue y likne in-to a fier Þat slakeen may for no þing. c1485E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 9, I leccone my lyfe unto the morrow-tyde. 1549Latimer Serm. Ploughers (Arb.) 19 Wel may the preacher and the ploughman be lykened together. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 97 The Prince broke thy head for lik'ning him to a singing man of Windsor. 1667Milton P.L. v. 573 By likening spiritual to corporal forms. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. l. 375 Every good servant, for the future, will be proud to be likened to honest Joseph Leman. 1751Harris Hermes Wks. (1841) 147 The world has been likened to a variety of things. 1808Southey Lett. (1856) II. 90 You liken her to Henry. 1851Carlyle Sterling i. i. (1872) 5, I likened him often..to sheet-lightning. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 93 You must not liken her To your wild-eyed Aspasias.
†b. To make imputations on (a person). Obs. rare.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 42 Þo þat..Lickne men and lye on hem that leneth hem no ȝiftes. Ibid. 277 Lewed men may likne ȝow þus þat þe beem lithe in ȝowre eyghen.
†c. to liken (a person) to do (something): to represent as doing. Obs.
1520Caxton's Chron. Eng. i. 6/1 Athlas..ye whiche is lykened to bere up heven on his sholders.
†d. pass. To be assigned by repute to (a person) as a lover or a future husband or wife; also, to be reputed to be (so-and-so). Obs.
c1570Durham Depos. (Surtees) 59 They haith bein likned to-gither more and 2 yere. 1575Ibid. 304 He saith that the said Janet was never by any report lykned to any man for the getting of the said child, but only the said Robert... The said Robert is lykened to be the father of the said child.
2. To make like. rare.
a1400–50Alexander 4350 To sett him in-to seruitute..Þat god has fourmed to be free & to his face licknud. 1483Cath. Angl. 216/2 To make lyke (A. to Lykyne), assimilare, conformare. 1720Duncan Fraser in Evans O.B. (1784) III. xvii. 172, I will liken her to a laidley worm, That warps about the stone. 18..Ld. Brougham (Ogilvie), The occasional deviations from its fundamental principles in a free constitution, and the temporary introduction of arbitrary power, liken it to the worst despotisms.
†3. intr. To be like, to resemble; also, to become like. Const. to or dat. Also trans. to symbolize, represent. Obs.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1064 If þou wyrkkes on þis wyse, þaȝ ho wyk were, Hir schal lyke þat layk þat lyknes hir tylle. 1340Ayenb. 88 Þe more he him loueþ þe stranglaker, þe more he him likneþ propreliche. a1400–50Alexander 666 Þi fourme Is lickenand on na lym ne like to my selfe. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 11 The plater drawen oute of the donge likenithe [Fr. signifie] the soule in the bodi. 1809M. A. Bianchi Levity & Sorrow I. 70 Her own conduct towards Braunau had much likened to coquetry. Ibid. II. 200, I once knew a lady..that likened surprisingly to you. 1838Chalmers On Rom. II. 87 We are daily likening unto Christ in superiority over the world.
Hence † ˈlikener, one who likens.
c1440Promp. Parv. 305/1 Lykenare, or he þat lykenythe. |