| 释义 |
▪ I. meed, n.|miːd|
Forms: 1 méd, 2–7 (9 arch.) mede, 3 (? pl.) meda, 4 meode, 4–5 med, 4–7 meede, 4–8 Sc. meid, 7 meade, 5– meed.
[OE. méd fem. = OFris. mêde, mîde, meide, OS. mêda, mieda, meoda (MLG. mêde, meide, MDu. miede), OHG. mêta, miata, mieta (MHG., mod.G. miete):—WGer. mêda str. fem., cogn. w. OE. meord fem., reward, pay, Goth. mizdô wk. fem., reward (:—OTeut. *mizdâ, -ôn-), Gr. µισθός, OSl. mĭzda, Zend mīzda reward, Skr. mīdhá prize, contest:—Indo-germanic type *mizdho-, -dha-.
The exact nature of the relation between the WGer. *mêda and the OTeut. *mizdâ is disputed. According to some scholars the former represents a Pre-Teut. type *mēizdhā (ablaut-var. of *mizdhā), the disappearance of the z being due to the long diphthong.]
1. In early use: That which is bestowed in requital of labour or service, or in consideration of (good or ill) desert; wages, hire; recompense, reward. Now only poet. or rhetorical, in narrower sense: A reward, guerdon, or prize awarded for excellence or achievement; one's merited portion of (praise, honour, etc.).
Beowulf 2134 He me mede ᵹehet. 971Blickl. Hom. 45 Þonne onfoh hi from Gode maran mede. c1200Ormin 4381 Siþþenn shall þe Laferrd Crist Uss ȝifenn ure mede. c1205Lay. 17646 What scal beon mi mede Ȝif ic þider ride? c1275Passion our Lord 61 in O.E. Misc. 39 Vor alle þe gode þat he heom dude hi yolde him luþre mede. a1330Otuel 858 Such cas may fallen in sum neede, He mai quiten vs oure mede. c1350Will. Palerne 5355 No tong miȝt telle þe twentiþe parte Of þe mede to menstrales þat mene time was ȝeue. c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 305 A scorne shall be my mede. c1380Sir Ferumb. 2392 Þov schalt haue an hundred pound of golde for þy mede. c1449Pecock Repr. i. xv. 83 Forto serue God and deserue meede in hevene. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 49 He that lendeth to haue rewarde or mede..may of hell payne haue dread. 1563Becon Wks. iii. Pref. AAAA iij, In the kepyng of them there is great mede. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xx. 105 That man in deid is worth sum meid, His fault that dois confes. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 37 A Rosy girlond was the victors meede. 1613Heywood Silver Age i. i. Wks. 1874 III. 90 As thy guilt's meede, by that monster die. 1637Milton Lycidas 14 He must not flote upon his watry bear..Without the meed of som melodious tear. 1658Phillips, Meed, (old word) merit, or reward. a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 II. 158 A long and prosperous enjoyment of the Land of Canaan was the meed set before them. 1725Pope Odyss. xiv. 177 If so, a cloak and vesture be my meed; Till his return, no title shall I plead. 1769Sir W. Jones Palace Fortune Poems (1777) 19 Let falling kings beneath my javelin bleed, And bind my temples with a victor's meed. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. iv, A lordly meed To him that will avenge the deed! 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. v. 66 The office of Lord High Treasurer, to which..the nobility looked as their meed of honour and power. 1854S. Dobell Balder xxiii. 125 Rich loves that, as they list, Exchange and take and give Unmeted mede and debts for ever due. 1877Sparrow Serm. xix. 252 The exacting of God's meed of praise is only postponed for a little while. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Apr. viii, To be praised for beauty and denied The meed of beauty.
†b. in collective plural. Obs.
a900tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. iii. (Schipper) 358 Þa me to þam heofonlican medum cyᵹdon & laþedon. c1205Lay. 2987 God scal beon þi meda for þira gretinge. a1225Leg. Kath. 38 Summe þurh muchele ȝeouen & misliche meden. a1300Cursor M. 2353 Lang he led him with delay To mare þe medes of his fai. 1382Wyclif Gen. xxxi. 8 The dyuers colourid shulen be thi medis. a1400–50Alexander 2428 Ȝit rad for all þaire rebelte resayued þai þaire medis. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xvi. 2 Sum gevis for mereit and for meidis. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 31 She..winnes an Olive girlond for her meeds. 1592Constable Sonn. xiii, If Love be ledd by hope of future meedes. [1613Heywood Silver Age iii. i. Wks. 1874 III. 127 Theseus, Perithous, Philoctetes, take Your valours meeds. a1616B. Jonson Poetaster, Dial. Hor. & Trebatius, Then dare to sing vnconquer'd Caesars deeds; Who cheeres such actions, with aboundant meeds.]
c. to meed (in ME also to medes OE. tó médes): as a reward. Obs. exc. arch. Also † to (one's) meed.
In the OE. form médes is an irregular genitive sing., owing its inflexion to the analogy of neuter nouns used in similar advb. phrases; in ME. it was doubtless taken as a plural.
c1000ælfric Saints' Lives (Skeat) I. 270 God him sylð to medes þæt ece lif. c1175Lamb. Hom. 155 Þet we moten..habbe to mede endelese blisse. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 67 Ure louerd ihesu crist..giueð hem to medes eche lif and blisse. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3150 Wat woste..þulke mon to is mede ȝiue uawe, þat þe king aurely broȝte sone of lifdawe? c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1152 (1201) My-self to medes wole þe lettre sowe. a1400Celestin 75 in Anglia I. 69 To meodes I wile bicom þi man at þi somoun. Ibid. 611 ibid. 82 Wratthe and enuie, haue þis to meode. c1440Cast. Persev. 603 To medys þou ȝeue me howse and londe. 1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 186 Those who pleasure had to meed Upon a day when all were glad.
†d. for any meed: from any motive. for no (kin) meed: on no account, not at all. Obs.
13..Coer de L. 5404 Off Kyng Richard myght they nought spede, To take trewes for no mede. a1330Syr Degarre 614 Lo, what chaunse and wonder strong, Bitideth mani a man with wrong; That..spouseth wif for ani mede. a1400–50Alexander 3120 Me wondirs, I-wisse if he it wete wald, For any mede a-pon mold his meneyhe to lyuire. c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 6248 For age taryeth for no mede. c1450Bk. Curtasye 135 in Babees Bk., Ne spit not lorely, for no kyn mede, Before no mon of god for drede. c1460Launfal 363, I warne the, That thou make no bost of me, For no kennes mede.
†e. A gift. Obs. rare.
1607Shakes. Timon i. i. 288 No meede but he repayes Seuen-fold aboue it selfe.
¶ f. Adjudged character or title. rare.
1833Tennyson Œnone 85 Pallas and Aphrodite, claiming each This meed of fairest. 1868C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) I. xxxiv. 291 Even the world itself could hardly award the meed of unprofitable to the studies of Roger Bacon.
†2. Reward dishonestly offered or accepted; corrupt gain; bribery. Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 241 Þat laborers and louh folk taken of heore Maystres, Nis no Maner Meede bote Mesurable huyre. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 247 False curatis þat ȝeuen mede or hire to comen in-to siche worldly offices. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋521 Thow shalt nat swere for enuye, ne for fauour ne for meede. 1423Rolls of Parlt. V. 407/1 For affection, love, mede, doubte or drede. 1436Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 184 That they take mede wythe pryvé violence, Carpettis, and thynges of price and pleysaunce. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xviii. 25 He toke mede and money of the Scottis. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Gal. 20 He that for corrupte teachyng the gospel receiueth mede of him, whom he so teacheth [etc.]. 1550Crowley Epigr. 196 It is a packe of people that seke after meede. 1591Florio 2nd Fruites 93 Golden meedes doo reach al heights. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. i. (1821) 33 For any respect of Favour, Meade, Dreade, Displeasure, or Corruption. 1765Blackstone Comm I. 230 Without partiality through affection, love, meed, doubt, or dread. 1808Scott Marm. ii. xxii, Her comrade was a sordid soul, Such as does murder for a meed.
personified.1362Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 16 ‘Þat is Meede þe mayden’, quod heo, ‘þat hath me marred ofte’. c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 228 Fool hardynesse & flaterye & desyr, Messagerye, & meede & oþer thre.
†3. Merit, excellence, worth. Obs.
a1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. App. iv. 20 Þat is the Meedes of þe Masse. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 476 And siþ it is greet meede to do almes for a tyme, it were myche more meede to contynue perpetual almes. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 149 A man of grete meryt and mede. 1493Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 47 b, Fayth hath no mede ne meryte Where mannes wytte gyueth experyence. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 42 It is mede, To geue it to such as haue necessitie. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding 375 They say, It is a mater of special meede: and hable to Confounde Heresies. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. viii. 38 My meed hath got me fame. a1600Floddan F. i. (1664) 2 Thou imp of Mars thy worthy meeds, Who can discourse with due honour. 1623Cockeram, Meed, desert. 1714Gay Sheph. Week Wed. 17 Thou bard of wond'rous meed. (Note, Meed, an old word for Fame or Renown.)
†b. to do meed: ? to do one's duty. Obs.
c1400Melayne 1017 Sen ilke a man feghtis for his saule I sall for myn do mede.
4. Comb. † medȝeorn a. [see yern a.; cf. MHG. metegern], desirous of bribes.
a1200Moral Ode 256 Medȝeorne [v.rr. -ierne, -ȝierne, -yorne] domes men.
▸ † Sc. Aid, assistance, help, support. Obs.
a1500Ratis Raving 398 With It þow may thin erand speid Qwhen baith will failȝhe strenth and meid. 1568in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS f.21v, Haif ws in mynd and grant ws meid. 1607in Lett. Eccl. Affairs Scotl. (1851) I. 114 This kirk..sall nevir miss meid nor comfort from yow. 1711(a 1500) Hist. Sir Eger (Aberdeen) 2648 in D. Laing Early Metrical Tales (1826) Speed thee with all thy meed, To comfort them, and make them glad.
▪ II. † meed, v. Obs.
Forms: 2 meaden, 3–6 mede, 3 medin, 4 med, myde, medi, 4–7 meed(e.
[f. meed n. Cf. OS. mêdan (MLG., MDu. mieden), OHG. miaten (MHG., mod.G. mieten).]
1. trans. To reward, recompense. In bad sense, to bribe.
a1175Cott. Hom. 243 We scule bien imersed alle [read alse] gode cempen and imeaded mid heahere mede. a1225Leg. Kath. 415 He bihet to medin ham mid swiðe heh mede. 1340Ayenb. 146 He [God]..alle ssel deme communliche and alle medi largeliche þo þet habbeþ y-hyealde his hestes. c1350Will. Palerne 4646 He..meded hem so moche wiþ alle maner þinges,..So þat þei him bi-hiȝt bi a schort terme, Þat þei priueli wold enpoyson þe king & his sone. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 421 Þanne Alisaundre medede [L. subornabat] þe bisshoppes, and warned hem what answere he wolde have. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 107 It fallys þat þou mede his werkys, aftyr his seruyce þat he doos to þe. 1496Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) ix. xiv. 367/2 They shal be thanked & be meded therfore as I sayd fyrste. a1542Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 223 Mine Anna..My loue that medeth with disdaine.
2. To deserve, merit. nonce-use.
1613Heywood Silver Age i. Wks. 1874 III. 89 Thy body meedes a better graue.
▪ III. meed(e
obs. forms of mead. |