| 释义 |
ˈmilksop
[f. milk n.1 + sop n.]
†1. A piece of bread soaked in milk. Obs. rare.
c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 53 Melle white brede in dysshes aboute, Powre in wellyd mylke, with outen doute, Þat called is mylke soppys in serves For Satyrday at nyȝt.
†b. fig. in pl. ‘Soft sayings’. Obs.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. 71 Lingering in their milksoppes and smoothe Exhortacions.
†c. milksop dishes, dishes made of ‘milkmeats’.
1628Earle Microcosm. (Arb.) 47 Quaking Tarts and quiuering Custards, and such milke sop Dishes.
2.
†a. An infant not advanced beyond a milk diet. Obs. rare.
c1460Towneley Myst. xii. 469 Secundus pastor. hayll, lytyll tyn mop..hayll lytyll mylk sop! hayll, dauid sede!
b. fig. An effeminate spiritless man or youth; one wanting in courage or manliness.
[1246–56in 35th Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. (1874) App. 17 A villein called Robert Milcsop.] c1386Chaucer Monk's Prol. 22 Allas she seith that euere þat I was shape To wedden a Milksope or a coward ape. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 847 The Erle of Richmond Capitayne of thys rebellion, he is a Welshe milksop. a1619Fletcher, etc. Knt. Malta ii. i, Thou milksop,..canst thou feare to see A few light hurts, that blush they are no bigger? 1749Fielding Tom Jones xi. vii, I ought to be d—n'd for having spoiled one of the prettiest fellows in the world, by making a milk-sop of him. 1876L. Stephen Eng. Th. in 18th C. II. 377 Fielding has a contempt for Richardson as a milksop.
c. attrib. and Comb.
1549Chaloner Erasm. on Folly P ij, Farre more milke⁓soplyke and womannishe to cast foorth teares. 1750Student I. 141 The milksop looks and mincing steps of the pretty gentlemen. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 97 Like a fool Ripe from a milksop boarding-school.
Hence ˈmilksoppishness, ˈmilksopism, the characteristics of a milksop. ˈmilksopping a., imbued with ‘milksopism’. ˈmilksoppy a. = milksopping.
1832J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 392 This new dandyfied era of milksoppism. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow i. ii, Y'are a milk-sopping baby, so to harp on women. 1871T. A. Trollope Durnton Abbey II. viii. 126, ‘I think I won't take any brandy this morning’, said Reginald, blushing painfully at the consciousness of his milk⁓soppishness in this respect. 1886G. Allen Maimie's Sake xi, About eighty-seven per cent. of male humanity belongs absolutely to the milksoppy section. |