| 释义 |
▪ I. mime, n.|maɪm|
[a. L. mīm-us, a. Gr. µῖµος. Cf. F. mime, Sp., Pg., It. mimo.]
1. Antiq. A performer in the dramatic pieces described in sense 4.
[a900O.E. Martyrol. 25 Aug. 152 Se wæs ærest sumes kaseres mima, þæt is leasere, ond sang beforan him scandlicu leoð ond pleᵹode scandlice pleᵹan.] 1784T. Davies Dram. Misc. III. 51 The antient mimes were so expert at the representation of thought by action. 1888Lowell Heartsease & Rue 51 Mime and hetæra getting equal weight With him whose toils heroic saved the State.
2. a. A mimic, jester, buffoon; a pantomimist.
1616B. Jonson Epigr. i. cxxix, Think'st thou, Mime, this is great? 1642Milton Apol. Smect. 9 Whereas he tels us that Scurrilous Mime was a personated grim lowring foole. 1760Foote Minor i. (1767) 14 He is an admirable mime, or mimic, and most delectable company. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xvii, That which may well shock the nerves of a prince of mimes and merry-makers. 1840Carlyle Heroes (1858) 251 Della Scala stood among his courtiers, with mimes and buffoons (nebulones ac histriones) making him heartily merry. 1902J. Conrad Heart Darkn. 142 In motley, as though he had absconded from a troupe of mimes.
b. in figurative context.
1877Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. ii. 245 That dance of mimes which passes for life among the upper classes.
3. transf. and fig. An imitator.
1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 82 Mimes or imitators make only phantasmes or pictures not things... The Mime wil neither know nor think aught of those things he imitates as to good or evil. 1902Cornish Naturalist Thames 166 Those..famous mimes, the Indian mynahs.
4. a. Antiq. A kind of simple farcical drama among the Greeks and Romans, characterized by mimicry and the ludicrous representation of familiar types of character; a dialogue written for recital in a performance of this kind. Also occasionally applied transf. to similar performances or compositions in modern times.
1642Milton Apol. Smect. 9 Scaliger describes a Mime to be a Poem imitating any action to stirre up laughter. 1693Dryden Persius' Sat. ii. (1726) 255 note, Liberius in the Fragment of his Mimes, has a Verse like this. 1790Malone Eng. Stage in Shaks. Wks. I. ii. 118 The Exodiarii and Emboliariæ of the Mimes are undoubtedly the remote progenitors of the Vice and Clown of our ancient dramas. a1834Coleridge Shaks. Notes (1849) 12 The mimes of Sophron were written in prose. 1850Tennyson In Mem. cv, No more shall wayward grief abuse The genial hour with mask and mime. 1904J. A. Nairn Herodas Introd. 22 A Mime is a piece depicting actual life, generally the life of the common people, and employing their language.
b. (The art of) gesture, movement, etc. (as distinct from words) used to express emotion and dramatic action or character; dumb show; = pantomime n. 4.
1932I. Mawer Art of Mime ii. i. 125 The aim of mime is not a performance of certain physical exercises which can be welded into some kind of whole, nor is it merely ‘gesture’—gesture is one branch only. 1953Ballet Ann. VII. 22 There is always a great misunderstanding of the word mime... In ballet it means the formal gesture language used in the narration of the classics. 1967Listener 13 Apr. 503/3 Some sort of research is required..to find out the best way of using mime on television.
†5. An imitation. Obs. rare.
1650T. Vaughan Anthroposophia To Rdr., Excellent patterns commend their Mimes.
6. attrib., as mime-ballet, mime-drama, mime-play, mime-writer; † mime-man, a mimic.
1955Times 11 May 7/6 Two mime-ballets by Rocca and Dallapiccola respectively.
1931A. Nicoll Masks, Mimes & Miracles i. 78 The Oscan mime drama became one of the most popular divertisements there. 1968J. Winearls Mod. Dance (ed. 2) vii. 145 There have been Masques, Dance Plays, Mime Dramas and every combination of the fundamental expressions of movement and voice.
1630B. Jonson New Inn v. i, Tipto, and his Regiment of mime-men [printed (1631) mine-men], al drunk dumbe.
1894Daily News 7 May 3/4 ‘Jean Mayeux’, the new ‘mime play’,..will be performed at the Princess's.
1957N. Frye Anat. Crit. iv. 285 Classical mime-writers like Herodas.
▪ II. mime, v.|maɪm|
[f. prec. n. Cf. F. mimer; Gr. has µῑµεῖσθαι to imitate.]
1. a. intr. To act or play a part, with mimic gesture and action and usually without words.
1616–1837 [see the vbl. n.]. 1897Westm. Gaz. 18 May 10/2 Mlle. Jane May..can sing and act as well as mime.
b. transf. and fig.
1728North Mem. Music (1846) 36 Our paltry imitators are mistaken when they attempt to mime it upon a silent stage. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. xv, Miming and chattering like a Dead-Sea Ape. 1887Rider Haggard Jess xviii, We cannot bedeck our inner selves and make them mime as the occasion pleases, and sing the old song when their lips are set to a strange new chant.
c. trans. To represent by mimic action.
a1894Stevenson Weir of Hermiston iv, She made it [the hearthrug] a rostrum, mimeing her stories as she told them. 1915M. E. Perugini Art of Ballet xiii. 115 The two well-known dancers..mutely mimed the actions and emotions of the leading characters. 1959W. Golding Free Fall xiv. 250 The maker they mimed for you in your Victorian slum was the old male maker, totem of the conquering Hebrews.
d. Of a singer, to present a pre-recorded song by mime, usu. on television.
1965G. Melly Owning-Up xi. 131 A weekly [T.V.] programme featuring the new releases and illustrating them visually by..the artists miming to their own records. 1966Crescendo Jan. 8/1 He seems content to mime ‘Tears’ to a gaggle of unbelieving teen-agers on Top Of The Pops. 1966Listener 11 Aug. 204/3 Since the singers and dancers are so expert in miming to their own recordings, it is possible to eliminate all microphones from the stage.
2. trans. To imitate, mimic.
1733Introd. Verses to Fielding's Intrig. Chambermaid, Mark, in his mirth how innocent he plays! And while he mimes the mimick, hurts not Bayes. 1890Harper's Mag. Feb. 422/2 Miming the cuttle-fish devouring its prey.
Hence ˈmiming vbl. n.; mimed ppl. a.
1616B. Jonson Epigr. i. cxv, [He] Acts old Iniquitie, and in the fit Of miming, gets th'opinion of a wit. 1642Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 262 But in an ill houre hath his unfortunate rashnesse stumbl'd upon the mention of miming. 1837Howitt Rur. Life vi. xi. 520 All kinds of pageants, mimings, masks, and frolics. 1910Daily Chron. 9 Apr. 7/5 The marvellous power of facial expression to convey an emotion..is brought home..by the intense interest one feels in these ‘mimed’ plays. 1965Melody Maker 3 Apr. 16 Miming is slowly disappearing from the pop scene. 1965Listener 2 Dec. 908/3 Mimed opera... It soon became painfully obvious that sound was out of synchronization with vision. Ibid. The first programme of the series was made almost unwatchable by the process of miming. |