| 释义 |
Minotaur Gr. Myth.|ˈmɪnətɔː(r)|
[ad. Gr. Μινώταυρ-ος (L. Minōtaur-us, OF. Minotaur, F. Minotaure), f. Μίνως Minos + ταῦρος bull.]
a. A fabulous monster, the son of Pasiphaë, wife of Minos king of Crete, and a bull, represented as having the body of a man and the head of a bull. He was confined in the Cretan labyrinth and fed with human flesh. He was slain by Theseus, who thus freed Athens from her annual tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured by the monster. Hence used allusively.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2104 (Ariadne) The mynatour [v.rr. Mynotawr(e, -taure, Mynataur]. 1390Gower Conf. II. 304 Minotaure. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xiv, The minotaur, ane monster meruelous. 1500–20Dunbar Fenȝeit Freir 66 The Menatair [v.r. Mynataur] marvelus. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 189 There Minotaurs and vgly Treasons lurke. 1592Daniel Compl. Rosamond lxix, Heere I inclos'd from all the world a sunder, The Minotaure of shame kept for disgrace. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iii. xxii, But don't give yourself for a meal to a minotaur like Bult. 1900United Service Mag. Jan. 427 All those who were the hope and future strength of the race were devoured by the Imperial Minotaur [sc. Napoleon] in pursuit of his dream of universal domination. 1939Spender & Rees tr. Büchner's Danton's Death i. iv. 42 The people is a Minotaur that must be fed with corpses every week if it is not to eat the Committee alive. 1945Auden Sea & Mirror ii. 51 Home to your promiscuous pastures where the minotaur of authority is just a roly-poly ruminant and nothing is at stake. 1950T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party iii. 163 We talk of darkness, labyrinths, Minotaur terrors. 1964A. W. Gouldner in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 196 The lair of this minotaur [sc. Max Weber]..is still regarded by many sociologists as a holy place.
b. A representation of this, esp. Her.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 122 And by his Baner born is his penoun Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete The Mynotaur which þat he slough in Crete. 1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 49 R. beareth azure, a Minotaure d' Argente. 1776Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. ii. iii. 337 In a medal inscribed Caleno the Minotaur is seen. |