| 释义 |
▪ I. ‖ mora1|ˈmɔərə|
[L. mora delay.]
1. Scots Law. Negligent delay (see quot. 1838).
1569Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 9 Nowther the said Erll of Huntley nor yit the parteis complenaris ar in mora. 1838W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl., Mora, or delay, is a general term applicable to all undue delay in the prosecution or completion of an inchoate bargain, diligence, or the like.
†2. A short space of time; a delay. Obs. rare.
a1633G. Herbert Jacula Prud. 145 Good is the mora that makes all sure. a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 76 This preparation..requires a competent mora, or time, antecedent to its complete and full constitution. Ibid. 102.
3. a. (Pl. moræ.) A unit of metrical time equal to the duration of a short syllable.
1832[see time n. 10]. 1848Donaldson Gr. Gram. 16 The shortest time in which a syllable can be pronounced is called a mora, or single time. A short syllable has one mora: a long syllable contains two moræ. 1879J. W. White tr. Schmidt's Rhythmic & Metric 65.
b. In linguistic analysis, the minimal unit of duration of a speech-sound. Also attrib.
1933L. Bloomfield Language vii. 110 In dealing with matters of quantity, it is often convenient to set up an arbitrary unit of relative duration, the mora. Thus, if we say that a short vowel lasts one mora, we may describe the long vowels of the same language as lasting, say, one and one-half morae or two morae. 1941G. L. Trager in L. Spier et al. Lang. Culture & Personality 136 In many cases it will be found that an element smaller than the phonetic syllable functions as the accentual or prosodic unit; this unit may be called, following current practice, the mora... The term mora..is useful in avoiding confusion, even if it should turn out to mean merely phonemic syllable. 1964E. Palmer tr. Martinet's Elem. General Linguistics iii. 80 Each of the segments characterized by one of the successive punctual tones is called a mora. 1964K. L. Pike in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 425 A train of alternating stresses..clashes with a different wave train keyed into a mora count beginning from the last suffixual syllable. 1968W. S. Allen Vox Graeca ii. 81 For diphthongs in Greek cannot strictly be distinguished as ‘short’ and ‘long’; for accentual purposes they all have the same value of 2 ‘morae’ (time-units), as for a long simple vowel.
▪ II. ‖ mora2, morra|ˈmɔra|
[It. mora, of unknown origin. Cf. F. mourre in the same sense.]
A popular game in Italy in which one player guesses the number of fingers held up simultaneously by another player. Also applied by Europeans to a similar game in China.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Mora, the Italian Play of Love with the Fingers. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian ii, Vivaldi heard only the quick and eager voices of some Lazaroni..as they contended at the simple game of Morra. 1833Longfellow Outre-Mer, Rome in Midsummer ⁋1 The idle facchino..plays at mora by the fountain. 1848S. W. Williams Mid. Kingd. (1883) I. 808 The guests relieve its tedium by playing the game of chai mei, or morra (the micare digitis of the old Romans), which consists in showing the fingers to each other across the table, and mentioning a number at the same moment; as, if one opens out two fingers, and mentions the number four, the other instantly shows six fingers, and mentions that number. If he mistake in giving the complement of ten, he pays a forfeit by drinking a cup.
▪ III. ‖ mora3 Gr. Hist.|ˈmɔərə|
Pl. moras.
[Gr. µόρα, f. µορ-, µερ- to divide.]
One of the (originally six) divisions of which the Spartan army consisted.
1838Thirlwall Greece xxxviii. V. 77 Two moras had been kept at home, together with the veterans. 1850Grote Greece ii. lvi. VII. 109 Every order emanated from the Spartan King..and was given to the Polemarchs, each commanding a mora, the largest military division.
▪ IV. ‖ mora4|ˈmɔərə|
[Shortened from Tupi moira-tinga ‘white tree’, f. moira tree, tinga white.]
A lofty tree, Mora excelsa, found in Guyana and Trinidad. Also attrib., as mora-tree, mora wood.
1825C. Waterton Wanderings S. Amer. i. 5 Heedless, and bankrupt, in all curiosity must he be, who can journey on without stopping to take a view of the towering mora. 1826Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 74 Among these, pre-eminent in height rises the mora. 1840Schomburgk Descr. Brit. Guiana 31 The Mora (Mora excelsa, Benth.) may well be called the king of the forest; it towers above every other tree. 1843Holtzapffel Turning, etc. I. 94 Mora-wood..is close-grained like teak, and superior to oak, esteemed for ship-building..; in colour it resembles moderately red mahogany. 1864–5Wood Homes without H. ii. (1868) 82 The Toucan..may generally be seen perched on the topmost boughs of the lofty mora-tree. 1918C. W. Beebe Jungle Peace (1919) vii. 140 A house with roof of pale pink like a giant mora in full bloom. 1949Caribbean Quarterly I. iii. 42 Three forest areas..could be..logged so as to yield about 3 million cubic feet of saleable timber per year, mainly Greenheart but also Mora and other hardwoods. 1956Handbk. of Hardwoods (Forest Prod. Res. Lab.) 154 Mora is a dominant tree of mixed swamp forests and is found in the Guianas, Trinidad and eastern Venezuela. 1958J. Carew Black Midas vi. 109 Santos stopped under a mora tree. 1971Advocate-News (Barbados) 17 Sept. Guyana Suppl. p. ii/2 Boys at work in pouring rain felling giant mora and wallaba trees.
▪ V. ‖ mora5 Anglo-Indian.|ˈmɔərə|
Also morah.
[Hind. moṛha.]
A stool, foot-stool. (‘In common colloquial use’, Yule.)
c1813Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. vii. 45 She took her Bible and a mora, and went and sat in one corner of the room. 1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 98 One or two morahs, or stools. 1907B. M. Croker Company's Servant xviii. 195 Sitting..on a little ‘morah’ at her feet. 1971Illustr. Weekly India 4 Apr. 22/3, I resorted to circumlocutions..which invariably produced a mora or a chair in the little Chandni Chowk shops. |