| 释义 |
Napoleon|nəˈpəʊlɪən|
Also with lower-case initial.
[a. F. napoléon, f. the Christian name of certain Emperors of the French, esp. Napoleon I (1769–1821).]
1. A gold coin issued by Napoleon I, of the value of twenty francs; a twenty-franc piece. double napoleon, a forty-franc piece.
1814Shelley in Dowden Life (1886) I. 445, I sold my watch, chain, etc., which brought eight napoleons, five francs. 1815Ann. Reg., Chron. 104 The French generals and children gave him a double Napoleon each. 1823Byron Juan xv. vii, Bright as a new Napoleon from its mintage. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 251 The little gems of picture cost a napoleon each.
2. A particular make of long boot. Also attrib.
1860All Year Round No. 64. 331 A very excellent dress for mounted soldiers, is the ordinary hunting ‘Napoleon’ boot, pulled over trousers [etc.]. 1860G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. (1861) 58 They..caused one of his intimate friends who particularly piqued himself on ‘boots’, to..relapse into ‘Napoleons’ in disgust.
3. U.S. A particular kind of cannon.
1863Life Stonewall Jackson 120 Pelham was sent forward with two guns, a Blakely and a Napoleon. 1880Harper's Mag. May 917/1 The artillery is almost entirely the old brass Napoleon. 1897Outing XXX. 80/1 These gun companies were each supplied with one 12-pounder Napoleon gun and one Gatling gun.
4. a. A card-game. See nap n.5 2 a.
1876‘Capt. Crawley’ Card Player's Man. 242 If..he declare five..he is said to go the Napoleon, whether he win or lose. 1887All Year Round 5 Feb. 68 Euchre, finding its way back to Paris, was simplified..into Napoleon.
b. = nap n.5 2 c.
1895Starting Price 23 Mar. 1/1 With runious ‘all day wires’ and extortionately priced ‘Napoleons’ we will have nothing to do.
5. One resembling Napoleon I, esp. in having gained supremacy in his own sphere through ruthless ambition. Also transf.
1821Shelley Let. 25 Sept. (1964) II. 353 He was a little Napoleon..with a dukedom instead of an empire for his theatre. 1866J. Blackwood Let. 2 Aug. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) IV. 293 He is a Napoleon in his Trade is Truefitt. 1879R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 144, I had travelled hitherto through a dull district, and in the track of nothing more notable than the child-eating Beast of Gévaudan, the Napoleon Buonaparte of wolves. 1894A. Conan Doyle Mem. Sherlock Holmes 260 He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. 1907I. Zangwill Ghetto Comedies 353 This, then, was the notorious multi-millionaire, ‘the Napoleon in dollars’. 1932Q. D. Leavis Fiction & Reading Public 312 Northcliffe, being the Napoleon of the Press, naturally disliked having to play second fiddle to the advertiser. 1939T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Pract. Cats 35 The Cat who all the time Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime! 1969N.Y. Rev. Bks. 18 Dec. 33/2 We had Napoleons of finance, Napoleons of industry, Napoleons of the betting ring. 1973‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog vi. 79 ‘Royston,’ said Colly. ‘What kind of a name is that for a Napoleon of crime?’ 1975Times 2 June 10 A Time Profile—General Vo Nguyen Giap—Communist Napoleon who conquered South Vietnam.
6. A type of rich cake made from layers of puff pastry filled with cream, custard, or jam. Also attrib.
1892Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 246/1 Napoleon Cake. Lay in a Napoleon-cake pan..a layer of puff paste, spread over that a layer of pastry cream, cover with puff paste, glaze the top with sugar, and bake. 1896E. Turner Little Larrikin xxviii. 342 In the centre were five white-iced Napoleons, ornamented with devices cut from silver tea-paper, this being the nearest the funds would stretch to wedding-cake. 1956E. Starkie Diary Sept. in J. Richardson Enid Starkie (1973) xxviii. 204 There was..every kind of cake, biscuit and sweet—the most succulent cake was called Napoleon! 1961J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) xxiv. 249 Prune and cheese Danish from Copenhagen, éclairs, cream puffs, Napoleons and petits fours from Paris, Reims and Grenoble, [etc.]. 1968A. Binkley What shall I Cry? 139 ‘You got more of those cakes?’.. Lenni handed him a box in which one napoleon remained. 1969W. S. Kuniczak Sempinski Affair (1970) vii. 69, I..felt my resolve melting like the Napoleon pastries on my plate. 1975C. Nesbitt Little Love & Good Company xvi. 201 A plate of luscious Napoleons oozing thick whipped-cream.
7. Used attrib. and absol. of brandy of supposed great age or special merit.
1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel ii. 207 They were sitting over Napoleon brandy in big bowlshaped glasses and cigars. 1967C. Churchill World of Wines x. 208 ‘Napoleon Brandy’ ranks high among some of the more transparent promotional myths of the industry. 1967A. Lichine Encycl. Wines 214/2 The worst deception in Cognac brandies is the fraud and fakery connected with alleged ‘Napoleon’ brandy—but a distinction must be made between brandies pretending to derive from Napoleon's time, and the Napoleon style. 1968C. Forsyte Murder with Minarets vii. 42 They sat over their Napoleon after dinner. 1968T. Parker People of Streets 48 Could I have a glass of Napoleon brandy please? 1975D. Beaty Electric Train 147 Liqueurs—two Napoleon brandies. Warm on her stomach.
Hence also Napoleˈonic a., pertaining or relating to, connected with, characteristic of, Napoleon; Napoleˈonically adv., after the manner of Napoleon; Naˈpoleonism, (a) the methods of government practised by Napoleon; spec. the assumption of absolute control over subject peoples or countries; (b) attachment to the policy or dynasty of the Napoleons; (c) conduct or behaviour resembling that of Napoleon; Naˈpoleonist, n. an adherent of Napoleon or the Napoleonic dynasty; a. pertaining or attached to Napoleon; Napoleoˈnistic a., Napoleonic; Naˈpoleonize v., to govern in the style of Napoleon.
1863Dicey Federal St. II. 23 With that affectation of the *Napoleonic style he was so partial to. 1886Swinburne Misc. 122 Tyrants of a type devoid even of Napoleonic pretention to glory.
1865Sala in Reader 337/2 A moustache quite *Napoleonically spiked. 1892National Observer 10 Dec. 80/2 His methods were Napoleonically simple.
1831Arnold Let. in Stanley Life (1844) I. 266 To strangle in the birth the first symptoms of *Napoleonism. 1865Sat. Rev. 14 Jan. 35/2 Napoleonism will be..at least an intermittent fever with the French. 1966New Statesman 28 Oct. 828/1 The military life had the advantage of absorbing what could easily have been insidious at this stage: the premature dream of glory, the stupefying effects of youthful Napoleonism. 1969Sunday Times 6 Apr. 27 Personal incompatibility..and the traditional Latin American leader's custom of renouncing ultimate power as soon as he had won it (for fear of accusations of ‘Napoleonism’), were less significant than the internal political and social divisions. 1970Guardian Weekly 6 June 2 Without our nation standing up against Russia's modern day mad dog Napoleonism Europe itself would not remain independent through the 1970s.
1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc. 805/2 The unparalleled flatteries of the *Napoleonists. 1861M. Arnold Educ. France 36 Disliked as a Napoleonist creation by the Bourbons.
1877M. M. Grant Sun Maid ii, His features were of the type *Napoleonistic.
1822Examiner 355/1 France must again be *Napoleonized, that is to say, made once more essentially military. 1877Owen Wellesley's Desp. p. xxii, The complex..antagonism of England and revolutionary and Napoleonized France. |