| 释义 |
old wife, old-wife
1. An old woman. Now usually disparaging (cf. old a. 1 c). (Formerly sometimes as one word.)
old wives' fable, old wives' story, old wives' tale, a foolish story such as is told by garrulous old women.
1340Ayenb. 219 A guod ald wyf porchaceþ more of heuene ine one-lepi oure biddinde: þanne ssolde do a þouzond knyȝtes..in lang time be hare armes. a1400Morte Arth. 986 Thane answers sir Arthere to that alde wyf. 1526Tindale 1 Tim. iv. 7 Cast awaye vngostly and olde wyves fables [1388 Wyclif, elde wymmenus fablis; 1535 Coverdale, olde wyuesh fables]. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xii. §2 (1622) 338 Countrymen doe vse to lighten their toyling; oldwiues, their spinning;..by..musicall harmonies. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) IV. 78 So simple were those Times, when a grave Sage Could with an Old-wive's-Tale instruct the Age. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 6 A solid system of old-wives storys. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 47 These are the sort of old wives' tales which he sings and recites to us.
2. A name of the Long-tailed Duck (Harelda glacialis), also called Old Squaw.
1634W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 34 The Oldwives be a foule that never leave tatling day or night, something bigger than a Ducke. 1894Newton Dict. Birds 654 Old squaw and old wife are two..names of the Long-tailed Duck.
3. A name of various fishes, esp. of the families Labridæ (wrasse), Sparidæ (sea-bream), Balistidæ (file-fish), and Clupeidæ (alewife and menhaden).
1588T. Harriot Virginia D iij, There are also..Oldwiues; Mullets; Plaice. 1602Carew Cornwall 32 Of flat [fish there are] Brets, Turbets, Dories,..Oldwife, Hake. 1655Moufet Health's Improv. xix. 184 Of Fresh-water Fish..Old wives (because of their mumping and soure countenance) are as dainty and wholesome of substance, as they are large in body. 1756P. Browne Jamaica 456 A saying..That an Old Wife is the best of fish, and worst of flesh. 1847Carpenter Zool. II. 41 Several species [of Labridæ] are found upon our own coasts..known among the fishermen by the name of ‘Old Wives of the Sea’.
4. A cap or cowl to prevent a chimney from smoking. Sc.
1887Jamieson Suppl., Auld wife..3. The cowl or cover of a chimney-can, used as an aid-vent.
Hence old-ˈwifely, old-ˈwifish adjs., resembling or characteristic of an old wife; old-ˈwifery, the habits or notions characteristic of an old wife.
1535[see quot. 1526 in 1]. c1542A. Alane Auctor. Word of God, Hethenyssh, old wiuyssh and capcyos fables. 1802D. Simpson Plea Relig. (1834) 210 note, Opposed by a large number of old-wifely bishops. 1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 177 This notion he named stuff and old-wifery. 1857J. W. Donaldson Christian Orthod. i. 7 note, 1 Tim. iv. 7: ..Deprecate the irreligious and oldwifish mythologies. |