| 释义 |
old woman
1. a. lit. A woman advanced in years; hence, A person compared disparagingly to an old woman; a man of timid and fussy character. old woman's fable, tale, story: see old wife 1.
1388Wyclif 1 Tim. iv. 7 Eschewe thou uncouenable fablis, and elde wymmenus fablis. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 619/14 Vetulana, an old quene or an old wymman. c1449Pecock Repr. v. i. 479 Eeld wommenys fablis. 1566Painter Pal. Pleas. II. 379 The good olde woman, willing to follow hir minde, suffred hir alone. 1709Brit. Apollo II. No. 22. 2/2 People are apt to call it an Old Woman's Story. 1722De Foe Plague (1754) 24 The old Women, and the Phlegmatic Hypochondriac Part of the other Sex, whom I could almost call old Women too. 1782Cowper A Fable 21 For ravens, though, as birds of omen, They teach both conjurers and old women To tell us what is to befall. 1852C. M. Yonge Two Guardians xv. 294 What does she do but let me go muddling on with that old woman Wells! 1867Trollope Claverings I. xi. 141 Who is it says so? A parcel of old women. 1876G. M. Hopkins Let. 23 Sept. (1956) 142 The Pope, it is well known, is a very fine looking man but there are some smutty smirking old-woman presentments of him. 1880Academy 8 May 337 By old women of both sexes. 1911Chambers's Jrnl. 46/1 The new commanding officer was, however, of the genus known in the service as ‘old woman’, and the regiment suffered accordingly. 1918E. Pound Pavannes & Divisions 39 But surely the worst of your old-women are the male ones. 1953E. Simon Past Masters ii. 74 Macphail is an old wooman [sic]... He thought it his duty to let me know. 1975B. Wood Killing Gift 177 He didn't want Marvin on guard against him... ‘Give it some time, Marvin... Maybe I'm being a bit of an old woman.’
b. In slang use = wife (‘my old woman’); mother.
a1775J. Boucher Gloss. Archaic & Provinc. Words (1832–3) p. l/1, Could my old woman, whilst I labour'd thus, At night reward me with a smouch, or buss. 1834W. G. Simms Guy Rivers II. 97 The old woman, by whom we mean..to indicate the spouse of the wayfarer, and mother of the two youths, was busied about the fire. 1839C. M. Kirkland New Home xv. 96 If my old woman was to stick up that fashion, I'd keep the house so blue she couldn't see to snuff the candle. 1869Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks xxxvii. 481 The old woman is just as choice of her boys as if [etc.]. 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin xviii. 337 'Ow's Hemmeline an' Mrs Fig—yer ole woman? 1926I. M. Peacocke His Kid Brother xiv. 216 His wife{ddd}a small round dumpling of a woman with rosy cheeks, whom the policeman addressed as ‘Old woman’. 1976J. O'Connor Eleventh Commandment xi. 143 If you went home and found someone indoors with your old woman, what would you do?
c. Theatr. An actress playing the role of an old woman, esp. one who specializes in such roles. Cf. old man 1 g.
1838A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews I. 101 Mrs. Davenport,..the inimitable ‘Old Woman’ of Covent Garden Theatre, having succeeded Mrs. Webb in that line soon after this period. 1901C. Morris Life on Stage vii. 40 Then came the leading lady, the first old woman (who was sometimes the heavy woman)..and the ladies of the ballet. 1957Oxf. Compan. Theatre (ed. 2) 772/1 The Old Woman took Juliet's Nurse.
d. old woman's tooth, a simple kind of wooden router plane used by cabinet makers.
1846C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manipulation II. xxiii. 487 This plane.. is generally called ‘the old woman's tooth’. 1907E. Rowe Pract. Wood-Carving 7 The router, very similar to the tool called by the joiner an ‘old woman's tooth’, may occasionally be used. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 389 Plate 417, F, is an ‘old woman's tooth’, a router plane of French walnut, probably 16th- or 17th-century.
2. = old wife 4.
1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. vi. 46 A chimney adorned with what is called an ‘old woman’—an ingenious contrivance to prevent it from smoking.
3. Comb.: † old-woman-house, a hospital for old women: cf. old man 7. Also names of plants, as old woman's bitter, Picramnia Antidesma, and Citharexylum cinereum; old-woman's tree (Jamaica), Quiina jamaicensis (Treas. Bot. 1866).
1634Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 50 Here [Haerlem] are also five or six old-women-houses.
Hence old-ˈwomanish, old-ˈwomanly, -like adjs., resembling or characteristic of an old woman; old-ˈwomanishness, behaviour characteristic of an old woman; old-ˈwomanism, the characteristics of old women; old-ˈwomanliness, old-womanly quality; old-ˈwomanry, an old-womanish trait or practice.
1775S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. cxxxiv. (1783) IV. 227 You are chained down by an *old womanish veneration, to a set of ideas. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 661/2 The Cardinal appears to be surrounded by a tribe of fools, more idiotic, if possible, and old-womanish than himself.
1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xi. 266 An *old-womanishness that's won him the reputation of best-loved producer. 1977Listener 28 Apr. 535/2 His mother's..puritanism and old-womanishness..seemed to hover over Owen's editorial shoulder.
1828Examiner 359/2 The leaven of *old-womanism..is made up of a Highland prophecy. 1859Autobiog. of a Beggar-Boy 168 There is a species of old womanism about many of the provincial magistrates.
1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 4 (1754) 19 A great deal more of such *old-woman-like stuff.
1877Sunday Mag. 53 [Girls] go about their business with an air of *old-womanliness and selfpossession.
1834L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 114 note, Why should the bookselling trade continue to be fettered by these *old-womanly rules? 1882Macm. Mag. XLVI. 195/2 The evils caused by this old-womanly kind of legislation.
1828Scott Diary 9 Mar. in Lockhart, Trifling discussions about antiquarian *old womanries. 1892A. Lang in Longm. Mag. XIX. 687 In the same receptacle of antiquarian old-womanries. |