| 释义 |
‖ omertà|omerˈta|
[dial. form of It. umiltà humility, with reference to the Mafia code which enjoins submission of the group to the leader as well as silence on all Mafia concerns.]
Refusal to give evidence by those concerned in the activities of the Mafia.
1909Evening Sun (N.Y.) 13 May 8/1 There is..the belief that it is unmanly to tell anything about a fellow countryman which could get him into trouble. It is called ‘Omerta’ in the Sicilian tongue, which means manliness. 1963R. I. McDavid Mencken's Amer. Lang. 720 Omertà, the very strict code of the Mafia. 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1058/4 He could call on a good many witnesses more bound to omertà than to the truth. 1965J. Wainwright Death in Sleeping City ii. vii. 129 They [sc. the Mafia] have a law... It's called the Omerta. It's an unwritten law—a code of conduct, really. 1968Listener 29 Feb. 268/3 An island [Sardinia] where omerta is stronger than democracy. 1969Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 30 Nov. 25/2 He had broken the highest law of the Mafia—omerta, or silence. 1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 222 Vendetta and omertà..are not significant until the familial, regional community is threatened by political authority. 1977Time 12 Sept. 43/1 The protection program was formally established after passage of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 to hasten the breakdown of omertà, the underworld code of silence.
Add:2. transf. An oath or code of silence, by which one seeks to protect one's associates or those to whom one feels a sense of obligation.
1978Washington Post 27 Apr. a22/2 They [sc. extreme leftists] cover the terrorists... They even serve as couriers for them... There is a certain omerta surrounding terrorism. 1987Sunday Tel. 19 July 20/4 Corruption remains a grave problem in the Met, as does a deeper form of corruption, the omertà which seals all lips. 1987Independent 17 Oct. 11/4 Public school delinquency, with its traditions of omertà. |