| 释义 |
opium, n.|ˈəʊpɪəm|
Also 6 oppium.
[a. L. opium (Pliny), a. Gr. ὄπιον ‘poppy-juice, opium’, dim. of ὀπός vegetable juice. Cf. F. opium, also opion (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. a. The inspissated juice of a species of poppy (Papaver somniferum), obtained from the unripe capsules by incision and spontaneous evaporation, worked into cakes, balls, or sticks, of a reddish-brown colour, heavy smell, and bitter taste; valuable as a sedative and narcotic drug, and much used as a stimulant and intoxicant, esp. in the East.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxviii. (1495) 687 Of popy comyth iuys that physycyens callyth Opium other Opion. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 41 It is not yuel to putte a litil opium [v.r. opin] to þe oile of þe rosis. 1525tr. Jerome of Brunswick's Surg. F iiij a/2 Whan the payne is grete, then it is nedefull to put therto a lytell Opium. 1551Turner Herbal i. E ij, Agaynste the poyson of the iuice of poppye, called oppium. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 66 The Turkes are also incredible takers of Opium. 1751H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 397 Lady Stafford used to say to her sister, ‘Well, child, I have come without my wit to-day’; that is, she had not taken her opium. 1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 268 Opium yields at an average about 1/16th of its weight of pure morphina. 1875H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 221 Death occurs from opium, in the great majority of cases, by failure of the respiration.
b. fig. Applied to any stupefying agent or agency. Freq. referring to religion, esp. in phr. the opium of the people (see quot. 1844); also in transf. and allusive uses.
1608T. Morton Preamb. Encounter 33 Stupified with that Opium of implicit faith and blinde deuotion. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. v. 43 There is no antidote against the Opium of time. 1742H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. lviii. 225 Whist has spread an universal opium over the whole nation. [1840Heine Ludwig Börne iv. 287 Für Menschen, denen die Erde nichts mehr bietet, ward der Himmel erfunden... Heil dieser Erfindung! Heil einer Religion, die dem leidenden Menschengeschlecht in den bittern Kelch einige süsse, einschläfernde Tropfen goss, geistiges Opium. 1844Marx ‘Zur Kritik der Hegel'schen Rechts-Philosophie’ in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher Feb. 72 Die Religion ist der Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur, das Gemüth einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der Geist geistloser Zustände ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volks.] 1848Politics for People 27 May 58 We have used the Bible as if it was a mere special constable's handbook—an opium-dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they were being overloaded—a mere book to keep the poor in order. 1860Geo. Eliot Let. 26 Dec. in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1885) II. xi. 283, I have faith in the working out of higher possibilities than the Catholic or any other Church has presented... The ‘highest calling and election’ is to do without opium, and live through all our pain with conscious, clear-eyed endurance. 1881T. S. Egan tr. Heine's Ludwig Börne iv. 169 For these people, to whom this world had nothing more to offer, Heaven was invented... Hail to this invention! Hail to that religion which could pour a few sweet soporific drops into the bitter cup of the suffering human race, spiritual opium. 1926H. J. Stenning tr. Marx's Selected Ess. 12 Religion is the moan of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people. 1939G. B. Shaw Geneva i. 28 Karl Marx—Antichrist—said that the sweet and ennobling consolations of our faith are opium given to the poor to enable them to endure the hardships of that state of life to which it has pleased God to call them. 1951N. Annan Leslie Stephen vii. 201 Kingsley might protest that religion was being used as opium for the people. 1957tr. M. de Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno 39 One of those leaders of what they call the social revolution has said that religion is the opium of the people. Opium{ddd} opium{ddd}opium, yes. Let us give them opium and let them sleep and dream. 1968Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 13 Dec. 43/4 Drink, in other words, is becoming the opium of the people. 1971G. Steiner In Bluebeard's Castle iv. 93 A good deal of classical music is, today, the opium of the good citizen. 1974Times Lit. Suppl. 28 June 692/5 A revue like Here is the News only shows politics becoming the opium of the people.
2.
†a. [tr. L. opium.] A vegetable juice in general. Obs. rare.
b. [transf. from 1.] A juice resembling opium in composition or properties (in quot. lactucarium or lactucin). rare.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1140 And in is kest This opium Quirinaik (the Greek So nameth hit)..In water first this opium relent, Of sape vntil hit ha similitude. 1815Sporting Mag. XLVI. 63 A valuable paper on the opium obtained from the inspissated white juice [of the lettuce].
3. attrib. and Comb.
a. attrib. in fig. sense: Soporific, stupefying, producing drowsiness. rare.
1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 91 Nothing..is so irkesome to me, as to heare their cold Opium Sermons. 1797–1803Foster in Life & Corr. (1846) I. 196 There is an opium sky stretched over all the world, which continually rains soporifics.
b. General Combs.: attrib., as opium cellar, opium cigarette, opium haul, opium house, opium lamp, opium liniment, opium-pipe, opium plaster, opium shop, opium war; obj. and obj. gen., as opium addict, opium-dealer, opium-drinker, opium-drinking, opium-eater, opium-eating, opium-smoker, opium-smoking, opium-smuggler, opium-taker, opium-taking; instrumental, as opium-drowsed adj., opium-fumed adj., opium-poisoning, opium-shattered adj.c. Special Combs.: opium den, a public room, of low or mean character, kept as a resort of opium-smokers; opium dream, a dream during an opium-induced sleep; also in extended use; opium habit, the habit of eating or smoking opium as a stimulant or intoxicant; opium joint (U.S.), a place illegally kept for opium-smoking (see joint n. 14); opium plant, opium poppy, the white poppy, Papaver somniferum; opium-smoke v. trans. (nonce-wd.), to bring by opium-smoking (into some condition); opium war, a war waged by Britain against China (1839–42) following China's attempt to prohibit the importation of opium into China; also, a later war (1856–60) against China by Britain and France.
1974Times 2 Dec. 8/7 Charles was a charming *opium addict and rural clergyman.
1911O. Onions Widdershins 278 He took me into an *opium-cellar within a stone's throw of Oxford Street.
1920*Opium cigarette [see heroin].
1841J. Sturge Let. 30 Sept. in Visit to U.S. in 1841 (1842) p. lxiv, Waging a murderous war to compel them to make restitution to the contraband *opium dealers. 1977‘J. Le Carré’ Hon. Schoolboy xviii. 451 By afternoon he was airborne, and..chatting merrily to a couple of friendly opium dealers.
1882J. D. McCabe New York 590 Here are the headquarters of the Mongolians, their..*opium dens. 1897Daily News 1 Nov. 6/5 Mr. Ganthony's opium den ruffian and Mr. Blinn's doctor are noteworthy instances. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 25 Mar. 6/4 Lee Fong was charged in the City Police Court yesterday with being the keeper of an opium den at 536 Cormorant Street; and also with being in unlawful possession of opium. 1969Opium-den [see Chinatown].
1821Byron Juan iv. xix. 201 This is in others a fictitious state, An *opium dream of too much youth and reading. 1922W. S. Maugham Writer's Notebk. (1949) 202 Singapore: Opium Dream. I saw a road lined on each side with tall poplars. 1974J. Philips Power Killers (1975) i. ii. 18 What about his theory? It sounds like an opium dream. 1975Listener 11 Sept. 343/2 Who Am I Now?, a fantasy based..on the opium dreams of George Crabbe.
1804W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 484 Poor Burnett! Rickman writes me word he is turned *opium-drinker.
1883Harper's Mag. Nov. 961/2 The..husband of an *opium-drinking wife.
1895Daily News 27 Sept. 6/5 The *opium-drowsed and terror-stricken Dr. Marshall.
1821De Quincey (title) Confessions of an English *Opium-Eater. Ibid. (1822) 125 From this date [1813] the reader is to consider me as a regular and confirmed opium-eater.
1974Evening News 27 June 1/7 (headline) {pstlg}250,000 *opium haul.
1888Kipling Plain Tales from Hills 233 It was a pukka, respectable *opium-house, and not one of those stifling, sweltering chardoo-khanas. 1966‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive vi. 54 The opium house at the Phra Chao.
1882H. H. Kane Opium-Smoking 5 The principal places, known as ‘*opium joints’, are in Mott, Pell, and Park streets. 1884New York paper, Twenty-two males and four females were captured in an opium joint on Crosby street, New York, on Saturday night. 1897Howells Landlord at Lion's Head 85 Secret visits to the Chinese opium-joints in Kingston Street. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 4 July 6/2 Charged with being inmates of an opium joint in Theatre Alley, Lee and Jim, Chinese, were each fined $15.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 885 Engaged in rolling and heating in their *opium-lamps treacly pellets of opium.
1890Kipling City Dreadf. Nt. (1891) vi. 40 The lamp for the *opium-pipe is the only one in the room. 1976M. Butterworth Festival! i. 12 A crude photo print of a naked youth..carrying an opium pipe.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 402 note, The myosis of *opium-poisoning..appears, according to Dr. Ogle never to have been definitely referred to till 1818.
1863*Opium poppy [see poppy n. 3]. 1880Bentley & Trimen Medicinal Plants I. 18 It cannot be said that the opium poppy is known anywhere in a thoroughly wild condition. 1921A. Huxley Crome Yellow xxii. 247 They passed a bed of opium poppies, dispetaled now. 1931M. Grieve Mod. Herbal II. 651 The Opium Poppy..is indigenous to Asia Minor, and is cultivated largely in European and Asiatic Turkey, Persia, India and China for the production of Opium. 1975Times 31 May 5/3 (caption) Peasant women tilling an opium poppy field in Turkey.
1849De Quincey Eng. Mail Coach Wks. 1897 XIII. 313 My frail *opium-shattered self.
1841–4Emerson Ess., Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 98 The pitiful drivellers..at evening, when the bazaars are open, slink to the *opium-shop.
1870Dickens E. Drood i, The woman has *opium-smoked herself into a strange likeness of the Chinaman.
1860H. Greeley Overland Journey 259 [The Chinaman] is..an *opium-smoker. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 Apr. 6/4 The magistrate said that the accused had admitted ownership of the opium smoking paraphernalia, and to being an opium smoker himself. 1971Listener 11 Nov. 644/1 A large existing market of opium-smokers.
1840H. Malcom Trav. 43/1 Another disciple, who has now fallen into the deadly habit of *opium-smoking. 1938N. Marsh Artists in Crime (U.S.) xiii. 202 Fox had found Malmsley's opium-smoking impedimenta. 1976Times 4 Sept. 7/4 What are the pros and cons of opium smoking?
1841J. Sturge Let. 30 Sept. in Visit to U.S. in 1841 (1842) p. lxii, To take under his protection one of the most extensive *opium smugglers. 1966J. Cleary High Commissioner iii. 50 The Chinese opium smugglers he had met before he had gone on to the Murder Squad. 1975M. Stern in L. M. Alcott Behind Mask p. xxi, William Henry Thomes..had sailed aboard an opium smuggler that plied between China and California, and was himself a mine of suggestions for authors whose thrilling romances he would publish.
1792D. Stewart Philos. Hum. Mind i. v. i. v. (1853) 181 Account of the *Opium-takers at Constantinople.
1821De Quincey Confess. (1822) ii. 90 The whole art and mystery of *opium-taking. 1836H. C. Robinson Diary 29 Aug. (1967) 161 A letter written by Coleridge..in which he gives an account of his sad habit of opium-taking. 1892Dict. Nat. Biog. XXIX. 18/1 He..fell a victim to opium-taking.
1840H. Malcom Trav. 50/1 No person can describe the horrors of the *opium trade.
1841J. Sturge Let. 30 Sept. in Visit to U.S. in 1841 (1842) p. lxi, *Opium War with China. 1917Encycl. Sinica 406/1 The action which forced the foreign merchants at Canton to deliver up their stocks of opium, which was destroyed by the Commissioner, and the subsequent events which led to war with Great Britain. This has been called the ‘Opium War’. 1969V. G. Kiernan Lords of Human Kind v. 148 The West resorted to force, and the Opium Wars of 1840–42 and 1856–60..inducted China into..the comity of nations. 1974Listener 8 Aug. 175/1 The Opium War totally destroyed Chinese confidence.
Hence ˈopium v. trans., to treat with opium; ˈopiumate, one addicted to the use of opium; ˈopiumist, a person in favour of opium (opp. to anti-opiumist); so ˈopiumite; ˈopiumy a., containing or resembling opium; ˈopiumless a.
1825Hone Every-day Bk. 3 July I. 900 The bitten person, unless opiumed to death,..will..die in unspeakable agony. 1894Westm. Gaz. 23 July 3/2 The opiumate, if accused of the habit, usually pleads guilty. 1893Ibid. 29 June 1/3 The Anti-Opium Crusade. Fad or Fact?—By an Opiumist. 1891M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. xv. 196 Poppies, from whose sleepy heads an opiumy oil is made. |