| 释义 |
April|ˈeɪprɪl|
Forms: α. 3–4 averil, 4–5 averel, -ylle, avyryle. β. 4–5 aprille, -yll, apprile, -ille, 5 apryle, -el, 6 -elle, -ill, 7– April.
[a. OF. avrill (11th c. in Littré), cogn. w. Sp. Pr. abril, It. aprile:—L. aprīlis (sc. mensis). Soon refashioned after L. with initial apr-: at first accented aˈpril(e, as still in many of the dialects. Averil long remained in Sc.]
1. a. The fourth month of the year.
[1140O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) Þat was xiii k'Ap'l.] 1297R. Glouc. 506 In the monthe of Aueril. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 269 In a drye apprile [v.r. auerel]. 1386Chaucer Prol. 1 Aprille [v.r. Apprille, Auerylle] with hise schoures swote. 1440Promp. Parv., Apryle monythe [v.r. Aprel]. c1450Lonelich Grail xli. 215 Þe mone schon..Al so bryght as in Averylle. 1555Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 95 The vij. day of Aprelle. 1712Steele Spect. No. 432 ⁋12 The Present I received the second of April. 1864Tennyson Tithonus 60 Half-opening buds of April.
b. attrib. quasi-adj., as in April day, April green, April sky.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Apr. 7 Like April shoure, so stremes the trickling teares. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. i. iii. 85 The vncertaine glory of an Aprill day. 1833Tennyson Poems 45 Tremulous eyes, like April skies. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 292 A garden April-green. 1870Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 307 When April-tide was melting into May. 1912W. de la Mare Listeners 42 Under the April-grey calm waste of the skies. 1917T. S. Eliot Prufrock 20 These April sunsets, that somehow recall My buried life. 1940Blunden Poems 1930–1940 252 Bright-tressed, ready-smiling, April-eyed. 1953E. Sitwell Gardens & Astronomers 37 Upon your wood-wild April-soft long hair.
2. fig.
a. In reference to the position of April as the first month of Spring.
b. In reference to the changeable weather, the sudden showers and sunshine of the month. Also attrib.
1596B. Griffin Fidessa (1876) 35 The Aprill of my time, The sweet of youth. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. ii. 43 The Aprill's in her eyes, it is Loue's spring. 1713C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 261 But April-drops our Tears, Which swiftly passing, all grows fair. 1835Lytton Rienzi ix. ii. 375 The bloom, the flush, the April of the heart, was gone. 1844Welby Poems (1867) 22 She's like myself An April-hearted thing. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xl, And hopes and light regrets that come Make April of her tender eyes.
3. Comb., as † April-esquire, ? a new-made squire; April-fool, one who is sent on a bootless errand, or otherwise sportively imposed upon, on the first of April; hence April-fool-day: now commonly April Fool's Day; also April-fool v., April-fooling vbl. n.; † April-gentleman, a newly-married husband; April-gowk (i.e. cuckoo), northern equivalent of April-fool.
1592Greene Upst. Courtier in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 247 Two pert april esquires; the one had a murrey cloth gowne on. 1687Congreve Old Bachel. i. iv, That's one of Love's April-fools, is always upon some errand that's to no purpose. c1830Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) IV. 518 It will be difficult to make April-fools of a whole people that can read and write. 1832Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. V. 260 Let the foolish April-fool-day pass by. 1863H. A. London in Amer. Speech (1951) XXVI. 181/1, [I] April fooled some fellows. 1903Encycl. Brit. XXXV. 45/2 April Fool's Day. 1919E. H. Jones Road to En-dor (ed. 2, 1920) xviii. 185 We set out..in true April-fooling spirit. Ibid. 186 The old British custom of April-fooling. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier (1871) 1 That time when the cuckold's chorister began to bewray April Gentlemen with his never changed notes. 1777Brand Pop. Antiq. 400 We in the North call Persons who are thus deceived, April-Gowks. |