| 释义 |
plebeian, n. and a.|pliːˈbiː(ɪ)ən, plɪˈbiːən|
Forms: 6 Sc. plebeane, 6–7 -eyan, 6–9 -ian, 7 -ean, 6– -eian.
[f. L. plēbēi-us belonging to the plebs + -an; cf. F. plébéien (14th c.) By Shakespeare sometimes stressed ˈplebean.]
A. n.
a. A member of the Plebs of ancient Rome; a Roman commoner, as opposed to the patricians, senators, and knights.
1533Bellenden Livy iv. ii. (S.T.S.) II. 57 Na plebeane will tak þe dochter of ane patriciane but hir consent. 1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 35 She was none of the Senatours wiues, but a Plebeian, as much to say as a craftes woman, and no gentlemans daughter borne. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. ix. 7 The dull Tribunes, That with the fustie Plebeans, hate thine Honors. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 29 The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found in any age or country, between the nobles and the people, is perhaps that of the Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was established in the first age of the Roman republic. 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. i. I. 8 The patricians and plebeians of Rome represent, at this early period, two races of different origin.
b. In general, A person not of noble or privileged rank, one of the common people, a commoner.
a1586Sidney Wanstead Play in Arcadia, etc. (1629) 619 Hath not the pulchritude of my vertues protected me from the contaminating hands of these Plebeians? 1611Cotgr., Roturier, a Yeoman, or Plebeyan;..any lay man that is no Gentleman. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. iv. (1691) 80 Whether the Plebeians of England (for they constitute the Bulk of any Nation) do not spend a sixth part more than the Plebeians of France? 1792Burke Let. to Sir H. Langrishe 13 The nobles have the monopoly of honour. The plebeians a monopoly of all the means of acquiring wealth. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lviii. 408 In some cantons [in Switzerland] the old families have so completely withdrawn..from public office..that it would be assumed that a politician was necessarily a plebeian.
c. fig. In various depreciatory applications.
1668H. More Div. Dial. ii. xiv. (1713) 133 If the Philosophers themselves be such fools, what are the Plebeians? 1791Cowper Iliad ii. 234 What plebeian base soe'er he heard. 1835Lytton Rienzi ii. iv, To the brave, there is but one sort of plebeian, and that is the coward.
B. adj.
a. Of or belonging to the Roman Plebs; that was a plebeian.
1566Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 15 To what purpose be the plebeian magistrates ordained? 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 51 His plebeian colleague Decius Mus..crowned a worthy life by devoting himself to death for the state in conformity with a national superstition. 1874Bancroft Footpr. Time i. 88 Rutilius, the first plebeian dictator at Rome.
b. Of low birth or rank; of or pertaining to the common people; belonging to or connected with the commons or populace; popular.
1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 301 Priuate person or plebian multitude. c1620Moryson Itin. iv. v. iii. (1903) 477 Setting vp maypooles, daunsing the morris with hobby horses,..and like Plebean sportes. 1641Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 23 The Prelates..comming from a meane, and Plebeyan Life on a sudden to be Lords of stately Palaces. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 394 The Plebean Woman walk without Doors. 1795Burke Let. to R. Burke Wks. 1842 II. 458 To cut off (perhaps) three millions of plebeian subjects..from all connexion with the popular representation of the kingdom. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. vi. 178 For the abashing of plebeian beholders.
c. Having qualities, mental or physical, attributed to the lower classes; commonplace, undistinguished; vulgar or vulgar-looking, low, ill-bred, coarse, mean, base; ignoble. Also fig.
1615Val. Welshm. (1663) B j, For to Plebean wits, it is as good, As to be silent, as not understood. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxxi. 192 That Prayers and Thanksgiving, be made in Words and Phrases, not sudden, nor light, nor Plebeian. 1676Dryden Aurengz. v. i. 2472 A Queen, and own a base Plebean Mind. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxi, An important gentleman..of rather plebeian countenance. 1853C. Brontë Villette vii, Their dress implied pretensions to the rank of gentlemen, but, poor things! they were very plebeian in soul. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. xi, There are certain patches of ground, which..Nature..has covered with hungry plebeian growths [of weeds].
Hence pleˈbeianly adv.; pleˈbeianness.
1659Gauden Serm., etc. (1660) a ij b, An age pittifully and plebeianly Antiepiscopal. 1831Examiner 809/2 Patriot Kings who walk about with umbrellas under their arms, prepared to be plebeianly rained upon, instead of royally reigning. 1840New Monthly Mag. LX. 513 While I have a voice, sir, I will uplift it against such low-bred vulgarity and plebeianness. |