| 释义 |
postern, n. (a.)|ˈpəʊstən, ˈpɒ-|
Also 4 postorne, 5–6 postrene, -rem, 6 -ron, -rum, -rome.
[ME. a. OF. posterne (Rom. de Rose 1160–76; mod.F. poterne), altered from OF. posterle:—late L. posterula a back way (Ammianus a 400), a small back door or gate (S. Cassian a 450), in med.L. posterla, posterna (Du Cange), dim. of poster-us that is behind.]
1. A back door; a private door; any door or gate distinct from the main entrance; a side way.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 196/98 Þe Duyk..a-scapede a-wey bi one posterne stille liche. 13..K. Alis. 4593 (Bodl. MS.) Darrie þerwhiles stale away By a Posterne [v.r. postorne] a pryue way. c1440Generydes 2559 Ther was A postrene yssuyng owt of the Citee. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 1350 Closed at euery ende with a sure postron. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 524 At ane postrum, quhairof rycht few tuke cuir, The kingis cors rycht quyetlie tha buir. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 17 It is as hard to come, as for a Camell To thred the posterne of a Needles eye. 1600Fairfax Tasso ii. xxix, And in that window made a postren wide. a1654Selden Table-T. (Arb.) 35 The other Doors were but Posterns. 1828J. Elmes Metrop. Improv. 21 The gate..is in 3 divisions, a carriage way and 2 posterns for foot⁓passengers divided by stone piers. 1874Green Short Hist. ii. §7. 98 She escaped in white robes by a postern.
b. Fortif. (See quots.)
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Postern, in Fortification, is a false Door usually made in the Angle of the Flank, and of the Curtain, or near the Orillon for private Sallies. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 138/2 When such a tunnel serves as the means of access to the ditch and outworks, it is called a postern.
2. fig.
a. A way of escape or of refuge.
b. An entrance other than the usual and honourable one: cf. back-door 2.
c. An obscure passage.
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 661/1 Nowe hee began with Iesus Christe, to the ende that he might be a posterne for vs all. a1618Raleigh Prerog. Parl. (1628) 29 For this Maxime hath no posterne, Potestas humana radicatur voluntatibus hominum. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxv. 229 Others..not going through the porch of humane Arts, but entring into Divinity at the postern, have made good Preachers. 1672Sir T. Browne Let. Friend §40 So closely shut up..as not to find some escape by a postern of resipiscency. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 224 Thro' the dark Postern of Time long elaps'd, Led softly, by the Stillness of the Night. 1831Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1852) 427 Does dispensation afford a postern of escape?
†3. The latter or hinder part. Obs. rare.
1611B. Jonson in Coryat Crudities Title-p., Then in the Posterne of them looke, and thou shalt find the Posthume Poems of the Authors Father. 1616― Devil an Ass v. vi, Cast care at thy posternes; and firke i' thy fetters.
B. attrib. or as adj. Placed at the back; private, side, inferior, esp. in postern door or postern gate; also fig.
c1350Will. Palerne 2166 But passeden out priueli at þe posterne gate. c1400Gamelyn 590 At a posterne gate Gamelyn out went. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 130 A posternne doore on the backsyde into the gardyne. a1600Hooker Eccl. Pol. vi. v. §9 By this postern-gate cometh in the whole mart of papal indulgences. 1683Cave Ecclesiastici 92 The Bowels, and all the Intestina..issued out of the Postern passage. 1720Strype Stow's Surv. (1754) I. i. iv. 15/2 Just South, going down divers stone Steps, is the excellent Postern Spring, with an iron Bowl and Chain fastened to catch the Water. 1813Scott Rokeby v. xxix, Wilfrid half led, and half he bore, Matilda to the postern door. 1873Hale In His Name ix. 78 Whom he had met so unexpectedly by the postern gate of the abbey. 1886Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 283 A large gateway-arch flanked by a postern-arch.
b. fig. = ‘back-door’ attrib.
1647J. B[irkenhead] Assembly-Man (1662) 6 Yet these inferiour postern Teachers have intoxicated England. 1648Herrick Hesper., To Weare, A Postern-bribe tooke, or a Forked Fee. |