| 释义 |
▪ I. assassin|əˈsæsɪn|
Also 7 assassine, -asin(e, -acine.
[a. F. assassin, or ad. It. assassino: cf. also Pr. assassin, Pg. assassino, Sp. asesino, med.L. assassīnus (OF. forms were assacin, asescin, asisim, hasisin, hassissin, haussasin, etc.; med.L. (pl.) assessini, ascisini, etc.), ad. Arab. ḥashshāshīn and ḥashīshiyyīn, pl. of ḥashshāsh and ḥashīshiyy, lit. ‘a hashish-eater, one addicted to hashish,’ both forms being applied in Arabic to the Ismāﻋīli sectarians, who used to intoxicate themselves with hashish or hemp, when preparing to dispatch some king or public man. The OF. variants, (pl.) assacis, hassisis, haississis, med.L. assasi, haussasi, med.Gr. χασίσιοι, point to the Arabic singular, but the form finally established in the European languages arises from the Arab. plural, as in Bedouin; cf. also It. cherubino, serafino, F. and earlier Eng. cherubin, seraphin (sing.). Naturally the plural was first in use, in the historical sense, and occurred in Eng. in the Lat. or It. form before assassin was naturalized: the latter was still accented ˈassassin by Oldham in 1679.]
1. lit. A hashish-eater. Hist. (in pl.) Certain Muslim fanatics in the time of the Crusades, who were sent forth by their sheikh, the ‘Old Man of the Mountains,’ to murder the Christian leaders.
[c1237R. Wendover Flores Hist. (1841) II. ii. 246 Hos tam Saraceni quam Christiani Assisinos appellant.] 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 120 This messenger..was..one of the Assasines, a company of most desperat and dangerous men among the Mahometans. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. x. 5 That bloudy Sect of Sarazens, called Assassini, who, without feare of torments, vndertake..the murther of any eminent Prince, impugning their irreligion. c1860J. Wolff, The assassins, who are otherwise called the People of the Man of the Mountain, before they attacked an enemy, would intoxicate themselves with a powder made of hemp-leaves, out of which they prepared an inebriating electuary, called hashish.
2. Hence: One who undertakes to put another to death by treacherous violence. The term retains so much of its original application as to be used chiefly of the murderer of a public personage, who is generally hired or devoted to the deed, and aims purely at the death of his victim.
[a1259M. Paris Angl. Hist. Maj. (1589) 459 Qui tandem confessus est, se missum illuc, vt Regem more assessinorum occideret, à VVillielmo de Marisco.] 1531Dial. Laws Eng. ii. xli. (1638) 133 Hee is an Ascisinus [printed Ascismus] that will slay men for money at the instance of every man that will move him to it, and such a man may lawfully be slaine..by every private person. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. iii. i. iii, Men of all others fit to be assassins. 1679Oldham Sat. Jesuits (1686) 7 Think on that matchless Assassin, whose name We with just pride can make our happy claim. 1702Rowe Tamerlane iii. i. 1330 When bold Assassines take thy Name upon 'em. 1778Wolcott (P. Pindar) To Reviewers Wks. 1812 I. 5 That stabbed like brave assassins in the dark. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xxi. 668 Barclay's assassins were hunted like wolves by the whole population.
3. fig. or transf.
1736Thomson Liberty v. 385 The hir'd assassins of the Commonweal. 1824Dibdin Libr. Comp. 744 Lord Byron was the assassin of his own fame.
4. attrib. and in comb., as assassin-like; assassin bug, a predaceous insect of the family Reduviidæ.
1895J. H. & A. B. Comstock Man. Stud. Insects xiv. 137 Family Reduviidæ..There are many bugs which destroy their fellows, but the members of this family are so pre-eminently predaceous that we call them the Assassin-bugs. 1937Discovery Dec. 368/2 A..cheerful brute occurs in North America, where it is known as the ‘big bed bug’ and the assassin bug.
1667Milton P.L. xi. 219 Who, to surprize One man, Assassin-like, had levied Warr, Warr unproclam'd.
a1846B. R. Haydon Autobiogr. (1927) vii. 104 On this principle I have acted in not making the assassins so assassin-like as perhaps they were.
1847Disraeli Tancred iv. ix. (1871) 305 He caught in his hand the assassin spear.
▪ II. † aˈssassin(e, v. Obs.
[a. F. assassine-r (16th c.), f. assassin: see prec.]
To assassinate.
1670Milton Hist. Eng. Wks. 1738 II. 60 Cuichelm..sent privily Eumerus a hir'd Sword-man to assassin him. 1680Spir. Popery 67 Mr. Mitchel..when he attempted to Assassin the Lord Primate. 1788Cowper Mrs. Throckm. Bullfinch i, Assassin'd by a thief.
b. fig.
1647Wharton Irel. War Wks. 1683, 263 Attempt to Assassine the Honour of a whole Nation with his Invectives. 1675Howe Living Temp. Wks. 1834, 42/1 To assassine his own intellectual faculty. |