| 释义 |
▪ I. asylum, n.|əˈsaɪləm|
Pl. asylums (also in senses 1, 2, asyla). Forms: 5–7 asilum, 7 assylum, 8 azylum, 7– asylum.
[a. L. asȳlum, a. Gr. ἄσῡλον refuge, sanctuary, neut. of adj. ἄσῡλος inviolable, f. ἀ priv. + σύλη, σῦλον right of seizure. Cf. asyle.]
1. A sanctuary or inviolable place of refuge and protection for criminals and debtors, from which they cannot be forcibly removed without sacrilege.
c1430Lydg. Bochas ii. xxviii. 65 a, A territory that called was Asile. This Asilum..Was a place of refuge and succours..For to receyue all foreyn trespassours. 1600Holland Livy i. viii. 7 Romulus..set up a sanctuarie or lawlesse church, called Asylum. 1673Cave Prim. Chr. i. vi. 145 How far those Asyla's and Sanctuaries were good and useful. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., We read of asylums at Lyons and Vienne among the ancient Gauls. 1807Robinson Archæol. Gr. iii. ii. 197 Some were asyla for all men, and others were appropriated to particular persons and crimes.
2. gen. A secure place of refuge, shelter, or retreat.
1642Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. xvi. 87 They have bin the Asylum for superstition. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 729 He fled to Oxon, the common Asylum of afflicted royalists. 1728Morgan Algiers II. v. 318 A Port, where his Ships might find an Azylum. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. II. iii. vi. 76 The monasteries were not as yet the asyla of letters.
3. abstr. Inviolable shelter; refuge, protection.
1725tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. ii. iii. 40 The Senate was oblig'd to confine the Right of Asylum to Nine Temples. 1814Byron Lara ii. viii, Beneath his roof They found asylum oft but ne'er reproof.
4. A benevolent institution affording shelter and support to some class of the afflicted, the unfortunate, or destitute; e.g. a ‘lunatic asylum,’ to which the term is sometimes popularly restricted.
1776Pennant Tour Scot. ii. 307 When the grievous distemper of the leprosy raged..our ancestors erected asyla for those poor wretches. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. vii. (1878) 115 Miss Oldcastle thought she was out of her mind, and spoke of an asylum. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight v. 56 Three hundred of these persons [victims of Egyptian Ophthalmia] were cared for in an asylum..in Paris.
▸ spec. Refuge in a nation other than one's own, esp. as a political refugee; the right to claim this, usually defined or restricted in law by the nation concerned. Cf. political asylum n. at political adj. and n. Special uses 2.
1842Southern Q. Rev. July 59 In cases where the offence was only politically violative of the peculiar ordinances of one nation..the offender would be entitled to the asylum sought. 1876Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 339 Expressions of misgiving..drove him more than once to try if it were possible to ascertain whether..our boasted right of asylum was really whisper-proof. 1940E. Wilson To Finland Station ii. x. 165 Weitling had been expelled from Paris..and, seeking asylum in Switzerland, had there been convicted of blasphemy. 1995Times 25 Sept. 12/4 Those who are holed up in detention centres in this country waiting months if not years for applications for asylum and refugee status to be resolved..have a higher moral claim..than do three million Hong Kong Chinese.
▸ asylum seeker n. a person seeking refuge, esp. political asylum, in a nation other than his or her own.
1959Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 53 990 Small and medium-sized countries most exposed geographically to the influx of *asylum-seekers must needs watch out for the slightest policy reaction of stronger powers. 1966Punch 5 Oct. 510 Iron curtain asylum-seekers. 2000Big Issue 10 Apr. 46/2 With regards to the debate around ‘economic migrants’ vs ‘genuine’ asylum seekers..a further aspect of British history should be acknowledged.
▪ II. asylum, v. rare.|əˈsaɪləm|
[f. the n.]
trans. To give protection to; to place in an asylum. Also refl.
1794J. Courtenay Pres. State Manners, Arts, & Politics of France & Italy 43 Th' assassin asylums himself in the Church, And we see him in every fine portico lurch. 1843Times 8 Mar. 5/3 Do they wish to spill blood—they have only to play a few pranks—get asylum'd a month and a day. 1866J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Fasti ii. 139 Crime thou asylum'd, crime ejecteth he. |