| 释义 |
bachelor|ˈbætʃələ(r)|
Forms: 3–6 bacheler, 3–7 -iler, 4–5 -ilere, -iller, -illier, bachler(e, -elere, 5– -ylere, baculere, 5–6 bachelar, 6 batchellour, -elar, bacchelaure, 6–7 batcheler, -ellor, -eller, batchler, 7 bachelaur, -elour, 7–8 batchelour, 8 bachellour, 5– bachelor.
[a. OF. bacheler = Pr. bacalar, It. baccalare:—L. type *baccalāris, of doubtful origin. The later F. bachelier is corrupted in the termination, as is the 16th c. Eng. bachelour, bachelor: cf. ancestor n., and see -or. The original meaning being uncertain, the sense-development is also doubtful.
Of med.L. baccalāris only a few late instances occur (in sense 1), which might be from the mod. langs. (see Du Cange, Bacularis). It was, however, prob. connected with baccalāria, a division of land, of which the size and nature varied at different times, and with the adjectives baccalarius, -aria, applied in 8th c. to rustics male and female who worked for the colonus or tenant of a mansus. (See Deloche, Cartulaire de Beaulieu Introd. éclairc. xxii.) But the precise relation of *baccalāris to these words, and its subsequent history are still uncertain. Still more doubtful is its derivation: baccalaria is with some probability referred to bacca, late L. and Romanic for vacca cow, through *baccālis (cf. ovīlis from ovis sheep), in which case it might be ‘grazing farm,’ and baccalarius one employed on it, the assistant of a colonus who had not a mansus of his own; Littré (without accounting for the sense) suggests Celtic bachall stick (a. L. baculus); the Welsh bach ‘little’ must be definitely discarded, its old Celtic form being bicc- or becc-, Irish becc. (Thurneysen.)]
1. a. A young knight, not old enough, or having too few vassals, to display his own banner, and who therefore followed the banner of another; a novice in arms. [On this sense was founded the conjectural etymology of bas chevalier.]
1297R. Glouc. 453 Syre ȝong bacheler..þow art strong & corageus. a1300Cursor M. 8541 He was a borli bachelere, In al þat werld had he na pere. c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 16 Yong, fressh, strong, and in Armes desirous, As any Bacheler [v.r. bachiler(e, -elere, -illier] of al his hous. 1415Pol. Poems (1859) II. 125 Passe we all now in fere, duke, erle, and bachelere. c1500Partenay 1925 This knight is A worthi baculere. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. i. cclxiv. 390 Let sir Johan Chandos do his by himselfe, sythe he is but a bacheler. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 195 Vavassors who obtained knighthood were commonly styled bachelors.
b. Hence, Knight Bachelor, a knight of the lowest but most ancient order; the full title of a gentleman who has been knighted (without belonging to any one of the specially named ‘orders’).
1609tr. Sir T. Smith's Commw. Eng. 25 He [a banneret] being before a batcheler knight, is now of a higher degree. 1614Selden Titles Hon. 336 These Knights..were anciently call'd Baccalaurei, or Bachelors. 1809Tomlins Law Dict., Knight-bachelor a simple knight, and not knight-banneret, or knight of the bath. 1883Whitaker's Alm. 108 Knights Bachelors: a list of those Gentlemen [in number 278] who have received the honour of knighthood.
†2. A junior or inferior member, or ‘yeoman,’ of a trade-guild, or City Company. Obs.
(In London, their position and functions seem to have varied at different times, and in different Companies; in later times Bachelors were appointed only for ceremonial occasions, chiefly when one of the Company was chosen Lord Mayor, their duty being ‘to serve in foynes and budge’ on Lord Mayor's Day. So in Bye Laws of Grocers' Company of 1711.)
[1390Archives of Grocers' Comp. 76 Eslieuxz Mesteres dez Grocers Roberd Peper et Herri Hatton Bacheleres.] 1427in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 5 Diuerse persones ikallyd Bacheleris. 1533Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 18 A barge also of Batchlers of the Majors crafte. 1691Blount Law Dict. s.v., Every Company of the Twelve, consists of a Master, two Wardens, the Livery, (which are Assistants in Matters of Council, or at the least, such as the Assistants are chosen out of) and the Bachelors, who are yet but in expectance of Dignity among them, and have their Function only in attendance upon the Master and Wardens. 1809Tomlins Law Dict. s.v., The bachelors, in other companies called the yeomanry.
3. a. One who has taken the first or lowest degree at a university, who is not yet a master of the Arts. (In this use, a woman may now be Bachelor of Arts, etc.)[In this sense, latinized as baccalarius, subsequently altered by a pun or word-play to baccalaureus as if connected with bacca lauri laurel berry, which has sometimes been gravely given as the ‘etymology.’] 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 90, I sauh þer Bisschops Bolde and Bachilers of diuyn. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 398 His felawe..was that tyme a Bacheler of lawe. 1577Harrison England i. ii. iii. 79 They ascend higher unto the estate of batchelers of art after foure yeares. 1614Selden Titles Hon. 55 Dominus is now familiar for Sir to euery Batcheler of Art in the Schools. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 18 Every Batchelor is called Doctissimus. 1843Sir J. Coleridge in Arnold's Life & Corr. I. i. 9 Of the scholars several were bachelors.
†b. transf. An inexperienced person, a novice. Obs.
1604T. Wright Passions Mind iv. i. 114 Some men will dispute..about matters exceeding their capacitie..I haue heard these batchellors hold talke..wilfully and obstinatly in matters of Philosophie and Diuinitie.
4. a. An unmarried man (of marriageable age).
c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 34 Bacheleris [v.r. bachilers, -elerys, -elers, -illiers] haue often peyne and wo. c1450Songs & Carols (1847) 35 If thou be a bachelar, And bryngest hom a wyfe. 1547J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes 223 She was to olde a mayde for so yonge a bachelar. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 24 The syngle lyfe of Bacchelaures. 1607Dekker Northw. Hoe iv. Wks. 1873 III. 53 His wife!..I haue heard him sweare he was a bachiler. 1750Johnson Rambl. No. 18 ⁋5 The unsettled, thoughtless condition of a batchelor. 1856F. Paget Owlet Owlst. 151 A series of bachelor-incumbents. 1875Whitney Life Lang. ix. 156 Nursery..dialect, offensive to the ears of old bachelors.
b. bachelor's wife: the ideal wife of which a bachelor theorizes or dreams.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 61 Bachelers wiues, and maides children be well tought. 1726Vanbrugh Prov. Husb. i. i, Ay! ay!..Bachelors' wives, indeed, are finely governed. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 503 The ‘bachelor's wife’..occupies a large place in our literature, as the mistress of all the poets who ever wrote on love without actually experiencing it.
c. transf. One of the young male fur-seals which are kept away from the breeding-grounds by the adult bulls. (These are the seals which may legally be killed for their fur.)
1874Harper's Monthly Mag. May 801/2 To the right and left of the breeding grounds stretch sand-beaches..upon which the ‘hollus-chickie’, or the bachelor seals, lie by tens of thousands. 1884H. W. Elliott Seal Isl. Alaska 43 The ‘hollus-chickie’ or ‘bachelor’ seals. Ibid. 44 Sports and pastimes of the young ‘bachelors’. 1897D. W. Thompson in Parl. Papers CII. 422 We saw a body of about 200 bachelors, mostly young or old, those of intermediate ‘killable’ size being very few. 1898D. S. Jordan et al. Fur Seals i. 50 The bachelor seals begin to arrive at about the same time as the bulls... The older bachelors come first.
d. A size of roofing slate (see quot. 1929).
1898in E.D.D. 1914M. S. Gretton Corner of Cotswolds ix. 175 The tiles for our roofs are called, according to their sizes, long wivets, long bachelors, short bachelors, longbecks..muffities, long days, and short days. 1929N. Lloyd Building Craftsmanship x. 93/1 Sizes of..slates, measuring from centre of peg hole to tail, in inches, are Long bachelors 11 Short bachelors 10½.
e. Canad. Ellipt. for bachelor-apartment or bachelor-flat (sense 6). (Advertisers' jargon.)
1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 45/1 (Advt.), Opposite High Park, Bachelors,..2-bedrooms and 3-bedrooms. 1970Ibid. 28 Sept. 26/5 Newly decorated large bachelors; short lease. 1973Toronto Star 5 Mar. 45/2 Vaughan Rd.—St. Clair, interesting bachelor, in older bldg. 1978Ibid. 12 Aug. c13/3 Bachelors, 1 bedroom & 2 bedrooms.
†5. A maid, a single woman. Obs. rare.
1632B. Jonson Magnet. Lady ii. i, He would keep you A batchelor still..And keep you not alone without a husband, But in a sickness.
6. Comb. bachelor girl, woman, an unmarried woman who has her own income and lives independently; also (rare) bachelor-lady, bachelor-maid; bachelor('s) (or bachelors') hall: see hall n. 11; bachelor-like a., like, or of the nature of, a bachelor; bachelor party, one for men only, esp. one marking the end of a bridegroom-to-be's bachelorhood; also bachelor-dinner; bachelor-room, a room occupied by a single man; also bachelor-apartment, bachelor-cottage, bachelor-flat, bachelor-quarters: occupied by a bachelor. (Also attrib. in 1 a and 4 above.)
1611Cotgr., Bachelier, Bachelerly, bacheler-like. 1824W. Irving Braceb. Hall II. 80 To talk in a very bachelor-like strain about the sex. 1857Dickens Dorrit ii. xxx. 591 Ah, but he lived in a sweet bachelor-apartment. 1862W. Stewart Footsteps Beh. Him II. 46 Never had his bachelor-room looked so bare and cheerless. 1864Dickens Mut. Fr. (1865) I. xii. 109 Mr. Mortimer Lightwood and Mr. Eugene Wrayburn..had taken a bachelor cottage near Hampton. 1894C. C. Harrison (title) A Bachelor Maid. 1895Dialect Notes I. 396 Bachelor-girl, a maiden lady. 1898G. E. Mitton (title) A Bachelor Girl in London. 1898Wright Eng. Dial. Dict. I. 108/2 Bachelor woman is common, spinster being unknown. 1902Daily Chron. 15 Sept. 3/6 The bachelor woman who earns from two guineas a week. 1902Town & Country 4 Oct. 21/2 In Baltimore, among the first events of the autumn season was the bachelor dinner given at the Baltimore Club last Saturday in honor of Mr. John T. Love, whose marriage to Miss Ellen Jenkins George will shortly take place. 1906Queen 10 Nov. 808/2 The term ‘old maid’ is now seldom or never heard; the expression ‘bachelor girl’ has taken its place. 1912Dreiser Financier lxxiii. 762 He occupied a bachelor apartment in North Fifteenth Street. 1921S. McKenna Educ. E. Lane i. 42 If one of your brothers saw fit to invite my sister to a bachelor flat. 1922Bachelor-party [see binge n.]. 1924J. M. Murry Voyage xii. 229 I've been in here as a bachelor lady. 1934H. Brighouse Exhibit C in Best One-Act Plays of 1933 35 (stage direction) A minimum of furnishing indicates..that this is a bachelor flat. 1954T. S. Eliot Confid. Clerk ii. 62 I've come to inspect the new bachelor quarters. 1955Amer. Speech XXX 298. A way of living no doubt explains bachelor girl and not any consideration of gender. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. B3/1 (Advt.), Accommodation..from bachelor apartment to 6-bedroom home..in some of Ottawa's finest locations.
bachelor's or bachelors' buttons (Herb.): a name given to various flowers of round or button-like form; chiefly to certain cultivated double varieties of wild flowers; orig. and commonly, the double variety of a common yellow buttercup, Ranunculus acris; also the Tansy. white bachelor's buttons: orig. a double-flowered white Ranunculus (R. aconitifolius); also Double White Campion (Lychnis vespertina), Double Sneezewort (Achillæa Ptarmica), Double Feverfew (Pyrethrum Parthenium). red bachelor's buttons: Double Red Campion (Lychnis diurna), some species of Scabious and of Centaurea, the Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos-cuculi), etc. See Britten and Holland Plant Names (1878).
1578Lyte Dodoens 422 The double Goldcuppes are..called..Bachelers Buttons. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier (1871) 7 The bachelors buttons whose virtue is to make wanton maids weep. 1597Gerard Herbal (1633) 472 The similitude these flowres have to the jagged cloath buttons anciently worne..gave occasion..to call them Bachelours Buttons. 1629Parkinson Paradisi v. 11 Batchelours' buttons, both white and red, are kindes of wilde Campions of a very double forme. 1872Oliver Elem. Bot. i. vii. 86 If you compare a Bachelor's Button with a wild Buttercup.
▸ bachelor pad n. colloq. the home of, or a dwelling suited to, a single man.
1959Chicago Daily Tribune 7 June vii. 5/1 When you have a *bachelor pad, you can ask your best girl to play hostess at your shindigs. 1976Milton Keynes Express 28 May 39 (advt.) An ideal bachelor pad conveniently situated with bedroom, bathroom, lounge, kitchen, etc. 2008Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 25 Jan. g8 Units range from 300-square-foot bachelor pads to 600-square-foot, one-bedroom suites. |