| 释义 |
bellman|ˈbɛlmən|
Also 4–7 belman.
[f. bell n.1 + man.]
1. A man who rings a bell; esp. a man employed to go round the streets of a town and make public announcements, to which he attracts attention by ringing a bell; a town-crier.
(Formerly a bellman announced deaths, and called on the faithful to pray for the souls of the departed; a bellman also acted as night-watchman, and called the hours).
1391Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 163 Le belman portand' campanam per villam..ij.d. 1463Bury Wills (1850) 17 Item I wele the ij bellemen haue ij. gownys. 1577Holinshed Chron. III. 1209/1 Certaine houses in Cornehill, being..cried by a belman. 1648Herrick Hesper. (1869) 221, I heare the cock, The bell-man of the night. 1659–60Pepys Diary 16 June, I staid up till the bell-man came by..and cried, ‘Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning.’ 1858Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 80 There is a bellman announcing something.
†2. He who ‘bears the bell’; the best or most excellent. Obs. rare.
1617Markham Caval. v. 55 Repaire to the Stable of great Princes, where commonly are the bell-men of this Art.
Hence ˈbellmanship, the office of bellman.
1839Blackw. Mag. XLVI. 386 The election of John Tapps to the bellmanship of Buzzleton. |