| 释义 |
Ruritania|rʊərɪˈteɪnɪə|
[Name of the scene of Anthony Hope's novels The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and Rupert of Hentzau (1898); f. L. rūri-s, rūs country + -tania as in Lusitania.]
An imaginary kingdom of Central Europe: used allusively for a scene of court romance and intrigue in a modern setting, or for a petty state; more generally, any imaginary country.
[1894‘A. Hope’ Prisoner of Zenda i. 9 There came on a visit to the English Court a certain prince, who was afterwards known to history as Rudolf the Third of Ruritania.] 1897G. B. Shaw in Sat. Rev. 30 Jan. 115/2 If Mr Alexander..had produced it and Sodom's Ende and so forth at a series of matinées of the ‘Saturday Pop’ class, financing them from the exchequer of the Kingdom of Ruritania [etc.]. 1929― League of Nations 8 Let us suppose that Ruritania is given a mandate to govern Lilliput provisionally for Lilliput's good. 1939Flight 21 Sept. 249/1 One cannot expect every Ruritania to maintain an air arm equal to that of the Germans. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes 154 Inge..looked like the queen of some Northern Ruritania at the novel's happy ending. 1965New Statesman 23 Apr. 638/1 Britain is being slowly pushed out of the main manufacturing export markets, and is taking refuge in the luxury trades... I suppose if we can't make our living in any other way, it will have to do. But let's not kid ourselves about a renaissance. This is national senescence, the Road to Ruritania. 1976Times 9 Mar. 17/2 The right tactics..are to let the central bank of Ruritania drive the price of sterling down against itself. |