| 释义 |
▪ I. saying, vbl. n.1|ˈseɪɪŋ|
Also α. 4–5 segg-, sedge, sigg-, sygg-, (4 Kent. zigg-); -ing(e, -yng(e; β. 4–6 sai-, sey-; -ing(e, -eng(e, -yng)e; 4–6 sayng(e, saing, seyng(e.
[f. say v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of say v.1; utterance, enunciation; recitation. † saying-again = again saying.
Often (contrasted with doing) denoting a mere assertion or promise, as opposed to action or performance.
a1300Cursor M. 28581 On seuen maners ar þai [sc. sins] for-giuen,..Of hali water þe strenkling, And thoru þe pater noster saying. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) Pref. 99, I see in song in sedgeyng tale Of Erceldoun & of Kendale, Non þam says as þai þam wroght, & in þer sayng it semes noght. 1474Caxton Chesse 134 Courtoyse langage and well saynge is moche worth and coste lityll. c1475Partenay 3242 Geffray answered: ‘wele saide here haue ye; Go forth,’ said he, ‘with-out sayng-Again’. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. R ij b, Saying and doyng, are twoo thinges, we say. 1582Allen Martyrdom Campion (1908) 3 Saying of Masse, hearing of confessions, preaching and such like dueties and functions of Priesthod. 1845W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 38 Saying by heart is a tiresome and unsatisfactory kind of teaching-work.
b. In phrase ‘There is no saying’ = it is impossible to say, there is no certainty attainable. Cf. the more usual ‘there is no telling’.
1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest xx, They won't come now..but there is no saying.
2. Something that is said; now chiefly, something that has been said by a (more or less distinguished) person, an apophthegm, a dictum.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 734 Þe caytyfe þat lay yn hys bedde, For here seyyng wax sore adredde. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love iii. iv. (Skeat) 255 Certaynly, his noble sayinges can I not amende. 1463in Coventry Leet-bk. 322 And þervppon the kyng, supposyng theyre seying to be trewe, sent his lettrez of priue sygnet to the Officers of this Cite. 1530Palsgr. 427/2 Take no hede to his sayenges for he is madde. 1611Bible Ps. xlix. 4, I will incline mine eare to a parable; I will open my darke saying vpon the harpe. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 104 My heart hath been a store-house long of things And sayings laid up, portending strange events. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 52. 336 It is a Saying I have always admired in Monsieur Bruyere. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 660 The King read, and remained, according to the saying of Churchill, hard as the marble chimney-pieces of Whitehall. 1858Lytton What will He do i. viii, Then came sayings of dry humour. 1871Tennyson Last Tourn. 622 ‘May God be with thee, sweet, when old and gray, And past desire!’ a saying that anger'd her. 1897Grenfell & Hunt (title), λοΓΙα ΙΗϹου, Sayings of our Lord.
b. Something commonly said; a proverb; occas. † a current form of speech.
c1450Myrc Festial 86 Ȝe haue a comyn sayng among you and sayn þat Godys grace ys worth a new fayre. 1480J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 27 For ther is proverbe and a seyenge, that a castelle that spekythe, and a womane that wille here, thei wille be gotene bothe. 1530Palsgr. 698/1 God save you, whiche sayeng we use whan we come firste to ones presence. a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 2 According to the common saying, Where God hath his Church, the Devill hath his Chappell. 1709Steele Tatler No. 50 ⁋8, I can see into a Mill-stone as far as another (as the Saying is). 1861Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxiv. 250 The name..was amplified into short proverbial sayings.
†c. ? = ditty 2. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. viii. 3081* It sit him wel to singe and daunce, And do to love his entendance In songes bothe and in seyinges After the lust of his pleyinges.
†d. Repetition of a spell or incantation. Obs.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 542 ‘Why’, seyd he, ‘wyl hyt nat ryse, And y haue do þe same wyse, And seyd þe wurdys, lesse ne mo, And for my seyyng wyl hyt nat go’? 1340–70Alisaunder 531 With all þe wyle of his werk þe waie gon enchaunte, By segging of sorsery. c1500Melusine 296 So blynd ye are by her sayeng that ye dare not enquere nor knoweth wher she becommeth or gooth.
†3. collect. sing. General habit of speech; usual manner of speaking; the remarks of a person considered collectively. Obs.
c1440York Myst. xxx. 484 Nought so, sir, his seggyng is full sothly soth, It bryngis oure bernes in bale for to bynde. c1570W. Wager The longer thou livest 1774 (Brandl) But such fooles in their harts do say, That there is no God, neyther Heauen, nor Hell; According to their saying they follow that way.
†4. A right to speak; a ‘voice’ in an assembly. Also, to have a saying to = ‘to have something to say to’. Obs. Cf. say n.4 3.
1487Rolls of Parlt. VI. 397/1 That no merchaunt..bere any voice, ne have saying in any Court. 1568Grafton Chron. ii. 131 These sixe Aldermen..knowyng that neither the Aldermen, nor the worshipfull of the Citie, should haue any saiyng in the matter, fearing their cause, went into a Canons house of Paules. 1568C. Watson Polyb. 67 b, Of the contrary part the Carthaginenses ruled on the seas uncontrolled and hoped wel to have a saying by land. c1592Marlowe Jew of Malta ii. (1633) E 1, For though they doe a while increase and multiply, I'le haue a saying to that Nunnery. 1607B. Barnes Divils Charter v. ii. K 3, I must haue a saying to those bottels. (He drinketh.)
▪ II. † ˈsaying, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[f. say v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of say v.2 in various senses.
1511–12Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. IV. 274 Compt maid with William Striveling for expensis maid be him apone the sayng of the led mynd of Ilay.
b. Comb.: saying-knife, that with which the say of grease of a deer is taken.
a1858Kingsley New Forest Ballad 51 The young man drove his saying knife Deep in the old man's breast. 1865― Herew. xxxix, [He] pulled out a saying-knife, about half as long again as the said priest's hand. |