| 释义 |
purdah E. Ind.|ˈpɜːdə|
Also purda, pardah, parda (erron. purdow, purder).
[a. Urdū and Pers. pardah veil, curtain.]
1. a. A curtain; esp. one serving to screen women from the sight of men or strangers. (See also quot. 1952.)
1800Misc. Tracts in Asiat. Ann. Reg. 64/1 A purdow, or skreen, of a yellow kind of gauze, being dropt before the door. 1809Visct. Valentia Trav. I. 100 He led me to a small couch close to the purdah, and seated me on his right hand..between his mother and himself, though she was invisible. 1844Kinglake Eöthen i, They passed through no door, but only by the yielding folds of a purder. a1858D. Wilson in Life (1860) II. xv. 126 Purdahs or curtains of all colours hung from the crenated arches. 1898C. P. Stetson Women & Economics iv. 66 Some air has come through the purdah's folds, some knowledge has filtered to her eager ears from the talk of men. 1927New Republic 21 Sept. 127/2 Miss Mayo speaks as though the seclusion of women behind the purdah were universal throughout India. 1952S. Selvon Brighter Sun i. 9 He didn't feel any sexual excitement... Even when he had looked at her face under the purdah—the white sheet thrown over them.
b. As typical of the seclusion of Indian women of rank; hence fig. the system of such seclusion.
1865Daily Tel. 25 Nov. 8/6 As an Occidental, she will not like that tame bird's life inside the lattice cage and the pardah which Oriental wives must bear. 1893W. S. Burrell & Edith E. Cuthell Indian Mem. 23 The veil of the purdah hangs less heavily over Mahommedan than over Bengali women. 190519th Cent. Mar. 486 The purdah has been hardly any drawback to the women born with any talent for ruling. 1968Times 6 Apr. (Pakistan Suppl.) p. vii/5 In Pakistan today the observance of purdah is, in the broadest terms, in inverse ratio to social status. 1971R. Russell tr. Ahmad's Shore & Wave iv. 39 She very rarely observed purdah and on the day in question was returning from school. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xx. 293 Mothers may be at work all day, or live in purdah, or speak no English.
c. transf. Seclusion; (medical) isolation or quarantine; secrecy. Usu. in phrases in purdah, into, (etc.), purdah.
1928J. Galsworthy Swan Song ii. v. 143 The diagnosis of Kit's malady [sc. measles] was soon verified, and Fleur went into purdah. 1957G. B. Stern Seventy Times Seven 182 He was supposed to be in purdah with Nicola and deeply occupied with those unspeakable Memoirs. 1958Times 23 Oct. 15/5 The voluminous Dilke papers..had been kept in purdah by the family piety of the late Miss Tuckwell. 1963Times 27 Feb. 10/5 Mr. Maudling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, from now on will be in purdah whenever questions touch upon the Budget. 1977D. Bagley Enemy xxxix. 314 When I came out of purdah, but before I was discharged, I went to see her.
2. A striped cotton cloth, or other material, of which curtains are made.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Purdah, an Indian cotton cloth, with white and blue stripes, used for curtains, etc.
3. attrib. and Comb., chiefly in reference to sense 1 b, as purdah girl, purdah lady, purdah walla [see wallah], purdah woman; purdah costume, purdah curtain, purdah glass, purdah party, purdah system; purdah-like adj.
1847Mrs. Sherwood in Life xxi. (1854) 356 Amina was..particularly dark for a purdah walla, or one, according to the Eastern custom, who is supposed always to sit behind a purdah, or curtain. 1894S. S. Thorburn Asiat. Neighbours iv. 68 Of all his [Peter the Great's] social reforms, the greatest was the abolition of the purdah system for Russian ladies. 190219th Cent. Nov. 818 Purdah women are a comparatively small proportion of their sex. 1905Purdah costume [see burka1]. 1937Times 13 Apr. p. xxxviii/1 In the first class compartment there are four special ventilators and purdah glass louvres above the side windows. 1955Times 31 May 7/7 In Peshawar is the university and a college for women, where there are mixed debates with a purdah curtain dividing the sexes. 1971R. Russell tr. Ahmad's Shore & Wave x. 124 Let purdah girls play the men up. 1973New Society 26 Apr. 198/3 A gilded door of purdah glass, which meant that Lady Jersey could see all of Lord Jersey approaching, while he could delight only in outline of her filmy silhouette. 1975P. Mason in C. Allen Plain Tales from Raj 16 One formidable old lady..would fit in a purdah party for Indian ladies before her dinner party for the brigadier.
Hence purdahed |ˈpɜːdəd| a., screened or secluded by a purdah; curtained; ‘cloistered’.
1832Mrs. Meer Ali Observ. Mussalmans India I. xiv. 380 The hour is passed in lively dialogues with the several purdahed dames. 1949L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 103 All the houses in the Turkish quarter have musharabaya trellis windows for purdah-ed girls. 1959Encounter Sept. 33/1 Somewhat secluded (although not purdah-ed) women. |