| 释义 |
▪ I. brigand|ˈbrɪgənd|
Forms: 4 bregaund, 5 brigaunt, brygaunt, 5–7 brigant, 6 brigane, brygand, 6–8 brigan, 6– brigand.
[ME. a. OF. brigand (14th c. in Littré) = Pr. bregan irregular soldier; prob. ad. It. brigante, of which the primary meaning might be ‘skirmisher’, f. brigare: see brigue v. and brigade. It occurs in med.L. in 14th c. in the forms brigancii, brigantii, brigantini, brigantes as the name of ‘une maniere de gens d'armes courant et apert, à pié’.]
†1. A light-armed, irregular foot-soldier. Obs.
a1400Morte Arth. 2096 Thane bowmene of Bretayne..Bekerde with bregaundez of ferre in tha laundez. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. 312 The brigauntis of the Frenssh side took the Kyngis cariage. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xlvii. 66 The duke..entred into Heynalt..and iiii. c. speares, besyde the brigantes, came before Quesnoy. 1557Paynel Barclay's Jugurth 104 More lyke a skyrmishe amonge brygandes and rouers, then to any appointed or ordered batayle. 1795Southey Joan of Arc x. 250 Archers of unequalled skill, Brigans and pikemen.
2. One who lives by pillage and robbery: a freebooter, bandit; especially a member of one of the gangs of desperadoes infesting the mountainous districts of Italy, Spain, Turkey, etc.
1421Sir H. Luttrell in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 27 I. 85 Ther ys no steryng of none evyl doers, saf byonde the rivere of Sayne..of certains brigaunts. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iv. 125 We have slayne soo many theves and brygauntes that I canne not number theym. 1570–87Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 392 It was taken from him by certain Brigants and robbers. 1656Blount Glossogr., Brigand, a Footman armed..In old time when those kind of Soulders marched, they held all to be good prize, that they could purloin from the people, and thereupon this word now signifies also a Theef, purse-taker, or High-way robber. 1792A. Young Trav. France 154 Those troops of brigands, reported to be formidable. 1841Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 257 The Neapolitan brigands. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxii. 29 Such names as brigands and murderers are not uncommonly used by established governments to describe those who are in revolt against their authority.
3. attrib.
1522World & Child in Hazl. Dodsley I. 251 Brigand harness I have beaten to back and to bones. 1816J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 4) Pref. 19 The wild brigand spirit. 1859Autobiog. Beggar Boy 128 He wore a sailor's dress, with a sort of brigand hat.
▪ II. brigand, v. rare.
[f. the n.]
pass.: To be attacked by brigands.
1886Century Mag. Apr. 856/1 Here we ought to have been briganded. |