| 释义 |
sedan|siːˈdæn, sə-|
Also 7 cedan, (? erron.) sedam.
[Of obscure etymology.
The conjecture (? first in Johnson, 1773) connecting the word with the name of Sedan, a town of NE. France, has nothing to support it, and seems unlikely. In 1634 the exclusive right of supplying ‘covered chairs’ was granted to Sir Sanders Duncombe; the word sedan does not occur in the grant, but the index to the patents of the year has ‘covered chairs (called sedans)’. The statement of Evelyn, that Duncombe brought the sedan from Naples may be correct, as the thing had long been in use in Italy (cf. It. seggietta in Florio, 1598). It is therefore natural to suppose that the word might be from some South Italian derivative of It. sede (L. sēdēs) seat, sedere to sit; but there seems to be no trustworthy evidence of the existence in It. dialects of any form from which the Eng. word could be derived.]
1. a. A closed vehicle to seat one person, borne on two poles by two bearers, one in front and one behind. In fashionable use during the 17th, 18th, and early 19th cent.
1635Brome Sparagus Garden i. iii. (1640) B 4 b, What, have you some new project a foot now, to out-goe that of the Hand-barrowes? what call you 'em the Sedams [sic]? Ibid. iv. x. I 4 b, Shee's now gone forth in one o' the new Hand-litters: what call yee it, a Sedan. Brit. O Sedana. 1641MSS. Dk. Rutland (Hist. MSS. Comm.) IV. 531 Payd the men that carried my Lord George in the sedan, 1li. xvjs. 1660Trial Regic. 191 His Majesty was immediately hurried away from the Bar into a Common Cedan. 1666Lond. Gaz. No. 89/2 The Empress..by reason of her weakness,..travells in her Sedan. a1700Evelyn Diary 8 Feb. 1645, The streets [of Naples] are full of gallants on horse⁓back, in coaches and sedans, from hence brought first into England by Sir Sanders Duncomb. 1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3867/1 The Doge was carried in a very rich Sedan. 1737Duchess of Portland in Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) I. 610 Lady Dunkeron's sedan is yellow velvet, imbroidered and imbossed with silver. 1802Anna Seward's Lett. (1811) VI. 9 Dr. Jones seconded my proposal that he should be brought here in a sedan. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxv, Mr. Muzzle opened one half of the carriage gate to admit the sedan.
b. transf. A litter, palanquin, or the like.
1646Winthrop Hist. New Eng. (1853) II. 323 He..presented the governour with a sedan, which (as he said) was sent by the viceroy of Mexico to his sister. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 52 Some times, he is carried by several men in a Palanquin, or kind of Sedan. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. xviii. vi. §6 As Tiberius lay once at his ease upon his sedan, and was carried about. 1847Prescott Peru (1850) II. 61 Elevated high above his vassals came the Inca Atahuallpa, borne on a sedan or open litter. 1878J. Payn By Proxy I. iii. 25 All the neighbourhood..the rich [Chinese] in sedans, the poor on foot, were on their way to do honour to his shrine.
c. = saloon 4 c. Chiefly N. Amer. (Not used in the U.K.)
1912Motor World 14 Nov. 18/1 In the new [Studebaker] cars, there is another coupe, and a ‘Sedan’, both mounted on a new four-cylinder chassis. 1915Literary Digest (N.Y.) 21 Aug. (cover advt.), A touring car when the windows are down... With the windows raised, a luxurious sedan. 1922Short Stories Feb. 98/1 The sedan had been equipped with an exhaust foot warmer or heater. 1935M. M. Atwater Murder in Midsummer i. 6 A black sedan was drawn up on the shoulder of the road. 1966‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive xx. 184 It was a massive black Lincoln sedan; a seven-seater executive-style transport. 1977Time 8 Aug. 23/1 The two were surrounded by four pistol-carrying men and ordered into a nearby Peugeot sedan.
2. local U.S. ‘A hand-barrow with a deep basket-like bottom made of barrel-hoops, used to carry fish’ (Cent. Dict. 1891).
3. Comb., as (sense 1 a) sedan-bearer, sedan-maker, sedan-man; (sense 1 c) sedan car, sedan model; sedan clock Hist. = sedan-chair clock s.v. sedan chair c.
1837Dickens Pickw. xxv, Mr. Grummer, commanding the *sedan-bearers to halt, advanced.
1931M. de la Roche Finch's Fortune xxv. 325 A *sedan car stopped before the door. 1957N.Z. Listener 22 Nov. 4/4 New Zealand English has diverged from the English of England more than is generally realised owing to the influence of American usage. ‘Sedan’ car often appears in the advertisements, where an English advertisement would print ‘saloon’.
1950D. de Carle Watchmakers' & Clockmakers' Encycl. Dict. 129/1 *Sedan clock, a small hanging clock usually associated with the period of the Sedan Chair. 1968― Clocks & their Value 93 The value of a sedan clock depends on the case but can be anything from about {pstlg}15 to {pstlg}35.
1641Earl of Cork in Lismore Papers Ser. i. (1886) V. 173 Paid Thomas wright, the *sedan maker, dwelling in white ffriers, for my new sedan.
1638Brome Antipodes iv. viii. (1640) I 1, Enter *Sedan-man. 1647R. Stapylton Juvenal vi. 110 These Syrians were..kept by the ladies of Rome..for their chair-bearers or sedan-men.
1948Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) 14 Aug. 5/1 Besides making some substantial changes in its present *sedan models it plans to put a hard top convertible into production.
Hence † seˈdan'd pa. pple., placed or carried in a sedan. † seˈdanful [-ful], the occupants of a sedan. sedanier [-ier], a sedan-bearer.
1647R. Stapylton Juvenal i. 6 Sedan-fulls for these hundred farthings throng. 1688R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times iii. 139 The Body is by This Time Cas'd, Hous'd, Sedann'd, Box'd up, or call it what you will. 1690Evelyn Mundus Muliebris 8 When to the Play 'tis time to go In Pompous Coach, or else Sedan'd With Equipage along the Strand. 1871Meredith H. Richmond xliii, By the way, Richie, there will be Sedaniers—porters to pay to-day. |