释义 |
canticle|ˈkæntɪk(ə)l| Also 6 Sc. cantikil. [ad. L. canticulum dim. canticum song (Cantica).] 1. A song, properly a little song; a hymn.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 4124 He [Moses]..wrot an canticle 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 33 In the Cantikil of Moyses. c1705Pope Jan. & May 524 Thus his morning canticle he sung, ‘Awake, my love,’ etc. 1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 201 Religious canticles stimulant of zeal. 1881J. C. Shairp in Academy 12 Feb. 112 The Queen's Wake contains several ballads which exhibit..much more of his power than this tiny little canticle. b. spec. One of the hymns (mostly taken from the Scriptures) used in the public services of the Church. (In the English Prayer-Book applied only to the Benedicite; but often used also of the Benedictus, Jubilate, Magnificat, Cantate, Nunc Dimittis, and Deus misereatur, and sometimes of the Te Deum.)
1625Bacon Death, Ess. (Arb.) 7 The sweetest Canticle is, Nunc dimittis. 1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. iv. (1872) 55 The canticle which belongs to our morning service. 1874H. Reynolds John Baptist ii. 72 The evangelic canticles contained in this chapter. 1880T. Helmore in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 336 The short melodies sung to the psalms and canticles in the English Church. c. transf.
1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. iii. Nativity 5 Where robins chant their Litanies, And canticles of joy. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1877) II. vii. 56 The time-honoured canticles of a doctrine already discarded. 2. pl. A name for the Song of Solomon.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 284 b, Rede the canticles of Salomon. 1712Tickell Spect. No. 410 ⁋5 A Translation of one of the Chapters in the Canticles into English Verse. 1845J. H. Newman Ess. Developm. v. (L.) The Canticles must be interpreted literally; and then it was..a necessary step, to exclude the book from the canon. †3. A canto of a poem. Obs.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 46 The end whereof..Shall for another canticle be spared. 1647H. More Song of Soul iii. iii. l, So large matter..for a fresh Canticle more fit. b. A small canto. (humorous.)
1819Byron Let. to Murray 6 Apr., You shan't make canticles of my cantos. |