| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈcater, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 5–7 catour, -tor, -ter, (5 -tore, -tur(e, kator, -tour, 6 kater).
[ME. catour, aphetic form of acatour, acater, q.v. Superseded before 1700 by caterer.]
A buyer of provisions or ‘cates’; in large households the officer who made the necessary purchases of provisions; a caterer.
c1400Gamelyn 321, I am oure Catour [v.r. Catur] and bere oure Alther purse. 1481Howard Househ. Bks. (1841) 17 My lorde toke to the Kator, for Hossolde, xxvj. s. iiij. d. 1512MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp. Canterb., Rec. for iij calvys off þ⊇ cater of Crystis Cherche. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 89 He is as good a meates man and Catour for him selfe as any thing living is. 1587J. Harmar tr. Beza's Serm. 377 (T.) Their katers, butlers, and cooks. 1598R. Barckley Felic. Man iii. (1603) 203 To eate of such a Caters provision. 1613Bp. Hall Holy Panegyr. 29 The glutton makes God his cator, and himselfe the guest. 1621Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 43 Th'impatient fist Of the false Cater.
b. transf. and fig. = ‘Purveyor’.
c1430Lydgate Bochas vii. x. 19 (1558) 161 b, Of his diete catour was scarsite. 1590Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 31 The eye is loues Cator. 1612R. Carpenter Soules Sent. 27. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 49 Many of the Beasts, and Birds, and Fishes, are but our Caters for one another.
▪ II. cater, n.2|ˈkeɪtə(r), ˈkætə(r)|
[ad. F. quatre four. See also quatre.]
†1. Four. Obs. rare—1.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 86 b, The auditour..cometh in with sise sould, and cater denere, for vi.s. and iiii.d.
†2. Four at dice or cards; also cater-point. Obs.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 280 b, Cater is a very good caste. 1708Kersey, Caterpoint, the Number Four, at Dice. 1721–1800Bailey, Cater-point. 1730–6― Cater, four at cards or Dice. In Johnson; and in mod. Dicts.
b. cater-trey: the four and the three; hence, apparently, a cant term for dice (or ? falsified dice).
a1500Chester Pl. ii. (1847) 56 Here is catter traye, Therfore goe thou thy waye. 1532Dice Play (1850) 23 A well favoured die, that seemeth good and square, yet is the forehead longer on the cater and tray than any other way. Ibid. 24 Such be also called bard cater tres, because, commonly, the longer end will, of his own sway, draw downwards, and turn up to the eye sice, sinke, deuis or ace. 1589Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 15 The quarrel was about cater-tray, and euer since he hath quarrelled about cater-caps. 1608Dekker Belman Lond. Wks. 1884–5 III. 118 A Bale of bard Cater-Treas. c1620Fletcher & Mass. Trag. Barnavelt v. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 304. a 1700 Songs Lond. Prentices 152 If any gallant haue with cater-tray, Play'd the wise-acre, and made all way.
3. Change-ringing. (See quot. 1878.)
1872Ellacombe Bells of Ch. ii. 29 The very terms of the art are enough to frighten an amateur. Hunting, dodging..caters, cinques, etc. 1878Grove Dict. Music s.v., The name given by change ringers to changes of nine bells. The word should probably be written quaters, as it is meant to denote the fact that four couples of bells change their places in the order of ringing.
▪ III. cater, v.1|ˈkeɪtə(r)|
[f. cater n.1]
1. intr. To act as ‘cater’, caterer, or purveyor of provisions; to provide a supply of food for.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 44 He that doth the Rauens feede, Yea prouidently caters for the Sparrow. 1713Addison Guardian No. 139 §2 Androcles.. lived many days in this frightful solitude, the lion catering for him with great assiduity. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, You were wont to love delicate fare—behold how I have catered for you. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xiv. 169 In order to cater for both.
b. absol. To buy or provide food.
1822Mair Lat. Dict., Obsōno, to cater or buy in victuals. 1849C. Brontë Shirley III. i. 29 See if I don't cater judiciously.
c. trans.
a1634Randolph Poems (1638) 4 Noe widdowes curse caters a dish of mine. a1643W. Cartwright Siege ii. ii, And cater spiders for the queasie creature When it refuseth comfits. 1866Neale Seq. & Hymns 190 He..Catered the poorest of food.
2. transf. and fig. To occupy oneself in procuring or providing (requisites, things desired, etc.) for.
1650W. Fenner Christ's Alarm 10 To cater for heaven, to bring in custome for the Kingdome of God. 1700Congreve Way of World iii. v, What! you are..catering (says he) or ferreting for some disbanded officer. 1789Burns Let. R. Ainslie 6 Jan., I am still catering for Johnson's publication. 1838–9Hallam Hist. Lit. iv. vi. §50 He rarely caters for the populace of the theatre by such indecencies as they must understand. 1872W. Minto Eng. Lit. Introd. 25 He does not cater for the pleasure of his jurors.
b. occasionally const. to. [Cf. pander to.]
1840Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1872) 134 Catering to the national taste and vanity. 1860Kingsley Misc. II. 102 Nine years afterwards we find him..catering to the low tastes of James I. 1864Sat. Rev. 10 Dec. 711/1 Machinery for catering to the wants of the profane and the dissolute.
▪ IV. cater, v.2 dial.|ˈkeɪtə(r)|
[f. cater n.2 or F. quatre four.]
To place or set rhomboidally; to cut, move, go, etc., diagonally. Hence ˈcatering, ˈcatered, ppl. a.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 69 b, The trees are set checkerwise and so catred [partim in quincuncem directis], as looke which way ye will, they lye level. Ibid. 71 Two sortes of this catred order [quincuncialis ordinis duplicem rationem], one wherin my trees stand foure square like the chequer or Chessebord. 1873Silverland 129 (Hoppe) ‘Cater’ across the rails [at a level crossing] ever so cleverly, you cannot escape jolt and jar. 1875Parish Sussex Dial., Catering, slanting, from corner to corner.
▪ V. ˈcater, adv. U.S. and dial.
[Related to prec.]
Diagonally. So ˈcatercross, caterways, ˈcaterwise, adv. See also cater-cornered adv. and a.
1874in N. & Q. Ser. v. I. 361 (Surrey words) Caterways, catering, to cross diagonally. 1875Parish Sussex Dial. s.v. Catercross, If you goos caterwise across the field you'll find the stile. 1881Leicester Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cater and Cater-cornered, diagonal; diagonally. To ‘cut cater’ in the case of velvet, cloth, etc., is..‘cut on the cross’. Cater-snozzle, to make an angle; to ‘mitre’.
▪ VI. cater
obs. form of catarrh. |