| 释义 |
seraglio|sɛˈrɑːljəʊ|
Also 6 sarralia, seralyo, serraqlio, 7 seraglia, seralia, seralio, serraglio, serralia, surralia, -ya, zereglia, pl. seragli.
[a. It. serraglio:—popular L. *serrāculum enclosure, place of confinement (cf. med.L. serrāculum fastening of a door), f. *serrāre (whence It. serrare, F. serrer, Sp. cerrar) for serāre to lock up, close, f. sera lock or bolt. The It. word was, from similarity of sound, used to render the Turkish serāī lodging, palace (see serai1). The applications of the word which have been adopted in Eng. all relate to Turkey and the East, but some of them represent merely the etymological sense of the It. word, while others owe their meaning wholly or partly to the Turkish word. Cf. serai1, serail.]
I. Enclosure, place of confinement.
1. The part of a Muslim dwelling-house (esp. of the palace of a sovereign or great noble) in which the women are secluded; the apartments reserved for wives and concubines; a harem.
1581Rich Farew. P j, The kyng of Tunise..caused her to be put in the Cube, whiche is a place where he keepeth his Concubines (as the Turke doeth his in his Serraqlio [sic].) 1588Hickock tr. C. Frederick's Voy. 30 One principall wife, which is kept in a Seralyo. 1610B. Jonson Alch. ii. ii, Thou shalt be the master Of my seraglia. 1624Massinger Renegado i. i, Can I know my sister Mewde vp in his Serraglio..and not haste to send him To the Deuill his tutor? 1625Purchas Pilgrims I. 553 A kinswoman of his, liuing in the Zereglia. 1653Ramesey Astrol. Restored 145 In this our age we build more Serralias then Churches. 1788Gentl. Mag. LVIII. i. 100/2 Shutting up women in seraglios, and degrading them into an inferior class of beings. 1879Farrar St. Paul (1883) 233 The secrecy of Oriental seraglios.
b. The inmates of the harem; a polygamous household.
1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 115 Each house top spred with Carpets, wheron slept a man and his peculiar Seralio. 1847C. Brontë J. Eyre xxiv, I would not exchange this one little English girl for the grand Turk's whole seraglio.
c. transf. and fig.
1672Dryden Assignation iv. i, This Key will admit me into the Seraglio of the Godly [sc. the Nunnery]. 1691Comedy, Win Her & Take Her ii. i. 15 He'le make the Drawing-Room his Seraglio. 1709Tatler No. 50 ⁋1 Woman was his mistress; and the whole Sex his Seraglio. a1711Ken Urania Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 478 There I a whole Seraglio met Of flatt'ring Lusts, which me beset. 1773Wilkes Corr. (1805) IV. 141 One grand-signior cock, with a seraglio of seven hens. 1820Scott Monast. i, The mighty bull moved at the head of his seraglio and their followers. 1860Motley Netherl. ii. (1868) I. 48 A seraglio of maids of honour ministered to Henry's pleasures. 1881H. W. Elliott Seal Isl. Alaska (1884) 38 The same indifference is also exhibited by the male [fur-seal] to all that may take place..outside of the boundary of his seraglio.
†2. gen. An enclosure; a place of confinement.
a1668R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1698) I. 136 Near to the Stables stands the Seraglio where the wild beasts are kept. a1700Evelyn Diary 15 Jan. 1645, I went to the Ghetto, where the Jewes dwell as in a suburbe by themselues... I passed by the Piazza Judea, where their Seraglio begins.
II. = serai1.
3. A Turkish palace, esp. the palace of the Sultan at Constantinople. Now Hist.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 290 The..dayly paiments..by the Grand Signior..to the Officers of his Seraglio or Court. 1600Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc. 1893) 57 The surralia..which doth joyne close to the Cittie. Ibid. 61 The Grand Sinyors Courte, Called the surralya. 1630R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 559 The pleasantest of any Palace on the face of the earth, termed by them the Port, or Seraglio. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece i. 80 All about these parts are the Serraglioes, or Countrey-houses of the great Men among the Turks. 1728Eliza Heywood tr. Mme. de Somez's Belle A. (1732) II. 251 He was immediately order'd to come to the Seraglio, where he was receiv'd by the Grand Visier with all imaginable tokens of Friendship and Esteem. 1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 304/2 The remains of the Seraglio, former palace of the Ottoman sultans.
†4. A place of accommodation for travellers.
1617Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 3) 606 At euery tenth course a Seraglia or Place of lodging for Man and Horse. 1659Evelyn Let. to R. Boyle 3 Sept., At the other back front a plot walled in of a competent square for the common seraglio disposed into a garden.
†5. A warehouse. Obs.
1628in Foster Eng. Factories India (1909) III. 230 Depositing those intended for Cambay and Ahmadabad in the ‘seraglia’. 1676Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.) 168 On the shoar towardes the factory seraglio is a fair large fountain. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece i. 42 The Currans..are..put into Ware-houses they call Seraglio's. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 160 They are thrown thorow a Hole into the great Magazine, call'd the Seraglio.
†6. ? A barrack for a particular corps of the Turkish army; hence, a corps or grade of Turkish soldiers. Obs.
1600Pory Leo's Africa, etc. 386 They are called home againe to the Seraglios of the Zamoglans (for so are they termed, till they be enrolled among the Ianissaries). 1613Wotton Let. to Sir E. Bacon 21 Mar., The Turk..having made a leavy..of 5000 youths out of the Seragli. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xxxii. 57 To give the command of Armies..to men of the first or second Seraglio.
III. 7. attrib. and Comb.: seraglio-guard, seraglio lady, seraglio window; seraglio cake, a name given to a kind of fancy bread.
1842Merle Dom. Dict. 46 *Seraglio Cake.
1821Shelley Hellas 114 Man the *Seraglio-guard!
1717Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. (1893) I. 294 This is the chief guardian of the *seraglio ladies.
Ibid. 323 The Grand Signior was at the *seraglio window. |