| 释义 |
small-pox, n.|ˈsmɔːlpɒks|
Forms: α. 6–7 small pockes (6 pokkes, 7 pocks), 7–9 small-pocks. β. 7 small poxe, 7– small pox, small-pox, 8– smallpox.
[f. small a. + pox n., earlier pocks (pock n. 2 α). Long written as two words, the adj. being employed to distinguish the disease from the pox proper, or great pox.]
1. The pox or pustules on the skin which form the most characteristic feature of the acute contagious disease sometimes called variola; hence commonly, the disease itself.
a. With the.
It is only in certain contexts that the two senses can be clearly distinguished. In later use, when denoting the disease, the word is construed as a singular.
α1518Pace in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII (1864) II. ii. 1333 They do die in these parts [Wallingford]..of the small pokkes and mezils. 1547Boorde Brev. Health ccxvi. 74 There be many sodein sickenesses, as the pestilence,..the small pockes, the crampe. 1608Dod & Cleaver Expos. Prov. xi–xii. 81 They are as willing that the small pockes should deforme theyr faire faces. 1676Phil. Trans. XI. 569 The third Epidemical Constitution..was that of the Small-pocks. 1788Med. Comm. II. 183 The small-pocks are often confluent upon the face and head, whilst they are distinct every where else.
β1623Hart Arraignm. Ur. iii. 46 Small wheales like the small poxe. 1634Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 39 Prince Maurice..hath lately been much disfigured by the small-pox. c1672Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 45 This yeare he had the small pox so much that he was for a time blinded with them. 1764Reid Let. Wks. 1863 I. 40/2 The street we live in..was infested with the smallpox, which were very mortal. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 306 The small-pox was not to be named in his presence. 1843Abdy Water Cure 180 Thirty or more of the boys..fell sick of the small-pox. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 87 The small⁓pox was making fearful havoc with the country.
b. Without article.
α1565Cooper Thesaurus, Pustulæ, Small pockes. 1804Med. Jrnl. XII. 335 The disorder of small pocks or measles.
β1676J. Cooke Marrow Chirurg. iv. ii. ix. (1685) 213 Custom tells us, that those large Pustles..are called Small-Pox. 1784New Spectator No. xvii. 3 A young man of some little education, pitted with small pox. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 143/1 Small-pox according to its severity, is distinguished by authors into two varieties, the distinct and the confluent. 1877F. T. Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) I. 149 Small-Pox is very easily conveyed from one individual to another by inoculation, contact and infection. 1889G. Gresswell Dis. Ox 311 ‘Small pox in Sheep’..is known scientifically under the name of Variola ovina.
2. a. attrib., as smallpox case, small-pox epidemic, etc.
1775Ash s.v., Smallpox hospital. 1834Cycl. Pract. Med. III. 736/1 The pestilential vapour of small-pox pustules. Ibid. 744/1 Medical men who visit small-pox patients. 1867A. J. Wilson Vashti xxxi, Are you aware that..this building is assigned to small-pox cases? 1898Rider Haggard Dr. Therne 2 The appalling smallpox epidemic.
b. smallpox cowry, small-pox shell (see quots.).
1796Nemnich Polyglot.-Lex. V. 896 Small-pox shell, Cypraea caurica. 1837Penny Cycl. VIII. 257/1 Cypræa pustulata, Lam., commonly called by collectors the Small⁓pox Cowry.
c. Comb., as smallpox-pitted adj.; also fig.
1897‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator xlix. 465 Saharas of sand, smallpox-pitted with footprints. 1926D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent v. 92 The pug-faced Mexican in charge, and his small-pox-pitted assistant.
Hence ˈsmallpox v.; ˈsmallpoxed a., marked by or suffering from smallpox; also fig.
1774Westm. Mag. II. 281 A man must have a daring front to attack these small-poxed Muses. 1862Sat. Rev. 5 July 9 The present of 300 smallpoxed prisoners. 1897Gunter S. Turnbull xvi. 196 ‘What do you say to taking a tour of the hospitals?’ ‘Gad! Do you wish to smallpox me?’ growls Philip, angrily. 1901‘Mark Twain’ Let. 28 July (1917) II. 711 Water, small-poxed with rain-splashes. 1952Landfall Mar. 28 The smallpoxed plaster walls of the railway station that the English had shelled from the sea. |