| 释义 |
confederacy|kənˈfɛdərəsɪ|
Also 4–6 confeþer-, -fether-, 4–7 confederacie, 6 confederatie.
[AF. and ME. confederacie, f. stem of L. confœder-ātio, med.L. confœder-ātus: see -acy.]
1. A union by league or contract between persons, bodies of men, or states, for mutual support or joint action; a league, alliance, compact.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 271 After þe sevenþe ȝere of þe confeþeracye [initi fœderis] he fauȝt aȝenst þe Angles oft in smal bataylles. 1550Nicolls Thucyd. viii. xviii. 201 They..caused the towne to tourne to their confederatie. 1555Eden Decades 28 Threescore and tenne men whiche were of his confetheracie. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 461 The league and confederacie that was concluded betwene them. 1611Bible Obad. 7. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. 157 The Confederacy of Two Companies of Men to expose Two Lights to each others view, so that the discovery of the one, may answer immediately to that of the other. 1769Robertson Chas. V, III. vii. 2 A general confederacy against the Ottoman power. 1861May Const. Hist. (1863) I. i. 10 To..break down the confederacy of the great Whig families.
b. Law (and thence gen.), in bad sense: A league for an unlawful or evil purpose; a conspiracy.
[1353Act 27 Edw. III, Stat. ii. c. 3 Facent entre eux..compaignie ne confederacie en fraude ou deceite.] 1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 39 Þei shullen makyn no meyntenaunce ne confederacie ageyn þe kyngis right. 1413Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iii. iv. (1483) 53 Thus haue ye..by your fals confederacy destroubled my Royamme. 1533More Apol. xliv. Wks. 914/2 He calleth those assemblinges..by y⊇ name of confederacies..for ought that I see he geueth a good thyng and an holesome, an odious heynous name. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. i, Why this is a confederacy: a meere piece of practice upon her by these impostors. a1704T. Brown Pleas. Ep. Wks. 1730 I. 109. 1763 J. Wesley in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xciv. 16 Confederacies, to carry on the works of darkness. 1829Southey O. Newman vii, Philip is the head Of the confederacy: his crafty brain..plans the mischief.
2. (without a or pl.) Condition or fact of being confederate: union for joint action, alliance. In a bad sense: Conspiracy, collusion.
1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xii. (1616) 189 Moses..commanded..Aaron to fill a vessell, and place the same in the Arke of confederacie. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iv. §11 The sciences..which have had better intelligence and confederacie with the imagination..than with reason. 1641Termes de la Ley 73 Two were indicted of Confederacie. 1677C. Hatton Corr. (1878) 146 They were guilty of confederacy. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. I. i. 44 In close confederacy with the duke of Albany. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, II. ii. 39 In a perpetual state of confederacy and rebellion. 1878Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 134 Philip was in confederacy with Muley Moluck, and therefore could not send troops against him.
†b. carnal confederacy. Obs. rare.
1610Healey St. Aug., Citie of God xvi. xxiii. 562 Before that the sonnes of God..had any carnall confederacy with the daughters of men.
3. quasi-concr. A collective body of persons or parties united by league; a body of confederates; now esp. a union of states, a confederation.
Southern Confederacy: the Confederate States of America. Confederacy now usually implies a looser or more temporary association than confederation, which is applied to a union of states organized on an intentionally permanent basis.
[1577Holinshed Chron. III. 1093 In east Kent there were other..of the same confederacie. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 192.] 1681Nevile Plato Rediv. 74 The Grecians..were forced to League themselves (yet in several Confederacies, as that of the Etolians, that of the Achaians, etc.) for their mutual defence. 1756Nugent Gr. Tour, Netherl. I. 17 The United Provinces are a confederacy of many independent states. 1777U.S. Senate Manual (1886) 14 (Articles of Confederation) The stile of this confederacy shall be ‘The United States of America’. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 179 The literary world is made up of little confederacies. 1839Thirlwall Greece III. 47 A proposal..to transfer the treasury of the confederacy from Delos to Athens. 1861Const. Confed. States Amer., The citizens of each State..shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy. 1861Motley in Times 23 May, The body politic known for 70 years as the United States of America is not a Confederacy, not a compact of Sovereign States, not a co-partnership; it is a Commonwealth. |