| 释义 |
confessor|kənˈfɛsə(r)|
Forms: 1–2, 5–9 confessor, 3–4 -ur, 4–7 -our, 5–6 -oure, 6 -ore.
[a. L. confessor, and its F. repr. confessor, -ur, AF. -our (mod.F. -eur), agent-n. f. L. confitērī to confess. (In sense 2, OF. had also confes:—L. confessus one who has confessed.) The historical pronunciation, from AF. and ME. confeˈssour, is ˈconfessor, which is found in all the poets, and is recognized by the dictionaries generally, down to Smart, 1836–49, who has ˈconfessor in senses 2 and 3, conˈfesser in sense 1 b; for these, Craig 1847 has ˈconfessor and conˈfessor; but conˈfessor is now generally said for both.]
1. gen. One who makes confession or public acknowledgement or avowal of anything.
a. of religious belief, of Christ, etc.
a1300Cursor M. 20867 (Cott.) Petre was..of godd sun first confessur. c1540Pilgr. T. 372 Of Iesu Christ many a confessore. 1642Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 291 They scourg'd the confessors of the Gospell. 1659Gentl. Calling (1696) 89, I can scarce think the Devil has any such stout Confessors, but will then betray his cause. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. ii. i. (1737) III. 33 Its greatest Confessors and Assertors. 1721Strype Eccl. Mem. II. xxviii. 235 A good man, and ancient professor and confessor of religion. 1866Neale Seq. & Hymns, And the Saints, through toil and shame Brave Confessors of Thy Name.
b. of a crime, sin, or offence charged. (In this sense written by Smart and others confesser.)
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. 1883–4 V. 35 They vowed either to make him a confessor or a martir in a trice. 1693C. Mather Wond. Invis. World 15 A thousand preternatural Things..wherein the Confessors do acknowledge their Concernment. 1737Ozell Rabelais Author's Prol. I. cxxxi. note, I have translated Confesseur, Confessarius, for so our English Roman Catholics call their Father Confessor..A Confessor seems to mean the Person confessing not the Person confess'd to. 1755Johnson, Confessor..he who confesses his crimes. Dict. 1791Walker Pron. Dict., Confessor..this word can now have the accent on the second syllable, only when it means One who confesses his crimes; a sense in which it is scarcely ever used. 1847Craig, Conféssor, one who confesses his crimes.
2. a. techn. One who avows his religion in the face of danger, and adheres to it under persecution and torture, but does not suffer martyrdom; spec. one who has been recognized by the church in this character. (The earliest sense in English.)
[c1000ælfric Past. Ep. in Thorpe Laws II. 370 Þa mæran andetteras þe we hatað confessores.] a1175Cott. Hom. 239 Mid martiren, mid hali confessoren, mid halie meiden. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 185 Apostles and martirs and confessors. a1240Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 261 Þe cunfessurs hird þe liueden igod lif, ant haliche deiden. c1305Edmund Conf. in E.E.P. (1862) 71 Seint Edmund þe confessour þat liþ at Ponteneye. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 379 Alle the seyntes of that cuntre [Ireland] be confessores, and noo martir. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 181 b, Martyrs, confessours and virgyns. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. ii. 296 (Ridley & Hooper) Their upper parts were but Confessours, when their lower parts were Martyrs, and burnt to ashes. 1675Baxter Cath. Theol. 33 Gods power to keep the fire from burning the three Confessors, Dan. 3. 1709Strype Ann. Ref. xxiii. 238 Miles Coverdale..a confessor and an exile. 1736Chandler Hist. Persec. 84 He is no more a Confessor in my esteem, than Laud is a Martyr. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Relig. Wks. (Bohn) II. 97 The English church has..the seal of martyrs and confessors. 1880Hatch Bampt. Lect. ii. 42 In times of persecution the confessors in prison had to be fed. 1885Arnold Cath. Dict. s.v., St. Martin was the first..of the Confessors whom the Church honoured with an office.
b. the Confessor: = King Edward the Confessor, canonized in 1161.
[c1143William of Malmesbury Gest. Reg. Angl. ii. §196 (heading) De Sancto Eadwardo Tertio, Rege et Confessore. c1245Estoire de St. Aedw. le Rei 4486 (Rolls) 151 Li seint Cumfessur, Aedward li rois.] 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xxiv. 1066 (R.) Good Edward, from the rest Of that renowned name by Confessor expressed. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. vi. §27, I confesse I understand not how the name Confessour is proper to King Edward. 1821Wordsw. Eccl. Sonn. i. xxxi. Norm. Conquest, The woman-hearted Confessor prepares The evanescence of the Saxon line. 1878Edith Thompson Hist. Eng. vii. §3. 1889 W. Hunt in Dict. Nat. Biog. XVII. 13/2 At the coronation of Henry III, in 1236, the Confessor's sword was carried before the king by the Earl of Chester.
3. One who hears confessions: a priest who hears confession of sin, prescribes penance, and grants absolution; the private spiritual director of a king or other great personage. Often pronounced |ˈkɒnfɛsɔː(r)| in the R.C. Church.[In med.L. better confessarius; but confessor in this sense is quoted by Du Cange from Walafrid Strabo (ob. 849).] 1340Ayenb. 172 He ssel zeche zuych ane confessour þet conne bynde and onbynde. c1400Rom. Rose 6860 Have me unto his confessour. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) VI. 457 Seynte Dunstan his confessour [Trevisa schriftfader]. 1530Palsgr. 208/1 Confessour a goostly father, confesseur. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. iii. 49 Being a Diuine, a Ghostly Confessor, A Sin-Absoluer, and my Friend profest. a1704T. Brown Sat. on Fr. King Wks. 1730 I. 59 Were I thy confessor, who am thy martyr, Dost think that I'd allow thee any quarter? 1737Hist. Register 58 Mr. Higget, appointed Confessor to his Majesty, in the Room of the late Dr. Sharp. 1795Southey Joan of Arc x. 191 With pious haste hurried the confessors To shrive them. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 181 From the confessor's closet they pulled the wires which moved courts. |