| 释义 |
▪ I. † cowan1 Sc. Obs. rare—1.
[? a. Gaelic cobhan coffer, box, ark.]
A fishing-boat.
1722Wodrow Hist. Church Sc. II. 535 The Earl..resolved to man out..thirty large cowans or fisher-boats.
▪ II. cowan2|ˈkəʊən|
Also 7 kowan, 8 cowen.
[Derivation unknown.]
1. Sc. One who builds dry stone walls (i.e. without mortar); a dry-stone-diker; applied derogatorily to one who does the work of a mason, but has not been regularly apprenticed or bred to the trade.
1598Stat. & Ord. Maister Maissounis in D. M. Lyon Hist. Lodge Edinb. (1873) 10 That na maister or follow of craft ressaue ony cowanis to wirk in his societie or companye, nor send nane of his servands to wirk wt cowanis, under the pane of twentie punds. 1794Statist. Acc. Scot. X. 267 (Jam.) A boat carpenter, joiner, cowan (or builder of stone without mortar), gets 1s. at the minimum, and good maintenance. 1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 3 The men who are employed in building walls for inclosing fields are called..cowans, to distinguish them from the regular masons. 1873Mackelvie Ann. U.P. Church 511 He was by trade ‘a cowan’, that is an occupation combining the callings of a mason and house carpenter in one.
2. Hence, One uninitiated in the secrets of Freemasonry; one who is not a Mason.
1707[Mother Kilwinning Lodge, Ayrshire, defines the Cowan as a Mason ‘without the word’]. c1742in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 525 They..are to guard the Lodge, with a drawn Sword, from all Cowens and Eves-droppers. 1767J. Anderson Constit. Free Masons iv. 96 The Working Masons..ever will have their own Wages..let Cowans do as they please. 1767Collect. Masonic Songs xli. 69 The Cowan may strive, nay plot and contrive To find out our great mystery. 1881Text Bk. Freemasonry 2. 55 Armed with a drawn sword, to keep off all Cowans and intruders to Masonry.
3. slang. ‘A sneak, an inquisitive or prying person’ (Slang Dict.).
4. attrib. Uninitiated, outside, ‘profane’.
1855Strang Glasgow (1856) 416 This tavern—shut off from the observation and the ken of the ‘cowan’ world. |