| 释义 |
Sphinx|sfɪŋks|
Pl. sphinges |ˈsfɪndʒiːz|, sphinxes. Also 5 spynx, 7–8 (9) sphynx.
[a. L. Sphinx, a. Gr. σϕίγξ (stem σϕιγγ-), app. f. σϕίγγειν to draw tight. So F. sphinx, It. sfinge, Sp. and Pg. esfinge.]
In generalized senses usually with small initial; otherwise with capital S.
1. a. Gr. Mythol. A hybrid monster, usually described as having the head of a woman and the (winged) body of a lion, which infested Thebes until the riddle it propounded was solved by Œdipus; also, any monster of a similar form and character.
1420–2Lydg. Thebes i. 624 And as I rede, Spynx this monstre hight. Ibid. ii. 2158 At thylke mount wher that Spynx was slawe. 1581Sidney Apol. Poet. (Arb.) 55 What that before tyme was, I thinke scarcely Sphinx can tell. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 342 Subtill as Sphinx, as sweet and musicall, As bright Apollos Lute. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 131 The vpper part of a Sphinx resembled a maide, and the lower a Lion. 1649Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 40/2 Geryons, Harpyes, Dragons, Sphinges Strange, Wheel, where in spacious gires the fume doth range. 1729Mandeville Fab. Bees II. 266 Do you lay any Stress upon Sphinxes, Basilisks, flying Dragons, and Bulls that spit Fire? 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 146 Several relievo's of plaster, representing a sphynx, a griffin, and other imaginary animals. 1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 347 Thou Sphinx, subtlest of fiends Who ministered to Thebes..unnatural love, and more unnatural hate. 1883Fortn. Rev. Feb. 193 The sphinx had an awkward habit of swallowing up those who could not guess her riddles.
b. transf. A person characterized by some quality of the Sphinx; esp. one who propounds or presents a difficult question or problem.
1603B. Jonson Sejanus ii. iii. [iii. i.], I am not Oedipus inough, To vnderstand this Sphynx. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xii. §8. 670/1 The Sphynx, who is said to be the Author of this ambiguous Riddle,..was Adam de Torleton. 1808Sporting Mag. XXX. 209 A lady named Gibson, one of the sphynxes of Fleet-market. 1857Kingsley Ten Y. Ago xxvii, He was a sphinx, a chimera, a lunatic broke loose, who took unintelligible delight in getting wet, and dirty. 1884Bath Herald 25 Oct. 3/2 Mr. Dodson has for many years been a political sphinx.
c. fig. A thing or subject of a mysterious or inscrutable nature.
a1610Healey Cebes (1636) 110 For ignorance is a Sphynx unto man. 1678Yng. Man's Call. 46 It is the philosophers sphinx, which however it may seem to propound toyes, yet devoureth all (as that did) who fall unwisely into its imbraces. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 13 History fairly questioned is no Sphinx.
2. a. A sculptured, carved, or moulded figure of an imaginary creature having a human head and breast combined with the body of a lion.
The Egyptian sphinxes usually exhibit male heads and wingless bodies; in the usual Greek type the head is female and the body winged.
α1579–80North Plutarch (1896) V. 320 He had a Sphinx of Yvory geven him by Verres. 1738Ld. Chesterfield in Common Sense 4 Mar. (1739) 33 A Sphynx of curious Workmanship and of inestimable Value. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 405 There is a sphinx upon it..mighty clearly expressed. 1865Livingstone Zambesi iv. 97 The southern end of the range rises in the form of an unfinished sphinx. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile Pref. p. xv, The stone lips of a colossal Sphinx, buried to the neck in sand.
β1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1290 Setting up ordinarily before the..gates of their temples, certaine Sphinges. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 315 With which agreeth also the Testimony of Plutarch, he adding a further Confirmation thereof from the Egyptian Sphinges. 1863Ld. Lytton Ring Amasis II. 32 The beautiful serious sphinges, with their smooth lion-limbs, and serene human faces. 1877Times 17 Feb. 4/5 There are handles ornamented with bull's heads, winged sphinges [etc.].
γ1651Cleveland Poems 31 As Temples use to have their Porches wrought With Sphynxes, creatures of an antick draught. 1766Walpole Lett. (1857) IV. 492 Two sphynxes in stone, with their heads coquetly reclined. 1814Heyne Tracts on India 336 In the Conjeveram pagoda there are pillars resting on sphynxes. 1888F. Hume Mme. Midas i. iii, The motionless calm which the old Egyptians gave to their sphinxes.
b. spec. The colossal stone image of this kind near the pyramids of El-Gizeh in Egypt.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage vi. i. I. 467 Not farre hence is that Sphynx, a huge Colosse, with the head of a Maid, and bodie of a Lion. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. ii. v. 134 It is said, that this Sphynx, so soon as the Sun was up, gave responses to any thing it was consulted about. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 681/2 The great sphynx was in his [Pliny's] time upwards of 62 feet above the surface of the ground. 1820Keats Hyperion i. 31 Her face was large as that of Memphian sphinx. 1869Rawlinson Anc. Hist. 68 Thothmes IV, who cut the great sphinx near the Pyramids. 1879W. J. Loftie Ride in Egypt 162 To some the Sphinx is part of the great ‘Time-passage’ theory.
3. A kind of ape; in mod. use, a sphinx-baboon.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 17 The Sphinx or Sphinga is of the kinde of Apes... In the promontory of the farthest Arabia, neer Dira, are Sphinges, and..Lyons. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage vi. i. I. 466 Other Apes there are store,..Satyres with feet like Goats, and Sphynges, with breasts like women and hairie. 1871Cassell's Nat. Hist. I. 148 This excited the indignation of the Sphinx, who trotted off to the further end of his cage.
4. An insect belonging to the lepidopterous genus Sphinx or to the family represented by this, so called from the attitude frequently assumed by the caterpillar.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Sphinx,..a name given by Mr. Reaumur to a very singular species of caterpillar. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (1818) II. 369 The most remarkable insects in this respect are the sphinxes, and from this they doubtless took their name of hawk-moths. 1824Forsyth Fruit Trees xxvii. 396 The Sphinges appear either early in the morning, or after sunset. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 310 This order [sc. Lepidoptera] has been divided into three groups, called..butterflies, sphinges, and moths. 1882Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 25 The larvæ of many Sphinges, etc., construct a cell in the ground.
5. a. attrib., as sphinx-enigma, sphinx-face, sphinx-figure, sphinx-form, sphinx-look, sphinx-question, sphinx-riddle.
1832[G. Long] Egypt. Antiq. I. x. 218 So great is the variety of forms in which sphinx-figures occur. Ibid. 225 Some light on the origin of the sphinx-form. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. vi. i, What Sphinx-questions; which the distracted world..must answer or die! 1862― Fredk. Gt. xiii. i, One must act, and act at once; but it is a perfect sphinx-enigma to say How. 1886W. Graham Social Probl. 41 The veritable sphinx-riddle which not to solve is to be destroyed. 1900Cent. Mag. Feb. 510/2 You still might see..the sphinx face of the old West, smiling, mysterious, alluring. 1923D. H. Lawrence Ladybird 230 The queer, blank, sphinx-look with which he gazed out beyond himself.
b. Comb., as sphinx-faced, sphinx-guarded, sphinx-lined.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. vii. 69, I have..heard that the close approach to land of these sphinx-faced monsters [sc. walrus] portends a storm. 1857J. Hamilton Less. fr. Gt. Biogr. 88 The Pharaohs sleep grandly in their sphinx-guarded sepulchres. 1865J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire iii. viii. 383 [Pharaoh] proceeded..along the sphinx-lined avenue to the terrace of the Nile.
c. Special combs.: sphinx-baboon, the Guinea Baboon (Cynocephalus or Papio sphinx); sphinx moth, = sense 4.
1839Darwin Surv. Voy. Nat. III. ii. 37 Whenever I saw these little creatures..I was reminded of the sphinx moths. 1871Cassell's Nat. Hist. 149 The Sphinx Baboon..is commonly seen in menageries, and stuffed in museums. 1939Duncan & Pickwell World of Insects x. 168 The caterpillars of the family of sphinx moths..have earned their name of ‘sphinx’ by their habit of rearing up their front ends, drawing in their heads, and thus assuming a threatening attitude. 1972Sci. Amer. June 73/1 The larger sphinx moths weigh from two to six grams.
Hence ˈsphinxian a., of or pertaining to the Sphinx; sphinx-like. ˈsphinxily adv., in a sphinx-like manner. ˈsphinxine a., characteristic of the Sphinx; enigmatical, mysterious. ˈsphinxineness, sphinx-like obscurity.
1598Marston Pygmal., Sat. ii. 142 And in such pitchy clouds enwrapped beene His *Sphinxian riddles, that old Oedipus Would be amaz'd. 1746Brit. Mag. 53 Like the Monster represented in the Sphinxian Riddle. 1889Jrnl. Educ. 1 Nov. 575/1 The Œdipus to this sphinxian enigma seems unlikely to make his appearance.
1889Pall Mall G. 25 Nov. 4 Mr. Marston smiled *sphinxily.
1845Mrs. Browning in Lett. R. Browning & E. B. Barrett (1899) I. 53 People say of you and of me..that we love the darkness and use a *sphinxine idiom in our talk. 1845― Lett. (1897) I. 254 The sin of Sphinxine literature I admit. Have I not struggled hard to renounce it?
Ibid., Tell me honestly..if anything like the *Sphinxineness of Browning, you discover in me. |