| 释义 |
cynic, a. and n.|ˈsɪnɪk|
Also 6 cinike, 6–7 cinick(e, cynicke, -ike, -ique, 6–8 cynick, (7 cinnick(e, cynnick).
[ad. L. cynic-us (perh. in part through F.; cf. cinicque, 1521 in Hatzf.), a. Gr. κυνικός dog-like, currish, churlish, Cynic, f. κύων, κυν-ός dog: see -ic.
In the appellation of the Cynic philosophers there was prob. an original reference to the κυνόσαργες, a gymnasium where Antisthenes taught; but popular use took it simply in the sense ‘dog-like, currish’, so that κύων ‘dog’ became a nickname for ‘Cynic’.]
A. adj.
1. (With capital initial.) Belonging to or characteristic of the sect of philosophers called Cynics: see B. 1.
1634Milton Comus 708 O foolishness of men! that.. fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub, Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence! 1846Trench Mirac. iii. (1862) 145 The Cynic philosopher. 1868tr. Zeller's Socrates 247 The Cynic philosophy claims to be the genuine teaching of Socrates.
2. Having the qualities of a cynic (see B. 2); pertaining to a cynic; cynical.
1597Pilgr. Parnass. iv. 468, I am not such a peece of Cinicke earthe That I neglect sweete beauties deitie. 1676Glanvill Seas. Refl. 136 No sullen or Cynick humours, but the complaint of all mankind. 1811W. R. Spencer Poems 51 Cold Cynic censurers. 1851Disraeli Ld. G. Bentinck (1852) 12 The cynic smile..the signal of a contempt which he was too haughty to express.
3. cynic year or cynic period: the canicular cycle of the ancient Egyptians; see canicular 3.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 112 That Egyptian Cynick Year which is accomplished but once in 1460 years. 1837Fraser's Mag. XVI. 632 This erratic period of 1461 years became the great regulating cycle of the Egyptian calendar, under the name of the cynic or canicular period.
4. cynic spasm: see quot. 1882.
1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xiv. 474 A Cynick Spasm came upon him. 1882Syd. Soc. Lex., Cynic spasm, a convulsive contraction of the facial muscles of one side..so that the teeth are shown in the manner of an angry dog.
B. n.
1. (With capital initial.) One of a sect of philosophers in ancient Greece, founded by Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, who were marked by an ostentatious contempt for ease, wealth, and the enjoyments of life; the most famous was Diogenes, a pupil of Antisthenes, who carried the principles of the sect to an extreme of asceticism.
1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) i. xix, He fel straight to the sect of the cinikes, and became Diogenes scholer. 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 15 Like the Cynique shut up alwaye in a Tub. 1751J. Brown Shaftesb. Charac. 174 All the old philosophers, from the elegant Plato walking on his rich carpets, to the unbred cynic snarling in his tub. 1868tr. Zeller's Socrates 256 To the Cynic nothing is good but virtue, nothing bad but vice.
2. A person disposed to rail or find fault; now usually: One who shows a disposition to disbelieve in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions, and is wont to express this by sneers and sarcasms; a sneering fault-finder.
1596Edward III, ii. i, Age is a cynic, not a flatterer. 1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. ii. ii, Thou art such another Cynique now, a man had need walke uprightly before thee. 1632Heywood Iron Age i. i. Wks. 1874 III. 281 Peace Cinicke, barke not dogge. 1782Cowper Progr. Err. 175 Blame, cynic, if you can, quadrille or ball. 1866Alger Solit. Nat. & Man ii. 63 The cynic, who admires and enjoys nothing, despises and censures everything. 1879G. Meredith Egoist vii. (1889) 60 Cynics are only happy in making the world as barren to others as they have made it for themselves. |