单词 | fire cross |
释义 | fire crossn. Now historical. A piece of wood, charred and dipped in blood, used among Scottish clans as a signal to summon men to arms. Cf. fiery cross n. 1, crostarie n.To ensure that the summons reached everyone in a short amount of time, the fire cross was relayed at speed from one appointed clansman to another until the whole district had been covered. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military organization > signals > [noun] > call to arms > by symbol fire cross1523 fiery cross1587 crostarie1685 war-kettle1754 war-hatchet1760 war-post1826 war-arrow1865 1523 Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes f. 197 That thai cum furtht..as thai sall be warnit be..fire cors or outhorne. 1547 in Reg. Privy Seal Scotl. (1936) III. 400/1 The fyre croce being borne throw the haill realme. 1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. Pref. sig. aviii Caused ye fier crosse..to be caried: whearof the solempnitee is never vsed, but in an vrgent nede. 1612 J. Speed Theatre of Empire of Great Brit. ix. xxii. 804/2 The Gouernour of Scotland..commanded his Herauldes with all possible diligence, to passe through all the parts of the Realme, and the fire Crosse to be borne wheresoeuer they came. 1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 65 To..proclaime a fire-crosse to a..perpetuall civill warre. 1675 in J. R. N. Macphail Highland Papers (1914) I. 305 Sending through the isle of Mull, Morverne, and other places fyre croces for convocating of the country people in arms. 1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. at Cresset They still raise armies in Scotland by carrying about the fire cross. 1794 J. L. Buchanan Def. Scots Highlanders 216 Where the country was more flat, or less exposed to the stationary places of keeping guard, they used the fire-cross, or Croish t'Arridh, the slaughter-cross. 1823 J. Lingard Hist. Eng. (ed. 2) VII. i. 19 Arran had dispatched the fire-cross from clan to clan. 1903 C. H. Forbes-Lindsay India II. xiv. 207 Somewhat analogous to that of the Fire-cross of our own Highland clans in earlier times. 2012 L. Zumas Listeners 222 Hundreds of years ago in the Highlands, he declined to send forward the fire cross. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1523 |
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