| 单词 | in the twinkling of a bedstaff |
| 释义 | > as lemmasin the twinkling of a bedstaff A staff or stick used in some way about a bed. Formerly well-known as a ready weapon: hence, probably, the phrase in the twinkling of a bedstaff: cf. ‘the twinkling of an eye’: (a) Dr. Johnson explains it as: ‘a wooden pin stuck anciently on sides of the bed-stead to hold the cloaths from slipping on either side’ (for this, no authority is given, and no corroborative evidence has been found); (b) the stout sticks or staves laid (loose) across the bed-stocks in old wooden bedsteads, to support the bedding (the precursors of the modern ‘laths’), are in Scotland called bed-rungs (rung = staff, cudgel), and in some parts of England bed-sticks: they often served as improvised weapons; (c) when a bed is fixed in a recess, a stick or staff is used to help in making it, and sometimes called a bed-stick.The ‘bed-staves’ in quot. 1626, six to each bed, were, of course, (b). ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > bed > parts of bed > [noun] > other parts bed-board1530 bedstaff1576 underbed1648 ruelle1751 bed-screw1758 watch-pocket1831 knob1848 box spring1851 watch-case1891 1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health iii. f. 147 Sturring it..well about, with a short bedde staffe. 1626 Alleyn's Will All the furniture in the twelve poor schollars chamber, that is to say, six bedsteads, sixe mattresses, six feather beds..three dozen of bedstaves, and six pewter chamber potts. a1652 R. Brome City Wit iv. iii. sig. E8, in Five New Playes (1653) Say there is no virtue in Cudgels, and Bedstaves. 1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 49 Beating his bare Hip with a Bed-staff. 1840 R. H. Barham Lady Rohesia in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 281 In her hand she grasped the bed-staff, a weapon of mickle might. < as lemmas |
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