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单词 minotaur
释义

minotaurn.

Brit. /ˈmʌɪnətɔː/, /ˈmɪnətɔː/, U.S. /ˈmɪnəˌtɔr/
Forms: Old English–Middle English minotaurus, Middle English mynataur, Middle English mynataure, Middle English mynatour, Middle English mynotaur, Middle English mynotawr, Middle English mynotawre, Middle English–1600s minotaure, 1500s–1600s minataure, 1500s–1600s mynotaure, 1500s– minotaur; also Scottish pre-1700 menatair, pre-1700 menataur, pre-1700 minotaurus, pre-1700 mynataur, pre-1700 mynotawr, pre-1700 mynotawre.
Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin Minōtaurus.
Etymology: < classical Latin Minōtaurus ( < ancient Greek Μινώταυρος < Μίνως Minos (see Minoan adj. and n.) + ταῦρος bull: see tauro- comb. form). Compare Middle French Minotaur (15th cent. in an apparently isolated instance), French Minotaure (1671). In sense 3 after French minotaure (J. H. Fabre a1907 in the passage translated in quot. 1918 at sense 3), itself after scientific Latin Minotaurus, former genus name (E. Mulsant & A. Godart 1855, in Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon. 2 4).In Old English used with Latin case inflections (compare quot. eOE at sense 1a). N.E.D. (1906) gives the pronunciation as (mi·nŏtǭɹ) /ˈmɪnətɔː(r)/. The pronunciation /ˈmʌɪnətɔː/ is recorded in dictionaries from the middle of the 20th cent.
1.
a. Chiefly Greek Mythology. A monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull.Originally and chiefly used (in form Minotaur) of the mythical monster resulting from the union of Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos of Crete, and a bull. The Minotaur was confined in a labyrinth and fed with human flesh. It was eventually slain by Theseus, who thus freed Athens from a regular tribute of seven young men and seven young women sent to the monster.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > mythical creature or object > [noun] > characters from classical mythology > miscellaneous
minotaureOE
Tantalusc1369
Aegipan1538
Pandora1581
Briareus1589
Laocoön1601
hippalektryon1822
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. ix. 28 Þa Cretense hæfdon þone grimlecan sige, & ealle þa æðelestan bearn þara Atheniensa hi genoman, & sealdon þæm Minotauro to etanne, þæt wæs healf mon, healf leo.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 5291 Minotaure.
c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women 2104 Or ellis torn Mote I [sc. Theseus] be with the Mynotaur [v.rr. Mynataur, mynatour, Mynotawre] to-morwe!
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Trial of Fox l. 887 in Poems (1981) 37 The minotaur, ane monster meruelous.
1584 T. Hudson tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Hist. Judith vi. 90 Holophernes dreames of Deuils, and Dæmons dark & dim Medusas, Minotaurs, and Gorgons grim.
1607 T. Tomkis Lingua iv. ii. sig. H3 Like the laborinth, That Dedalus fram'd to inclose the Minotaure.
1658 Sir T. Browne Garden of Cyrus ii, in Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall 117 The Labyrinth of Crete..containing five large squares, communicating by right inflections, terminating in the centre of the middle square, and lodging of the Minotaur.
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite i, in Fables 5 High on his pointed Lance his Pennon bore His Cretan Fight, the conquer'd Minotaur.
1839 Southern Literary Messenger Nov. 711/1 We pass over..the race and deeds of the Titans..the exploits of Theseus and the death of the Minotaur.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 251/2 Theseus set out for Crete to deliver Athens from the tribute to the Minotaur.
1926 J. Galsworthy Silver Spoon iii. ix. 289 His eyes, like those of a tired minotaur, traversed her supple body with a gleam of interest.
1986 R. Dawkins Blind Watchmaker (BNC) 60 The player has the illusion that he is wandering about in an underground labyrinth..in which he encounters dragons, minotaurs or other mythic adversaries.
1993 H. Gardner Creating Minds vii. 293 Ariadne, who seeks to help her lover, Theseus, is menaced by the Minotaur; the Picassoesque monster is enacted as a young man wearing a bull's head and winding his arms around a heavy yoke.
b. Used allusively.
ΚΠ
1592 S. Daniel Complaynt of Rosamond in Delia sig. L.2 Heere I inclos'd from all the world a sunder, The Minotaure of shame kept for disgrace.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) v. v. 145 There Minotaurs and vgly Treasons lurke. View more context for this quotation
1658 W. Chamberlayne Loves Victory ii. 17 Hear him unravel the black clew that led Me into this dark labyrinth of grief, And tell me then where I have ever left Hopes to escape the Minotaure of passions.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxii. 77 But don't give yourself for a meal to a minotaur like Bult.
1900 United Service Mag. Jan. 427 All those who were the hope and future strength of the race were devoured by the Imperial Minotaur [sc. Napoleon] in pursuit of his dream of universal domination.
1939 S. Spender & M. G. Rees tr. G. Büchner Danton's Death i. iv. 42 The people is a Minotaur that must be fed with corpses every week if it is not to eat the Committee alive.
1950 T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party iii. 163 We talk of darkness, labyrinths, Minotaur terrors.
1965 Current Anthropol. 6 457/1 The book's elusive language veils a labyrinth, at the centre of which I would say there are several Minotaurs.
2. Chiefly Heraldry. A representation of a minotaur. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > hybrid creature or monster > [noun] > of classical mythology > others
chimera1382
minotaurc1385
Triton1584
c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale A. 980 By his baner born is his penoun..which ther was ybete The Mynotaur, which that he wan in Crete.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 49 R. beareth azure, a Minotaure d' Argente.
1789 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music (ed. 2) I. 337 In a medal inscribed Caleno, the Minotaur is seen.
3. In full minotaur beetle. A black Eurasian dung beetle, Typhaeus typhoeus (family Geotrupidae), which bears three horn-like projections on the thorax (in the male), and is typically found in sandy areas.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Scarabaeidae > member of (dung-beetle)
sharnbudc1000
dora1450
clock1568
sharn-bug1608
dung beetle1634
grey fly1638
dunghill beetle1658
comb-chafer1712
tumble-turd1754
tumble-dung1775
dung-chafer1805
tumble-bug1805
tumbler1807
bull-comber1813
straddle-bug1839
lamellicorn1842
scarabaeidan1842
shard-beetle1854
watchman1864
scarabaeoid1887
scarabaeid1891
minotaur1918
1918 A. Teixeira de Mattos tr. J. H. Fabre Sacred Beetle & Others xi. 183 Remember also the Minotaur, who looks as though he were going to spit his foe with his sheaf of three couched lances.
1968 Oxf. Bk. Insects 180/2 Minotaurs are locally common, mainly in spring and autumn, on sandy heaths as far north as Ayrshire.
1975 G. Evans Life of Beetles iii. 69 This type of co-operation [between the sexes] is well known in the Geotrupidae. In Britain, it is found both in the dor beetle (Geotrupes spp.) and in the minotaur beetle (Typhaeus typhoeus).
1993 M. Chinery Insects Brit. & N. Europe (ed. 3) 148 The Minotaur Beetle (Typhaeus typhoeus) prefers rabbit and sheep dung.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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