| 单词 | step-devil |
| 释义 | > as lemmasstep-devil In 1755 Johnson says that stepmother is the only one of the compounds of step- that has survived in general use. At the present day stepfather is hardly less frequently used, and stepson, -daughter, -child, -brother, -sister are by no means rare, while stepdame occurs in somewhat archaistic language (chiefly figurative). In the 16th and 17th centuries a few writers employed the prefix in nonce-formations which would now seem un-English, as step-devil, a term of abhorrence for a stepmother; step-duchess, the stepmother of a duke's children; step-lord, one who has the position of a lord without the true lord's affection for his subjects; step-Tully, one who assumes the function of a Cicero. New formations with the prefix, denoting actual relations of affinity, do not appear earlier than the 19th cent.; in the latter part of the century they became somewhat common, chiefly as more or less jocular nonce-words, though one or two of them, as step-nephew, step-niece, have obtained some currency in serious use.extracted from step-comb. form< as lemmas |
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