单词 | to give, etc, a hostage to fortune |
释义 | > as lemmasto give, etc., a hostage to fortune 3. generally. A pledge or security. spec. in to give, etc., a hostage to fortune: to deliver one's future happiness, success, etc., into the hands of fate. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > agreement > security > [noun] > a pledge or security warrantisea1300 surancec1300 borrow-gage1303 suretyc1330 wage1338 wed1340 again-behotera1382 hostagec1400 sickeringa1450 gage1486 soverty1488 vadimonyc1503 pledge1526 slauntiagh1535 band1596 mortgage1598 ward and warsela1600 covenant1644 guaranty1697 security1711 guaranteeship1715 cautionment1815 guarantee1832 the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > must as decreed by fate [verb (intransitive)] > incline towards fatalism > deliver or be delivered into the hands of fate to give, etc., a hostage to fortune1609 c1400 Rom. Rose 7312 Though ye borowes take of me, The sikerer shal ye never be For ostages, ne sikirnesse, Or chartres. 1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres ii. xxiv. sig. H2 The ost of Christ an ostage for his troth. 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iii. ii. 104 You know now your hostages, your Vncles word and my firme faith. View more context for this quotation 1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 23 Hee that hath wife and children, hath given hostages to fortune. For they are impediments to great enterprises, either of vertue, or of mischief. 1732 T. Fuller Gnomologia 253 Wife and Children are Hostages given to Fortune. 1865 J. G. Whittier Snow-bound 483 One who wisely schemed, And hostage from the future took In trained thought and lore of book. 1875 M. E. Braddon (title) Hostages to fortune. 1934 J. E. Neale Queen Elizabeth xiv. 235 But to enter on war was to give hostages to fortune. Her instinct was to gamble on avoiding it. 1950 W. S. Churchill Second World War IV. i. xi. 194 Once several good outfits are prepared, any one of which can attack a Japanese-held base or island and beat the life out of the garrison, all their islands will become hostages to fortune. 1965 Listener 4 Nov. 728/2 Every manufacturer who indulges in advertising is giving a hostage to fortune in that he is inviting public confidence in his goods and service, and he will rapidly go out of business if he cannot live up to his claims. 1968 Listener 28 Nov. 710/2 Denmark was almost a hostage to fortune by being in Nato at all. < as lemmas |
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