| 释义 |
actress|ˈæktrɪs|
Also 8 actrice.
[f. actor + -ess; probably formed independently of Fr. actrice, which is occasionally found instead.]
At first used only in the general sense, not in the dramatic; now only in the dramatic, not in the general.
†1. A female actor or doer. Obs. repl. by actor.
1589Warner Albion's Eng. (1612) 335 Opportunitie, the chiefe Actresse in all attempts, gaue the Plaudite in Loue. 1596C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 25 Tasking your pens to pen a womans praise, And she the actresse of your owne disease. 1626Cockeram, Actresse, a woman doer. 1670Lond. Gaz. cccclxviii. 1 A principal Lady of the Island who was proved to be an Actress or Accomplice in the assassinate. 1712Addison Spectator No. 273 ⁋8 Vergil has, indeed, admitted Fame as an actress in the æneid, but the part she acts is short. [Mod. The female prisoner appears to have been the chief actor in the tragic scene.]
2. a. A female player on the stage. (actor was at first used for both sexes.)
1666Pepys Diary 27 Dec., Doll Common doing Abigail most excellently, & Knipp the widow very well, & will be an excellent actor, I think. 1700Dryden Epil. to Pilgrim 40 To stop the trade of love behind the scene, Where actresses make bold with married men. 1711Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) III. 368 Study'd action and artificial gesture may be allow'd to the actors and actrices of the stage. 1741Walpole Lett. to H. Mann 6 (1834) I. 15 A bad actress, but she has life. 1790Boswell Johnson xxiv. (Routl.) 214 This elegant and fashionable actress. 1882Academy 8 July 39/2 As long as such an actress treads the boards, it is possible to take a worthy view of the functions of the theatre.
b. as the actress said to the bishop (or as the bishop said to the actress): a catch-phrase mischievously implying a sexual innuendo in a preceding innocent remark.
1935L. Charteris Saint in N. Y. viii. 253 What's in a name?—as the actress said to the bishop when he told her that she reminded him of Aspasia. 1953K. Amis Lucky Jim xii. 123 If you don't know what to do I can't show you, as the actress said to the bishop. 1973M. Russell Double Hit i. 12 The player was a stereo job in moulded mahogany... ‘Admiring my equipment?’ Adrian re-emerged with a sandwich on a plate. ‘As the actress said to the bishop. You get a terrific tone... At least, so the man assured me who installed it all: I've never managed to do exactly what he did, as the bishop said to the actress.’
3. Comb. actress-manageress (cf. actor-manager).
1894G. B. Shaw in W. Archer Theatr. ‘World’ 1893 Pref. p. xxix, The time is ripe for the advent of the actress-manageress. 1937Times 29 Sept. 8/3 A National Theatre that fulfilled the aspirations of actors and actreses would have to consist of plays every part of which was written for actor-managers or actress-manageresses. |