| 释义 |
▪ I. duel, n.|ˈdjuːəl|
Also 7 duell.
[a. F. duel, ad. It. duello or med.L. duellum, an ancient form of L. bellum, retained in archaic lang. and by the poets, and app. appropriated in late or med.L. to the fight of two combatants. The L. duellum was also in earlier Eng. use.
Isidore c. 600 says ‘Bellum antea duellum vocatum, eo quod sunt duæ dimicantium partes, vel quod alterum faciat victorem et alterum victum’.]
1. A regular fight between two persons; a single combat. spec.
†a. A judicial single combat; trial by wager of battle. Obs. exc. Hist.
[1284Act 12 Edw. I (Stat. Walliæ) c. 8, Placita de terris in partibus istis non habent terminari per duellum, neque per magnam assisam. 1299see fine n. 6. 1397 W. Wyrc. Ann. in Wars Eng. in Fr. (Rolls) II. ii. 754 Duellum inter Henricum ducem Lancastriæ, appellantem, et comitem Norfolche, defendentem. 1600Abp. Abbot Exp. Jonah 550 How many lawes did Moses make, but none for the duellum or combat betweene two?] 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. vi. 23 Were it not for his function, he would enter the Duell or Combat with them in the field, to acquit himselfe both of Treason and Perjury. 1709Steele Tatler No. 31 ⁋1 When a Man is sued, be it for his Life or his Land, the Person that joins the Issue, whether Plaintiff or Defendant, may put the Trial upon the Duel. 1875J. Fowler in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl. III. 270 A certain man..was vanquished in a duel.
b. In current use: A private fight between two persons, pre-arranged and fought with deadly weapons, usually in the presence of at least two witnesses called seconds, having for its object to decide a personal quarrel or to settle a point of honour.
[1606L. Bryskett Civ. Life 65 This kind of chalenging and fighting man to man, vnder the name of Duellum, which is vsed now a dayes among souldiers and men of honour, and by long custome authorized, to discharge a man of an iniury receiued.] 1611Coryat Crudities 506 They fought a Duell, that is, a single combat in a field hard by Spira. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Fr. Lawyer i. i, Private Duells which had their first originall from the French. a1683Sidney Disc. Govt. iii. xxviii. (1704) 353 When Duels were in fashion (as all know they were lately). 1727Swift What passed in Lond. Wks. 1755 III. i. 186 A duel was fought..between two colonels. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xi, He and Mr. Haredale are going to fight a duel.
c. A sustained fight between two animals.
1890Baker Wild Beasts & their Ways I. 287, I never..witnessed a duel between this dog and a leopard. Ibid. 303 During this duel [of two bucks] the herd of females stood entranced.
2. Duelling, as a practice having its code of laws.
1615T. Tomkis Albumazar iv. vii, Understand'st thou well nice points of duel?..by strict laws of duel, I am excus'd To fight on disadvantage. 1822Shelley tr. Calderon's Magico Prod. i. 247, I know little of the laws of duel.
3. Any contest between two persons or parties.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 802 If he [Aconite] finde our bodies fore-possest With other Poyson..with his Rivall enters secret Duel. 1612–15Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. ii. iii (Christ tempted), This duel was for us. 1671Milton P.R. i. 173 Victory and triumph to the Son of God Now entering his great duel. 1781Cowper Convers. 84 Preserve me from..A duel in the form of a debate. 1839Alison Hist. Europe (1849–50) VII. xlii. §27. 110 It was a duel between France and England, and France had succumbed. 1888Pall Mall G. 1 Aug. 1/1 The duel between Mr. Parnell and Mr. Chamberlain hardly came up to general expectation.
4. Comb., as duel-cut, duel-trial.
1631in Cobbett St. Trials, Ld. Uchiltrie III. 474 If his majesty is pleased to admit torture before a duel-trial the pannel is ready..to bear out the torture. 1871Carlyle in Mrs. C.'s Lett. I. 33 Big German refugee..scarred with duel-cuts.
▪ II. duel, v.|ˈdjuːəl|
[f. prec. n.: cf. med.L. duellāre.]
1. intr. To fight a duel; to engage in single combat. Also to duel it.
c1645Vox Turturis 8 Dimicare, to duell or fight. a1661Fuller Worthies i. (1662) 179 The thirty English, who for the honour of the Nation, undertook to duel with as many Britons. a1679Earl of Orrery Guzman i, Nay, if you will duel it, you shall do it without Seconds. 1795S. Rogers Poems, Written for Mrs. Siddons 99 The Sires..Knelt for a look, and duelled for a smile. 1886W. J. Tucker E. Europe 61 ‘We duel a great deal, and must be ready, on the slightest provocation, to defend our honour’.
†2. trans. To encounter in a duel or combat.
a1659Cleveland Gen. Poems, etc. (1677) 152 This is an Heresie where you stand alone, and..with your single Valour duel an Army. 1698B. F. Modest Censure 31 Dr. Whitby and Mr. Norris, who have duell'd one another about the Love of the Creature. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 38 The Stage on which St. George duell'd and kill'd the Dragon.
†b. To overcome or kill in a duel. Obs.
1673O. Walker Educ. 60 How many have bin murthered, more duelled, upon play-quarrels! a1716South Serm. (1737) II. vi. 215 He might so fashionably and genteelly..have been duelled or fluxed into another world.
Hence ˈduelling ppl. a.
1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 58, I was talking over the correspondence with a duelling gentleman.
▪ III. duel
obs. f. dole n.2, grief; obs. f. dwell. |