| 释义 |
▪ I. emblem, n.|ˈɛmbləm|
Also 5–7 embleme.
[ad. L. emblēma inlaid work, a raised ornament on a vessel, a. Gr. ἔµβληµα an insertion, f. ἐµβλη- perfect etc. stem of ἐµβάλλειν to throw in.]
†1. An ornament of inlaid work. Obs.
1656Blount Glossogr., Emblem, any fine work cunningly set in wood or other substance, as we see in chessboards and tables. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 703 The ground more colour'd then with stone Of costliest Emblem. 1678in Phillips. 1775Ash, Emblem, an inlay, an enamel, that which is inserted into some other substance.
†2.
a. A drawing or picture expressing a moral fable or allegory; a fable or allegory such as might be expressed pictorially. Obs.
c1430Lydg. Chorle & Byrde (1818) 1 Emblemes of olde likenes and figures Whiche prouyd hen fructuous of sentence. 1625Bacon Ess. Seditions & Troubles (Arb.) 407 Iupiter..sent for Briareus, with his hundred Hands..An Embleme, no doubt, to shew, etc. 1635Quarles Embl. Introd. (1718) 2 An Emblem is but a silent parable. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. 294, I like that Embleme of Charity..a naked child, giving honey to a Bee without wings. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 52 Like the Asse..in the Embleme. 1730–6Bailey, Emblem, a painted enigma or representation of some moral notion by way of device or picture.
†b. abstr.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. 58 Embleme [one of the two parts of the ‘art of memory’] reduceth conceits intellectuall to Images sensible.
3. a. A picture of an object (or the object itself) serving as a symbolical representation of an abstract quality, an action, state of things, class of persons, etc.
1601Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 44 One Captaine Spurio with his sicatrice an Embleme of warre heere on his sinister cheeke. 1613― Hen. VIII, iv. i. 89 The rod, and bird of peace, and all such Emblemes Laid nobly on her. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 89 Such beasts..are emblemes..of Christian vertues. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 159 The short cut coat is the emblem of a military profession. 1837Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) III. v. 76 The ox is thought to be the emblem of life or strength. 1872Yeats Tech. Hist. Comm. 69 The spindle or the loom was the emblem of woman.
b. In wider sense: A symbol, typical representation. Sometimes applied to a person: The ‘type’, personification (of some virtue or quality).
a1631Donne Hymne to Christ, What sea soever swallow mee, that flood Shall be to mee an embleme of thy blood. 1683Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 480 For my Lord Treasurer and Lord Chamberlain, I found them two most admirable Emblems of the..Felicity of Ministers of State. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 14 And my Father, an Embleme of our blessed Saviour's Parable, had even kill'd the fatted Calf for me. 1758Johnson Idler No. 43 ⁋5 The evening is an emblem of autumn. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. ii. 28 Mary Stuart..the emblem and exponent of all that was most Roman in Europe. 1875Hamerton Intell. Life ix. vi. (1876) 333 Ocean, stars, and mountains, emblems and evidences of eternity.
4. A figured object used with symbolic meaning, as the distinctive badge of a person, family, nation, etc. Chiefly of heraldic devices, and of the symbolic objects accompanying the images of saints.
1616J. Lane Sqrs. Tale ix. (1888) 479 So after his dead lord was pale and cold, takes off his ensigne, which his emblem bore. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts 78 This tree in after-times became the Emblem of that Country. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxviii, The Blue Falcon, the emblem of the Clan Quhele. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Poet Wks. (Bohn) I. 160 See the power of national emblems..a crescent, a lion, an eagle, or other figure, on an old rag of bunting. 1864Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. ix. 53 The weapon represents the emblem of St. Paul.
†5. In pl. The evidences of sex. Obs.
1621Fletcher Pilgrim iv. ii, Where are his emblems?
6. attrib. emblem book, a book containing drawings with accompanying interpretations of their allegorical meaning; so emblem poem, emblem writer, etc.
1870H. Green Shakesp. & Emblem Writers ii. 30 (heading) Sketch of emblem-book literature previous to a.d. 1616. Ibid. iii. 107 Of the Emblem-books in Spanish, German, Flemish, Dutch, and English, only the last would be available for Shakespeare's benefit. 1888G. E. Sears (title) A collection of emblem books by Andrea Alciati. 1945D. Bush Eng. Lit. in Earlier 17th Cent. 581 The latest and fullest study of Quarles's emblem imagery is by E. James. 1948R. Freeman Eng. Emblem Books App. I. 238, I have taken for my criterion four characteristics commonly agreed to be essential by the emblem writers themselves. These are: 1. An emblem book should be a collection of moral symbols. 2. It should have pictures, or..should postulate the existence of pictures. 3. Attached to each picture should be a motto or brief sententia... 4. There should be an explanatory poem or passage of prose in which the picture and motto are interpreted and a moral..is drawn. 1963N. & Q. May 168/1 Some of the illustrated Arma Christi verses..are rudimentary emblem poems. Ibid., The medieval poems are not deliberately collected into ‘emblem books’.
▪ II. emblem, v.|ˈɛmbləm|
Also 7 embleme.
[f. prec.]
trans. To be the emblem of (something); to express, symbolize, or suggest by means of an emblem. Also, to emblem forth.
1584G. Whetstone Mirour for Magistr. Epistle, etc., ad. fin. c1605Rowley Birth Merl. iv. v. 344 Those by-form'd fires..emblem two royal babes. 1636Henshaw Horæ Sub. 28 Much knowledge, not much speech, emblem's a wise man. 1652Sparke Prim. Devot. (1663) 314 To emblem forth his variety of operations. 1663J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 313 This mystery of Providence was emblemed in the prophetick vision of a wheel. 1840Carlyle Heroes iii. (1858) 257 All Christianism, as Dante and the Middle Ages had it, is emblemed here. 1845Neale Mirr. Faith 84 And Holy Church hath Her banners high To emblem her Saviour's Victory. |