| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈprisoner1 Obs. exc. dial.
[f. prison n. or v. + -er1: cf. jail-er; also med.L. præsonerius (1285 in Const. K. James of Sicily, Du Cange), and Anglo-L. prisonātor (c 1290 in Fleta i. xx. §9).]
The keeper of a prison; a jailer.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2042 So gan him [iosep] luuen ðe prisuner, And him ðe chartre haueð bi-taȝt, Wið ðo prisunes to liuen in haȝt. [Still sometimes so used dialectally. It was familiar to me in childhood. J.A.H.M.]
▪ II. prisoner2|ˈprɪz(ə)nə(r)|
Forms: see prison n.; also 6 priesoner.
[ME. a. F. prisonnier (prisonier, 12–13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) = med.L. pris(i)ōnāri-us (14th c. in Du Cange): see prison n. and -er2 2.]
1. a. One who is kept in prison or in custody; spec. one who is in custody as the result of a legal process, either as having been condemned to imprisonment as a punishment, or as awaiting trial for some offence.
prisoner at the bar: a person in custody upon a criminal charge, and on trial in a court of justice. prisoner of conscience, one who is detained or imprisoned because of his or her political or religious beliefs. prisoner of state, state prisoner, one confined for political or state reasons.
13..Coer de L. 754 To the jayler thanne sayd he: ‘Thy presoners let me see!’ 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 136 She leteth passe prisoneres and payeth for hem ofte. c1425Cursor M. 9598 (Laud) She was algate abowte For to haue this presonar [earlier MSS. prisun, etc.] owt. 1552Lyndesay Monarche 4107 The rest in Egypt thay did sende, Presonaris to thare lyuis ende. 1637Documents agst. Prynne (Camden) 68 A letter..for the removing of William Prinne from the Goale or Castle of Carnarvon,..to one of the two Castles of the Isle of Jersey,..to be there kept close prisoner. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 60 A prisner to the Inquisition. 1660Trial Regic. 32 The Court being Assembled, the Keeper was commanded to set the Prisoners to the Bar. 1670Act 22 & 23 Chas. II, c. 20 §13 That it shall not be lawful hereafter.., to put, keep or lodge Prisoners for Debt and Felons together in one Room. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. xxii. 296 The justice, before whom such prisoner is brought, is bound immediately to examine the circumstances of the crime alleged. 1807(title) Case of St. John Mason, who was confined as a state-prisoner, in Kilmainham. 1824Act 5 Geo. IV, c. 85 §26 If there be indorsed upon such Pass..the Words ‘Pass of a discharged Prisoner’. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 416/2 When a convict or prisoner (for that is the colonial phrase) becomes free, either by serving out the period of his sentence of transportation or by obtaining a pardon. 1848W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 75 Standing in a firm and graceful attitude, at the end of the prisoner's bench, he gazed deliberately upon the audience. c1900What of the Night? (Ch. Army Press) 20 The Church Army has been officially appointed by the Home Office a ‘Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society’. 1961Amnesty 11 July 2/1 What are the facts we need? There are thousands of them and each one is a human being, a prisoner of conscience behind bars because of his political views or religious beliefs. 1962Time to keep Silence (Amnesty International), Prisoners of Conscience are of two distinct sorts—those prepared to suffer persecution because they have the courage of their convictions, and those who are prisoners of their own conscience because they lack the courage of their convictions. When the latter become the former, all of us will be free. 1970Times 20 Apr. 6/5 A great many prisoners of conscience, it claims, are sent with or without trial ‘to the so-called special psychiatric hospitals’. 1977Guernsey Weekly Press 21 July 6/6 A prisoner of conscience is a person who is detained because of his political, racial or religious beliefs.
b. prisoner's dilemma (see quot. 1957); prisoner's friend Armed services, an officer who represents a defendant at a court martial.
1957Luce & Raiffa Games & Decisions v. 95 We turn now to a different example of a non-zero-sum game. This one is attributed to A. W. Tucker... The following interpretation, known as the prisoner's dilemma is popular: Two suspects are taken into custody and separated. The district attorney is certain that they are guilty of a specific crime, but he does not have adequate evidence to convict them at a trial. He points out to each prisoner that each has two alternatives: to confess to the crime the police are sure they have done, or not to confess. If they both do not confess..he will book them on some very minor trumped-up charge..and they will both receive minor punishment; if they both confess they will be prosecuted, but he will recommend less than the most severe sentence; but if one confesses and the other does not, then the confessor will receive lenient treatment for turning state's evidence whereas the latter will get ‘the book’ slapped at him. 1963Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. LXVI. 308/2 Trust of the other person plays a critical role in determining choices made in Prisoner's Dilemma games. 1977A. W. Tucker MS. letter (copy in O.E.D. files), The Prisoner's Dilemma is my brain child. I concocted it at Stanford in early 1950 as a catchy example to enliven a semi-popular talk on Game Theory... My example became known by the ‘grapevine’, but I did not publish it.
1900Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 10/1 Lieutenant ―..was assigned as advocate for the prisoner, or ‘prisoner's friend’, as the term stands in the military system of jurisprudence. 1914‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions xxi. 198 The Prisoner's Friend then gave evidence. 1972J. Potter Going West 191 He was prisoner's friend to you in that spot of unpleasantness during the war.
2. a. One who has been captured in war; one who has fallen into the hands of or surrendered to an opponent; a captive. to take (a person) prisoner, to seize and hold as a prisoner, esp. in war. Now often more fully prisoner of war (freq. abbrev. P.O.W., POW (see P II)). Also attrib., esp. in prisoner(s) of war camp. Hence prisoner-of-wardom nonce-word.
c1350Will. Palerne 1267 Þan william..Profered him þat prisoner prestely at his wille To do þan wiþ þe duk what him dere þouȝt. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1297 Presented him þe prisoneres in pray þat þay token. c1420Avow. Arth. xxxiii, He toke him there to presunnere. c1450Merlin 412 Whan thei hadde chaced hem to the nyght, thei returned with grete plente of prisoners. 1460Lybeaus Disc. 412 For prisoner i mot me yeld, As overcome yn feld. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix. (1885) 130 The Erlis of Lecestir and Glocestre..rose ayenest thair kynge Herre the iijde, and toke hym and his sonne prisoners in the ffelde. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 13 The gouernour..so by crafte circumuented him, that he toke him priesoner, and commaunded him to be hanged on the sayle yarde of the shyp. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iii. 10 This Sword hath ended him, so shall it thee, Vnlesse thou yeeld thee as a Prisoner. 1601― Jul. C. v. iii. 37 In Parthia did I take thee Prisoner, And then I swore thee, sauing of thy life, That whatsoeuer I did bid thee do, Thou should'st attempt it. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 305 To make Exchange of Prisoners. 1678Butler Hud. iii. iii. 113 Ralph himself, your trusty Squire Wh[o]..though a Prisoner of War, Have brought you safe, where now you are. Ibid. 120 The Infernal Conjurer Pursu'd and took me Prisoner. 1864Burton Scot Abr. I. i. 20 Baliol, being then a prisoner of war. 1902Barclay in Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 753/2 Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile government, but not in that of the individuals or corps who captured them. 1922C. E. Montague Disenchantment x. 146 To ‘take it out of’ German prisoners of war. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 163/1 The inspection of prisoners-of-war camps by the accredited representatives of the protecting State. 1944[see kriegie]. 1946Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Yr. 605/1 (caption) Japanese inmates of a prisoner of war camp on Guam. 1961Times 7 June 17/1 A Union prisoner-of-war camp. 1974Times 4 Mar. 9/4 (heading) Prisoner-of-wardom. 1974[see Oflag].
b. A captive at the game of prisoners' bars.
1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. ii. §12 If the person sent to relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in equal need of deliverance.
3. transf. and fig. One who or that which is confined to a place or position.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 323 Siche bildyngis makyn pride, and not comfort of goddis prisounneris. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 100 This worlde is the pryson, & we be the prysoners. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. xlix. iii, Death his prisoner never will forgoe. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 5 An vntimely Ague Staid me a Prisoner in my Chamber. 1717Pope Elegy Unfort. Lady 18 Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age Dull sullen pris'ners in the body's cage. 1867Latham Black & White 115 Here we remain, still prisoners at Fortress Monro..the steamboat never came to take passengers to Norfolk. 1878Ruskin Hortus Inclusus (1887) 53, I came to see Prince Leopold, who has been a prisoner to his sofa lately. Mod. He made her hand a prisoner.
4. attrib. Of or pertaining to a prisoner; that is a prisoner.
1846C. G. Prowett Prometh. Bound 8 Thou com'st to find A prisoner-God. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xiii. 153 With his prisoner-string he bound him. 1878W. Pater Wks. (1901) VIII. 196 On one of those two prisoner days when Lewis was sick. 1896Daily News 21 Nov. 8/2 His medical attendant..remained with the prisoner-patient throughout a considerable part of the night. 1904A. Griffiths Fifty Years Public Service xix. 277 He cut off remorselessly the prisoner gardeners and the prisoner stable-man.
Hence ˈprisonership, the condition of a prisoner.
1906tr. Fogazzaro's Saint Introd. 14 That other fiction, the Pope's prisonership in the Vatican. |