| 释义 |
▪ I. gnome1|nəʊm, ˈnəʊmiː|
[a. Gr. γνώµη thought, judgement, opinion; pl. γνῶµαι sayings, maxims (L. sententiæ), f. γνω- root of γιγνώσκειν to know.]
A short pithy statement of a general truth; a proverb, maxim, aphorism, or apophthegm. Also spec. with reference to Old English verse.
1577H. Peacham Gard. Eloquence V iij, Gnome, a saying pertaining to the maners and common practises of men, which declareth, by an apte breuity, what in this our lyfe ought to be done, or not done. 1846Grote Greece ii. iii. II. 363 The rudiments of that which afterwards ripened into moral philosophy as manifested in gnomes or aphorisms. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets i. 16 Many of the sublimer flights of meditation in Sophocles are expansions of early Gnomes. 1914B. C. Williams Gnomic Poetry Anglo-Saxon 66 The dol bið gnome and its analogues have been noticed as occurring in Christian passages. 1935A. C. Bartlett Larger Rhet. Patterns Anglo-Saxon Poetry 73 One..does find..most gnomes in Beowulf, Wanderer, Widsith, and most homiletic passages in the ‘Christian’ poems. 1948S. O. Andrew Postscript on Beowulf viii. 93 The gnome serves to connect the idea of evil endured in the sentence preceding it with that of deliverance..in the sentence following it.
▪ II. gnome2|nəʊm|
[a. F. gnome, ad. mod.L. gnomus, used by Paracelsus.
Paracelsus (De Nymphis etc. Wks. 1658 II. 391, and elsewhere) uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmæi, and says that the beings so called have earth as their element (or, as he calls it, their chaos: cf. etymological note on gas), through which they move unobstructed as fish do through water, or birds and land animals through air. The context in the passage above referred to suggests that the name was not invented by Paracelsus himself, and that it means ‘earth-dweller’; possibly it may be a blunder for *gēnomus, representing a Gr. type *γηνόµος (for which cf. θαλασσονόµος dwelling in the sea). The term, however, may possibly be a mere arbitrary invention, like many others found in Paracelsus. The connexion commonly assumed with Gr. γνώµη (see prec.) or γνώµων (cf. gnomon) seems unlikely.]
1. a. One of a race of diminutive spirits fabled to inhabit the interior of the earth and to be the guardians of its treasures; a goblin, dwarf.
1712–14Pope Rape Lock Ded., According to these Gentlemen [the Rosicrucians], the four elements are inhabited by Spirits, which they call Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders. The Gnomes or Dæmons of Earth delight in mischief. Ibid. i. 63 The graver Prude sinks downward to a Gnome, In search of mischief still on Earth to roam. 1816Gentl. Mag. LXXXI. i. 46 To festive songs my Gnomes attune the lyre. 1837Hawthorne Twice-Told T. (1851) I. viii. 154 Small enough to be king of the fairies, and ugly enough to be king of the gnomes. 1877Bryant Little People of Snow 12 No, let us have a tale of elves that ride By night, with jingling reins, or gnomes of the mine.
fig.1809–10Coleridge Friend (1818) III. 173 A scientific method, that dissipating with its earliest rays the gnomes of hypothesis and the mists of theory, may [etc.].
b. A statue or figure of a gnome, esp. one placed in a garden. Cf. garden gnome (garden n. 6).
1938D. Kincaid Brit. Social Life in India xii. 288 An imitation pergola and a coloured plaster gnome or two. 1955E. Coxhead Figure in Mist ii. 65 ‘She sculpts too, did you know?’ Agnes said. ‘No, how unspeakable. You mean those gnomes one sees about?’ 1969V. C. Clinton-Baddeley Only Matter of Time 18 In the centre of the grass was a lily pond. On the edge a gnome sat fishing. 1971J. Betjeman in Betjeman & Vaisey Vict. & Edw. Oxford p. vii, They are now acres of detached and semi-detached houses, blocks of flats and housing estates, gnomes, birdbaths and shopping arcades.
c. colloq. An international financier or banker, spec. one who is Swiss; esp. in phr. the gnomes of Zurich.
1964New Statesman 27 Nov. 822/3 The gnomes of Zurich and their related goblins in the more politically involved capitals. 1968P. Einzig Leads & Lags p. vii, Sterling was devalued in 1949 and again in 1967, not because of speculation by the ‘gnomes’ of Zurich. 1969Listener 12 June 828/2 One doesn't have to posit gnome couriers flying in from Zurich with weekly instructions.
2. U.S. A name of various humming-birds, as the Giant Gnome (Patagona gigas).
1889in Cent. Dict.
3. attrib. and Comb., as gnome-like adj.; gnome-owl U.S., a small owl of the genus Glaucidium.
1801M. Edgeworth Good Fr. Governess (1832) 175 Things went on much better after the gnome-like influence of Mrs. Grace had ceased. 1843Lytton Last Bar. i. ii, Upon a mound formed by the gnarled roots of the dwarfed and gnome-like oak, she sat down and wept. 1884–5Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) IV. 330 The pigmy, or gnome-owls, as they are frequently called. 1897S. L. Hinde Congo Arabs 85 The seemingly magical appearance of these gnome⁓like beings within 3 or 4 yards of us.
Hence gnomed ppl. a., inhabited by gnomes.
1820Keats Lamia ii. 236 Philosophy will..Conquer all mysteries by rule and line, Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine. |