| 释义 |
▪ I. alarm, n.|əˈlɑːm|
Forms: 4–7 alarme, 6–7 all arme, 7 all-arm, all' army, 6– alarm. Also: 4 alarom, 6 alarome, 7 allarum, 6– alarum.
[a. OFr. alarme, a. It. allarme = all' arme! ‘To (the) arms!’ orig. the call summoning to arms, and thus, in languages that adopted it, a mere interjection; but soon used in all as the name of the call or summons. Erroneously taken in the 17th c. for an English combination all arm! and so written; cf. similar treatment of alamode and alamort. From the earliest period there was a variant alarum due to rolling the r in prolonging the final syllable of the call, now restricted to an alarm-signal, as the peal or chime of a warning bell or clock, or the mechanism producing it. (The earlier pronunciation, following alarm, was (əˈlɑːrəm); but this has given way to |əˈlɛərəm| and |əˈlærəm|.) Hence also, by aphesis, larum.]
I. As a phrase.
†1. int. An exclamation meaning ‘To arms!’ Obs.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxiii. 92 ‘Alarme! Alarme!’ quaþ þat Lorde. 1523Ld. Berners Froissart I. lxxxviii. 111 He began to cry a larum, treason, treason. 1535Coverdale Jer. li. 14 Which with a corage shall crie Alarum Alarum agaynst the. 1600Holland Livy 331 (R.) Showting as he could, crying al'arme, help help citizens.
†2. adverbially, with ring, etc. Obs.
1523Ld. Berners Froissart I. lxxx. 101 It was commaunded to sounde the watche bell alarm, and euery man to be armed. Ibid. I. ccccxi. 717 The townes all about range their belles alarum.
†3. quasi-n. The call to arms, whether by using the exclamation alarme! or by any equivalent means. With cry alarm, lilt alarm, sound alarm, blow alarm, strike alarm, etc. Obs.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 1207 Loude alarom vpon launde lulted was þenne. 1523Ld. Berners Froissart I. xviii. 20 Often tymes in the day there was cryed alarum. 1580Baret Alv. A 284 To blowe alarme, Bellicum canere. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 3 When the angrie Trumpet sounds alarum. 1594― Rich. III, iv. iv. 148 Strike alarum, drummes!
II. As n. with pl.
4. a. A call to arms; a signal calling upon men to arm. alarums (or alarms) and excursions, a stage-direction occurring in slightly varying forms in Shakes. Hen. VI and Rich. III (e.g. 3 Hen. VI, v. ii. init.); hence used playfully by recent writers for: skirmishing, confused fighting or onsets, sudden divagations, etc. (see sense 11 below).
1548Hall Chron. (1809) 680 When the alarme came to Calice, euery man made to horse and harnes. 1600Holland Livy iii. (1659) 81 The al'army was given on all hands: and no cry heard but ‘Arme,’ ‘Arme.’ 1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 130 As if the Drum did sound an all-arm. 1705J. Robins Hero of Age ii. ii. 3 Now first is beat the General Alarm, Now sounds to Horse. 1711Pope Rape Lock v. 48 And all Olympus rings with loud alarms. 1864Skeat Uhland 21 And when th' alarum thrills the air, And beacons on the mountains flare. 1891[see crash n.1 5]. 1895K. Grahame Golden Age 29 Alarums and Excursions. 1907W. Raleigh Shakesp. iv. 102 The whole First Act of Coriolanus is..full of alarums and excursions and hand-to-hand fighting. [1910G. K. Chesterton (title) Alarms and Discursions.] 1922Barrie Courage 9, I want you to hold..That to gain courage is what you come to St. Andrews for. With some alarums and excursions into college life.
b. A message or news of approaching hostility.
1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxii, Tambourgi! thy larum gives promise of war. 1815Southey Roder. xx. 3 From east and west..the breathless scouts Bring swift alarums in.
5. A warning sound of any kind to give notice of danger, or to arouse or attract attention; esp. a loud and hurried peal rung out by a tocsin or alarm bell; or a chime rung out by a clock to awaken sleepers.
1592No-body & Some-b. (1878) 328 Sound out a sodaine and a shrill Alarum. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. xxxviii. (1632) 397 Awaked with the suddaine Allarum. 1642Jer. Taylor God's Judg. i. i. vii. 14 The frogges..filling every corner of his land sounded him an alarme. 1846Lytton Lucr. (1853) 185 A larum loud enough to startle the whole court from its stillness. 1842Macaulay Lays, Armada, At once the loud alarum clashed from all her reeling spires.
6. fig.
a. A warning.
b. An incitement (obs.).
1584Lodge (title) An Alarum against Usurers. 1620Shelton Don Quix. IV. xiii. 103 A kind of black Meat, called Caviary..a great Alarum to the Bottle. a1670Hacket in Walcott Life (1865) 169 Curious music upon costly instruments is an admirable alarm for devotion. 1686W. de Britaine Hum. Prud. §16. 75 Your Wisdom will be but an Alarm to them never to come unprovided. 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VIII. lxiv. 91 It is an alarum rung in the ears of a careless generation.
7. The apparatus or mechanism which sounds the alarm; also fig. Also ellipt. = alarm-clock.
1586Bright Melanc. xiii. 66 Automaticall instruments as clockes, watches and larums. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. lxxii. §2 If a stranger open it, it setteth an Alarm a-going, which the stranger cannot stop from running out. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 38 Thou hast an alarum in thy breast. 1788Wesley Wks. 1872 VII. 69, I procured an alarum, which waked me the next morning at seven. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. viii. (ed. 3) 59 The various kinds of alarums connected with clocks and watches. 1910A. Bennett Clayhanger iii. vi. 366 The ticking parcel drew the discreet attention of the doctor... ‘It's only an alarm,’ said Edwin.
8. A warning of danger of any kind; especially one given in such a way as to startle or arouse the unwary; esp. in the phr. to give or take the alarm.
1591Garrard Art of Warre 76 In giving Alarome to the enimie. 1594Nashe Vnfort. Trav. 15 What did I now but one day made a false alarum in the quarter where they lay. 1624Capt. Smith Virgin. i. 8 The towne took the Alarum before I ment it. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. i. 29 [Words] which gave the first alarum to the Duke to apprehend his own Ruin. 1772Junius Lett. lxviii. 355 Your natural benevolence took the alarm. 1867M. E. Herbert Cradle L. viii. 215 The alarm was given that the Bedouins were upon them. Mod. It proved to be a false alarm.
9. Fencing. ‘A step or stamp made on the ground with the advancing foot.’ Chambers Cycl. Supp.
1579Gosson Apol. (Arb.) 75 Players haue chosen such a Champion as when I giue the Allarm winnowes his weapon. 1707Sir W. Hope Fencing iv. 102 in Chambers Cycl. Supp., The motion of the sword-hand may in this case be attended with the appel or alarm of the advanced foot.
10. A loud noise or disturbance, of such a kind as to startle or perturb; din. arch.
1523Earl of Surrey in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 77 I. 217 The horses of his company brake lowse..in suche nombre that it caused a marvelous alarome. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. i. 131 Though it passe your patience & mine to endure her lowd alarums. 1684T. Burnet Theor. Earth II. 61 You see what disorders in nature, and what an alarum, the eruption of one fiery mountain is capable to make. 1820Keats Hyperion iii. 105 What divinity Makes this alarum in the elements?
†11. A sudden or unexpected attack; necessitating a rush to arms; a surprise; an assault. Obs. exc. as in sense 4.
1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1021/2 Their men readie at all times to serue in euerie alarum and skirmish. 1605Shakes. Macb. v. ii. 4 Their deere causes Would to the bleeding, and the grim Alarme Excite the mortified man. 1660Hexham Dutch Dict., Een Storm, an assaulting, or an Al-arme. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. ii. 567 The doubtful nations watch his arms, With terror each expecting his alarms.
12. a. A state of surprise with fear or terror, suddenly excited by apprehension of danger; excitement caused by danger apprehended. Esp. in phr. alarm and (orig. or) despondency.
1587D. Fenner Def. Ministers C 4 If Maist. D. Bridg. had not hitte on this cause of allarum. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 532 A blanket in th' Alarum of feare caught vp. 1711Steele Spect. No. 11 ⁋5 Such Fears and Alarms as they were there tormented with. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 599 Awe in each eye, alarm in every face. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxiii. (1853) 235 The alarms of her guide made more impression on the Countess's mind. 1879Act 42 & 43 Vict. c. 33 §5 Every person subject to military law who..by word of mouth or in writing spreads reports calculated to create unnecessary alarm or despondency..shall..be liable to suffer penal servitude. 1950V. Peniakoff Private Army ii. v. 128 A message came on the wireless for me. It said: ‘Spread alarm and despondency’... The date was, I think, May 18th, 1942. 1957‘N. Shute’ On the Beach viii. 249 They don't want to create alarm and despondency until they've got to.
b. In modified sense: apprehension; uneasiness as to consequences.
1833Reg. Deb. Congress 26 Feb. 1781 This General Assembly views with alarm..the proposition..for abandoning..the principle of protection. 1834Ibid. 18 Feb. 604 They regard with alarm the late measures of the President. 1937I. Gershwin Foggy Day, I viewed the morning with alarm, The British Museum had lost its charm.
13. Comb. and attrib. as alarm shock, alarm signal. Also alarm-bird, a name applied to various birds, as the kookaburra, the wattled peewit (Lobivanellus lobatus) of Australia, the African touracou (Schizorhis concolor), etc.; alarm call, cry = alarm-note; alar(u)m-clock, -watch, one with an apparatus which can be set to ring loudly at any particular hour, so as to awaken sleepers, or excite attention; alarm-cord, the cord of an alarm-bell, esp. (U.S.) the communication-cord on a railway train; alar(u)m-gauge, an appliance attached to a steam-engine to give warning of a dangerous pressure of steam or deficiency of water in the boiler; alarm-gun, -cannon, a gun fired to give notice of danger, or to call to vigilance; alarm-note, the note of a bird when startled; alarm-word, a watchword. Also alarm-bell, -post, q.v.
1848J. Gould Birds of Austral. VI. pl. 9 Lobivanellus lobatus..has obtained the name of the Alarm Bird from its rising in the air, flying round and screaming at the approach of an intruder. 1940V. Pohl Bushveld Adv. vii. 155 The popular belief that the ‘Go-away’ or ‘Alarm birds’ scare off game.
1938Brit. Birds XXXII. 93 The alarm call was a single note repeated several times before the bird took to wing.
1876Bancroft Hist. U.S., V. xxiii. 592 A man-of-war in New York Bay fired alarm-cannon.
1697A Larum Clock [see larum n. 3]. 1751Boston News-Let. 10 Oct., Eight day and small alarm clocks. 1835J. Todd Student's Manual 69 The students in Yale..have generally the alarm-clock. 1961C. McCullers Clock without Hands iv. 90 He..would not let himself day⁓dream in the morning after the alarm clock went off.
1872E. Eggleston End of World v. 40 In behind the donjon chimney he pulled an alarm cord.
1920H. E. Howard Territory in Bird Life iv. 139 The wary Redshank, poised on flickering wings, forgets its mournful alarm cry. 1928D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatt. x. 134 The mother hen's wild alarm-cries.
[1757General Orders 53 (D.A.E.), After the larem gun is fired.] 1760S. Niles Indian Wars in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1861) ser. iv. V. 433 Alarm-guns were fired at St. George's Fort. 1826G. R. Gleig Campaigns Brit. Army at Washington (ed. 2) xii. 165 Wherever a light-house or signal station was erected, alarm guns were fired.
1879Wild Life in S.C. 163 If you should disturb the blackbird..he makes the meadow ring with his alarm-note.
1801Southey Thal. xii. xxiv. Wks. IV. 433 Over the surface of the reeling Earth, The alarum shock was felt.
1665Pepys Diary 14 July (1876) III. 193 Up betimes by the helpe of a larum watch. 1678T. Herbert Mem. (T.) You shall have a gold alarmwatch, which, as there may be cause, shall awake you.
a1875E. H. Knight Dict. Mech. I. 57/2 Alarm-watch, an instrument not necessarily a time-piece, with going works, and adapted to..sound an alarm after a specific interval of time.
1828Scott F.M. Perth I. 102 Crying the alarm-word of the town.
▪ II. alarm, v.|əˈlɑːm|
Also 6–7 allarum, alarum.
[f. the n. Cf. Fr. alarmer, of which Littré has no instance bef. 17th c.; not in Cotgr. 1611, either as Eng. or Fr.]
†1. To call to arms.
a. intr. Obs.
c1590Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tambur. iii. iii, Trumpets and drums, alarum presently. 1718Pope Iliad ii. 93 Now, valiant chiefs! since heaven itself alarms, Unite.
†b. trans. Obs.
1645E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1662) 287 They alarumed the trained-band that was to watch all that day. 1671Crowne Juliana i. 4 The troops are all alarum'd.
†2. To rouse to action, urge on, incite. Obs.
1605Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 53 Wither'd Murther, Alarum'd by his Centinell, the Wolfe, Whose howl's his Watch..towards his designe Moves like a Ghost. 1662Fuller Worthies i. 237 This allarumed the Londoners to rescue poor Pateshul. 1710Steele Tatler No. 47 ⁋2 At Epsom, there is at present a young Lady..who has alarmed all the Vain and the Impertinent to infest that Quarter. 1768Beattie Minst. i. iv, Nor him whose sordid soul the love of gold alarms.
3. To arouse to a sense of danger, to excite the attention or suspicion of, to put on the alert.
1651Jer. Taylor Serm. (1850) i. 18 Alarumed into caution and sobriety. 1684Otway Atheist v. (1735) 113 If you squeak, and think to alarum the house. 1727De Foe Apparitions vi. 94 To alarm us at the approach of impending mischief. 1783Cowper Task iii. 185 Great crimes alarm the conscience. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 250 For the purpose of alarming the guards.
†b. To inform or notify of anything dangerous, to warn. Obs. rare.
1711Steele Spect. No. 80 ⁋3 Before Brunetta could be alarmed of their Arrival.
4. To keep in excitement; to disturb, perturb.
1661C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 22 We have beene mightily alarumd here with reports of plotts. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 86 Intestine Broils allarm the Hive. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xvi. 222 Sellers of fruit and of fish..alarming the air with their invitations.
5. To strike with fear or apprehension of danger; to agitate or excite with sudden fear.
1653A. Wilson James I, 189 The King was again Alarum'd by this Protestation. 1711Addison Spect. No. 7 ⁋2 A Screech-Owl at Midnight has alarmed a Family more than a Band of Robbers. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. iv. 128 These events alarmed (him) into submission. 1877in Fam. Herald 27 Oct. 406/1 You alarm me with that long prologue. Mod. I am alarmed at the aspect of affairs.
6. intr. To sound like an alarm or alarum.
1839Poe Ho. of Usher Wks. 1864 I. 306 The noise of the dry and hollow-sounding wood alarummed and reverberated throughout the forest. |