| 释义 |
▪ I. grimace, n.|grɪˈmeɪs|
Also 7 grimass(e.
[a. F. grimace (14th c.), of uncertain origin.]
1. A distortion of the countenance whether spontaneous or involuntary, expressive of some feeling (esp. annoyance, embarrassment, ill-humour or pain) or tending to excite laughter; a wry face. Phr. to make a grimace or grimaces.
1651Hobbes Leviath. i. vi. 27 Sudden Glory, is the passion which maketh those Grimaces called Laughter. 1668T. St. Serfe Tarugo's Wiles Epil., Say with an indifferent Grimasse, 'tis well enough for a Novice. 1678Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1004 With smart remarks of leering faces, And annotations of grimaces! 1786F. Burney Diary 11 Nov., [The] little heroine, making many involuntary grimaces, but resisting her evident inclination to cry. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 97, I tried to laugh, but could only make a grimace. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xi, Nor were the lawyer's smiles less terrible to her than Quilp's grimaces. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. vii. 258 He..chooses to..make grimaces before us, like an ordinary clown.
transf.1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 357 His boldness of drawing sometimes produces exaggeration and grimace.
2. An affected expression of countenance. † Formerly in wider sense, applied contemptuously to any affected or exaggerated attitude or gesture of politeness.
1678Marvell Growth Popery Wks. 1875 IV. 336 To learn how to make the Plenipotentiary grimass for his Majesty's service. 1709Steele Tatler No. 38 ⁋8 Take one of your Men of Business, he shall keep you half an Hour with your Hat off..till he has drawn a Crowd that observes you in this Grimace. 1711Addison Spect. No. 69 ⁋2 As I am not versed in the Modern Coptick, our Conferences go no further than a Bow and a Grimace. 1758Johnson Idler No. 8 ⁋12 Men who can bear at once the grimaces of the Gauls, and the howl of the Americans. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. vi. ix, The Miss Guests were much too well⁓bred to have any of the grimaces and affected tones that belong to pretentious vulgarity.
b. The employment of affected looks † or gestures. ? Now rare.
1686Dryden Ep. to H. Higden 10 For posture, dress, grimace, and affectation, Though foes to sense, are harmless to the nation. 1712Addison Spect. No. 305 ⁋10 This Artist is to teach them how to nod judiciously, to shrug up their Shoulders in a dubious Case, to connive with either Eye, and in a Word, the whole Practice of Political Grimace. 1757Smollett Reprisal i. iii, A peacock in pride, in grimace a baboon. 1789Belsham Ess. I. xiv. 270 What may be thought grace at Paris, at London may appear grimace. 1816Remarks Eng. Mann. 58 We are too apt to consider as French grimace every deviation from our more reserved or churlish habits.
3. fig. Affectation, pretence, sham; † an instance of this. ? Now rare.
1655Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 184 They did veryly beleeue it would be a warr, what grimaces soeuer they made. 1672Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i. Wks. 1883 IV. 286, I..said nothing but à d'autres, à d'autres, and that it was all grimace, and would not pass upon me. 1715tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Wks. 83 Hypocrisie and Grimace seem'd to me the most unworthy of all Vices. 1739Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 22 All this my parade and grimace of philosophy. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. (1817) II. iii. 117 In all her violent declarations against Darnly, there was much more of grimace than reality. 1785Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) I. 359 He sees through the grimace of this counterfeited concern for virtue. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ii. 384 He..treated the renewal of the title of Naib Subah..as idle grimace. 1832Macaulay Mirabeau Misc. Writ. (1889) 280 They had found it so easy to perform the grimace of piety, that it was natural for them to consider all piety as grimace. 1855Motley Dutch Rep. I. 543 The Prince..listened to all this commendation... He knew it to be pure grimace. 1891F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) LII. 297/2 Everything that had passed before me bore..the stamp of..grimace, hollowness, or histrionism.
▪ II. grimace, v.|grɪˈmeɪs|
[f. grimace n., or ad. F. grimacer (Cotgr. 1611).]
intr. To distort the countenance; to make a wry face; † to put on an affected air. Also, to grimace it.
1762Goldsm. Cit. W. xcvi. ⁋1 It is only clapping on a suit of sables, grimacing it for a few days, and all, soon forgotten, goes on as before. 1768― Good-n. Man Epil., He nods, they nod; he cringes, they grimace. 1826Scott Woodst. v, I can grimace like a baboon. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. iv, When so much goes grinning and grimacing as a lifeless Formality..here once more, if nowhere else, is a Sincerity and Reality. 1863M. Howitt F. Bremer's Greece I. iii. 65 On one spot grimaces the winged lion of St. Mark's, the emblem of Venice. 1892Zangwill Childr. Ghetto I. 188 Solomon stuck his tongue in his cheek, and grimaced.
Hence griˈmaced ppl. a., affected. rare.
1853W. Anderson Expos. Popery (1878) 214 It is your grimaced priests and demure nuns who are most dexterous at the juggling of conscience. |