| 释义 |
▪ I. honest, a.|ˈɒnɪst|
Also 4–5 onest(e, 4–6 honeste.
[a. OF. honeste (12th c. in Littré), mod.F. honnête (= It. onesto, Sp., Pg. honesto), ad. L. honestus honourable, respectable, decent, fine, handsome, f. honos, -or, honōr-, honour.]
†1.
a. Of persons: Held in honour; holding an honourable position; respectable. Obs.
c1325Metr. Hom. 160 A widou..com this Candelmesse feste, And scho wald haf als wif honeste Hir messe. 13..K. Alis. 158 Olimpias..Wolde make a riche feste Of knyghtis and ladies honeste. 1388Wyclif Ecclus. xi. 23 It is esy in the iȝen of God, sudeynli to make onest a pore man. c1400Destr. Troy 1471 A woman..Onest & abill, & Ecuba she hight. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 46 b, The honest and sustanciall persons arrested or indited. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 111 Houses, wherein liue the honester sort of people, as Farmers in England. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 57 He told me That that Country is pleasant enough, and full of good honest People. 1692Lond. Gaz. No. 2735/4 The Purchaser to take 2 honest Men, and the Seller 2 more, for all such Goods.
b. to make an honest woman (of): to marry (a woman) after seduction; also without depreciatory reference, to marry. dial. and colloq. (The sense may have been associated with 3 b ‘chaste’.)
1629Earle Microcosm., Servingman (Arb.) 84 The best worke he does is his marrying, for it makes an honest woman. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xv. viii, Miss Nancy was, in vulgar language, soon made an honest woman. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. in Tales My Landlord 2nd Ser. IV. ix. 201 Effie was married—made, according to the common phrase, an honest woman. 1824― St. Ronan's xxv, My right honourable father nourished some thoughts of making an honest woman of Marie de Martigny. 1825Jamieson s.v., If he..marries her, he is said to ‘make an honest woman of her’, i.e. he does all in his power to cover her ignominy, and to restore her to her place in society. 1887M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike III. v. 64, I wish he had been free to make your sister an honest woman. 1927W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 108 The old phrase to make an honest woman (of a girl in trouble) is often used in jest in innocent contexts. 1968R. Harris Nice Girl's Story v. 38 When are you going to be made an honest woman?
c. As a vague epithet of appreciation or praise, esp. as used in a patronizing way to an inferior. (Cf. worthy.)
1551T. Wilson Logike (1580) 83, I had good chere in suche a mannes house. Ergo, he is an honest man. 1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 309 Honest man, is this the way to Bolonia? 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 187 Your name honest Gentleman? 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 508 These were for laying honest David by, On principles of pure good husbandry. 1709Tatler No. 45 ⁋7 Let Mr. Bickerstaff alone (says one of the Honest Fellows), when he's in a good Humour, he's as good Company as any Man in England. 1815Scott Guy M. ix, Cannot he sing his sang..like Collector Snail, honest man, that never fashes ony body? 1846Brockett (ed. 3) s.v., A Northern baronet..chairman of quarter sessions, was accustomed, when he sentenced a prisoner, to begin, ‘Now, my honest man, you have been convicted of felony’.
†2. Of things, conditions, actions, etc. Obs.
a. Worthy of honour, honourable, commendable; bringing honour, creditable.
13..Coer de L. 1773 Christmas is a time full honest; Kyng Richard it honoured with gret feste. 1340Ayenb. 222 Þet stat of spoushod is zuo holy and suo honeste. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 780 In honeste wyse as longeth to a knyght. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 2 Alle vertuouse and honest thynges. 1526Tindale Rom. xii. 17 Prouyde afore honde thynges honest in the sight of all men. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. 153 Thare wes na batall mair honest, than this last rehersit. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 223 b, Kyng Henry..founded a solempne schoole at Eton..an honest Colege of sad Priestes, with a greate nombre of children. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. ii. xi. (1651) 29 That respects onely things delectable and pleasant, this honest. 1700Dryden tr. Ovid's Met. xiii. 408 Many a manly wound All honest, all before. 1715–20Pope Iliad v. 312 Know, 'tis not honest in my soul to fear, Nor was Tydides born to tremble here.
b. Free from disgrace or reproach; respectable, decent, seemly, befitting, becoming.
1340Ayenb. 229 Loke þe uram uoule wordes þet ne byeþ naȝt honeste. c1350Leg. Rood (1871) 76 To plant þa wandes in honest place, Forto be keped honestly, And wirschipd als þai war worthy. c1440Gesta Rom. xvii. 60 (Add. MS.) It were more honest that I shuld have such a wyf, and my felaw to have suche a wyf as I have. 1514Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 52, I will that, the day of my buryall, she maik an honest dynner to my frendes and neybours. 1633Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 37 Honest sepulture is a blessing. 1653Walton Angler ii. 44 Now lets go to an honest Alehouse and sing Old Rose. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. 61 Corants, Sarabands, and Jigs, used for honest mirth and delight at Feasts.
c. Decent or respectable in appearance; without blemish; comely, ‘fair’; neat, tidy.
a1300Cursor M. 19850 (Cott.) All maner crepand beist, Þaa þat er noght tald honest. c1340Ibid. 6067 (Trin.) A clene lomb þat is honest. 1388Wyclif Ruth iii. 3 Be thou waischun and anoyntid, and be thou clothid with onestere clothis. 1493Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 31 The people wolde..clyppe theyr berdes & polle theyr heedes & so make them honest ayenst eester day. 1526Tindale 1 Cor. xii. 23 Apon those members of the body Which we thynke lest honest put we most honestie on. c1566J. Alday tr. Boaystuau's Theat. World R iv, [He] hath created the chin..after so honest a forme, and hath enriched it with a bearde.
3. Of persons: Having honourable motives or principles; marked by uprightness or probity.
†a. In early use in a wide sense: Of good moral character; virtuous, upright, well-disposed.
1390Gower Conf. I. 110 A king wise and honest in alle thing. Ibid. III. 136 So shulde he be the more honest To whom god yaf so worthy a yifte. 1535Coverdale 1 Kings i. 52 Yf he wil be an honest man, there shall not one heer fall from him vpon the earth. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xxii. 28 Beyng a good Pilot and a very honest man. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 393 For the credit of this honest and loyall..societie. 1672Cave Prim. Chr. i. i. (1673) 10 The honester and severer Romans were ashamed on 't. 1702Rowe Tamerl. Ded., It were to be wish'd..that the World were honest to such a degree, and that there were not that scandalous defect of common morality.
b. spec. Chaste, ‘virtuous’; usually of a woman. arch.
c1400Cato's Mor. 57 in Cursor M. App. iv. 1670 Fle to take wife..bot ho be honest..ne halde hir for na druri if ho be vnchest. 1428E.E. Wills (1882) 79 The mariage of onest and poure maidens. 1535Coverdale 2 Esdras xvi. 49 Like as an whore enuyeth an honest woman. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 103 Wives may be merry, and yet honest too. 1661Pepys Diary 11 Aug., Colonel Dillon..comes to church with them, which makes me think they are not honest. 1669Shadwell R. Shepherdess i. i, You marry'd me to keep me honest, did you? 1711Steele Spect. No. 118 ⁋2 The Maid is honest, and the Man dares not be otherwise.
c. That deals fairly and uprightly in speech and act; sincere, truthful, candid; that will not lie, cheat, or steal. (The prevailing modern sense, the ‘honest man’ being the ‘good citizen’, the law-abiding man, as opposed to the rogue, thief, or enemy of society.)
c1400Destr. Troy 48 Ouyde and othir þat onest were ay..Thes dampnet his dedys. c1500Doctr. Gd. Servaunts in Anc. Poet. Tracts (Percy Soc.) 8 Ye seruauntes..Be ye honest and dylygent. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 42 He, which plainly telleth the truth, sheweth him⁓selfe to be an honest man. 1674Brevint Saul at Endor 282 The honestest Monks we know are sometimes tempted to say strange things. 1734Pope Ess. Man iv. 248 An honest man's the noblest work of God. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 189 ⁋12 She..was at last convinced that she had been flattered, and that her glass was honester than her maid. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. iv. (1809) 83 A dealer in Moorfields (who..is no honester than he ought to be). 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 177 Though often misled by prejudice and passion, he was emphatically an honest man. 1897W. Raleigh Style 125 The pillory and the stocks are hardly educational agents, but they make it easier for honest men to enjoy their own. Proverb, ‘When thieves [or rogues] fall out, honest men come by their own.’
d. Ingenuous; without disguise, open, frank, not concealing one's real character (good or bad).
1634Ford P. Warbeck ii. i, Bless the young man! Our nation would be laugh'd at For honest souls through Christendom. 1680Otway Orphan ii. v, I am a doating honest Slave. 1701Rowe Amb. Step-Moth. i. i. 171 Dull heavy things! Whom Nature has left honest In meer frugality. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 437 The honest monk was so illiterate that he did not know what he ought to say on an occasion of such importance. 1866Howells Venet. Life ii. 23 He beheld the honest swindling countenance of a hotel portier.
e. honest broker: a sobriquet (tr. G. ehrlicher makler) for the German statesman Bismarck; more generally, a representative of a country attempting to mediate diplomatically between two opposing nations, states, etc.; also transf., any such mediator in industrial or other disputes.
[1878Times 21 Feb. 5/1 To my [sc. Bismarck's] mind, it is rather the mediation of an honourable broker who really wishes to carry on business. ]1884W. Beatty-Kingston tr. Busch's Our Chancellor II. ii. 130, I [sc. Bismarck] don't picture to myself a peace-mediator playing the part of an arbitrator..; but a more modest one [sc. rôle], something like that of an honest broker, who really wants to transact business. 1884in J. R. Ware Passing Eng. (1909) 154/1 Honest broker, matrimonial agent. ‘Marriages are not all made in heaven; some of them are made by marriage brokers..though the ‘honest broker’ does not seem to find the trade very remunerative.’ 1926Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 548/1 Honest broker, Bismarck. 1934S.P.E. Tract xlii. 88 Honest broker, coined by Bismarck as ehrlicher Mäkler 1878. 1967Guardian 4 Feb. 9/3 (heading) ‘Honest broker’ role still possible for Britain. Ibid. 9/4 An ‘honest broker’ must have something special to offer, Britain has..immense diplomatic experience and Anglo-Saxon commonsense. 1968G. Jones Hist. Vikings iv. ii. 371 A compromise was reached whereby Edmund should have Wessex and Knut the rest of the country. Among the honest brokers was Eadric Streona. 1970Times 31 Mar. (Australian Suppl.) p. ii/3 On another corner of the Asian board Australia acted the comparatively successful honest broker between the United States and the kingdom of Cambodia representing Cambodia in Saigon and the United States in Phnom Penh. 1973Times 9 Feb. 1/6 As Rhodesia and Zambia were not on speaking terms an intermediary or ‘honest broker’ had to be found.
f. Honest Injun: see Injun b.
g. Honest John: (a) colloq. an honest man; (b) an American type of missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead.
1935Amer. Speech X. 20/1 Any honest citizen; a hard-working fellow...honest John. 1954Birmingham (Ala.) News 7 Mar. A24/5 The Army is stockpiling the plane-killing Nike units, and semi-guided field artillery rockets designated as the ‘Honest John’. 1957P. Frank Seven Days to Never iii. 95 The atomic cannon and Honest John rockets..began to arrive in Europe. 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder v. 57 One thing for sure was that she trusted me to play Honest John. 1973Guardian 7 June 1/5 Britain, West Germany and Belgium are to buy the American Lance battlefield nuclear missile—to replace the obsolescent Honest John.
4. a. Of actions, feelings, etc.: Showing uprightness or sincerity of character or intention; fair, straightforward; free from fraud.
a1300Cursor M. 22914 Sant gregor gaf ansuer honest. 13..K. Alis. 4011 He no dude no treson, His dede n'as bote honest. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 166 Leuefell Company, and Honest Besynes. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 382 Their honest and reasonable excuses could not be heard. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 268 A quiet harvest that might arise out of their own honest labour. 1658Bramhall Consecr. Bps. ix. 218 It is none of the honestest Pleas, Negare factum, to deny such publick Acts as these. a1732Gay Fables ii. vi. 10 Unbrib'd, unaw'd, he dares impart The honest dictates of his heart. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lii, The very best and honestest feelings of the man came out in these artless outpourings of paternal feeling. 1883Law Times 20 Oct. 408/1 The object of a bankruptcy law..should be the economical and honest distribution of a bankrupt's estate.
b. Of money, gain, etc.: Gained or earned by fair means, without cheating or stealing; legitimate.
[1676Wycherley Pl. Dealer iii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 125/2 You must call usury and extortion God's blessing, or the honest turning of the penny.] 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 25 Some call Trade, Honest Gain, and..have lacker'd it with the Name of Godliness. 1825Mrs. Cameron Houlston Tracts I. 10 (title) An Honest Penny is worth a Silver Shilling. 1873Slang Dict. 194 Instructions to earn an honest shilling. 1887Jessopp Arcady vii. 216 He turns an honest penny by horse hire.
c. Of a thing: Not seeming other than it is; genuine, unadulterated, unsophisticated.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 126 Behold what honest cloathes you send forth to bleaching. 1674tr. Martiniere's Voy. N. Countries 31 We were glad to betake ourselves to the provisions we had brought..which was honest Bisket and salt Beef. 1812Crabbe T. in Verse xiv, His Conscience never checks him when he swears The fat he sells is honest fat of bears. 1838Penny Cycl. XII. 307/2 The honest mouth of a three-year old horse should be thus formed [etc.]. 1884Child Ballads ii. xxxvii. 322/2 Bringing some honest bread and wine with her.
d. honest-to-God, honest-to-goodness: genuine(ly, real(ly. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1913J. London Valley of Moon I. x, Honest to God, Saxon, he don't like all his horses as much as I like the last hair on the last tail of the scrubbiest of the bunch. 1916‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd iii. 45 The real honest-to-goodness-twelve-months-in-the-year West. 1916Joyce Portrait of Artist v. 212 Oh, honest to God, if the crook of it caught him that time he was done for. 1918B. Hall Diary in Hall & Niles One Man's War (1929) xxxiv. 352 The only honest-to-God aviator the Americans have ever produced—Raoul Lufbery! 1921Galsworthy To Let iii. v, She was..‘honest to God’ indifferent to it all. 1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xiii. 144 Few will believe it, but it's an honest-to-goodness fact. 1929W. H. Thomson That Terrier ‘Brick’ xiii. 69 Honest-to-goodness, I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong. 1933E. Caldwell God's Little Acre i. 11 ‘A real honest-to-God albino?’ Shaw asked. ‘As real as the day is long.’ 1937[see copper-bottomed a.]. 1937J. B. Priestley Two Time Plays p. xi, It was not until I substituted for him an honest-to-goodness exiled German professor that the play began to look right. 1945Tee Emm (Air Ministry) V. 40 Plain honest-to-God engine failure. 1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) iii. 50, I don't see a glimmer nowadays. Or if I do, I honest-to-goodness think it's a disappearing glimmer. Ibid. v. 80 The fact that we honest to God really dislike each other is thundering out loud now that the entertainment has stopped. 1959‘J. Welcome’ Lady is Tramp viii. 125 I'm just pure honest-to-God terrified. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 5 Jan. (Suppl.) 4 Like all good meals, there'll be bread and butter with it—not just a substitute for butter, but the real thing, the honest-to-goodness dairy product. 1963Times 4 Mar. 11/6 One recalls a very distinguished industrialist (an individualist himself) who said he preferred ‘honest to God engineers and creative designers’. 1963J. A. T. Robinson (title) Honest to God. 1973J. Thomson Death Cap vii. 107 It's an honest-to-God mushroom and..I'd have it for tea to prove it.
5. a. as adv. = Honestly; or (poet.) in comb. with another adj., expressing union of the two qualities denoted.
a1592Greene Jas. IV, ii. i, Yet would I, might I choose, be honest-poor. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iv. 46 As I have euer found thee honest true. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. i. 176 And why slay him, if that he honest meant? 1671F. Phillips Reg. Necess. 330 Wares and Commodities, honester made.
b. Used to emphasize the truth of a statement. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1876‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer ix. 100 Tell me, Joe,—honest, now, old feller—did I do it, Joe? 1901Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ viii. 160 Max..said to his sister: ‘Honest, Hilda, I don't see how he does it.’ 1913A. Bennett Regent ii. viii. 236 ‘But I'm not sarcastic!’ he protested. ‘Honest?’..‘Honest!’ he solemnly insisted. 1923R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean vi. 105 He is not so bad as he sounds, honest, Jud. 1928F. B. Young My Brother Jonathan ii. iv, If it weren't for the life at Prince's I don't think I could stick it..honest! 1972‘J. & E. Bonett’ No Time to Kill viii. 103 Of course I don't know a thing, but, honest, I can't see anyone here doing these people in.
6. Comb., as honest-hearted, honest-looking, honest-minded, honest-natured adjs.
1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1637) 206 An honest-hearted desire, but no probable dessein. 1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 174 (R.) Worshipful, honest-minded, and well disposed merchants. 1607Shakes. Timon v. i. 89 My honest Natur'd friends. 1783Burns Song, ‘My father was a farmer’ ix, A cheerful honest-hearted clown. 1895J. Smith Perman. Mess. Exod. xix. 304 Jethro brings in his honest-heartedness. 1897Mag. of Art Sept. 251 Honest-looking enough.
▪ II. † honest, v. Obs.
[ad. L. honest-āre to honour, dignify, adorn, embellish, f. honest-us honest. Cf. obs. F. honester.]
1. trans. To confer honour upon; to honour.
1382Wyclif Ecclus. xi. 23 Liȝt is forsothe in the eȝen of God, sodeynly to honesten [1388 to make onest; Vulg. honestare] the pore. a1575Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 411 For his more estimation I have honested him with a room in the arches. 1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. i. iv, You have very much honested my lodging with your presence. a1613Overbury A Wife (1638) 279 To honest it with the tittle of clemency.
2. To cause to appear honest or honourable; to justify, defend, excuse.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 396 It stood him vpon to honest his actions. 1651Charleton Eph. & Cimm. Matrons ii. Pref., That learned and pious Divine; who was willing to honest the poor womans lapse. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 186 Specious pretences they wanted not to honest, to justifie the enterprize.
3. To ‘make an honest woman of’: see honest a. 1 b.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xii. (1632) 717 Honested by lawfull matrimony. a1652Brome Cov. Gard. v. iii, I ask no further satisfaction of you, then to be honested by marriage.
¶4. nonce-use, from the adj.
1669Shadwell R. Shepherdess i. i, You marry'd me to keep me honest, did you? I'll honest you; I will go instantly and meet 'em all three. |