| 释义 |
▪ I. housewife, n.|ˈhaʊswaɪf, formerly also ˈhʌzwɪf, ˈhʌzɪf|
Pl. housewives |ˈhaʊswaɪvz, ˈhʌz(w)ɪvz|. Forms: α. 3–4 husewif, 4 husewijf, hūswif, -wijf; house-, houswif, -wyf; hosewif, -wyf, (pl. -wyves); 4–5 houswif, -wijf, -wyff, 6 howswyff, housewyfe, (-wyfes -wyves), 6–8 houswife, 6– housewife, (-wives). β. 5–6 hŭswif, -wijf, -wyf(f, 5–6 huswyfe, 6–8 (–9 in sense 3) huswife, 7 -wiffe; also (in sense 3) 8 hussive, 9 huzzif, hussif, pl. hussives. See also hussy.
[ME. hus(e)wif, f. hús house n.1+ wíf woman, wife: cf. Ger. hausweib, early mod.Du. huyswijf ‘materfamilias’ (Kilian); but the sense in Ger. and Du. is usually expressed by hausfrau, huisvrouw. In early ME., usually with a connective e, as in husebond, husband, which is not found in OE. compounds of hús-, and has not been clearly explained. When this was absent, in the form hūswīf, the ū tended to be shortened by position, as in husband, giving the form hŭswife, in literary use till the 18th c., and still common in transf. senses and dialectally. Elision of w (cf. Chiswick, Keswick), and (dialectally) of final f, v, gave the forms huzzif, hussive, huzzy, hussy q.v. But the analytical form with long vowel, hūsewīf, hūswīf, houswīf, housewife, continued in use, and became frequent in sense 1 in the 16th c., esp. when the shortened hŭswife began to lose caste, through its depreciatory use in sense 2 (see hussy). But many still pronounce huzwif, huzzif in sense 1, even when they write housewife.]
1. A woman (usually, a married woman) who manages or directs the affairs of her household; the mistress of a family; the wife of a householder. Often (with qualifying words), a woman who manages her household with skill and thrift, a domestic economist.
αa1225Ancr. R. 416 Heo nis nout husewif; auh is a chirche ancre. a1240Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 247 To cwemen wel þe husewif. a1300Cursor M. 14088 Martha was huswijf [v.rr. houswif, husewijf, hosewif] o þat hus. c1325Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 156 Mesounere, house wyf. 1382Wyclif 1 Tim. v. 14, I wole, ȝongere for to be weddid..for to be hosewyues. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xiv. 9 By nom hym ys housewif, and heeld here hym self. 1465Marg. Paston in P. Lett. No. 506 II. 198 By your faynt houswyff at thys tyme. 1535Coverdale Prov. xxx. 21 The earth is disquieted..thorow an ydle houswife. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 33 Let vs sit and mocke the good houswife Fortune from her wheele. 1710Brit. Apollo III. No. 91. 3/2 There is..but An Hour in one whole Day between A Housewife and a Slut. 1832W. Irving Alhambra II. 85 Loitering housewives and idle maid-servants. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art i. (1868) 13 You will see the good housewife taking pride in her pretty table-cloth, and her glittering shelves.
βc1440Promp. Parv. 255/1 Huswyfe, materfamilias. 1529More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1184/1, I bryng home a gose & not out of the pulters shoppe..but out of the huswiues house, at the fyrst hand. 1573Tusser Husb. lxx. (1878) 162 Take huswife from husband, and what is he than? 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 37 As good a huswife as she was a happy wife. a1592H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 29 We call the wife huswife, that is, house-wife. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 423 The bounteous Huswife Nature. 1635Brome Sparagus Gard. iii. vi. Wks. 1873 III. 166 We would be Much better huswifes. 1712–14Pope Rape Lock v. 21 Who would not scorn what huswife's cares produce. 1762[see 5].
†b. housewife's cloth: see quot. 1727. Obs.
1571in Beck Draper's Dict. s.v., iij yeardes and half of howswyff clothe iijs. vjd. 1625Hart Anat. Ur. i. iv. 44, I discerne..neither carded wooll, flaxe, nor huswiues cloth. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., House-wife's Cloth is a middle sort of linnen cloth between fine and coarse, for family uses.
†2. A light, worthless, or pert woman or girl. Obs. Usually huswife; now hussy, q.v.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 20 Ye huswife, what wynde blowth ye hyther thus right? 1599Broughton's Lett. vii. 21 Sampsons heyfer was his wife, a skittish huswife. 1613R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Concubine, harlot or light huswife. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. i. §4 Some gigling Huswives, (Light Leaves will be wagg'd with Little Wind) causelesly fell a flouting at them. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 163 Afterwards he married a light Huswife. 1705Vanbrugh Confed. v. ii, Impudent housewife!
3. Usually |ˈhʌzɪf|. A pocket-case for needles, pins, thread, scissors, etc. (In this sense still often spelt huswife, hussive.)
1749P. Skelton Deism Revealed viii. (T.), Women..spending their time in knotting, or making an housewife. 1762Sterne Tr. Shandy V. xvi, To bring whatever he had to say, into so small a compass, that..it might be rolled up in my mother's housewife. 1768― Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 112 (Temptation) [She] without saying a word, took out her little hussive, threaded a small needle, and sewed it up. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xv. 158 He placed a little silken huswife in her trembling hand. 1868Holme Lee B. Godfrey x. 54 She drew a thread of silk from the housewife. 1871Carlyle in Mrs. C.'s Lett. I. 161 She tried anxiously all her ‘hussives’, boxes, drawers.
†4. A local name of some kind of fish. Obs.
c1640J. Smyth Hundred of Berkeley (1885) 319 The Dory, the huswife, the herringe, the sprat.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. appositive;
b. of or belonging to a housewife;
c. housewife-case = sense 3; housewife-cloth (see 1 b).
1762Churchill Ghost iii. 1 It was the Hour, when Huswife Morn, With Pearl and Linen hangs each thorn. 1856Bryant June iii, The housewife bee and humming-bird. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxii. 217 They bestirred themselves real housewife-fashion to..make us comfortable. 1859Sala Gas-light & D. xviii. 204 Walking-sticks, housewife-cases, knives.
▪ II. ˈhousewife, v. Now rare.
(see prec.)
Also 7 -wive.
[f. prec. n.]
1. intr. (also to housewife it): To act the housewife; to manage a household with skill and thrift; to practise economy.
1566Drant Horace, Sat. i. A ij b, She [the ant] huswyfes it right well. 1603Breton Dial. Dignity or Indig. Man 15 Shee Huswifeth at home for their owne profit and theyr Childrens comfort. 1766E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances III. 254 She neither reads, converses, works, visits, housewifes, coquets, intrigues, nor prays. 1894Westm. Gaz. 28 June 1/3 All her daily dusting and careful housewifing.
2. trans. To manage as a good housewife, or with skill and thrift; to economize, be sparing of, make the most of. (Cf. to husband.)
1632Brome North. Lasse iii. ii. Wks. 1873 III. 57 If you..huswife the entertainment to make it brave for my credit. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, ccxxxix, The vndrest Hearth, and the ill house-wif'd roome Lay all on heaps. 1721De Foe Moll Flanders (1840) 116, I must housewife the money. 1798F. Lathom Midnt. Bell III. 55 In order to housewife the money we possessed..we resolved to buy a loaf. |