| 释义 |
vendetta|vɛnˈdɛtə|
[a. It. vendetta:—L. vindicta vengeance. Cf. vindictive a.]
1. A family blood-feud, usually of a hereditary character, as customary among the inhabitants of Corsica and parts of Italy.
1855Edinb. Rev. CI. 456 Paoli..succeeded in making the vendetta disgraceful. 1860All Year Round No. 63. 299/2 The deadly ‘vendetta’..which has sacrificed whole families, and once depopulated an entire village for one girl. 1870O. W. Holmes Old Vol. of Life (1891) 291, I came away thinking I had discovered a new national custom, as peculiar..as the Corsican vendetta.
2. A similar blood-feud, or prosecution of private revenge, in other communities.
1861Pearson Early & Mid. Ages vii. 66 But there are no traces [among the early Anglo-Saxons] of that vendetta, which was the sombre glory of the Welsh. 1891Spectator 7 Mar., The Papuan..would eat everybody, but that he fears arousing endless vendettas.
attrib.1897Humanitarian X. 209 The vendetta spirit is hereditary.
Hence venˈdettist, one who takes part in, or carries on, a vendetta.
1904Times 2 June 10/3 We..perceive that they are blood-thirsty vendettists. |