| 释义 |
wittol, n. Obs. or arch.|ˈwɪtəl|
Forms: 5–6 wetewold, 6–7 wittold, wittall, wit-wal, 6–8 wittal, (6 wittole, -oll, -ale, -ald, witall, 7 whittoll), 7–8 wital, 6– wittol.
[Late ME. wetewold, app. formed after cokewold, cuckold, with substitution of wete, wit v.1 for the first part of the word.]
1. A man who is aware of and complaisant about the infidelity of his wife; a contented cuckold.
14..? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 710 Wetewoldes that suffre syn in her syghtes. c1520Skelton Garl. Laurel 187 Some carefull cokwoldes..; Some famous wetewoldis, and they be moche wurs. 1597Bp. Hall Sat. i. vii, Fond wit-wal that wouldst lode thy wit-lesse head With timely hornes. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 313 But Cuckold, Wittoll, Cuckold? the Diuell himselfe hath not such a name. 1614W. Browne Inner Temple Masque ii, Come yee whose hornes the cuckold weares, The whittoll too, with asses eares. 1736Vaughan Voy. (1760) I. 136 [He] being a good-humour'd easy Man, and a Wittol to boot, at their Tears and Entreaties, forgave 'em both. 1818Byron Juan i. xcix, A real husband [MS. wittol] always is suspicious. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxxvi, She would not quit the estate and title of the wittol who had wedded her.
b. transf. (? with pun on wit-all.) One who has little sense; a half-witted person; a fool; occas. a witling.
1588J. Aske Eliz. Triumphans To Rdr. A 3, They..are..accounted of as wittals, for spending their studies about such common deuises. 1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 34 To see great wittols little things despise. 1639J. Clarke Parœm. 151 He that's wicked is a witall [stultus]. 1721Amherst Terræ-Filius xxxix. (1726) II. 211 Heaven was crouded with religious punsters and witals. 1822Scott Pirate xxxvi, He told them they should see what message he was about to send to the wittols [sc. the Mayor and Aldermen] of Kirkwall. 1866Kingsley Herew. xxxiv, Gospatric! the wittol! the wood-cock!
2. attrib. That is a wittol, pertaining to or characteristic of a wittol; transf. half-witted, senseless.
1604Marston Malcontent iv. iii. F 2 b, And do I liue to be the skoffe of men, To be their wittall cuckold..? 1703Rowe Fair Penit. iii. i, If thou wou'dst live, Without the Name of credulous, wittal Husband, Avoid thy Bride. 1780Burke Sp. Ho. Comm. 11 Feb. 76 What sums the nursing of that ill-thriven..and ill-favoured brat [sc. Nova Scotia], has cost to this wittol nation! 1796― Regic. Peace iii. (1892) 193 There are cases in which we may pretend to sleep: but the wittol rule has some sense in it, Non omnibus dormio. 1810Wirt in J. P. Kennedy Mem. (1860) I. xviii. 258 As one of Congreve's wittol squires said.., it is a pleasure I would as soon be without. 1869Lowell Winter-evening Hymn to Fire iv, And thy down-trod instincts savage To stealthy insurrection creep, While thy wittol masters sleep.
Hence † wittol v. trans., to make a wittol of.
1624Davenport City Night-cap i. i, He would wittal me, With a consent to my own Horns. |