| 释义 |
lucre, n.|ˈl(j)uːkə(r)|
Forms: 5 lukir, lukre, 6 lucar, lucur, (?) lycur, 6–7 luker, 7 lukar, 4– lucre.
[ad. (either directly, or through F. lucre) L. lucrum, f. WAryan root *lū̆-, leu-, lou-, whence Gr. ἀπο-λαύειν to enjoy, Goth. launs, OHG. lôn, mod.G. lohn wages, reward.]
1. Gain, profit, pecuniary advantage. Now only with unfavourable implication: Gain viewed as a low motive for action; ‘pelf’. filthy lucre: (see filthy 4 b); so † foul lucre. † Also pl.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 172 Þ ei traueilen faste about here owene worldly honour and lucre. 1388― Ezek. xxii. 27 In suynge lucris gredili. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1544 Þus bothe oure þanke & lucre gon a-weye. 1477Rolls of Parlt. VI. 187/2 They shuld have for lucre, favorable Enquestes of comers to the said Feyres. 1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 19 Preamble, For their owne spede and lucre they suffer their ledder to passe untruly coryed. a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) U v, Theyr owne handes open for theyr owne propre lucres. 1540Taverner Flores Aliquot Sentent. A vj b, Preferre dammage afore fowle lucre. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 283 They sel the fruits of their lands with lucre. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §11. 26 Men haue entered into a desire of Learning and Knowledge..for lukar and profession. 1611Bible 1 Sam. viii. 3 His sonnes..turned aside after lucre, and tooke bribes. 1669Gale Crt. Gentiles i. i. ix. 49 The Phenicians, for lucres sake, sailed throughout the world. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 717 From his lov'd Home no Lucre him can draw. 1734Berkeley Let. to T. Prior 2 Mar., Wks. 1871 IV. 215 A greater greediness for lucre than I hope I shall ever have. 1768Beattie Minstr. i. lx, At lucre or renown let others aim. 1804Wellington in Gurw. Desp. III. 23 Putting lucre out of the question, I am of opinion that we shall gain more influence. 1834Lytton Pompeii ii. ii, In the earlier times of Rome the priesthood was a profession, not of lucre but of honour. 1862Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. App. iii. 457 He wrote for lucre the party's speech which he was to deliver in his own person.
personified.1606Wily Beguiled 30 Thus Lucre, set in golden Chaire of state, When learning's bid Stand by, and keepes a loofe.
†2. Const. of.
a. Gain or profit derived from (something) (obs.).
b. Acquisition of (something profitable) (obs. exc. arch.).
The phr. lucre of gain, frequent in 17th c., is echoed as an archaism by some writers of the 19th c.
c1386Chaucer Prioress' T. 39 Foule vsure and lucre of vileynye. 1390Gower Conf. III. 380 Uppon the lucre of merchandie, Compassement and tricherie Of singuler profit to wynne. c1430Lydg. Reas. & Sens. (E.E.T.S.) 1335 For now vnneth[e] ther ys noone That loueth but for lucre of gode. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 267 Such as..sell their skill and labour for lucre of monie. 1632B. Jonson Magn. Lady v. vi, Love to my Child, and lucre of the portion Provok'd me. a1667Cowley Agric. in Verses & Ess. (1687) 99 The Utility [of Agriculture] (I mean plainly the Lucre of it) is not so great now in our Nation as arises from Merchandise. 1697C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 198 These Men of War ought not to carry any Merchants Goods, but the Lucre of Gain tempts them. 1704N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. I. 73 To write a Barbarous Recipe, purely for the Lucre of a Guinea. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton (1840) xviii. 309 A Malabar, for the lucre of a knife, conducted them to a Dutch town. 1758Johnson Idler No. 67 ⁋5 It is..love, and not lucre of gain. 1805Southey Lett. (1856) I. 314, I am going to make a book for the lucre of gain. a1849H. Coleridge Ess. (1851) I. 85 Sometimes, too, the prolific are led, by the lucre of gain, to deck the childless with parental honours. Adopted books are as common as adopted children.
Hence † ˈlucre v., to make gain. † ˈlucring vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1570Levins Manip. 78/26 To Luker, lucrari. Ibid. 182/35 To Lucre, lucrari. 1573A. Anderson Expos. Hymn Benedict 75 b, Such popish Masse priestes..frame themselues to euery chaunge, thereby to satisfy their lucring lust. 1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 105 Such lucring Mammonists the heauens displease. |