| 释义 |
ma'am|mɑːm, mæm; usually unstressed məm, (ə)m|
Also 7 mam. In representations of vulgar speech written mem, mim, mum, 'm Cf. marm.
A colloquial shortening of madam.
1. Used vocatively, as the usual oral equivalent of madam.
Now only used parenthetically or at the end of a sentence. Formerly the ordinary respectful form of address to a woman (originally only to a married woman) of equal or superior rank or station (unless entitled to be called ‘my lady’). The present tendency is to confine it to the speech of servants or other persons of markedly inferior position. (Used at Court, instead of madam, in addressing the Queen or a royal princess.)
1668Dryden Evening's Love iii. i. (1671) 33 Madam me no Madam, but learn to retrench your words; and say Mam; as yes Mam, and no Mam, as other Ladies Women do. Madam! 'tis a year in pronouncing. 1765Foote Commissary 1. Wks. 1799 II. 8 Indeed, Ma'am, you'll kill yourself. 1838Dickens O. Twist xvii, Mrs. Mann, ma'am, good morning. c1850Lytton Lionel Hastings ii. in Life (1883) I. ii. xi. 180 ‘Well, Marm—’ Mr. Cotton preserved that broad pronunciation of the ellipsis Ma'am, from Madame, which was formerly considered high bred, and is still the Court mode. 1854Dickens Hard T. i. xvi, ‘Mrs. Sparsit ma'am’, said Mr. Bounderby. ‘I am going to astonish you’. 1885F. Anstey Tinted Venus 142 ‘Now, marm’, he said, in a voice which trembled with repressed rage. 1900Speaker 23 June 324/2 In Thackeray's time every man among equals of a certain refinement was Sir, and every woman Ma'am.
β1700Congreve Way of World ii. v, Minc. O Mem, your Laship staid to peruse a Pecquet of Letters. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xix, ‘Here's master, mim’, said Miggs. ‘Oh, what a happiness it is when man and wife come round again!’ 1854B. P. Shillaber Life & Sayings Mrs. Partington 47 ‘This is grand weather, mem, for poor people’ said Mr. Tigh, the rich neighbor of Mrs. Partington. 1867Good-wife at Home i. 5 Eh! Dear be here, mem, is this you, In sic a byous day? 1876E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. Scottish Life & Character (ed. 21) iv. 78 Then I canna engadge wi' ye, mem; for 'deed I wadna gie the crack i' the kirkyard for a' the sermon. 1877G. Macdonald Marquis of Lossie III. ix. 161 But, mem,..I canna lee. 1887Gordonhaven xi. 104 ‘What have you been doing?’ ‘Nothing, mem’.
γ1847A. Brontë Agnes Grey xi. 177 For you know mum he's now't at all to live on, but what he gets fra' th' rector. 1866Trollope Belton Est. (ed. 3) III. vi. 159 The gentleman..was blown up with all the ceremony of which Mrs. Bunce was capable. ‘Here he be, mum.’ 1885F. Anstey Tinted Venus 116 ‘Dear me, mum, you don't say so!’ exclaimed Leander. 1973S. Cohen Diane Game (1974) vi. 62 It's me, mum... Are you having dinner in?
δ1864J. S. Le Fanu Uncle Silas I. iv. 37 He bowed gravely, with a: ‘Yes, 'm—shall, 'm.’ 1933E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families vii. 140 Her submissive ‘Yes 'm’ and ‘No, miss’. 1945in B. A. Botkin Treas. S. Folklore (1949) ii. iv. 352 Mr. Linktum come down. Yes'm, Mr. Abe Linktum and his partner, Horace Greeley, comed down.
2. Prefixed to a surname. Obs. exc. U.S. vulgar. (See madam.)
1837, etc. [see marm 2].
†3. A person addressed as ‘ma'am’, a married woman. Obs.
1765Meretriciad (ed. 6) 43 Or when Mam walks, he, twenty steps behind. 1779Sheridan Critic i. i, Then to be continually alarmed with misses and ma'ams piping hysteric changes on Juliets, and Dorindas.
4. attrib.: ma'am-school U.S., a dame-school.
1857S. G. Goodrich Recoll. Lifetime iv. I. 39, I found a girl..keeping a ma'am-school for about twenty scholars.
Hence ma'am v. trans., to address as ‘ma'am’.
1813Sketches Charac. (ed. 2) I. 121 You should not ‘sir’ and ‘ma'am’ people as you do, unless you wish to keep them at a distance. 1887G. R. Sims Mary Jane's Mem. 6 Don't ma'am me—I'm a miss. 1889H. Johnston Chron. Glenbuckie v. 58 ‘Indeed, mem’... ‘Ye needna' ‘mem’ me..I'm a common body like yoursel’. |