| 释义 |
▪ I. mace, n.1|meɪs|
Also 4–5 mas, 4–7 mase, 5–6 mais, (5 maas, mass, meyce, 6 maysse, 6–7 masse).
[a. OF. masse, mace = Pr. massa, It. mazza, Sp. maza, Pg. maça:—L. type *mat(t)ea (prob. the origin of the rare mat(t)eola ? mallet).]
1. a. A heavy staff or club, either entirely of metal or having a metal head, often spiked: formerly a regular weapon of war. (Also called † mace of arms = F. masse d'armes.) † In early use also, a club of any kind.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4219 Þis geant..bigan is mace adrawe. c1320Sir Beues 3800 Þei leide on..Wiþ swerdes and wiþ maces. a1330Otuel 1112 He cam wiþ a mase of bras. 1375Barbour Bruce xi. 600 The Ynglis men..Kest emang thame swerdis and mas. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1753 With myghty maces the bones they tobreste. 1390Gower Conf. III. 359 And Hercules..Was ther, berende his grete Mace. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 22171 And with this ylke sturdy Maas, I putte hem out a fful greet paas. Ibid 23160 Then cam Treason with hir mas Hevy as a clobbe of leed. 1555Eden Decades 161 Laton whereof they make such maces and hammers as are vsed in the warres. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. v. 78 Vppon their saddle bow, their roundel & the Busdeghan (being the mase of armes). 1678Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. ii. §86. 473/1 He would cast a Horseman's Mace of nine or ten pounds weight farther than any other of his Court. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 85 Pomps without guilt, of bloodless swords and maces. 1825Scott Talism. i, A steel axe, or hammer, called a mace-of-arms. 1834J. R. Planché Brit. Costume 244 The pistol superseded the mace in the hands of officers during this reign [Hen. VIII].
†b. Applied to the trident of Neptune. Obs.
1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 63 Thee wals God Neptune, with mace threeforcked, vphurleth. 1590Spenser Muiopotmos 315 The God of Seas..strikes the rockes with his three-forked mace. 1791Cowper Iliad xii. 29 Neptune with his tridental mace himself Led them.
c. fig.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 268 O Murd'rous slumber! Layest thou thy Leaden Mace vpon my Boy? 1667Milton P.L. x. 294 The aggregated Soyle Death, with his Mace petrific, cold and dry, As with a Trident smote. 1840Longfellow Sp. Stud. 1. v, Hark! how the loud and ponderous mace of Time Knocks at the golden portals of the day! 1878Browning La Saisiaz 385 As..Beethoven's Titan mace Smote the immense to storm.
2. a. A sceptre or staff of office, resembling in shape the weapon of war, which is borne before (or was formerly carried by) certain officials. † Also formerly = the sceptre of sovereignty.
For sergeant at (or of) mace, see sergeant. The mace which lies on the table in the House of Commons when the Speaker is in the chair is viewed as a symbol of the authority of the House (cf. b).
c1440Promp. Parv. 319/1 Mace of a seriawnt, s[c]eptrum, clava. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. v. xxviii. in Ashm. (1652) 155 Wyth Sylver Macys..Sarjaunts awayting on them every owre. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 253 They gaue hym a rede in his hande for a septer or a mace. 1559Mirr. Mag., Jas. I xx. 5 My murdring uncle..That longed for my kingdome and my mace. 1580Nottingham Rec. IV. 195 Payd to Towley for the other ij. maces mendyng. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 144 With these borne before vs, in steed of Maces, Will we ride through the streets. 1623–4in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 177 The Iron wch holds the Mase at the end of Mr. Maiors pewe. 1677E. Smith in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 37 Some mischievous persons to dishonour my Lord Chancellour..stole the mace and the two purses. 1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. ii. xiii. (1710) 100 The Mace, while the Speaker is in the Chair, is always upon the Table, except when sent upon any extraordinary Occasion into Westminster-Hall, and Court of Requests, to summon the Members to attend. 1758Johnson Idler No. 96 ⁋1 He..read the Gothick characters inscribed on his brazen mace. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 45 The chancellor carries England on his mace. 1877J. D. Chambers Div. Worship 186 A Beadle, or other official, with a wand or mace, clearing the way.
b. by (warrant of) the mace: in House of Commons use, said of occasions when the Serjeant-at-Arms is sent with the mace as his warrant for demanding obedience to a command of the House.
1576Jrnl. Ho. Comm. 22 Feb. I. 107 The said Committees found no Precedent for setting at large by the Mace any Person in Arrest; but only by Writ. Ibid. 27 Feb. I. 108 It is Resolved, That Edward Smalleye..shall be brought hither To-morrow, by the Serjeant; and so set at Liberty, by Warrant of the Mace, and not by writ.
c. A mace-bearer.
1663Flagellum or O. Cromwell (1672) 26 And here upon a Mace was sent to bring Cromwell into the Court. 1670Marvell Let. 21 Mar. Wks. (Grosart) II. 315 Sir Thomas Clifford carryed Speaker and Mace, and all members there, into the King's cellar, to drink his health. 1753Gray Long Story iii, My grave Lord-Keeper led the brawls; The seals and maces danc'd before him. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xi. III. 1 Garter King at arms..was followed by the maces of the two Houses, by the two Speakers [etc.].
3. a. Billiards. A stick with a flat square head, formerly used for propelling the balls; now superseded by the cue. (Cf. mast n.3) b. A similar instrument used in Bagatelle.
1727Boyer Fr. Dict., Masse, (Billard dont on joue) Mass, or Billiard Stick. 1734R. Seymour Compl. Gamester iii. (ed. 5) 84 If a Person breaks a Stick, or the Mace, he must pay Six-pence for the Stick and two Shillings for the Mace. 1744J. Love Cricket 4 The dull Ball trails before the feeble Mace. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) III. 229 [Billiards] is played with sticks, called maces, or with cues; the first consist of a long straight stick, with a head at the end, and are the most powerful instruments of the two... In England the mace is the prevailing instrument, which the foreigners hold in contempt. 1814P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 119 We..enjoyed the novelty of playing with the Emperor's favourite cue, and Maria Louisa's mace. 1856‘Capt. Crawley’ Billiards (1859) 8 The Mace, by the way, is seldom or never used by the present generation of billiard players. 1873Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 4 Maces (called ‘masts’) only were used, made of lignum vitæ or some other weighty wood, and tipped with ivory. 1883Cassell's Sports & Past. 329 [Bagatelle]. The balls are struck with either a cue or a mace; of these two the latter will be found the easier.
4. Tanning. (See quots.)
1839Ure Dict. Arts 378 The chief operations of the currier are four:—1. Dipping the leather, which consists in moistening it with water, and beating it with the mace, or a mallet upon the hurdle. 1852C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 462 The leather may either be beaten out with the feet, or with an instrument called the mace.
5. attrib. and Comb., as mace-blow, mace head; † mace-proof a., nonce-wd., safe from arrest; mace-reed = reed-mace.
1879G. Meredith Egoist II. v. 104 The effect..was to produce an image of surpassingness in the features of Clara that gave him the final, or *mace-blow.
1899Daily News 12 Sept. 7/2 Sargon of Accad..of whom a *mace head bearing his name is to be seen in the British Museum.
1633Shirley Bird in a Cage 11. D 3 b, You shall..come vp to the face of a Sergiant,..and be *mace proofe.
1901G. Meredith Reading of Life 126 A hundred mares, all white! their manes Like *mace-reed of the marshy plains Thick-tufted, wavy.
▪ II. mace, n.2|meɪs|
Forms: α. 4–5 macys, 4–6 macis, maces, (4 macz, 5 macez, masis, 6 mases). β. 4– mace, (6 mase).
[ME. macis, a. F. macis (14th c. in Godef.), of unknown origin; cf. F. (16th c.) massia, ? cinnamon flower. The form macis being in Eng. apprehended as a plural, the new singular mace was formed from it.
It is not likely that the word has any connexion with L. maccis (accus. maccida) occurring once in Plautus in a bombastic list of unknown and perhaps imaginary spices.]
1. A spice consisting of the dried outer covering of the nutmeg.
a1377Abingdon Acc. (Camden) 38 In farina xxviijs. In croco xls. In macys ijs. xd. [etc.]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. ii. (1495) 595 The Mace is the flowre, and the Notmygge is the fruyte. Ibid. cix. 672 The rynde of Nux musticata, the notmygge, hight Macis. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 94 Þe macez er þe huskes of þe nutemug. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 13 Fors hit with clowes or macys gode. 1471Paston Lett. III. 25 Sende me word qwat price a li. of peppyr, clowys, masis, gingyr [etc.]. 1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt's Voy. (1589) 252 The Islands are fertile of Cloues, Nutmegs, Mace, and Cinnamom. 1544T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1553) E j a, Mithridatum..wel tempered in a littel white wine with a fewe maces. 1594Blundevil Exerc. v. xi. (1636) 554 But when the Nut waxeth dry, the Mace do sever from the Nut. Ibid. xii. 557 From the Ile Banda doth come Nutmegs and Maces. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 259 Spices, as Cinnamon, Mace, Nutmeg. 1747H. Glasse Cookery ii. 32 Add some..Pepper and Salt, and a little beaten Mace. 1811A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 262 Oil of Mace. 1871C. Kingsley At Last v, The nutmegs, the mace still clinging round them, lie scattered on the grass.
2. attrib.: † mace-ale, ale spiced with mace.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Four Pl., Triumph of Love iv, She had more need of mace-ale..than your aged discipline. 1676Wiseman Surg. iv. v. 318 That night she took an anodyne Syrup in a draught of Mace-ale.
▪ III. mace, n.3|meɪs|
Forms: 6 mase, 7 mas(se, maz, mess, 8 masscie, 8– mace.
[a. Malay mās (also emās); said to be repr. Skr. māsha a weight of about 17 grains.]
1. In Malay countries: A small gold coin weighing 9 grains. Also, ‘a weight used in Sumatra, being according to Crawfurd 1–16th of a Malay tael, or about 40 grains’ (Y.).
1598W. Phillip tr. Linschoten's Voy. 44 A Tael of Malacca is 16 Mases. 1600J. Davis in Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) I. iii. i. 117 That [coin] of Gold is named a Mas, and is nine pence halfe penie neerest. Those of Lead are called Caxas: whereof a thousand sixe hundred make one Mas. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. 1. 132 Of these [cash] 1500 make a Mess, which..is a small thin piece of Gold... It is in value 15 pence English. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xli. 109 At Atcheen they have a small Coin of Leaden Money called Cash, from twelve to sixteen hundred of them goes to one Mace, or Masscie. 1813Milburn Oriental Comm. (1825) 348 The currency here [Tringano, Malay Peninsula] consists also of the following:..16 mace equal to 1 tale. Ibid. 360 [Sumatra] The lesser weights are as follow:—4 Copangs equal to 1 Mace.
2. A Chinese money of account equivalent to one-tenth of a silver liang or tael.
1615R. Cocks Diary (1883) I. 1 We bought 5 greate square postes..cost 2 mas 6 condrins per peece. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 531 Although the terms candereen and mace are employed to certify a certain quantity of caxees, there are no coins..which bear that specific value. 1802Capt. Elmore in Naval Chron. VIII. 382 At seven mace two candereen per head. 1896Blackw. Mag. Apr. 580/2 The [poppy] tax is stated to be one mace or six-tenths of a mace the plot.
▪ IV. mace, n.4 slang.|meɪs|
Swindling, robbery by fraud. on mace: on credit, ‘on tick’.
1781G. Parker View Soc. II. 34 The mace is a man who goes to any capital tradesman..in an elegant vis-à-vis [etc.]. 1879J. W. Horsley in Macm. Mag. XL. 502 The following people used to go in there—toy-getters (watch-stealers)..men at the mace (sham loan offices). 1893P. H. Emerson Signor Lippo xxii. 100 Letting 'em have the super and slang on mace, for he gets to know their account and he puts the pot on 'em settling day.
b. Comb.: mace-cove, -gloak, -man = macer2.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Mace-gloak, a man who lives upon the mace. 1823‘J. Bee’ Dict. Turf s.v. Mace, The mace⁓cove is he who will cheat, take in, or swindle, as often as may be. 1859Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 160 The nightside of London is fruitful in ‘macemen’, ‘mouchers’, and ‘go-alongs’. 1865M. Collins Who is the Heir? II. 245 What is a maceman?.. A person who buys anything he can get without paying for it, and sells it again at once for anything he can get. 1884Daily News 5 Jan. 5/2 The victim appears to have entered an omnibus and to have been at once pounced upon by two ‘macemen’, otherwise ‘swell mobsmen’.
▪ V. mace, v.1 rare—1.
[f. mace n.1]
trans. To strike as with a mace.
1840Dickens Barn. Rudge iv, The 'prentices no longer carried clubs wherewith to mace the citizens.
▪ VI. † mace, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[f. mace n.2]
trans. To season with mace. In quot. fig.
a1640Day Peregr. Schol. (1881) 70 If anie of you come vnder there clowches theile pepper you and mace you with a vengeance.
▪ VII. mace, v.3 slang.
[f. mace n.4]
trans. and intr. To swindle. Hence ˈmacing vbl. n.
1790Potter New Dict. Cant. (1795) Mace, to cheat. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 138 A..party of inferior pugilists had been macing in the southern towns. 1819J. H. Vaux Mem. I. 53, I sometimes raised the wind by..obtaining goods on credit, called in the cant language maceing. 1885Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 3/2 Fancy him being so soft as to give that jay a quid back out of the ten he'd maced him of! |