| 释义 |
many-headed, a.
(Stress variable.)
a. Having many heads. Often applied derisively to the people or populace (the many-headed beast or many-headed monster, after Hor. Ep. i. i. 76 Belua multorum es capitum).
a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 220 O weak trust of the many-headed multitude. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 6 The proud Duessa..High mounted on her many headed beast. 1595Daniel Civ. Wars ii. xii, This many-headed monster Multitude. c1611Chapman Iliad i. 478 That many-headed hill. 1680G. Hickes Spirit of Popery 2 That Many-headed Pope the Presbyterian Government. 1737Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 305 The many-headed Monster of the Pit. 1819Ld. J. Russell in Hansard's Parl. Deb. XLI. 1105 Are we then to conclude..that Somers [etc.] expelled a king in order to set up a many-headed tyranny? 1849Tennyson ‘You might have won’ 20 Keep nothing sacred: 'tis but just The many-headed beast should know. 1852Henslow Dict. Bot. Terms, Many-headed, when many distinct buds are seated on the crown of a root.
b. absol. (= ‘the many-headed multitude’.)
1837Dickens Pickw. xix, The playful disposition of the many-headed. 1934Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves xv. 181 We might have been a rather oversized greyhound and a somewhat slimmer electric hare doing their stuff on a circular track for the entertainment of the many-headed.
Hence manyˈheadedness.
1827Hare Guesses (1859) 96 A Review,—which, among diverse other qualities of Cerberus, has that of many-headedness. 1889Spectator 5 Oct., The many-headedness of a Parliament. |