释义 |
mentor|ˈmɛntɔː(r)| [a. F. mentor, appellative use of the proper name Mentor, Gr. Μέντωρ. The name admits of the etymological rendering ‘adviser’, having the form of an agent-n. from the root *men- (: mon-) to remember, think, counsel, etc. (cf. L. monitor); possibly it may have been invented or chosen by the poet as appropriately significant.] 1. a. With initial capital: The name of the Ithacan noble whose disguise the goddess Athene assumed in order to act as the guide and adviser of the young Telemachus; allusively, one who fulfils the office which the supposed Mentor fulfilled towards Telemachus. b. Hence, as common noun: An experienced and trusted counsellor. The currency of the word in Fr. and Eng. is derived less from the Odyssey than from Fénelon's romance of Télémaque, in which the part played by Mentor as a counsellor is made more prominent.
1750Ld. Chesterfield Lett. to Son 8 Mar., The friendly care and assistance of your Mentor. 1784Cowper Task ii. 595 The friend Sticks close, a Mentor worthy of his charge. 1814Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary II. 329 The same Mentor, who really is a most sincere friend, begged me to [etc.]. 1873Dixon Two Queens III. xiii. vi. 36 ‘Too much learning is not needed in a prince’, replied his mentor. 1890Gunter Miss Nobody ii. (1891) 28 Phil..is helped in the selection by the experience of his mentor. ¶c. Applied to a thing (more or less personified). Littré quotes from Rousseau an example of the similar use of F. mentor applied to a book.
1823Byron Island ii. viii, The deep..The only Mentor of his youth. 1869Spurgeon Treas. David (Ps. xix. 11) I. 309 The Bible should be our Mentor. 1879Expositor IX. 462 The δαίµων which Socrates spoke of as his mentor. 2. attrib. and Comb.
1778A. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 338 Your venerable colleague, whose Mentor-like appearance, age [etc.]. 1811W. Spencer Poems 214 To smooth Reflection's mentor-frown. 1837Miss Sedgwick Live & let Live 76 This made it easy for her to adopt the Mentor style. Hence menˈtorial a., ‘containing advice’ (Smart Dict. 1836); ˈmentorism, guidance by a mentor; ˈmentorship, the office or function of a mentor.
1882Sir W. Harcourt in Daily News 23 Jan. 2/5, I wholly reject the mentorship of the noble lord. 1889Jrnl. Educ. 1 Dec. 620/2 What a tragedy of mentorism is that of ‘Robert Elsmere’! 1905Blackw. Mag. Jan. 71/2 His occasional boredom and irrepressibly assertive mentorship. |