| 释义 |
mercer|ˈmɜːsə(r)|
Also 4 mercere, 5 meercere, 5–6 merser, 6 marsar.
[a. F. mercier (from 13th c.) = Pr. mercier, mercer, Sp. mercero, Pg. mercieiro, It. merciajo:—popular L. *merciārius, f. L. merci-, merx merchandise.]
One who deals in textile fabrics, esp. a dealer in silks, velvets, and other costly materials (in full silk-mercer). Also, occas. (as in Fr.) a small-ware dealer. (For an obsolete use, see quot. 1696.)
[c1123in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1899) July 429 Stephanus mercer.] a1225Ancr. R. 66 Þe wreche peoddare more noise he makeð to ȝeien his sope, þen a riche mercer al his deorewurðe ware. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 255, I haue..ymade many a knyȝte bothe mercere and drapere. 1464Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb. Cl.) 248 Payd ffor x. ȝerdys sarsynet to Thomas Rowson merser in Chepesyde, xx. s. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 152 Neyther marchaunt ne mercer, groser, draper, ne yet ony other crafte. 1554Machyn Diary (Camden) 71 The compene of the Clarkes, and of the Marsars. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iii. 11 Then is there heere one Mr Caper, at the suite of Master Three-Pile the Mercer, for some foure suites of Peach-colour'd Satten. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Mercer, in the City one that deals only in Silks and Stuffs; In Country Towns, one that Trades in all sorts of Linen, Woollen, Silk, and Grocery Wares. 1778F. Burney Evelina x. (1791) 20 The shops are really very entertaining, especially the mercers. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1864) II. 539 A row of pins, arranged as neatly as in the papers sold at the mercers'. 1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. II. iv. 196 This second cousin was a Middlemarch mercer.
†b. the mercer's book: proverbial in the Elizabethan period with reference to the debts of a gallant.
1591Nashe Prognost. D 1 b, Diuers young Gentlemen shall creepe further into the Mercers Booke in a Moneth, then they can get out in a yere. 1591Greene Farew. Follie To Gent. Stud. (1617), Such Wagges as..haue marched in the Mercers booke to please their Mistris eye with their brauery. 1592― Quip Upst. Courtier D, A clownes sonne must be clapt in a veluet pantophle, and a veluet breech, though the presumptuous asse be drownd in the Mercers booke. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster iii. i, How many yards of veluet dost thou thinke they containe? Hora... Faith, sir, your mercers booke Will tell you with more patience, then I can. |