| 释义 |
midwinter|mɪdˈwɪntə(r)|
[f. mid a. + winter. In OE. found both as compound and as two words with inflexion of the adj. Cf. OFris. midwinter, MDu., MLG. mid-, middewinter, MHG. mittewinter (mod.G. mittwinter), ON. miðr vetr, Sw. midvinter.]
The middle of winter; spec. the winter solstice, Dec. 21st, or the period about that time. Also formerly applied to Christmas.
a900O.E. Chron. an. 827 Her mona aþistrode on middes wintres mæsse niht. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 164 ᵹif seo midwinter bið on wodnesdæᵹ þonne bið heard winter. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 55 We auen forgult ure saules wille siðe mid winter com hiderwardes and ouercumen it. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7160 He sende after is barony at midewinter mid him to be. a1400Morte Arth. 77 Whas neuer syche noblay, in no manys tyme, Mad in mydwynter in tha weste marchys! 1590Greenwood Answ. Def. Read Prayers 25 You compel men to pray against thunder and lightning at midd winter. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 319 Nor cease your sowing till Mid-winter ends. 1882A. W. Ward Dickens iii. 49 A journey across the Atlantic in midwinter is no child's-play even at the present day.
b. attrib. and Comb., as midwinter month, midwinter morning, midwinter snow, etc.; † midwinter('s) day, Christmas Day; † midwinter('s) eve, even, night, Christmas eve; † midwinter('s) tide, Christmas time.
1154O.E. Chron. an. 1135, & halechede him to kinge on *mide-wintre-daei. c1205Lay. 22905 A midewinteres dæi. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 19 Me schulde synge þre masses wiþ Gloria in excelsis a mydwynter day [orig. in festo Natalis Domini]. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. iii. 71 On Midwinter-day, eight hundred years back.
1300–1400R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) App. XX. 141 In þe þridde ȝere of his crouning A *midewinteres eue to bedeforde he com.
c1420Chron. Vilod. 4081 Gerleyne was þat monnus name y-wys Þe whiche in *midwintrus-ȝevyn to þat chirche dude gone.
1814Wordsw. Excurs. v. 804 Three dark *midwinter months.
1896Atlantic Monthly Feb. 203 How well the rapture of that frosty *midwinter morning is remembered.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 7 Swo abiden ure helendes tocume þat neihlacheð nuðe fram dai to daie and beð on *mide⁓wintres niht. a1450Myrc Festial 51 Þys geanology þat ys red yn mydwyntyr-nyght.
1877Bryant Sella 63 Two slippers, white As the *midwinter snow.
c1030Eccl. Laws of Cnut Prol., On ðære halᵹan *midewintres tide. c1330Amis & Amil. 1887 It was mid winter tide.
c. quasi-adj. (fig.), cold as midwinter.
1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 29 Because youth and maid Midwinter words of hope that day had said Before the altars. 1884Tennyson Becket i. ii, 'Tis known you are midwinter to all women. |