| 释义 |
▪ I. mirth, n.|mɜːθ|
Forms: 1 myriᵹþ, miriᵹþ, myr(ᵹ)þ, mir(ᵹ)þ, myrhþ, mirhþ, merᵹþ, 2 murþh, merhþ(e, 3 mirþh, muri(h)þe, mur(e)hþe, mur(e)ȝþe, muru(h)þe, mureþe, murcþ, 3–5 murþ(e, 3–6 mirthe, 4 muirth, 4–6 merth(e, myrthe, 4–7 myrth, 3– mirth.
[OE. myr(i)ᵹþ str. fem. (cf. MDu. merchte):—OTeut. *murgiþâ, n. of quality f. *murgjo- merry a.]
†1.
a. Pleasurable feeling, enjoyment, gratification; joy, happiness. Often used of religious joy. Obs.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. vii. §1 Be þæm þu meaht onᵹietan ðæt þu þær nane myrhðe on næfdest. c1000ælfric Gen. iii. 24 He adræfed wæs of neorxena wonges myrðe. c1175Lamb. Hom. 13 Murðhe sculen wunian on londe. a1225Ancr. R. 132 Treowe ancren..resteð ham inne swuche þouhte, & habbeð muruhðe of heorte, ase þeo þet singeð. a1225Leg. Kath. 1422 Þer ha heuen up hare honden to heouene; &..ferden, wið murðe, icrunet, to Criste. a1340Hampole Psalter Prol., & oft sith in til soun & myrth of heuen. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 127 ‘Haue no merueille’ quod Mercy, ‘myrthe it bytokneth’. 1390Gower Conf. II. 107 Of whom I scholde merthe take. c1440York Myst. xlvii. 114 Nowe maiden meke and modir myne, Itt was full mekill myrþe to þe, Þat I schulde ligge in wombe of þine. 1508Dunbar Twa Mariit Wemen 42 Bewrie,..ȝe weddit wemen ȝing, Quhat mirth ȝe fand in maryage, sen ȝe war menis wyffis. 1659H. Plumptre in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 6 Wishing that all your yeares yet to come may passe over with mirth and jollityes. 1696Tate & Brady Ps. ii. 11 Rejoyce with awful Mirth.
b. pl. Delights, joys.
a1225Leg. Kath. 1712 Monie ma murhðen þen alle men mahten wið hare muð munnen. Ibid. 2217 Þæt wes on an Wodnesdei þæt ha þus wende, martir, to þe murhðes þæt neauer ne wonieð. a1300Cursor M. 1004 Paradis is a priue stedd Þar mani mirthes er e-medd. c1420Anturs of Arth. xiv, Whene þou sittis in thi sette, Withe all mirthes at thi mete, Some dayntes þou dele. c1440York Myst. xxiv. 144 To make þere myrthis more.
†c. Put for: A cause of joy. Obs.
a1000Runic Poem 75 (Gr.) Dæᵹ byþ..myrᵹþ and tohiht eadᵹum and earmum. a1225Leg. Kath. 2382 Þe is mi lauerd & mi luue, mi lif & mi leofmon, mi wunne..mi murhðe & mi mede. c1425Cursor M. 10887 (Trin.) For þi of þe beþ born a burþ Synful men to ioye & murþ.
2. Rejoicing, esp. manifested rejoicing; merry-making; jollity, gaiety. Phrase, † to make mirth(s, to rejoice.
c1205Lay. 1794 Muchel wes þa murðe þe þat folc makode. 13..K. Alis. 1575 Murthe is gret in halle. 1375Barbour Bruce xvi. 237 Thou hass mair causs myrthis till ma, For thou the ded eschapit swa. 1390Gower Conf. I. 45 Maii, Whan every brid hath chose his make And thenkth his merthes forto make. c1470Henry Wallace vi. 619 To meit thai went, with myrthis and plesance. 1470–85Malory Arthur i. ii. 37 And so in alle haste they were maryed in a mornynge with grete myrthe and Ioye. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 40 Their exceeding merth may not be told. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 11 Be large in mirth, anon wee'l drinke a Measure The Table round. 1822Scott Pirate xxii, Life without mirth is a lamp without oil. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 238 The genial festival of Christmas, which..lights up the fireside of home with mirth and jollity.
†3.
a. Something which affords pleasure or amusement; a diversion, sport, entertainment. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 767 Of a myrthe I am right now bythoght To doon yow ese and it shal coste noght. 1390Gower Conf. II. 241 And thus the dai, schortly to telle, With manye merthes thei despente. 1470–85Malory Arthur xii. vi. 601 And euery day ones for ony myrthes that alle the ladyes myȝt make hym he wold ones euery day loke toward the realme of Logrys. 1472–5Rolls of Parlt. VI. 156/1 Lordes,..Yomen, and other Comyners, have used the occupation of shotyng for their myrthes and sportes with Bowes of Ewe. 1534More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1171/1 You require my minde in the matter, whether menne in tribulacion may not lawfully..coumfort themselfe, with some honest mirth. 1577J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 100 Such vaine, ydle, and filthy pastimes and myrthes should surcease. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 18 To giue a Kingdome for a Mirth, to sit And keepe the turne of Tipling with a Slaue.
†b. Musical entertainment, melody. Obs.
c1320Sir Tristr. 1254 Ich man was lef to liþe, His mirþes were so swete. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. viii. 67 Vnder a lynde vppon a launde lened I a stounde, To lythe þe layes þe louely foules made. Murthe of her mouthes made me þere to slepe. 1485Caxton Paris & V. 4 [They] wyth one accorde dysposed them self for to gyue somme melodyous myrthe to the noble mayde. c1532G. Du Wes in Palsgr. 942 To make myrth as byrdes, degoiger. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 40 Somedele yblent to song and musickes mirth.
4. a. Gaiety of mind, as manifested in jest and laughter; merriment, hilarity; in early use, † jocularity, fun, ridicule (obs.). † Also, a jest.
1390Gower Conf. III. 253 Thei hire sihe of glad semblant, Al full of merthes and of bordes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 28 b, Which Luther got afterwardes, and translated it into Duche, not without much myrthe and pastime [L. non sine scommatis multoque sale]. 1591Harington Orl. Fur. Pref. ⁋vj, Then, for Comedies. How full of harmeles myrth is our Cambridge Pedantius? 1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 343, I was borne to speake all mirth, and no matter. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. iii. (1701) 88/1 Aristophanes taking this Theme interweaves it with much abusive Mirth. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiii. §30 He was of an excellent humour,..and under a grave countenance, covered the most of mirth. 1712Addison Spect. No. 381 ⁋1, I have always preferred Chearfulness to Mirth. The latter I consider as an Act, the former as an Habit of the Mind. Mirth is short and transient, Chearfulness fixed and permanent. a1716South Serm. (1744) VII. vii. 151 For if these [great crimes and great miseries] be made the matter of our mirth, what can be the argument of our sorrow? 1760–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 129 Joy, when occasioned by the contrast of very dissimilar objects, along which it proceeds by continual leaps and bounds from one to the other, becomes mirth. 1774Goldsm. Retal. 24 Who mix'd reason with pleasure and wisdom with mirth. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 216 A reckless mixture of seriousness with mirth. 1832H. Martineau Demerara iii. 33 Cassius grinned with some feeling deeper than mirth.
b. personified.
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 817 Ful fair was Mirthe, ful long and high; A fairer man I never sigh. 1632Milton L'Allegro 152 These delights, if thou canst give, Mirth with thee, I mean to live. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 222 Where grey-beard mirth, and smiling toil retir'd. 1816Byron Monody on Sheridan's Death 110 Mirth, That humbler Harmonist of care on Earth.
†c. Put for: The object of one's mirth.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 114 Hath Cassius liu'd To be but Mirth and Laughter to his Brutus, When greefe and blood ill temper'd, vexeth him? 1611― Wint. T. i. ii. 166 He's all my Exercise, my Mirth, my Matter. 1708Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 52 The Flout of Boys, and Mirth of every Feast.
5. Comb. objective and obj. genitive, as mirth-maker, mirth-marrer, † mirth-monger, mirth-provoker; mirth-inspiring, mirth-lit, mirth-loving, mirth-making, mirth-marring, mirth-moving, mirth-provoking adjs.; † mirth-day, a holiday, festival; † mirth-song, a song of (religious) joy.
1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 118 Let the Amusements of those *Mirth-Days be athletic and exhilarating.
1725Pope Odyss. iv. 302 Bright Helen mix'd a *mirth-inspiring bowl.
1849C. Brontë Shirley II. iv. 100 Lifting up her *mirth-lit face to the gallery.
1853Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1872) II. 543 The unrestrained, *mirth-loving act of worship.
1636Massinger Gt. Dk. Florence v. ii, Such chopping *mirth-makers as shall preserve Perpetuall cause of sport. 1969Daily Tel. 15 Feb. 14/6 Kenneth Horne..was acknowledged as one of radio's top *mirth-makers.
1638R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. i. (1818) 37 They eat, drink, laugh, are still *mirth-making.
1652J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox iv. 129 Who playing the *Mirth-marrer at this Triumph, put Water into this fuming Wine.
1771Foote Maid of B. i. Wks. 1799 II. 209 That..water-drinking, *mirth-marring, amorous old hunks.
1641J. Trappe Theol. Theol. iv. 191 Then woe to our *mirth-mongers that laugh now.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 71 A *mirth-mouing iest.
1895W. Archer Theatr. ‘World’ 1894 lii. 341 The pun, as a ‘*mirth-provoker’, is dead.
1859Lang Wand. India 287 Each in his own peculiar way, could relate a story,..in such a manner as to make it wonderfully *mirth-provoking.
1561J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 81 The *myrth-songes, or Carols of Gods excellent creatures.
▪ II. † mirth, v. Obs.
Forms: 3 mirþhen, 4–5 myrth(e, 4 merþe, murthe, 4–7 mirth(e.
[f. mirth n.]
1. intr. To be glad, rejoice.
a1300E.E. Psalter xxxi. 14 Faines in Laverd and glades in quert And mirþhes [L. gloriamini] alle rightwise of hert.
2. trans. To gladden, delight; to provide sport or entertainment for.
a1300–1400Cursor M. 7254 (Gött.) Bi a piler þan was he [Samson] sett, To mirth þe gomys at þair mett. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 861 He myrþez vus alle at vch a mes. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 240 Þe weyke and fyre wil make a warme flaumbe For to myrthe men with þat in merke sitten. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. i. (Skeat) l. 11 Blisse of my joye, that ofte me murthed, is turned in-to galle. c1400Destr. Troy 7910 To se the maner of þo men, & mirth hym a stound. 1435Misyn Fire of Love 10 With byrnynge lufe playnly our myndes myrthand. a1600Flodden F. ii. (1664) 20 Then Minstrels mirthed all the land. |