| 释义 |
Moses|ˈməʊzɪz|
Forms: 6–7 Moyses, 7 (pl. Mosesses), 7– Moses.
[a. L. Mōses, Mōȳses, Gr. Μωσῆς, Μωυσῆς, ad. Heb. Mōsheh.]
1. a. Applied allusively to some one resembling Moses, esp. in his character as lawgiver or leader.
1528Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 13 How cometh it that our Moyseses..commaunde vs the contrary. 1624T. Taylor 2 Serm. ii. 23 As Israel had not only Ioshua fighting..but also Moses praying..; so wee have many Mosesses lifting up hands, and praiers. 1652Owen Advantage Kingd. of Christ Wks. 1851 VIII. 320 They will not understand that such Moseses will be deliverers. 1660Iter Australe 12 A second, Moses styled him [sc. Cromwell] (for why His Shining Nose made the Synecdoche). 1888Times (weekly ed.) 22 June 14/3 He prayed for another Moses to limit the wanderings of the..party to four years instead of 40.
b. slang. (See quots.); also to stand Moses.
[1611Cotgr., Moyse, Holie Moyses; whose ordinarie counterfeit hauing on either side of the head an eminence, or luster arising somewhat in the forme of a horne, hath imbouldened a prophane Author to stile Cuckolds, Parents de Moyse.] 1796Grose's Dict. Vulg. T. s.v., A man is said to stand Moses when he has another man's bastard child fathered upon him, and he is obliged by the parish to maintain it. 1859Matsell Voc. s.v. (Farmer), Moses, a man that fathers another man's child for a consideration.
c. Used as an oath or expletive.
1840in Amer. Speech (1965) XL. 130 Oh! Moses how they opened dare eyes. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xiv. 123 O'Grady, casting a look of mingled rage and contempt on the fisherman, merely uttered the ejaculation, ‘Oh Moses!’ and threw himself back in his chair. 1855Strang Glasgow & Its Clubs (1856) 295 Very well the front rank; but holy Moses! what a rear! 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883) 222 The parson..stopped perplexed At what the—Moses—was coming next. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 595 By the Ever-Living Jumping Moses. 1890H. Nisbet Bail Up! xxx. 212 ‘And, by the piper that played before Moses, so they did.’
d. A derogatory appellation for a Jew.
1844Punch 6 July 19/1 (heading) A hint for Moses... Passing by the eminent establishment of E. Aaron and Co.,..I was naturally attracted..to examine the beauteous objects of gent.'s attire, which are exhibited in their unrivalled plate-glass windows. 1858Ibid. 10 July 12/2 The Jews are no more a disqualified caste, And moses will henceforth in Parliament sit.
2.
†a. A kind of boat used in the West Indies (see quot.). Obs.
b. Moses boat: a kind of boat used in Massachusetts.
Whether these two applications have a common origin is doubtful. The Massachusetts use has been said to be derived from the name of Moses Lowell, a famous boat-builder at Salisbury, Mass.
a.1768Boston Chron. 2–9 May 195/3 An advertisement appeared in the Antigua Gazette, offering forty pistoles, for apprehending one —Scott who was mate of a sloop,..and two sailors, for robbing said sloop, then lying at Antigua, of a moses boat, two barrels of beef [etc.]. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) F iv b, A moses is a very flat broad boat, used by merchant-ships amongst the Carribbee-islands, to bring hogsheads of sugar off..to the shipping. 1775Romans Florida App. 87 In almost every gut among the many islands in this bay, I have found it as much as four stout men could do, to stem the current in a Moses.
b.1765Mass. Gaz. 25 Apr. 1766Ibid. 16 Oct., A Moses Boat, about fourteen Foot long. 1770Boston Gaz. 23 Apr. 3/2 Taken from Long Side a Schooner at the North-End, the 13th Inst. a Moses Boat, 16 Feet. 1775New. Eng. Chron. 18–25 May 4/3 A Moses Boat, 13 Feet long, went adrift about a Month ago from Beverly. 1812Boston Gaz. 26 Oct. Suppl. (Advt.) (Th.), On Saturday was picked up, on Dorchester Flats, a small Moses boat. 1970Brewer's Dict. Phr. & Fable 731/2 Moses boat, a type of boat made..by a famous boat-builder, Moses Lowell, in the 18th century.
3. Comb.: Moses basket, a basket used for carrying babies; Moses' law (see quot., and cf. Deut. xxv. 3); Moses' rod, a divining-rod (cf. Mosaical a.2 2); Moses-seam (see quot.); Moses' tables, see quot. 1803 [in allusion to Exodus xx].
1945N. Mitford Pursuit of Love x. 84 She..returned carrying a *Moses basket full of wails. 1948M. Dickens Joy & Josephine i. i. 13 She was trying to make out whether the young officer were the father of the baby in the Moses basket. 1949E. Taylor Wreath of Roses vii. 100 Carrying the baby between them in a Moses basket. 1959‘A. Stafford’ Custody of Anne i. 45 She shook the moses basket so that the child stirred and whimpered. 1974‘J. Melville’ Nun's Castle i. 22 A display of nursery furniture, including an elegant Moses basket of natural straw lined with soft cotton.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Moses' law, the term among pirates for inflicting thirty-nine lashes on the bare back—forty save one.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xxi. 271 A forked hazell, commonly called *Moses his rod, which freely held forth, will stirre and play if any mine be under it.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Moses-seam, a sail⁓maker's seam, as the selvages of the canvas lap past each other.
1803Gazetteer Scot. Introd. 12 At Portsoy is found that singular kind of granite called *Moses' Tables, which, when polished, resembles the Hebrew characters on a white ground. |