| 释义 |
† ˈNeedham Obs.
Also 6 needam, 7 needom(e.
Properly the name of a small town (Needham Market) near Ipswich in Suffolk, used punningly with allusion to need n.; hence, need, poverty, beggary.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 188 Toiling much and spoiling more..Soone sets thine host at needams shore, to craue the beggers bone. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier D j, Such yoong youths, when the Broker hath blest them with saint Needams cross, fall then to priuy lifts and cosenages. 1616T. Adams Soul's Sickness Wks. (1629) 466 Idlenesse is the coach to bring a man to Needome, Prodigality the post-horse. a1661Fuller Worthies, Suffolk iii. (1662) 56 They are said to be in the high way to Needham who do hasten to poverty. |