| 释义 |
▪ I. niece
obs. form of nice.
▪ II. niece|niːs|
Forms: 3–6 nece, 4–6 nese, (4 neese), 5–6 nees, 6–8 neece; 6 neise, neyce, neipce, 7 neice; 6 niese, niepce, nyepce, 6– niece; 4–7 nice, (4 nyce).
[a. F. nièce (12th c.), † nece, neice, nice, niepce, etc. = Prov. netsa, obs. It. nezza:—pop. L. neptia, for L. neptis (related to nift): cf. Prov. nepta, Catal. and Pg. neta, Sp. nieta:—pop. L. *nepta.]
1.
†a. A grand-daughter, or more remote female descendant. Obs.
b. A daughter of one's brother (brother-in-law) or sister (sister-in-law).
In older use, down to c 1600, the sense of ‘grand-daughter’ appears to have been common, but it is often difficult or impossible to make out which relationship is expressed by the word.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4160 Out of þe lond of spayne [he] come & adde ynome eleyne Þat was so vair þe kinges nece. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 233 Ho was me nerre þen aunte or nece. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 288 Good aventure, O bele nece, have ye Ful lightly founden. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 141 Þat ȝere deide Hilda, abbesse of Whitby... Sche was kyng Edwyn his nese [1432–50 doȝhter of the doȝhter of kynge Edwinus]. 1422E.E. Wills (1882) 50 Ion Skydmore, my newewe... Also..Iane myn nece. 1470–85Malory Arthur xvii. xix. 717 Kynge Pelles and Elyazar his sone the whiche were holy men and a mayde which was his nece. 1513Douglas æneis ii. xii. 47, I, the nece of mychty Dardanus, And guide dochtir vnto the blissit Venus. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 261 b, What Augustus would saie when any mencion was made either of Julia his doughter, or Julia his nice. 1576Gascoigne Steele Glas (Arb.) 71 To tire his wearie wife, His daughters and his niepces euerychone. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 39 Taking two of Cyrus' daughters, and as many of his neeces for Wives. c1657Sir W. Mure Hist. Ho. Rowallane Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 254 Lord Hammiltoune who had to wife his Nice or sister daughter. 1673Cave Prim. Chr. i. iii. 45 His neece by the sister's side. 1723Gay Let. to Swift 3 Feb., Mr. Maxwell, who married a niece of Mr. Meredith's. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, Very cautious in her replies to his inquiries after her niece. 1847Tennyson Princ. ii. 257 O by the bright head of my little niece, You were that Psyche.
c. Euphemistically applied to the illegitimate daughter of an ecclesiastic. Cf. nephew 1 b.
1858Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vii. (1891) 161 Many a Holy Father's ‘niece’ Has softly smoothed the papal chair.
d. niece-in-law, the wife of one's nephew. rare.
a1556Cranmer Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 329 Sister and sister-in-law, aunt and aunt-in-law, niece and niece-in-law.
†2. A female relative. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7252 Seint edwardes nece þat of is fader kunde com. c1375Cursor M. 10891 (Fairf.), Thyne old nyce Elizabeth hath gon with child vj moneth. c1386Chaucer Shipman's T. 125 This monk bigan vp-on this wyf to stare, And seide, allas, my Nece; god forbede [etc.]. c1400Lay le Freine 288 Leman, he seyd, thou most lat be The abbesse thi nece, and go with me. c1460Towneley Myst. xi. 23 Ioachym thy fader at hame, And anna, my nese, and thi dame. 1508Dunbar Flyting 540 Thy trew kynnismen, Antenor & Eneas, Throp thy nere nece, and austern Olibrius.
†b. Used as a form of address to a woman. Obs.
c1470Henry Wallace vii. 275 ‘Der nece’, he said,..‘Is my eyme dede, or hou the cace befell?’
†3. A nephew. Obs. rare.
c1500Lancelot 2200 The king..said, ‘Sir gawan, nece, why dois þow so? Ibid. 2720 The king..of his necis lyf was in disspare. a1592Greene Alphonsus ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 229/1 Seeking about the troops of Aragon, For to encounter with his traitorous niece. Ibid. iii. 236/1 Belinus, my most friendly niece.
Hence ˈnieceless a., ˈnieceship.
1834Southey Doctor lxxii, She was a descendant of..Japhet; she was allied to Ham, however, in another way besides this remote niece-ship. 1892E. B. Hamley Let. in Shand Life (1895) II. xxxi. 303, I then had a niece and a cat to comfort me—now I am nieceless and catless. |