| 释义 |
▪ I. pelf, n.|pɛlf|
Also 6 pylfe, 9 dial. pilf.
[ME. a. ONF. *pelfe, instanced 1370 as peuffe, mod. Norman peufe, var. of OF. pelfre (11th c. in Godef.), peufre spoil; ulterior derivation uncertain; perh. related to L. pilāre in sense ‘to pillage’, F. piller.]
†1. Property pilfered or stolen, spoil, booty. Obs.
a1350S. Nicholas 444 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 16 Als þe theuis..Partid þaire pelf bi a wud side. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 5989 Þair schipp, with all þair pelf, To þe mynster þai [pirates] betake, Full amendis forto make. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. ix. (Wolf & Fox) xiv, Schir..and we get of yone pelf, Ye man tak trauell and mak ws sum supple.
†2. Property, possessions, goods, ‘gear’. Obs.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7166 Þe monkes duelt be þaim self, Sa did þe nonnes, with all þair pelf. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 122 Go muster thy seruants, be captaine thy selfe, Prouiding them weapon and other like pelfe. 1608Shakes. Per. ii. Prol. 35 All perishen, of man, of pelfe, Ne ought escapend but himselfe. 1847Mischief of Muses 17 And who, from managing his master's pelf Had now begun to manage for himself.
3. Money, wealth, riches; now depreciatory: ‘filthy lucre’.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lviii. 25 Thay panss nocht off the parrochin pure, Had thai the pelfe to pairt amang thame. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Jas. iv. 38 You..whiske about by sea and by lande to get pelfe for your olde age. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 278 Why do they uphold their pylfe with such outrage and tirannye? 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. (Arb) 266 ‘A misers mynde thou hast, thou hast a Princes pelfe.’ A lewd terme to be giuen to a Princes treasure. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 4 But all his minde is set on mucky pelfe. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 223 Ye rich men cannot think to carry your pelfe with you into Heaven. 1720Welton Suffer. Son of God II. xvi. 422 The Covetous Man looks upon his Pelf, and adores it as his God. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 137. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea ix. 130 Too busy after his pelf to bestow any thought on the first marriage celebration. 1874L. Morris Professor iii, As blind to all that passes self As any churl that slaves for pelf.
†4. Trumpery, trash, rubbish: frippery. Obs.
1555Bradford Let. to Rawlins in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1632 Forked cappes, typettes, shauen crownes, or such other baggage and Antichristian pelfe. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding To Rdr. (1611) 3 It is not sufficient..to condemne our Books for pelfe, and trash, and fardles of lies, before he see them. 1596Gosson Quip for Gentlewomen xiv, All this new pelfe now sold in shops, in value true not worth a louse. 1632Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iv. (ed. 4) 286 Which to her guests she shews, with all her pelfe.
b. Refuse; now dial., vegetable refuse, weeds.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 281 Pelfe is properly the scrappes or shreds of taylors and skinners. 1600S. Nicholson Acolastus (1876) 7 We of all people once that were the pelfe,..Almighty Ioue hath chosen to himselfe. 1646Trapp Comm. John xv. 20 Our memories are as..nets that keep the pelf, let go the clean water. 1678Phillips (ed. 4), Pelf..in Faulconry, is the refuse and broken remains left after the Hawk is relieved. 1828Farm Jrnl. 21 Jan. (E.D.D.), Which is the best means of clearing a wood from roots and pelf? 1880W. Cornwall Gloss., Pilf, light grass and roots raked together to be burnt.
c. Dust; fluff. Obs. exc. dial.
1584Cogan Haven Health ccxxiv. (1636) 259 Gather it..picke it cleane from dyrt and pelfe. 1880W. Cornwall Gloss., Pilf, Pilm, Pillem, light dust or fluff.
d. A worthless person, a good-for-nothing. Now dial.
1551Sir J. Mason Let. (S.P. Foreign, Edw. VI, VI. lf. 287), The olde worne pelff [Diane of Poictiers] fearing ther by to lefe some parte of her credite. 1781J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss., Pelfe, a bad, or good-for-nothing person. 1876Mid-Yorksh. Gloss, Pelf, a term bestowed on a worthless person.
5. Comb., as pelf-licker; pelf-spurning adj.
1653Urquhart Rabelais i. liv, Here enter not base pinching Usurers, Pelf-lickers, everlasting gatherers. 1870J. Hamilton Moses iv. 78 The high-souled, pelfspurning Abraham.
▪ II. † pelf, v. Obs.
[ME. a. OF. pelf-er (also pelf-ir), var. of pelfrer to pillage, rob, f. pelfe, pelfre spoil: see prec. n., and cf. pilfer v.]
trans. and intr. To spoil, rob.
a1300Cursor M. 6149 (Cott.) For to pelf þat folk vnlel And help his folk of israel. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 95 Infangthef pelfynde inward. 1538Bale Thre Lawes 617 If ye knewe how he coulde pelfe. |