| 释义 |
robber|ˈrɒbə(r)|
Forms: α. 2 rubbere, 3 robbare, 3–4 robbere, 5 robare, robbar, 6 Sc. rubber, 4– robber. β. 4 robeour, robbeo(u)r, -youre, 4–5 robour(e, robbour(e, -or(e, 5 robbowre, -eur.
[The α- and β-forms are respectively a. AF. and OF. robbere, robere, and robeour, robbour, etc., nom. and acc. types of the agent-noun from robber to rob. Cf. Sp. robador, Pg. roubador, It. rubatore.]
1. a. One who practises or commits robbery; a depredator, plunderer, despoiler.
αc1175Lamb. Hom. 29 Rubberes, and þa reueres, and þa þeoues. a1225Ancr. R. 150 In one weie þet is al ful of þeoues & of robbares, & of reauares. c1250Lutel soth Serm. 27 in O.E. Misc. 186 Alle bac-biteres wendet to helle, Robberes, and reueres. 1340Ayenb. 39 Þe þridde is ine robberes and kueade herberȝeres þet berobbeþ þe pilgrimes. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 182 Þus..Ihesu Cryst seyde, To robberes and to reueres. c1425Lydg. Assembly of Gods 688 Robbers, reuers, rauenous ryfelers. c1440Promp. Parv. 437/2 Robare, or robbar yn the see,..pirata. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xlviii. 160 They were robbers of the see. 1535Coverdale Ps. xxxiv. 10 Who is like vnto the? which delyuerest..the poore and the nedy from his robbers. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 39 Then Theeues and Robbers raunge abroad vnseene. 1634Milton Comus 485 Som roaving Robber calling to his fellows. 1671― Samson 1188 Thou..like a Robber stripdst them of thir robes. 1727Gay Fables i. i, Robbers invade their neighbour's right. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxviii, Montoni was become a captain of robbers. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. iv, Where desperate robbers congregate. 1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 243 There is more spirit and a better heart in a robber than in a thief.
fig.a1225Ancr. R. 334 Þus þeos two unðeawes beoð two grimme robbares.
β1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8006 William vr king..robbeour he was. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6127 Euery man he wened had be a robbour, For drede þat he had tresoure. c1380Sir Ferumb. 4113 Al ys lygnage in euery syde, For robbours þai were y-kud. c1400Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxxv. (Caxton, 1483) 83 Vpon theues and morderers, Robbours and reuours,..they shalle be fyers in jugement. c1440Promp. Parv. 435/2 Robbowre, on the londe, spoliator. Ibid., Robbowre, on the see, pirata. c1500Melusine 245 Locher, whiche afterward delyuered the Countrey of Ardane fro thevys, murdrers, & robbeurs.
b. Const. of a place, etc.
1465Paston Lett. II. 251 Slyford was the chyff robber of the cherch. 1526Tindale Acts xix. 37 Nether robbers off churches, nor yett despisers of youre goddes. 1557R. Edgeworth Serm. 289 He putteth example of disers, and gameners, and robbers of dead mens graues. 1632Sherwood, A robber of the Princes, and publicke treasure, peculateur.
c. transf. (See quots.)
1670Phil. Trans. V. 1197 Therefore they term it a Robber, as a substance which spoyls, and takes away the richness of the Ore. 1725Family Dict. s.v. Bee, To preserve Bees from Robbers, which very commonly infest them,..the way is to cloom the Hives very close. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xx. (1818) II. 207 These are called by Schirach corsair bees, and by English writers, robbers. 1831Insect Misc. (L.E.K.) 329.
2. attrib. and Comb.
a. Attrib. in various senses, as robber-book, robber-gold, robber-haunt, robber-hold, robber-inn, robber-lair, etc. Also objective, as robber-hunting.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn ii. 13 The rest [of the oath] was out of pirate books, and *robber books.
1850Mrs. Browning Calls on the heart ii, The world..Has counted its *robber-gold.
1937J. W. Day Sporting Adventure 91 The magpies will go off to their *robber-haunts in lonely carrs of willows down on the marshes.
1876Green Stray Stud. (1892) 319 The countless *robber-holds of the Angevin noblesse.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 123/2, I had no great natural inclination to the trade of *robber-hunting.
1879Stevenson Ess. Trav., Amateur Emigrant (1905) 82 He had visited a *robber inn.
1866Conington æneid 266 Grim Cacus in his *robber-lair.
1860Pusey Min. Proph. 243 Probably..Edom..continued his *robber-life along the Southern borders of Judah.
1856Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 142 At every turn have we to wrangle..with these vultures about their *robber-toll.
1839Carlyle Chartism v. 139 Silesian *robber-wars.
b. Appositive, as robber-chief, robber-company, robber-crew, etc.; robber baron [baron 1], a feudal lord who engaged in plundering; also transf., spec. [baron 2 b] in U.S., a financial or industrial magnate of the late nineteenth century who behaved with ruthless and irresponsible acquisitiveness; also attrib.; robber-council or -synod, the ecclesiastical council held at Ephesus in 449, the decrees of which were subsequently rescinded; robber trench Archæol., a trench representing the foundations of a wall, the stones of which have been partially or entirely removed.
1878C. F. Adams Railroads 145 The commissioner has not hesitated to give his opinion of the foreign owner as a ‘*robber baron’. 1882C. Schurz in Boston Herald Suppl. 30 June 1/3 It will not be surprising at all to see some day a movement set on foot to put an end to the operations of the modern robber barons, who, by corporate rascality, supplemented with tricks of the stock exchange, manage to plunder at will not only their fellow-gamblers, but the innocent bona fide investors in corporate enterprises. 1930J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching ii. 32 Predaceous glaucous gulls, the robber barons of the Arctic bird-world. 1934M. Josephson (title) The robber barons. 1949Jrnl. Econ. Hist. Nov. 187 In studying the so-called ‘robber barons’, Destler was impelled to consider also a few early ‘career men’. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Nov. 670/3 Next she builds up an immensely lucrative cosmetic business, backed by a robber-baron tycoon named Jim Seymour. 1962J. Braine Life at Top x. 131 A robber baron of the Middle Ages. 1976M. J. Lasky Utopia & Revolution (1977) ii. 74 Bakunin joined the call for a crusade of destruction, and he, too, became a robber baron in a holy cause. 1979Time 2 Apr. 45/1 For years psychiatrists have also been regarded as medicine's robber barons.
1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xlviii, In proud state Each *robber chief upheld his armed halls.
1899Q. Rev. Jan. 11 *Robber-companies, and bishops in coats of mail.
1865Pusey Truth Eng. Ch. 90 Before the *robber-Council of Ephesus could be displaced by the Fourth General Council at Chalcedon.
1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 346 Soon shall our powers the *robber-crew destroy.
1797The College 38 Arm'd Justice forth the *robber-demons drove.
1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 164 Mr. Curzon describes his *robber-guard.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians i. v, I have pierced the *robber-horde Like a reed.
1865Ruskin Sesame i. (1907) 27/2 The Rust-kings..lay up treasures for the rust; and the *Robber-kings, treasures for the robber.
1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. 201 William Peverel reared his castle of Peak Forest, the true vulture's nest of a *robber-knight.
1862Draper Intell. Develop. Europe ix. (1864) I. 287 Eutyches appealed to the emperor, who summoned..a council to meet at Ephesus. This was the celebrated ‘*Robber Synod’.
1953R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. (ed. 2) ii. 72 On many Roman and later sites where ancient buildings have once stood, the stone will have been partially or completely robbed from the walls and foundations for re-use elsewhere. In such cases the walls can be traced only as ‘*robber-trenches’. 1967Antiquaries Jrnl. XLVII. 196 The outer edge of the wall and robber trenches has been found along most of the edge of the north aisle and around the west end. 1978Ibid. LVIII. 106 A late Roman beaded and corrugated pin similar to one found at Lydney was found in robber trenches of the medieval cloister.
1825Scott Talism. ii, I have heard that the road is infested with *robber-tribes.
1853Kingston Manco ii, The Spaniards attacked Peru with their small but determined band of *robber-warriors.
c. Appositive with names of insects, birds, etc., as robber-bee, robber-fowl, robber gull; robber-crab, a large tropical crab which steals coco-nuts; robber-fly, a fly of the family Asilidæ, given to preying upon other insects.
1831Insect Misc. (L.E.K.) 329 *Robber-bees. [Cf. 1 c.]
1864–5Wood Homes without H. (1868) 90 There is a very remarkable burrowing crustacean, called the *Robber-Crab (Birgus latro).
1871Amer. Naturalist IV. 686 A *robber-fly..burrows in the sand. 1899D. Sharp Insects 491 Asilidae (Robber-flies)... The Asilidae is one of the largest families of flies. 1970Age (Melbourne) 22 June, Another [family] comprising the predatory robber-flies.
1891Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 144 As soon as the *robber fowl had begun its steady flight.
1946J. W. Day Harvest Adventure vi. 86 The big *robber gull dropped like a sack of wheat, without a kick, at seventy yards.
Hence robbeˈraceously adv., in a manner suggestive of robbers; ˈrobberhood, brigandage, robbery; ˈrobberish [-ish1], a., suggestive of robbers; ˈrobberism [-ism], control by or the business of robbers; robbery; ˈrobberlet, a petty robber; ˈrobberling [-ling1], a little or puny robber.
1772H. Walpole Lett. (1904) 128, I did not know that housebreaking might not be still improving... In less than another minute, the door rattled and shook still more robberaceously. 1855Swinburne Let. 4 Aug. (1959) I. 6, I longed for you all to be there,..for it [sc. a cave] was admirably robberish. 1863M. Howitt F. Bremer's Greece II. 172 The sight of unburied corpses contributed more than anything else to put an end of the system of robberhood in this part of the country. 1865Kingsley Herew. xxxiv, Latrunculi (robberlets), sicarii, cut-throats. 1884J. Payne Tales fr. Arabic II. 83, I fear lest, if thou slay him in our dwelling-place and he savour not of robberhood, suspicion will revert upon ourselves. 1913D. H. Lawrence Love Poems & Others 8 Under the glistening cherries... Three dead birds lie: Pale-breasted throstles and a blackbird, robberlings Stained with red dye. 1921Glasgow Herald 18 Jan. 6 Communism in Russia is robberism. |