| 释义 |
rococo, a. and n.|rəʊˈkəʊkəʊ|
Also roccoco.
[a. F. rococo, supposed to be a fanciful formation on the stem of rocaille pebble- or shell-work.
1836Fraser's Mag. XIII. 214 There are two especial new mots d'argot, rococo and décousu.]
A. adj.
1. Old-fashioned, antiquated.
1836Foreign Q. Rev. XVII. 432 This species of delicacy seems now to be so thoroughly perruque, and rococo, or whatever be the newest and most approved term for old-fashioned, that [etc.]. 1839Lady Lytton Cheveley (ed. 2) I. xii. 278 [He] had even been sufficiently ‘rococo’ to assert boldly that he did not think Victor Hugo so great a genius as Racine. 1859Sala Tw. Round Clock (1861) 300, I do not even know the names of the fashionable dances of the day, and very probably those to which I have alluded are by this time old fashioned, out of date, rococo, and pigtaily. 1870M. Arnold in Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Nov. 3/2 We heard the honest German soldiers Hoch-ing, hurrahing, and God-blessing in their true-hearted but somewhat rococo manner. 1902H. L. Wilson Spenders ix. 92 She is rather a beauty, you'll find;..a bit rococo in manner, I suspect.
2. a. Of furniture or architecture: Having the characteristics of Louis Quatorze or Louis Quinze workmanship, such as conventional shell- and scroll-work and meaningless decoration; excessively or tastelessly florid or ornate. Also of interior decoration.
1841C'tess Blessington Idler in France I. i. 21 The whole [of the terraces near La Tour-Magne at Nîmes] offering a curious mixture of military and rococo taste. 1844Thackeray Little Trav. Wks. 1900 VI. 27 The rococo architects have introduced their ornaments. 1851Mogford Preserv. Pict. (ed. 3) i. 10 The poverty of invention, and rococo design of most of the picture-frames now made. 1876Hardy Ethelberta I. 24 An oval mirror of rococo workmanship. 1887Pater Imag. Portraits 150 That rococo seventeenth-century French imitation of the true Renaissance. 1918Heal & Son Catal.: Cottage Furnit. 1 The ‘new art’ overmantel smothered in rococo photograph frames. 1967N. Freeling Strike Out 40 Presentation silver..in every conceivable pattern from curliest rococo to bleakest Swedish. 1972Country Life 7 Dec. 1574/1 All these rooms have delicate rococo plaster ceilings picked out in pale pastel shades. 1980Early Music Apr. 173/2 The organ sonatas of C. P. E. Bach from the 1750s are a good match for the rococo organ in Midwolda (1772).
transf.1878E. Jenkins Haverholme 65 The florid and rococo notions of Imperial glory flourished by his political chief. 1881Daily Telegr. 27 Dec., That stately rococo dance, the Minuet de la Cour. 1931N. & Q. 15 Aug. 109/2 It is further planned to give Goethe plays and rococo concerts on an open-air stage. 1938W. S. Maugham Summing Up 28 Dryden flourished at a happy moment... He was the first of the rococo artists. 1941Jazz Information Nov. 21/2 James P. [Johnson] made his first player piano rolls..as a ‘race’ feature alongside the rococo but immensely popular efforts of Phil Ohman. 1955Times 21 July 7/7 Stravinsky's choice of a more or less definite rococo pastiche is a highly appropriate musical idiom. 1959Listener 26 Nov. 952/1 Haydn's symphonic music began as rococo entertainment. 1967G. Steiner Lang. & Silence 28 This would..lead one to ask whether..the rococo virtuosity of Salinger is arguing an absurdly diminished and enervating view of human existence. 1970Oxf. Compan. Art 987/1 The painter to whom the epithet ‘Rococo’ has most often been loosely applied is, perhaps, Watteau, and in his rejection of the grand sujet and his fanciful and curvacious rhythms he does..fit into the movement.
b. Embroidery. (See quots.)
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 426/1 Rococo Embroidery is used for table borders, fire screens, and cushion covers, and is made with écru linen foundations, ornamented with filoselles. 1934M. Thomas Dict. Embroidery Stitches 171 Rococco stitch,..must be worked on a very wide-meshed canvas of even weave and the little groups or bundles of stitches are set in alternate squares, leaving the others open and rather ‘pulled’ in effect. 1960G. Lewis Handbk. Crafts 38 Frequently these two are the only stitches used to the neglect of the many others which would greatly enrich many pieces of work, such as..French stitch..and Rococo stitch. 1960B. Snook Eng. Hist. Embroidery 82 Rococo stitch is particularly effective. Ibid. 98 Designs of flowers, bouquets, ferns, ribbons and tassels..were either in varied silk stitchery on satin, or in tent stitch on canvas if enclosed in a rococo border.
B. n.
1. The style of architecture, art, etc., having rococo characteristics.
1840Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 94/1 The type of the ancient church was replaced by the absurdities of the rococo. 1881H. James Portr. Lady xxxv, Miss Osmond, indeed, in the bloom of her juvenility, had a touch of the rococo. 1884Symonds Shaks. Predec. xiv. 563 The whole passage illustrates the rococo of the English Renaissance which Marlowe made fashionable. 1935W. S. Maugham Don Fernando x. 224 Decoration..degenerated with time to the frivolous ornament of rococo. 1947A. Einstein Mus. Romantic Era iii. 20 The 18th-century stylistic period that preceded the Empire, the Rococo, had been a last tremulous echo of the grandeur of the Baroque. 1954[see baroque a. (n.)]. 1965Listener 3 June 830/1 The drawing in nearly all Monticelli's pictures is reminiscent of the rococo.
2. A piece of work in this style.
1876Academy 30 Dec. 623 These Scenes are rococoes sufficiently out of the common track to be worthy of notice.
Hence rocoˈcocity. nonce-wd.
1844E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 125 Think of the rocococity of a gentleman studying Seneca in the middle of February..in a remarkably damp cottage. 1916A. Huxley Let. 29 Dec. (1969) 118 My monocle is very grandiose, but gives me rather a Greco-Roman air of rocococity. |