| 释义 |
betwixt, prep. and adv.|bɪˈtwɪkst|
Forms: 1 betwihs, betweohs, -tweox, -twiux, -twyx, -twux, -tux, (-twuxt, -twyxt), 3 bitwex, 3–5 bitwix, (4 bituex, -tuix, -tuixs, -þwex, bytwyste, -tuixte), 4–5 betwex, 4–7 betwix, -tuix, tuyx, -twyx, 5 bituxst, bytwex, by-twyxte, 6 betwyxte, -twixte, (8 Sc. betwisht, -tweesht), 5– betwixt, 7– 'twixt.
[mod.Eng. betwixt, ME. betwix:—OE. betweohs, -tweox, -twux, -twyx, -tux: prob. shortened from the dative form *be-tweoxum, -tweox(a)n; see the prec. (Cf. the shortened wolc from wolcen, also history of bitwih.) It is however also possible that be-tweox goes back through *tweohsu to *twiscu acc. pl. neuter. Much more common in OE. than the preceding. In ME. betwix seems to have been more northern, betwixen, betwixe, more southern; in the 15th c. the loss of the final syllable of the latter finally levelled both as betwix. Already in OE., there appeared occasional instances of betwuxt, -twyxt, with a -t, either phonetic or analogical, but having no significance. This was also rare in ME., but after 1500 became the regular form, except in the north, which retained betwix, in 18th c. Sc. betwish, betweesh; cf. G. zwischen. (ME. had occasionally bitwixte, prob. a confusion between bitwixt and bitwixe.) There is a late shortened form 'twixt.]
A. prep.
1. = between, in the various senses of that word. Now somewhat arch. in literary Eng. and chiefly poetical. Still in colloquial use in some dialects.
a. of local position. lit. and fig.
931Chart. æðelstan in Cod. Dipl. V. 207 Andlang hære⁓paðes; ðonne betweox ða twéᵹen weᵹas þurh ðone leá. a1300Cursor M. 725 Bi-tuix þe warlau and his wijf, Adam es stad in strang strijf. 1330R. Brunne Chron. 18 Ouer alle þe londes bituex Douer & Tuede. a1400Cursor M. 14233 (Fairf.) Be-twix ierusalem & þis castel..is mylis nane bot bare xv. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 19 She ansuered hem no thinge but bituxst her tethe. 1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, xix. §14 Peynes [= pennys] beryng lyke dyuers Rowles of Spurres betwyxte the barres of the Crosse. 1632Milton L'Allegro 82 A cottage chimney smokes From betwixt two aged oaks. 1660Barrow Euclid i. Def. iv, A Right Line is that which lies equally betwixt its Points. 1663Butler Hud. i. 1. 68 He could distinguish, and divide A hair 'twixt south and south-west side. a1758A. Ramsay Poems (1844) 89 Betwisht twa's shoulders. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. iii. vii, When that strange shape drove suddenly Betwixt us and the sun. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. viii, If Mrs. B. had not thrown herself betwixt us.
b. of time.
c1250Lay. 24274 Bitwix [c 1205 bitwene] þis and domes⁓day. c1400Sowdone Bab. 41 Hit bifelle by-twyxte March and Maye. 1709Steele Tatler No. 78 ⁋10 Betwixt the Hours of Eight and Ten at Night. 1860Hawthorne Marb. Faun xxxiii, A tolerable journey betwixt now and to-morrow noon.
c. of other relations.
c975Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 25 Hi þa þohtun betwihs heom cwæþende [Lindisf. betuih, Ags. Gosp. betwux, -tweox, Hatton G. beotweoxe]. a1300K. Horn 345 Wiþ him ȝe wolden pleie Bitwex ȝou selue tweie. a1300Cursor M. 2443 Be-twyx him and loth his neuow Of bestaile hade þai plente enow. c1315Shoreham 77 Thet hol assent By⁓tuixte man an wyf. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. iii. xix. 211 A generall werre..betwyx oure kynge and yours. 1578Forlorne Son iii. in Gude & Godely Ball. 31 The Father did his gude deuyde Betuix them. 1596Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 33 Betwixt them both, they haue me doen to dye. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 239 That great separation which shall be betwixt the sheepe and the goates. 1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 149 Betwixt threescore and fourescore leagues from the shore. 1689Selden Table T. (1847) 222 You must look into the Contract betwixt him and his People. 1732Law Serious C. i. (ed. 2) 12 Can you find any farther difference betwixt them? 1779J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. xv. 110 They have but three legs betwixt them. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxiii, ‘Betwixt you and me, ma'am,’ returned Mr. Bumble, ‘that's the great principle.’ 1860Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1879) II. x. 106 The bond betwixt you.
2. In reference to more than two: in early use = among.
a1000Ags. Gosp. Luke vii. 28 Betwux wifa bearnum. a1000Nat. S. Greg., Ða ᵹeseah Gregorius betwuxt ðam warum cypecnihtas ᵹesette. c1000ælfric Ex. xxxiv. 10 Betweohs him. a1300E.E. Psalter vi. 8 Bitwix my faes al elded I. 1711Pope Temple F. 11, I stood, methought, betwixt earth, seas, and skies. 1788J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 759 Her legacy..equally to be divided betwixt them all. 1878G. Macdonald Phantastes xii. 184 Betwixt grey stones on the side of a hill.
†3. betwix and, betuix and, betwixt and (prob. elliptical for betwixt this and{ddd}: cf. the similar ON. milli ok) north. dial.: between this (or that) and{ddd}, until, till.
a. with till;
b. with n., or prep. phr.;
c. with subord. clause. Obs.
a.a1300Cursor M. 21100 He lenthid his sermon, Bituixand til his passion.
b.a1300Cursor M. 8614 Sco slep bituix and dai. Ibid. 17322 And bad þam do him up..in prisun state, Bituix and efter þair sabat. 1641Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 129 In caice betwixt and that they get not a supplie. Ibid. 153 It is necessar that the haile common burdens..be prepared and in rediness..betwixt and the tyme foirsaid.
c. [a1300Cursor M. 1437 All þat deid bi-tuix and þan þat iesus ras. Ibid. 11074 Al þe land þat heþen lijs, Bituixand [Gött. by-tuix and] þar þe sun it rijs. Ibid. (Gött.) 16583 Betuix and þat [Cott. til] ur lauerd crist was þedir ledd. ] Ibid. 1103 Bituixand þai þe southe had sene. Ibid. 3763 Mi hert bes neuer in rest, bituixand þis Iacob be slan.
B. adv.
1. Of space: = between 1.
a1300E.E. Psalter xxviii [ix]. 7 Laverdes steven of bi⁓twix falland low of fire. 1611Bible Job xxxvi. 32 The cloud that commeth betwixt. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 516 And leave a Space betwixt.
b. fig. In an intermediate position or attitude.
1659Hammond On Ps. cviii. 4 To the lowest and meanest of us, and to all betwixt. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xxxvi, Extreme in all things! hadst thou been betwixt, Thy throne had still been thine, or never been.
2. Of time: = between 3.
a1300Cursor M. 13521 Noght lang bi-tuix bot alson, A-noþer he did. 1685Dryden Thren. August. 27 With scarce a breathing space betwixt. 1697― Virg. Past. v. 19, I writ, and sung betwixt.
3. betwixt and between (colloq. and dial.): in an intermediate or middling position; neither one thing nor the other. Also as adj.: Middling, indifferent, so-so.
1832Marryat N. Forster xliv, [He] took the lease of a house in a betwixt and between fashionable street. 1877Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. i. iv. 53 She's the fool, and he's the knave, so it's betwix and between. 1884Point-blank III. xv. 226 There are very few who marry into our sort of set. We are just betwixt and between.
C. Comb. † betwixt-hands, betwixt-times (obs.), between-whiles, at intervals, now and then.
c1568tr. Let. Mary Q. Scots in H. Campbell Love-lett. (1824) App. 24 At the leist, to dissemble so weill—and to tell hym the treuth betwix handis. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 270 Neither let him drink much nor often, but betwixt times. |