| 释义 |
Bow-bell, -bells
The bells of Bow Church, i.e. St. Mary-le-Bow, formerly ‘Seyn Marye Chyrche of þe Arches’, in Cheapside, London (so called from the ‘bows’ or arches that supported its steeple. Cf. arch.) This church having long had a celebrated peal of bells, and being nearly in the centre of the City, the phrase ‘within the sound of Bow-bells’ has come to be synonymous with ‘within the City bounds’. Also attrib., as in Bow-bell cockney. transf. A loud tongue (obs.).
1600Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood iv. 65, I scorne..To let a Bowe-bell Cockney put me downe. 1611Coryat's Crudities Pref. Verses, Peale thy praise with Roupe & Bow-bell clapper. 1616T. Adams Soul's Sickn. Wks. 1861 I. 499 The tenor or bow-bell is the abused creatures. a1659Cleveland Talkative Wom. 38 Thy Tong..That Tom a Lincoln and Bow-bell. 1884Punch 30 Dec. 294/2 Having been born within the sound of Bow Bells, he cannot help being a son of Cockaigne. |