| 释义 |
Breton, n. and a.|ˈbrɛtən|
[ad. OF. Breton (see Briton).]
A. n. A native of Brittany; the Celtic language of Brittany.
B. adj. Belonging to or characteristic of Brittany, its inhabitants, or their language. Spec., designating a type of hat with a round crown and an upward-curved brim; also ellipt.
† Breton tackle (Naut.), app. the earlier form of burton tackle.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. Prol. (1894) 709 Thise olde gentil Britons{ddd}Of diuerse auentures maden layes. a1400Kyng Alisaunder (1952) 5881 Þe kynges oost..maugre Picard and Bretoun, Breken þere þe wal adoun. 1495Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 188 Brytton takles. Ibid. 198 Bretton takles. Ibid. 210 Breton takles. a1500Sir Orfeo (Harley MS.) 16 In Brytayn þis layes arne ywryte..Of aventures þat fillen by dayes, Wherof Brytouns made her layes. 1525[see see v. 15 b]. [ 1592Surv. or Topogr. Descr. France 42 The other three dioceses do speake a mixed language, sometimes French sometimes Britton. Ibid. 44 The Brittains are generally tractable, but those that are neerer the sea coast are not so courteous as the rest. 1652Heylin Cosmogr. i. 168/1 The Britains..were questionless one of the first Nations that possessed any part of Gaul. See also Britain n.2 2, a. 3.] 1653Urquhart tr. Rabelais' Gargantua xxxi. 139 The very barbarous Nations of the Poictevins, Bretons, Manceaux. 1818Mrs. Stothard Lett. Tour Normandy (1820) xxiv. 253 The Breton language appears to me..far more corrupted than the Welsh. Ibid. 254 The Bretons do not resemble in countenance either the Normans or French, nor have they much of the Welsh character. 1830Cambrian Q. Mag. II. 192 The Breton-speaking Brittany. 1855Tennyson Maud xxiii. 78 Here on the Breton strand! Breton, not Briton. 1861Chambers's Encycl. II. 332/1 The Breton has generally a tinge of melancholy in his disposition. 1903[see sailor 4]. 1913J. M. Jones Welsh Gram. Introd. 1 Keltic..The P division, consisting of Gaulish, and the British group, comprising Welsh, Cornish and Breton. 1941Amer. Speech XVI. 67/2 Later Bretons and Sailors were pushed, and the standard Snap-Brim. 1952Vogue June 61 Simone Mirman's huge Breton hat in black straw. 1968K. O'Hara Bird-Cage xvi. 129 A string of Breton onions. 1968J. Fleming Hell's Belle i. 49 They..ate Breton pancakes filled with cheese and mushrooms. 1969Listener 6 Feb. 165/3 Local schools used to display a notice which read: ‘No spitting, and no talking Breton.’ And even today there is a celebrated Breton couple six of whose 13 children have never been officially registered because they insisted on giving them Breton names. |