| 释义 |
seduce, v.|sɪˈdjuːs|
Forms: 5 seduise, 6 seduse, Sc. sedouse, 6– seduce.
[ad. L. sēdūcĕre to lead aside or away, etc., f. sē- (se- prefix) + dūcĕre to lead. In the earliest examples the proximate source was the F. séduire (inflected séduis-): see sedue v.]
1. trans. To persuade (a vassal, servant, soldier, etc.) to desert his allegiance or service.
c1477Caxton Jason 78 Zethephius seduised the pepel ayenst him by tyraunye al euydent. 1549Compl. Scot. ix. 78 He seducit diuerse grit personagis to rebel contrar athenes. 1562Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 216 Na persone seducit him fra the obedience of the Quene and magistratis..nor yit seducit him fra his faith. 1601in Moryson Itin. ii. (1617) 152 A great Armie..selected out of all the rebels in Ireland, and from all others that he can seduce to his partie. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 307 Suttle he needs must be, who could seduce Angels. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §151 Those persons of condition, who..had been seduced to do them service throughout the kingdom. 1718Act 5 Geo. I, c. 27 (title), An Act to prevent the Inconveniences arising from seducing Artificers in the Manufactures of Great Britain into foreign Parts. 1745in Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 31 Of their being otherwise seduced by, or compelled to join with the Enemy. 1759Dilworth Pope 72 Lord Oxford seduced him over to his side. 1844Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. viii. (1862) 104 To seduce the representatives from their duty to their constituents. 1879Froude Cæsar xxii. 379 He tried to seduce Cæsar's garrison, and was put to death for his treachery.
2. In wider sense: To lead (a person) astray in conduct or belief; to draw away from the right or intended course of action to or into a wrong one; to tempt, entice, or beguile to do something wrong, foolish, or unintended.
a. of persons or their action.
1519–20Stirling Burgh Rec. (1887) I. 3 He was nocht compellit, sedoussit nor coacit thar to. 1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 27 Lest the reader myght be seduced with you beleuing there is no lyfe of soulis departed. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 454 No persuasion will seduce him to thinke, that his Churche may straye..from the right course. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 11 Duessa..Who with her forged beautie did seduce The hearts of some that fairest her did weene. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 465 But afterwards seduced by his wife, he had in the selfe same Church,..one Altar for Christ's Religion, and another for sacrifices unto Devils. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xix. 96 To be seduced by Orators, as a Monarch by Flatterers. 1673Cave Prim. Chr. i. iii. 38 They would leave so grave a discipline and suffer themselves to be seduced into a worse. 1711Swift Jrnl. To Stella 23 Nov., Leigh..gives a terrible account of Sterne; he reckons he is seduced by some wench. 1775Burke Let. Mrq. Rockingham Corr. 1844 II. 41 We have been seduced, by various false representations..into a war. 1825Scott Betrothed xxx, He seduced my simplicity to let him into the castle. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 92 He is seduced into a life of pleasure.
b. of things, conditions, circumstances.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 21, & neyther declyneth on the ryght hande, seduced by ony prosperite or worldly delyte: ne on y⊇ lefte hande. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 76 b, Three, whome povertie, hatred, and hope of better fortune, had seduced. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 155 For me, the Gold of France did not seduce. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xvii. 109 My natural Curiosity seduc'd me to spend some time in Ranging about the places near the River-side. 1671J. Webster Metallogr. iv. 82 Being seduced by the similitudes taken partly from artificial and manual operations. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 34 ⁋14 Anthea having wondered what could seduce her to stay so long was eager to set out. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry Diss. ii. 85, I am imperceptibly seduced into later periods, or rather am deviating from my subject. 1789Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 124 Could any circumstances seduce me to overlook the disproportion between its duties and my talents. 1826Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Genteel Style in Writing, On one occasion his wit, which was mostly subordinate to nature and tenderness, has seduced him into a string of felicitous antitheses. 1856Grindon Life xii. (1875) 151 The embarrassment which often seduces one to an insincere denial.
†c. intr. To practise seduction, use seductive measures. Obs. rare—1.
1597in Spalding Club Misc. (1841) I. 172 The Deuill..apperit to the.., and than seducit with the, and assurit the, thow suld newir want.
3. trans. To induce (a woman) to surrender her chastity. Now said only of the man with whom the act of unchastity is committed (not, e.g., of a pander). Cf. debauch v. 2 b.
Now the prevailing sense. In early use often apprehended as a specific application of sense 1; in Eng. law the plaintiff in an action for seducing a virgin is the parent or master who is supposed to have been deprived of her services.
c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) iv. 18 The wysest scho may sone Sedusit be and schent. 1601Shakes. All's Well iii. v. 22 Many a maide hath beene seduced by them. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xi. I. 355 One of the soldiers had seduced the wife of his host. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxii, She was seduced under promise of marriage. 1879Froude Cæsar xii. 151 His friend had taken advantage of his absence to seduce his wife.
4. To decoy (from or to a place), to lead astray (into). Obs. exc. with notion of sense 2.
a1668Davenant Siege iii. i, That employment which seduced me hither. 1679–88Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (Camden) 142 In prosecuting Wm Havyland and Abraham Bailey, for seducing, forceing, and transporting his son to Virginia. 1704Swift Mech. Operat. Spir. Misc. (1711) 310 That Philosopher, who while his Thoughts and Eyes were fix'd upon the Constellations, found himself seduc'd by his lower Parts into a Ditch. 1745Life Bampfylde-Moore Carew 45 The peculiar Art which Bampfylde had of stealing, or rather seducing, Dogs. 1771Ann. Reg. 78 Mrs. Leggatt had been seduced by her husband, under pretence of taking an airing to Kingston, to the prisoner's house. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxvi. 259 The rascal, after secuding us a mile and a half out of our way, escaped our guns. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. I. 229 Interminable staircases which seduce us upwards to no successful result.
†5. To win by charm or attractiveness. Obs. rare. [? a Gallicism; cf. seducing ppl. a.]
1748Chesterfield Lett. I. cxxxv. 363 That engaging manner, and those graces, which seduce and pre-possess people in your favour at first sight. 1891T. Hardy Tess xiv, One reason why she seduces casual attention is that she never courts it. |