| 释义 |
self-flageˈllation, n. (Formerly at self- 1 a.)
[self- 1 a.]
1. The action or practice of whipping or scourging oneself, esp. as a form of religious discipline; an instance of this.
1845R. H. Barham Brothers of Birchington (Ingol. Leg.) in New Monthly Mag. June 146 Oh, such a Knout. For his self flagellations! 1909Encycl. Relig. & Ethics II. 77/2 Thus arose the practice of self-flagellation, first introduced in certain religious houses of Central Italy. 1967Spectator 1 Dec. 683/1 The law, if not the Scout Code, permits..self-flagellation. 1983Lit. Rev. Jan. 11/2 That he [sc. Gladstone] also occasionally whipped himself made a small sensation when it was first revealed... It is easy to forget how common self-flagellation used to be among the devout.
2. fig. Excessive self-criticism.
1925T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) I. i. ix. 61 Instead of the vulgar and secretive mission producing a kind of solemnity and mental or moral self-examination and self-flagellation, they laughed and talked. 1959Encounter July 65/2 His self-flagellation, his dislike of his earlier self. 1987N.Y. Times 24 Aug. a16/5 If the..speech..had been given seven months earlier, Mr. Haig declared, Congress would not have held the hearings that he called ‘an orgy of self-flagellation that has made America a laughing stock around the world’. |