| 释义 |
▪ I. seraph1|ˈsɛrəf|
[Back-formation from the plural seraphim, seraphin (on the analogy of cherubim, -in and cherub). (Perh. first used by Milton.)
Cf. G. seraph, in mod. use perh. from Eng., though Luther had in one passage used seraph (as a plural). Certain mediæval commentators on Pseudo-Dionysius, followed by many glossaries down to the Ortus Vocabulorum (1518), give seraph (genitive seraphis) as the sing. corresponding to the pl. seraphin; but the form appears to have had no actual currency in med. Latin.]
1. a. One of the seraphim.
1667Milton P.L. iii. 667 Brightest Seraph tell In which of all these shining Orbes hath Man His fixed seat. 1691Norris Pract. Disc. (1716) II. 171 Who sees Darkness even in the Angels of Light, and charges the loftiest Seraph with Folly! a1711Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 184 The Seraphs who of all love Godhead most Had near the Throne the honourable Post. 1786Coleridge Genevieve 4 Sweet your voice, as Seraph's song. 1816Byron (1st) Stanzas to Augusta iv, Oh! blest be thine unbroken light, That watch'd me as a seraph's eye. 1842Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 166 That Pontius and Iscariot by my side Show'd like fair seraphs.
b. fig. A seraphic person, an ‘angel’.
1853C. Brontë Villette xxi, I knew another of these seraphs..she was [etc.].
2. Geol. A fossil shell. Cf. seraphim 4.
1822Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 153 Seraphs, a convoluted, elongated, univalved shell. 1851Woodward Mollusca i. 106.
3. attrib. and Comb. (sometimes quasi-adj. = seraphic), as seraph-arrival, seraph-band, seraph-bard, seraph-cloud, seraph fire, seraph-man, seraph note, seraph-sense, seraph song, seraph way, seraph-wing; seraph-bright, seraph-haunted, seraph-sent, seraph-winged adjs. Also seraph-tide Anglo-Irish, Michaelmas.
1876G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland xxiii, in Poems (1967) 59 With the gnarl of the nails in thee,..his Love⁓scape crucified And seal of his *seraph-arrival.
1786Burns ‘O Thou dread Power’ v, The beauteous, *seraph Sister-band. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. vi. xx, This seraph-band, each waved his hand.
1729Savage Wanderer v. 379 Then, as yon *Seraph-Bard fram'd Hearts below, Each sees him here transcendant Knowledge show.
1949Blunden After Bombing 49 Marbles, mosaics, carvings, *seraph-bright Paintings of wall and window.
1928― Japanese Garland 30 Their mysteries luring that young *seraph-cloud Swan-like between the mountain and the moon.
1803Heber Palestine 32 One faint spark of Milton's *seraph fire.
1958G. Barker Two Plays 52 Lie dreaming on that *seraph-haunted shore.
1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. vi. xix, A man all light, a *seraph-man On every corse there stood.
1814Bowdler Hymn, ‘Sing to the Lord’, Israel's shepherds heard amazed The *seraph notes of peace and love.
1928Blunden Retreat 65 Her touch is *seraph sense.
1932― Face of England 126 They sparkled free In *seraph-sent lucidity.
1801Southey Thalaba xii. iv, Or liker the first sound of *seraph song And Angel greeting.
a1849M. Edgeworth White Pigeon, You promised to make me a compliment of it last *Seraph-tide was twelvemonth.
1818Byron Juan i. lxxxv, For he would learn the rudiments of love, I mean the *seraph way of those above.
1754Gray Progr. Poesy iii. ii, He, that rode sublime Upon the *seraph-wings of Extasy.
1821Shelley Hellas 448 A *seraph-winged Victory.
▪ II. ‖ ˈseraph2 Obs.
[a. F. † seraph, corruptly a. Turkish sharīf: see shariffe. Cf. It. † saraffo.]
A Turkish gold coin; a sequin.
1576Eden Hist. Trav. (1577) 364 Three thousande Saraphes of golde. 1653Urquhart Rabelais ii. xiv, I will give thee my Codpiece:..there are six hundred Seraphs in it, and some fine Diamonds. 1656Blount Glossogr., Seraph, a Turkish coyn of fine gold, worth about a French crown.
▪ III. seraph
obs. variant of giraffe.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 4 Their nourishment goeth more forward then backward, like the best horses, and the Arabian Seraph, which are higher before then behinde. |