| 释义 |
servile, a. and n.|ˈsɜːvaɪl, ˈsɜːvɪl|
Forms: 4, 6 servyle, (5 servylle, serval, -all), 6–7 servil, (6 Sc. serviall, 7 servial), 7 servill, 5– servile.
[ad. L. servīlis, f. serv-us slave: see -ile. Cf. F. servile (14th c. in œvre servile: see 1 b), Pr., Sp., Pg. servil, It. servile.]
A. adj.
1. Of, belonging to or proper to a slave or slaves.
servile habit was formerly sometimes applied transf. to the dress of a labourer or a poor man. servile war, servile insurrection: one raised by slaves against their masters.
c1450Mirour Saluacioun 2666 Thay knewe noght the king in his servylle habite. 1542Becon Potat. Lent I v, The bearynge of Olyues shewethe that we are..delyuered oute of seruile captiuite. 1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. v. 176 Asiaticus, for his lewde credit vnder his master, made satisfaction now as a freed-man with a seruile death. 1607Chapman Bussy d' Ambois iii. i. 28 Like a monster Kept only to show men for servile money. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 40 A Doctor..thinking my servile habit not fit for contemplation, commanded mee to draw water for his horse. 1770Langhorne Plutarch, Crassus III. 430 He thought he could easily rekindle the Servile war, which had but lately been smothered. 1840Thirlwall Greece lix. VII. 325 Demetrius was of very low, if not of servile origin. 1841Elphinstone Hist. India I. 383 The total extinction of the servile condition of the Súdras is..an improvement. 1884Manch. Exam. 7 Oct. 5/4 A well-known..device..for securing servile labour without the name of slavery. 1885W. Pater Marius i. iv. I. 53 This lad of servile birth.
b. Of arts, employments, labour: Befitting a slave; unworthy of a free man; hence, ‘mechanical’ as opposed to liberal.
1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. Wks. (1570) D iij b, Thus began honour and thus began bondage,..And seruile labour first in the worlde began. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 444 Bot vse his office as ane man of kirk, No seruiall werkis with his handis wirk. c1590Marlowe Faust (1631) i, This study fits a mercenary drudge, Who aymes at nothing but externall trash, Too seruile and illiberall for me. 1679Blount Anc. Tenures 3 Each of which Bond-men was..to Plow, reap, make the Lords Malt, and do other servile work. 1784Cowper Task iii. 406 No works indeed That ask robust tough sinews, bred to toil, Servile employ. 1838Arnold Hist. Rome I. 81 [Tarquinius] employed the great bulk of them [sc. the people] in servile works, in the building of the circus [etc.]. 1868Ruskin Time & Tide xviii. (ed. 2) 109 A great number of quite necessary employments are, in the accuratest sense, ‘servile,’ that is, they sink a man to the condition of a serf, or unthinking worker.
c. servile work [after L. opus servile (Vulg.), a literal rendering of Heb. m⊇léketh ﻋăbōdāh]: in religious use applied spec. to laborious or mechanical work forbidden to be done on the Sabbath and hence on the festivals of the Church.
1382Wyclif Lev. xxiii. 21 And ȝe shulen clepe this day..moost holi; al seruyle werk ȝe shulen not do in it. c1430Hymns Virg. 104 Haue mynde to helewe þin holi day,..Leue seruile werkis & nyce aray. 1449Rolls of Parlt. V. 152/1 Yt yer be no Merketts in thy places,..ne oyer servile werkes don uppon Sondays. 1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iv. iii. 7 To doe servile worke upon the sixe dayes of labour is good. 1884Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. (1897) 218/1 To keep the Sundays and holidays of obligation holy, by hearing Mass and resting from servile works.
2. Of a person: Subject as a slave or serf to a master or owner; living in servitude. Of a class, etc.: Composed of slaves or serfs.
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Seruilis, Capita seruilia, Liuius. Seruile persons. 1695Kennett Paroch. Antiq. Gloss. s.v. Coterellus, Spelman and Du Fresne make cotarius and coterellus to be both the servile inhabitants. 1704Pope Windsor For. 365 Let barb'rous Ganges arm a servile train. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xiii. I. 356 A distinct line of separation was hitherto preserved between the free and the servile part of mankind. 1784Cullum Hist. Hawsted iii. 95 To this manor belonged two nativi, or servants born of servile tenants. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. xxi. (1896) III. 624 Possibly these [sc. bondmen on some manors] were the survivors of the peasant population which had been servile before the Conquest. 1906Mackinnon Hist. Mod. Liberty I. 285 During the three centuries following the Conquest, the condition of the servile class undoubtedly improved.
†b. In wider sense: Belonging to the serving class or to the lower orders; engaged in ‘servile’ or mechanical occupations. Obs.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys xi. 163 If þou þan..be a ientyl wumman, A serual persone why shewyst the In maners & condycyouns for to be? 1588Shakes. Tit. A. v. ii. 55, I will..by the Waggon wheele, Trot like a Seruile footeman all day long. 1599George-a-Greene D 3, Ile..take that seruile pinner George a Greene, And butcher him. 1612Acts & Stat. Lawting, Sheriff & Justice Courts (Maitl. Club 1840) 160 That it shall not be lesum to servile persones not worth..lxxij li Scottis to tak vp housis. 1628Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. i. (ed. 3) 136 The mother will be more carefull..then any seruile woman or such hired creatures. 1727Gay Begg. Op. iii. xliv, Of all mechanicks, of all servile handicraftsmen, a gamester is the vilest.
3. Of a person: That behaves like a slave; slavish, meanly submissive, ‘cringing, fawning’ (J.); destitute of independence in thought and action; slavishly deferential or obedient to.
1605Shakes. Lear iii. ii. 21 Lear. Heere I stand your Slaue,..But yet I call you Seruile Ministers, That [etc.]. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. 166 King Henry the fourth, who though curteous, was not servial to the Pope. 1725Watts Logic ii. iii. §4 Others..give themselves up in too servile a manner to the Opinion and Authority of other Masters. 1728Pope Dunc. ii. 356 A low-born, cell-bred, selfish, servile band..who fight for any God, or Man. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 96 ⁋4 Those who are neither servile nor timorous are yet desirous to bestow pleasure. 1843Lytton Last Bar. ii. i, Be courteous to all men, servile to none. 1840Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 49, I was servile to the opinions of the very persons I despised. 1860Emerson Cond. Life iv. Wks. (Bohn) II. 373 A supple, glib-tongued tribe, who live for show, servile to public opinion. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 418 A tribunal..where established principles of law could not be utterly disregarded even by the most servile judges. 1865Seeley Ecce Homo v. (ed. 8) 44 This magnanimous self-restraint saved him from false friends and mercenary or servile flatterers.
absol.1665Evelyn Let. to Sir W. Coventry 2 Oct., If you can believe I retaine so much of servile in me, as to informe you of tales.
†b. Slavishly devoted to (an object). Obs.
1619Fletcher & Massinger False One iv. ii, He is..a meere wandring Merchant Servile to gaine.
c. Of personal attributes and action: Befitting, or characteristic of a slave or a state of servitude; slavish, ignoble. servile fear (Theol.): see fear 3 d.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 73 He that feareth god onely for this cause, his feare is called seruyle feare. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 80 [Cæsar] Who else would soare aboue the view of men, And keepe vs all in seruile fearefulnesse. 1618Bolton Florus iii. xxi. (1636) 243 Marius by servill flight saved himselfe. a1626Bacon Ess., Riches (Arb.) 239 Riches..when they are gotten by Flattery, Feeding Humours, and other Seruile Conditions. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §225 For as he [Falkland] had a full appetite of fame by just and generous actions, so he had an equal contempt of it by any servile expedients. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 305 Disciplin'd..from servil fear To filial. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 307 Besides, not Egypt, India, Media more With servile Awe their Idol King adore. 1699Shaftesbury Inq. Virtue i. iii. Charac. (1711) II. 55 The Obedience is servile, and all that is done thro it, merely servile. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. I. 37 The..Servile Fears usual in those of a mean depending Condition. 1720Pope Ep. to Craggs 10 Then scorn to gain a Friend by servile ways. 1817Shelley To Ld. Chancellor xii, By..The servile arts in which thou hast grown old. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. i. 2 It encourages that blind and servile respect which men are apt to feel for those who are above them. 1862Gladstone Gleanings (1879) I. i. 6 In a presumptuous or in a servile spirit.
4. Of a people, state, its condition, etc.: Politically enslaved; subject to despotic or oppressive government or to foreign dominion. Const. to. Now rare or Obs.
1547J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes 229 Wee could finde in our hartes to become seruile..to a forrein nacion. 1577Holinshed Chron. (1586) III. 2/1 They..declared to them..the pride and insolencie of the Normans, and the hardnesse and griefe of bondage and seruile estate. 1609Daniel Civ. Wars iv. xxxviii, What? haue we hands, and shall we seruile bee? Why were swordes made? but, to preserue men free. 1654Vilvain Epit. Ess. iv. xiv. 85 But Claudius since that Nation servil made. 1661Webster & Rowley Thrac. Wonder iv. i, His Subjects..shall servile be to Turks and Infidels. 1703Pope Thebais i. 241 O servile land, Where exil'd tyrants still by turns command! 1727–46Thomson Summer 957 And all the green delights Ausonia pours When for them she must bend the servile knee. 1821Byron Mar. Fal. ii. i, When wicked men wax mighty, and a state Turns servile. 1873C. Robinson N.S. Wales 6 A despotic Government and a servile people never can prosper.
absol.1753Johnson Adventurer No. 69 ⁋4 The day is always coming to the servile in which they shall be powerful.
†b. Of government: Exercised over slaves, oppressive, despotic. Obs.
1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 57 Under whose servile government it was holden of long time. 1644H. Parker Jus Pop. 28 Servile power is tolerated because it tends to the good of him that is subject to it.
†5. Of immaterial things: Subject to the control of something else; not free. Obs.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 167 b, Agayne whether offence be committed through free or seruile choyse of will. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 9 Reason thus with life:..a breath thou art, Seruile to all the skyie-influences. 1805Foster Ess. (1806) I. i. iii. 51 Even should the attention be awake, and opinions be formed, the faculty which forms them is very servile to the other parts of the human constitution. Ibid. I. ii. ii. 141 His judgment is not servile to the mood of his feelings.
6. Of imitation (esp. in literature and art), translation, etc.: Unintelligently close to the exemplar or original; ‘slavish’. Hence of a person as agent.
After Hor. Ep. i. xix. 19 O imitatores, servum pecus.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. §2. 2 Speech that is framed after the imitation of some patterne of eloquence, though neuer so excellent: All this hath somewhat seruile, and holding of the subiect. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 29 How unprofitable..it is that we should tie our endeavours to a kinde of servile Imitation. c1647Denham To Sir R. Fanshawe Poems (1668) 120 That servile path thou nobly dost decline, Of tracing word by word, and line by line. 1680Dryden Pref. Ovid's Epist. (1716) a 2, A servile, litteral Translation. 1781Cowper Table-T. 666 While servile trick and imitative knack Confine the million in the beaten track. 1806Med. & Phys. Jrnl. XV. 363 The idle conceits of the chemists, of which our modern quacks are the servile imitators. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. I. iv. ii. §3. 271 The commentators or disciples of the great philosophers did not assume at once their servile character. 1879Farrar St. Paul I. i. 11 If..a minute and servile record had preserved for us every hasty expression.
7. Philol.
a. Of words: Expressing mere grammatical relations; auxiliary.
1668Wilkins Real Char. iv. iv. 419 The more servile Particles are of three kinds; Articles, Modes, Tenses. 1885J. Avery in Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. XVI. App. 17 Case relations are denoted by added syllables, some of which retain their form and sense as independent words, and others have been degraded into servile particles.
b. Semitic Gram. Of a letter: Not belonging to the root of the word in which it occurs; serving to express a derivative or flexional element. Hence applied to those letters of the alphabet (in Heb. the eleven grouped mnemonically in the words {hebbeth}{heblamed}{hebbeth}ו {hebhe}שׁ{hebmem} {hebnunfin}תיא) which represent sounds that may be used in derivation or flexion. Opposed to radical.
1653W. Robertson Gate to Holy Tongue 7 These servile letters are eleven in number. Ibid. 9 These servile letters are so called, not because they are always servile, for all of them do make up roots by themselves,..but because they are often servile..; the other eleven, being always radicall. 1776J. Richardson Arab. Gram. 17 note, The Alif of union is always servile. 1843Proc. Philol. Soc. I. 138 [Berber] has a distinction of letters..into servile and non-servile, nearly identical with that of Hebrew and Arabic.
c. Of a letter: ‘Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceding vowel, as e in tune.’
1864Webster.
d. Of sounds: Subject to euphonic change.
1879Whitney Skr. Gram. 23 Certain nasals in Sanskrit are of servile character, always to be assimilated to a following consonant.
B. n. (elliptical or absolute uses of the adj.).
1. A servile person.
1830Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Administr. (1837) II. 17 They have been distinguished by the King's favour, and nothing else—quacks, serviles, sycophants, and buffoons. 1830Westm. Rev. XIII. 476 Swarms of anti-national serviles, the relics of bygone days. 1831E. Elliott Poet. Wks. (1840) 108/2 Self-robb'd servile! sold, not bought, For the shadow of a groat! 1880L. Wallace Ben-Hur 19 The Sudra, or serviles, doomed to menial duties.
2. Sp. Hist. A hostile designation applied (in 1820 and later) by Spanish Liberals to the royalists.
1822Gentl. Mag. XCII. i. 75 The Lapidas, or constitutional pillars, set up in the different towns of Spain are sometimes, during the night, defaced or bemired by the Serviles. 1840Napier Penins. War VI. xxii. vi. 312 And always the serviles yielded under the dread of personal violence. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 345/2 The royalists or serviles, as they were called, were dismissed from office.
3. Philol.
a. A servile particle. See A. 7 a.
1668Wilkins Real Char. iii. vii. 343 Both these may contribute to the Abbreviating of Language, when they are compounded as serviles.
b. Heb. Gram. A servile letter. See A. 7 b.
1738R. Grey New Meth. Hebr. p. ii, The Letters are divided into an equal Number of Radicals and Serviles. 1773Bayly Gram. Hebr. p. xxvii, The principal use of the Letters יו{hebhe}א is with the other Serviles to form Number, Gender, Moods, Tenses and Derivatives. |