| 释义 |
▪ I. ceremony|ˈsɛrɪmənɪ|
Forms: 4 ceri-, cery-, ceremoyn(e, cerymone, pl. -nis; 4–5 sermony(e, -ie, serimonie, 4–6 ceri-, cery-, sery-, seri-, seremony(e, -ie, 5 ceri-, cery-, serymonij, 6 cerimonie, 6–7 ceremonye, -ie, 6– ceremony, pl. -ies; earlier -yes. (Sc. 6 seremons).
[ME. cerymonye, sery-, prob. a. OF. cerymonie, serimonie, ? cerimoine, ad. L. cærimōnia sacredness, sanctity; awe, reverence; exhibition of reverence or veneration, religious rite, ceremony: for conjectures as to derivation of which see the Lat. Dicts. and Skeat. The ME. forms in -moyne prob. represent Anglo-Fr. variants: cf. the F. ending -moin from L. -mōnium, and pairs like glorie, gloire, etc., and see -mony. In med.L. often spelt cere-; since 16th c. this spelling has been established in Fr. and Eng.]
1. An outward rite or observance, religious or held sacred; the performance of some solemn act according to prescribed form; a solemnity.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 431 And cerimonyes of y⊇ olde lawe, betere þan þes, ben tauht to be left bi lore of Poul. 1382Bible Gen. xxvi. 5 That Abraham..wolde holde my seremonyes and lawis. ― Deut. iv. 8 Ceremoyns and ryȝtwis domis. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (1835) 11 It was doon in ful solemne wyse And with many a cerymonye. c1535G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1067 The ceremonyes of the Masse. 1549Compl. Scot. Ded. 7 Ensens to mak the seremons of his sacrefeis. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 55 Some Satire..Not sorting with a nuptiall ceremonie. 1611Bible Numb. ix. 3 According to all the ceremonies thereof shall ye keepe it. 1641‘Smectymnuus’ Vind. Answ. §13. 163 It is ordinarily said, No Ceremony, no Bishop. 1710Answ. Sacheverell's Serm. 7 Old antiquated Ceremonies. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 161/2 The vestals remained a considerable time at Cære..and hence those rites were called Ceremonies. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits Wks. (Bohn) II. 49 They repeated the ceremonies of the eleventh century in the coronation of the present Queen.
b. disparagingly. A rite or observance regarded as merely formal or external; an empty form. † Sometimes regarded as symbolic or typical.
a1533Firth Purgatory ii. Wks. (1573) 38 Shal we become Jewes and go backe to the shadow and ceremonie, sith we haue the body and signification whiche is Christ? 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. ii. (1676) 197/1 It is non ens, a meer flash, a ceremony, a toy, a thing of nought. 1631J. Burges Answ. Rejoined 29 A Ceremony is an outward action designed or purposely observed and done in reference to some other thing to the substance whereof it doth not belong. 1693Col. Rec. Penn. I. 420 There is no obligation to use the seal. It is onlie a Ceremonie. 1841Thirlwall Greece (1844) VIII. lxii. 141 The custom had probably been long a mere ceremony.
c. loosely. Applied to a thing done in a formal or ceremonious way; a stately formality.
1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. i. 5 Thank God, the ceremony of dinner is over.
2. A formal act or observance, expressive of deference or respect to superiors in rank, or established by custom in social intercourse; a usage of courtesy, politeness, or civility.
c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 507 This god of loue..Doeth so hise cerymonyes and obeisances. 1528More Heresyes i. Wks. 107/2 Without any strayning of curtesie, whereof the serimonyes in disputacion marreth much of the matter. 1597–8Bacon Ess. Cerem. & Resp. (Arb.) 26/1 Ceremonies..be not to bee omitted to straungers and strange natures. 1778F. Burney Evelina vii, I seldom use the ceremony of waiting for answers.
3. (without a or pl.) Formal observances or usages collectively, or as an order of things:
a. in reference to matters of religion or state: Performance of rites, ceremonial observance.
1759Robertson Hist. Scot. I. iv. 266 Intrusted with matters of mere ceremony alone. 1771Junius Lett. lv. 273 A true and hearty christian, in substance, not in ceremony. 1836Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 76 Ceremony..all that is considered necessary by many in religion and friendship. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits xiii. Wks. (Bohn) II. 97 The national temperament deeply enjoys the unbroken order and tradition of its church; the liturgy, ceremony, architecture.
b. Precise observance of conventional forms of deference or respect; formality, ceremoniousness. without ceremony: off-hand, unceremoniously. to stand upon ceremony: to insist upon the punctilious observances of formalities or refuse to go on without them. (Cf. Shakespeare's use in 5.)
1603Jas. I. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. 243 III. 78 Not with that ceremonie as towardis straingeris. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 36 The sawce to meate is Ceremony. 1709Steele Tatler No. 21 ⁋8 Without further Ceremony, I will go on to relate a singular Adventure. 1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. viii, I never stand upon ceremony with such people. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugg. ii. vi. 113 Without ceremony the two young ladies ran out of the room. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxv. (1878) 436, I was shown with much ceremony..into the presence of two ladies.
†c. Ceremonious respect or regard.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 264 The Romans had the Equestrial Statues in great reverence and ceremony. 1675tr. Machiavelli's Wks. (1675) 255 Oliveretto having paid his ceremony fell in with the rest.
d. Ceremonial display, pomp, state. arch.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 256 What haue Kings, that Priuates haue not too, Saue ceremonie. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4742/2 He was brought in Ceremony from the Princess-Royal's Apartment. 1859Tennyson Enid 297 His dress a suit of fray'd magnificence, Once fit for feasts of ceremony.
†4. concr. An external accessory or symbolical ‘attribute’ of worship, state, or pomp. Obs.
1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 47 æneas..carrying away his religious ceremonies. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 70 Disrobe the Images If you do finde them deckt with Ceremonies. 1603― Meas. for M. ii. ii. 59. 1605 Journ. Earl Nottingh. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 553 Dukes of especial name bearing divers ceremonies..as the Salera or salt borne by one, the taper of wax by another, the chrism by another. 1709Strype Ann. Ref. xliv. 454 The ceremonies of cap and surplice.
†5. A portent, omen: (drawn from the performance of some rite). Obs.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 197 He is Superstitious growne of late, Quite from the maine Opinion he held once, Of Fantasie, of Dreames, and Ceremonies. Ibid. ii. ii. 13, I neuer stood on Ceremonies, Yet now they fright me.
6. master of the ceremonies: the person who superintends the ceremonies observed in a place of state or on some public occasion.
1662Gerbier Princ. (1665) Ded., My place of Master of the Ceremonies, which the King confirmed unto me during my life. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. lv, Mr. Nash..commonly attends in this place..as master of the ceremonies. 1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. I. iii, The master of the ceremonies introduced to her a very gentlemanlike young man as a partner. 1888Court Guide, H. M. Household, Master of Ceremonies. General Sir F. Seymour.
7. Comb., as ceremony-monger.
1681in Roxb. Bal. (1886) VI. 3 A Ceremony-Monger, who rails at Dissenters, And damns Non-Conformists in the Pulpit he enters. 1710Answ. Sacheverell's Serm. 6 The rigid Ceremony-mongers did hate the Religious part of the Nation.
▪ II. † ˈceremony, v. Obs. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To sanctify or treat with ceremony.
1635Quarles Embl. v. viii. (1718) 278 If..Hymen's bands Have ceremonied your unequal hands. 1656S. H. Gold. Law 36 Call'd and ceremony'd like a King. |