| 释义 |
changeling, n. (a.)|ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ|
Also 6 chaunge-.
[f. change v. + -ling, dim. suffix.]
A. n.
1. One given to change; a fickle or inconstant person; a waverer, turncoat, renegade. arch.
1555T. Hawkes in Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xi. 263/2, I am no changeling, nor none will be. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 76 Fickle Changelings, and poore Discontents. 1651Howell Venice 45 Which have their being under that changeling the Moon. 1682Bunyan Holy War 42 They would never be Changlings, nor forsake their old Lord for a new. 1759Robertson Hist. Scotl. I. vi. 459 Darnley was such a changeling. 1807Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 28 June in Life (1862) II. 286 England has nought to fear from such changelings.
2. A person or thing (surreptitiously) put in exchange for another. ? Obs. (exc. as in 3).
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 13 They put a stinkyng harlot in place of the holy spouse of Christe. That this puttyng in of a changelyng should not deceiue vs, etc. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 53, I..Folded the Writ vp in forme of the other..plac't it safely, The changeling neuer knowne. 1640Bp. Hall Episc. ii. xx. 204 It is not St. Ambrose..but a changling in his clothes. 1830Scott Demonol. vi. 175 Who live as changelings ever since, For love of your domains.
3. spec. A child secretly substituted for another in infancy; esp. a child (usually stupid or ugly) supposed to have been left by fairies in exchange for one stolen. (In quot. 1590 applied to the child taken, not to that left.)
1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. vii. xv. 122 They have so fraied us with..elves, hags..changlings, incubus, Robin goodfellow..and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our own shadowes. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 23. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 65 Such, men do chaungelings call, so chaung'd by Faeries theft. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. viii. 24 To steal a Prince out of his cradle, and leave a Changeling in the room. 1726Gay Fables i. iii. 14 Your precious babe is hence convey'd, And in its place a changeling laid. 1840Ainsworth Tower of L. 370 Yes! I am a changeling.
transf. and fig.1818Shelley Rev. Islam iv. i, That great tower..A changeling of man's art, nursed amid nature's brood. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 530 The small pox was always present..turning the babe into a changeling at which the mother shuddered.
attrib.1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 120, I do but beg a little changeling boy, To be my Henchman. 1825T. C. Croker Fairy Leg. S. Irel. 49 note, A strong similarity in the traits of changeling character.
4. A half-witted person, idiot, imbecile. arch.
1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xii. 182 A Changeling..is not one child changed for another, but one child on a sudden much changed from it-self. 1667Pepys Diary 28 Dec., To think how ill she do any serious part..just like a fool or changeling. 1845H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. iii. 100 The giant becomes a dwarf—the genius a helpless changeling.
†5. The rhetorical figure Hypallage. Obs.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 182 Hipallage or the Changeling..as, he that should say, for tell me troth and lie not, lie me troth and tell not.
†B. as adj. (attrib. use of 1). Changeable, variable, inconstant. Obs.
1646Boyle Wks. I. 20 Some are so studiously changling in that particular. 1691New Disc. Old Intreague Introd. 4 Crouds of Thoughtless Mob with Changeling Praise. 1702Rowe Tamerl. i. ii. 606 Curse on that Changeling Deity of Fools [Fortune]. |