| 释义 |
‖ ci-devant, a. (n.)|sidəvɑ̃|
[Fr., = heretofore, formerly.]
1. Former, ‘late’; that was formerly.
1790Burns Let. Mrs. Dunlop 8 Aug., A ci-devant friend of mine. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. App. B, The ci-devant Anglo-consul of Athens. 1847Longfellow Ev. ii. iii. 83 They marvelled to see the wealth of the ci-devant blacksmith.
2. n. In the language of the French Revolution, a man of rank, i.e. one formerly such, the Republic having suppressed distinctions of nobility.
1871Morley Crit. Misc. 152 Give me the lives of..three hundred thousand ci-devants and aristocrats. |