| 释义 |
Circassian, n. and a.|səˈkæsɪən|
Also 7 Sarcassen and (of a woman) Sarcashen, -cashien.
[f. Circassia, latinized form of Russ. cherkés (fem. cherkéshenka, pl. cherkésȳ) + -ia: see -ian.]
A. n.
1. A native or inhabitant of Circassia, a region in the northern Caucasus, of Caucasian race but non-Indo-European in language; also, the North Caucasian language of this people.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 318 The Slauon tounge..vsed of.. the Circasians and Quinquemontanians. 1634T. Herbert Trav. 66 Some captiue Sarcassens and Georgians. Ibid. 72 [The King of Georgia's] Wife, a Sarcashen. 1639E. Pagitt Relat. Christians 47 Of the Greeke Communion are the..Georgians, Circassians, Mengrelians and Melchites. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg. 2nd Ser. 114 Could they speak, In their Georgian, Circassian, or Turkish, or Greek. 1854L. Loewe Dict. Circassian Lang. Pref. 5 The Circassians call themselves the people of Addee-ghey (which word I take to signify ‘Mountaineer’, or ‘Highlander’, from the Circassian ‘Attaghagh’). 1905A. Goodrich-Freer In Syrian Saddle i. v. 102 Among Circassians. Ibid. 105 Their ordinary tongue continues to be Circassian. 1923L. & A. Maude tr. Tolstoy's War & Peace II. vii. x. 235 An hussar was Natasha, and a Circassian was Sonya, with a burnt-cork moustache and eyebrows.
2. A thin worsted fabric. Also attrib.
1824J. Hogg Conf. Justified Sinner 341 Rather a gentlemanly personage—Green Circassian hunting coat and turban—Like a foreigner. 1845Lowell Offering V. 255 If cold, her gown is of ‘green circassian’. 1853Catal. Irish Indust. Exhib. (Woollen and Mixed Fabrics) Double twills, merinos, moreens, Circassians, alpacas, etc.
B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or connected with the Circassians; Circassian circle: a type of dance popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
1638T. Herbert Trav. 290 Scander..King of Georgia..by a Sarcashien Lady had 3 hopefull sonnes. a1791,1842[see Georgian a.2 1]. 1887Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 174 A gentleman who doesn't know the Circassian Circle ought not to stand up for it. 1923Blackw. Mag. June 732/1 A heavy silver-handled Circassian riding-whip. 1963C. Mackenzie My Life & Times II. 109 At the dancing-class..the thrill of meeting Clive and taking her hand for a moment or two in the peregrinations of the Circassian circle. |