| 释义 |
Sicilian, a. and n.|sɪˈsɪlɪən|
[f. L. Sicilia Sicily + -an.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to Sicily or its inhabitants; characteristic of Sicily or the Sicilians.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 164 My best Traine I haue from your Sicilian Shores dismiss'd. 1649Ogilby Virg., Bucolicks iii. (1684) 14 note, Archimedes, that famous Sicilian Mathematician. 1693Dryden Persius (1697) 451 Sicilian Tortures, &c. Some of the Sicilian Kings were so great Tyrants, that the Name is become Proverbial. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silk, Part of the Sicilian Silks are Raw. 1781Cowper Heroism 24 All the charms of a Sicilian year. 1871Schellen's Spectrum Anal. 259 In most of the Sicilian drawings there is a tendency to an annular form.
b. Of or pertaining to the Italian dialect of Sicily.
1842W. C. Taylor Anc. Hist. xiv. §1 (ed. 3) 381 Zancle..deriving its first name from the old Sicilian word Zanclos signifying a reaping-hook. 1881Encycl. Brit. XIII. 495/1 The Sicilian vocalism is conspicuously etymological. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 1296/3 Dialect seems diminishing and parochial to the serious writer... We can meet good Sicilian or Venetian or Roman dialogue, but not good Italian dialogue.
2. a. In special collocations, as Sicilian embroidery (see quot. 1882); Sicilian defence, Sicilian game, Sicilian opening (in chess); Sicilian Vespers (see quot. 1728).
1611Cotgr., Vespres Siciliennes, the Sicilian Evensong; mischiefes done, or death inflicted, in a place, and time, of imagined securitie. 1656Blount Glossogr. s.v. Vespers, Sicilian Vesperas, is taken proverbially [etc., copying Cotgrave]. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Vespers, Sicilian Vespers,..a general Massacre of all the French in Sicily, in the Year 1282; to which the first Toll that call'd to Vespers was the Signal. 1802Pinkerton Mod. Geogr. II. 638 After the Sicilian vespers, 1282, Sicily was seized by a fleet sent by the kings of Arragon. 1847H. Staunton Chess-Player's Handbk. v. ii. 371 The Sicilian Game... In the opinion of Jaenisch..this is the best possible reply to the move of I.P. to K's 4th. 1852― Chess Tournament 29, I have before taken occasion to remark that in this position of the Sicilian Opening, the first player may gain time..by taking off the Kt. at once. 1875G. H. D. Gossip Chess-Player's Manual iv. xxx. 799 The ‘Sicilian’ is now considered by most modern authorities to be a comparatively weak mode of play... We are of the opinion that the Sicilian defence is not so bad as it has been represented. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk. 448/2 Sicilian Embroidery, an effective and easy work, formed with muslin, thin cambric, and braid, and is used for trimmings to washing dresses or for tea cloths and ornamental linen. 1883Standard 28 Apr. 3/1 Noa and Tchigorin drew a Sicilian opening. 1900Knowledge 1 Aug. 192/1 The success attending the Sicilian defence is especially noteworthy. 1975Amer. Speech 1971 XLVI. 232 One can hear heated arguments on the virtues of the Maroczy Variation of the Scheveningen System in the Sicilian Defence to the King's Pawn Opening.
b. In names of plants, products, etc., as Sicilian hore-hound, Sicilian radish, Sicilian toad-flax; Sicilian earth, Sicilian saffron; Sicilian sword-fish.
1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Linaria, Sicilian Toad-Flax, with many Stalks, and a Leaf of the White Lady's Bedstraw. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. i. 117 A vast profusion of turnips and Sicilian radishes. 1770Pennant Brit. Zool. IV. 141 Sicilian Sword-Fish. 1822Hortus Anglicus II. 98 Marrubium Peregrinum. Sicilian White Horehound. 1846Lindley Veg. Kingd. 161 Sicilian saffron is obtained from Crocus odorus, according to Gussone. 1867Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., etc. III. 440/2 Sicilian Earth, a name sometimes given to fossil bezoar, which appears to be of a similar character to Armenian Bole.
B. n.
1. A native of Sicily.
1513Douglas æneid v. vi. 16 Of Troianis samyn and Sicilianis a rout. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 60 He whom an honest quæstorship had indear'd to the Sicilians. 1685Dryden Pref. to Sylvæ Ess. (Ker) I. 266 Theocritus writ to Sicilians, who spoke that dialect. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silk, The rest of Italy and Spain learned from the Sicilians and Calabrians the Management of the Silk-Worms. 1788Lemprière Class. Dict. s.v. Metelli, A general of the Roman armies against the Sicilians and Carthaginians. 1825Lytton Zicci 5 The Sicilians are all ill-bred, bad-tempered fellows. 1880‘Ouida’ Moths III. 10 Her Sicilian had been also on the banks of the Teple.
2. = Siciliana. rare—1.
1728Chambers Cycl., Sicilian. in Music, &c., a Kind of gay sprightly Air, or Dance; somewhat of the Nature of an English Jig.
3. = sicilienne.
1908Daily Chron. 11 June 11/5 Machinists.—Skirts, voiles, and Sicilians.
4. A language or dialect spoken in Sicily, spec. a dialect of modern Italian.
1818Keats Let. 3 May in R. M. Milnes Life, Lett., &c. J. Keats (1848) I. 135 Or may I woo thee In earlier Sicilian? 1859B. W. Dwight Mod. Philol. i. 187 Italian: (Dialects, Lombard; Genoese; Florentine; Neapolitan, Sicilian,..&c.). 1880A. H. Sayce Introd. Sci. Lang. II. vii. 119 Sicilian, for instance, reads like a new language. 1933L. Bloomfield Language iv. 64 Ligurian (round the present Riviera) and Sicilian in Sicily, may have been close to Italic. 1968D. Mack Smith Medieval Sicily v. 63 Giacomo of Lentini, author of a Provençal-type lyric which is the first poem in true Sicilian that has survived. 1978Language LIV. 184 Sicilian reflects the seven-vowel Southern Romance vocalism. |