| 释义 |
▪ I. clan, n.|klæn|
[a. Gaelic clann family, stock, race, OIrish cland, clann, app. not originally a Celtic word, but a. L. planta sprout, shoot, scion, slip (cf. stirps stock, stem, race). Goidelic substituted k for p, as caisg, corcur, L. pascha, purpur.
1595Duncan App. Etymol., Stirps, the stok of a tree, or a clanne.]
1. A number of persons claiming descent from a common ancestor, and associated together; a tribe.
a. prop. Applied to those of the Highlands of Scotland; extended also to Lowland Scottish families, esp. in the Border country, where a somewhat similar social system prevailed.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. xi. xvii. 9 (Jam.), Tha thre score ware clannys twa, Clahynne Qwhewyl and Clachin Yha. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 59 Efter him suld neuir ane spring or spreid Of all his clan. 1649Milton Tenure Kings 28 Old customes yet among the High-landers in choosing the head of thir Clanns, or Families. 1664Butler Hud. ii. ii. 78 The Inward Man, And Outward, like a Clan and Clan, Have always been at Daggers-drawing. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5390/2 The Clans behave themselves with great Insolence. 1805Scott Last Minstr. i. x, Her lover, 'gainst her father's clan, With Carr in arms had stood. Mod. ‘The Gathering of the Clans.’
b. Rarely used of the Irish.
1672Petty Pol. Anat. Irel. 365 The poor..seem rather to obey their grandees, old landlords, and the heads of their septes and clans than God.
c. Extended to similar tribal groups in other countries.
1513Douglas æneis vii. xiii. 5 Clausus..Fra quham the clan and pepile Claudyane Is cummin. 1533Bellenden Livy v. (1822) 449 Thare wes sindry clannis of thare linage, specialie al the landis beyound the wattir of Padus. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 510 One Nation or Clan selling others that are their Enemies. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 57 Upon the Brook Kishon, lay encamped another Clan of the Arabs. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. vi. 164 These tribes and clans were..regarded more as natural than as political associations. 1885Clodd Myths & Dr. i. §6. 103 Among both Australians and Indians a man is forbidden to marry in his own clan.
2. contemptuously. A collection of people having common attributes; a fraternity, party, ‘set’, ‘lot’.
1536Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. Introd. 108 For heir ar kingis and mony nobillis stout, And nane of thaim pertenand to his clan. 1552Lyndesay Monarche iv. 5752 With Iudas sall compeir one clan Off fals Tratouris. 1688Vox Cleri pro Rege 2 A certain Clann of men, who..cannot forbear being Clamorous. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 130 Your literary men, and your politicians, and..the whole clan of the enlightened among us. 1833H. Martineau Berkeley B. i. iii. 47 They are all alike—the whole clan of them. 1855Whitby Gloss., Clan, a multitude or set of people. ‘A clan o' bairns,’ a crowd of children.
3. poet. of animals, plants, and things inanimate.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 901 For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four Champions fierce Strive here for Maistrie, and to Battel bring Thir embryon Atoms..in their several Clanns. 1735Somerville Chase i. 133 Forth rush the jolly Clan [hounds]. 1736H. Brooke Univ. Beauty vi. (R.), A youthful empress guides their airy clan. 1797Coleridge Christabel i. iii, One green leaf, the last of its clan. 1887Stevenson Underwoods ii. ii, A clan o' roosty craws Cangle thegither.
4. attrib. and Comb., as clan-brother, clan-feeling, clan-gathering, clan-name, clan-sister, clan-spirit, clan-system, clan-tartan, etc.
1828Scott F.M. Perth vi, We were to hear no more of hunting, or hosting, or clan-gatherings. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. ii. xi. (1875) 272 A proposition transcending these clan-limits which science..recognizes. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. x. 280 The Australians..use the clan-name as a sort of surname. 1883G. Brodrick in 19th Cent. Nov. 912 The survival of the old clan-spirit. 1887Athenæum 12 Mar. 345/3 To the clan system..and to ‘Celtic feudalism’, the Duke [of Argyll] ascribes all the evils of the Highlands. 1888Daily News 17 Dec. 2/7 American, antique, and clan laces. 1932C. G. & B. Z. Seligman Pagan Tribes Nilotic Sudan ii. 54 The relationship to the yura is dependent on that between uwa (clan-brothers), who stand in such close relationship that they have access to each other's wives. 1936Jrnl. R. Anthrop. Inst. 234 The guest is not assimilated to a clan-brother. 1942D. C. Talayesva Sun Chief i. 32 Many of my mother's sisters and clan sisters were present. 1951R. Firth Elem. Social Organiz. vi. 208 Failing to sacrifice, sleeping with a clan-sister..—actions of such a kind may be difficult to deal with effectively in human terms.
Add:[3.] b. Ecol. A very localized group of plants most of which belong to a single species.
1916F. E. Clements in Publ. Carnegie Inst. No. 242. 134 A clan is composed of a secondary species. It is next below the society in rank, though it is not necessarily a subdivision of it. Ibid., A clan differs from a society chiefly in being local or restricted to a few small and scattered areas. 1926[see consociation n. 5]. 1936Jrnl. Ecol. XXIV. 278 Most clans are families developed in the climax matrix. 1960N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xi. 334 Within societies etc., there may be..clans. These represent the lowest climax unit, consisting each of a small aggregation of a single very locally but overwhelming dominant species.
Sense 4 in Dict. becomes 5. Add: 4. Petrogr. A group of igneous rocks of very similar chemical composition.
1914R. A. Daly Igneous Rocks & their Origin ii. 40 Field and laboratory observations..have already simplified the problem by showing that the many types [of igneous rocks] can be grouped in chemical series of relatively small number. For temporary, convenient use in this book, these series may be called ‘clans’. 1932F. F. Grout Petrogr. & Petrol. ii. 52 If a mineral is listed in the ‘formula’ of any clan it must be present in notable amount (though occult in the glasses), say about 10 per cent. 1936H. L. Alling Interpretative Petrol. Igneous Rocks xxiii. 278 The term kindreds was introduced by Tyrrell; this can be subdivided into series, suites, tribes, and clans. 1973Jrnl. Geol. Soc. India XIV. 411 The common association of large bodies of Precambrian anorthosites with charnockites has led to the recognition of these rocks as forming a distinct clan. 1983Meteoritics XVIII. 293 The Qinzhen enstatite chondrite, a recent fall in the People's Republic of China, is the first highly unequilibrated member (E3) of the enstatite chondrite clan.
▪ II. clan, v. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
intr. To combine in united action like members of a clan.
1673Marvell Reh. Transp. II. 42 A sort of Divines..had clann'd together to set up..a new Company of Commedians. |