| 释义 |
silentiary|saɪˈlɛnʃərɪ|
[ad. late L. silentiari-us, f. L. silentium silence: see -ary. So F. silenciaire.]
1. One who observes or recommends silence, esp. from religious motives.
1611Cotgr., Silentiaire, a silenciarie, a patron or patterne of silence. 1657Trapp Comm. Ps. v. 4 The word signifieth Be dumb; and hereupon all our Silentiaries have founded their superstitious opinions and practices. 1844N. British Rev. I. 141 A few solitaries, silentiaries, stylites,..from their caves and pillars, pleaded this interposition. 1883Swinburne in Fortn. Rev. XXXIV. 513 The Gospel according to St. Coprostom the Silentiary [i.e. Carlyle].
2. An officer of the Byzantine court, whose duty originally was to obtain silence, but who frequently acted as a confidential adviser or agent. Now Hist.
Blount Glossogr. (1656) has: ‘Silentiary, a Gentleman Usher, who sees good rule and quietness kept’.
a1677Barrow Pope's Supremacy vi. xvi. (1680) 400 That notable passage in the Synod of Chalcedon; where Bassianus..saith, Our..Emperor..afterwards sent his rescript by Eustathius the Silentiary. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xlii. IV. 263 He had served ten years a silentiary of the Byzantine palace. 1833Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 117 Agathias' friend, Paul the Silentiary.., who at the court of Justinian held an..office corresponding to that of Gentleman Usher. 1895Edin. Rev. Apr. 479 The contemplation of the spectacle raises the Silentiary to his highest key.
b. An official whose duty it is to command silence.
1838Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 180 The silentiary, standing by the main pillar of the hall, smote lustily upon it with his rod, to command silence. 1883Seebohm Eng. Village Comm. 240 The columns..are sometimes cased in metal, and the silentiary, to call attention, strikes one of them with his staff. |