| 释义 |
sepoy, sipahi Anglo-Indian.|ˈsiːpɔɪ, sɪˈpɔɪ, sɪˈpɑːɪ|
Forms: 7 seapy, 8 sepay, sipoy, cephoy, sea-poy, 8–9 seapoy, 8– sepoy. β. 8– sipahi, 9 sipahee.
[ad. (prob. through Pg. sipae) Urdu = Pers. sipāhī horseman, soldier, f. sipāh army. Cf. F. cipaye. See also spahi.
In the following quot. the word is used in its orig. sense of ‘horseman’.
1682Hedges Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 55, I went..to Ray Nundelall's to have had y⊇ Seapy, or Nabob's horseman, consigned to me.]
A native of India employed as a soldier under European, esp. British, discipline.
1717–18in Hedges' Diary (Hakl. Soc.) II. p. ccclix, A Company of Sepoys with the Colours, Trumpets, and Countrey Musick. 1733in G. W. Forrest Sel. Lett. Bombay Secr. (Home Ser.) II. 55 To make a thorough survey..of the island.., the number of the guns therein..and the number of fighting sepoys. Ibid. 57 That..the garrison of Seepoys shall become the subjects of the said Honble Company, and remain in their..service at the usual pay that is now paid to the garrison Seepoys of Bombay. 1757J. H. Grose Voy. E. Indies 62 Sepays, who have their proper officers, with the titles in the country-language, all however under the Orders of the English. 1761London Mag. XXX. 184 A body of about 400 Europeans, with a train of artillery and 400 Seapoys. 1858J. B. Norton Topics 68 On the 22nd of January, 1857, Captain Wright, of the 70th Bengal native infantry, informed Major Bontien..of the unpleasant feeling among the sepoys in respect to the cartridges. 1878Wolseley in N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 134 The dispatch of this handful of sepoys from Bombay to Malta.
β1798Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Philos. I. 459 England has at present in India..54,000 sipahis well armed and disciplined. 1809Broughton Lett. Mahratta Camp iii. (1892) 25 Many of our Sipahees..have children whom they have..purchased in this manner. 1819F. Hamilton Nepal Index 362 Seapoy, properly Sipahi, in Nepal applied to irregular armed men employed in the police and revenue. 1850Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 344 The escort of sipahees.
b. attrib., as sepoy band; sepoy crab, a species of crab found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans; Sepoy Mutiny or Rebellion, a revolt against British rule in India in 1857–8.
1763in Jas. Long Rec. Govt. Ft. William (1869) 290 (Y.) Captains who command the Sepoy batallions. 1772Town & Country Mag. 159 E'en wed a Seapoy chief and mend the breed. 1820Blackw. Mag. VIII. 38 And guard with Sepoy band the peaceful vale. 1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 54 The fall of a European officer was invariably the signal for sepoy-faltering. 1857W. Sinclair (title) The Sepoy Mutinies: their origin and their cure. 1857Househ. Words 31 Jan. 105/1 Mr. Cuming frequently found sepoy-crabs on Lord Hood's Island in the Pacific. |