| 释义 |
comedian|kəˈmiːdɪən|
[ad. F. comédien, f. L. type *cōmœdiān-us, f. cōmœdia, a. Gr. κωµῳδία comedy.]
1. a. One who plays in comedies, a comic actor. Sometimes ‘a player in general, a stage-player’ (J.).
1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 194 Are you a Comedian? 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 652 A stage for plaiers and commedians. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece i. iv. (1715) 19 Hearing the insipid jests of a Comoedian. 1716Lady M. W. Montague Lett. xviii, The king's company of French comedians play here every night. 1842J. P. Collier in Armin Nest Ninn. Introd., Richard Tarlton..was most famous as, what we now call, a low comedian.
b. fig. One who acts a feigned part in real life.
1673S. C. Art of Complais. i. 6 These men, says he, are professed Comœdians, do you laugh, they strive who should laugh loudest; If they observe that you have any disposition to weep, they dissolve into a torrent of Tears. Ibid. vi. 57 They will scarce ever give ear to him after, regarding him onely as a Comœdian, who says what he thinks not.
c. A professional entertainer who makes his audience laugh by telling jokes, acting foolishly, etc. Also transf.
1898N.Y. Jrnl. 19 Nov. 2/1 Wearing spats, front crease in trousers and throwing out one's chest is the receipt followed by Dan Daly, the comedian, to gain height. 1926Amer. Speech I. 437/2 In vaudeville and burlesque a straight man works as a ‘feeder’ with the comedians. 1945L. Lane How to become a Comedian i. 11 The majority of comedians I have met are very seriously minded in private life: it's a relief from their trade of laughter-making. Ibid. xv. 119 A double act is really a light comedian and a low comedian working together. The finest example we have to-day is that of Flanagan and Allen. 1953K. Reisz Technique Film Editing v. 102 Comedians like Bob Hope or Danny Kaye..rely to a very large extent on purely verbal wit. They crack their jokes at a rate controlled entirely by their own sense of timing. 1968Who's Who 2530/1 Ray, Ted; Theatrical and B.B.C. Entertainer; s. of Chas. Olden, comedian.
2. A writer of comedies, a comic poet.
1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 45 The signifying badge giuen them [characters] by the Comedian. 1622Peacham Compl. Gent. x, Scaliger willeth us to admire Plautus as a comedian, but Terence as a pure and elegant speaker. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 128 He was in his younger days a noted Poet and Comedian. 1845Maurice Mor. Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) II. 582/1 The comedian..did nevertheless..take such liberties with the gods of his country, etc.
3. attrib. and Comb.
1609Ev. Woman in Hum. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, A comedian tongue is the only perswasive ornament to win a Lady. 1632Lithgow Trav. iii. (1682) 108 Sweet Comedian scenes of love Upon a golden Stage. 1663Pepys Diary 1 July, His Lordship had made a long and a comedian-like speech. 1756W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans III. 141 The comedian-like psalm-singer. |