| 释义 |
conundrum|kəˈnʌndrəm|
Also 7 conimbrum, quonundrum, 8 (conuncrum), quadundrum, cunnundrum, (connunder).
[Origin lost: in 1645 (sense 3) referred to as an Oxford term; possibly originating in some university joke, or as a parody of some Latin term of the schools, which would agree with its unfixed form in 17–18th c. It is doubtful whether Nash's use (sense 1) is the original.]
†1. Applied abusively to a person. (? Pedant, crotchet-monger, or ninny.) Obs.
1596Nashe Saffron Walden 158 So will I..driue him [Gabriel Harvey] to confesse himselfe a Conundrum, who now thinks he hath learning inough to proue the saluation of Lucifer.
†2. A whim, crotchet, maggot, conceit. Obs.
1605B. Jonson Volpone v. ii, I must ha' my crotchets! And my conundrums! 1623Massinger Bondman ii. iii, (Tipsy man says) I begin To have strange conundrums in my head. 1651Bedell Life Erasm. in Fuller's Abel Rediv. 61 These conimbrums, whether Reall or Nominall, went downe with Erasmus like chopt hay. 1687A. Behn Lucky Chance ii. ii, I hope he'll chain her up, the Gad Bee's in his Quonundrum. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Conundrums, Whimms, Maggots, and such like. 1706Estcourt Fair Examp. iv. i, You don't know her; she has more Conuncrums in her Head than a Fencer. 1719D'Urfey Pills IV. 140 My Blood she advances, With Twenty Quadundrums, and Fifty Five Fancies.
†3. A pun or word-play depending on similarity of sound in words of different meaning. Obs.
1645Kingdom's Weekly Post 16 Dec. 76 This is the man who would have his device alwayes in his sermons, which in Oxford they then called conundrums. For an instance..Now all House is turned into an Alehouse, and a pair of dice is made a Paradice, was it thus in the days of Noah? Ah no! a1704T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. (1730) I. 94 Pun and conundrum pass with them for wit. 1707E. Ward Hud. Rediv. (1715) I. x, Such frothy Quibbles and Cunnunders. 1711Addison Spect. No. 61 ⁋2 A Clinch, or a Conundrum. 1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xxxix. (1741) 204 Plain sense was esteem'd nonsense from the pulpit, which rung with ambiguities and double meanings; the poor sinner was mightily awaken'd to his duty by a pretty pun, and oftentimes owed his salvation to a quibble or a conundrum. 1731Bailey (ed. 5), Conundrum, a quaint humourous Expression, Word, or Sentence. 1755–73Johnson, Conundrum, a low jest; a quibble; a mean conceit: a cant word. 1794Godwin Cal. Williams 47 Zounds! sir, do not think to put any of your conundrums upon me.
4. A riddle in the form of a question the answer to which involves a pun or play on words: called in 1769 conundrumical question.
b. Any puzzling question or problem; an enigmatical statement.
1790Wolcott (P. Pindar) Elegy to Apollo Wks. (1812) II. 278 The Riddle and Conundrum-mongers cry Pshaw! 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. xxxviii, Exhausting your faculties..in vain endeavours to guess at a..conundrum. 1824Byron Juan xv. xxi. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 191 ‘You speak in conundrums’, said Morley; ‘I wish I could guess them’. 1886Froude Oceana ii. 32 The stars..will be after Adam's race has ceased to perplex itself with metaphysical conundrums.
5. A thing that one is puzzled to name, a ‘what-d'ye-call-it’. rare.
1817Scott Let. 8 June in Lockhart, We are attempting no castellated conundrums to rival those Lord Napier used to have executed in sugar. 1858Hogg Life Shelley II. xii. 396 In her plain cap, plain kerchief, and plaited conundrums, by which the female Friends are distinguished.
6. Comb., as conundrum-game, conundrum-making, conundrum-monger (see prec. 4), conundrum-party.
1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Dissert. 32 Mr. Wood..makes a Conundrum-Game with poor Cornaro's Daughter Su. 1792W. Roberts Looker-on (1794) I. No. 20. 271 Conundrum parties. Ibid. No. 20. 281 Leger-de-main, conundrum-making, and punning.
Hence, † coˈnundrumed, grown crotchety, slightly crazed; † conunˈdrumical a., whimsical, fantastic, crotchety; also, of the nature of a conundrum (sense 4); coˈnundrumize v. intr., to make conundrums.
1628Ford Lover's Mel. ii. ii, Mel. Am I stark mad? Trol. No, no, you are but a little staring. There's difference between staring and stark mad. You are but whimsied yet; crotcheted, conundrumed, or so. 1743London Mag. 36 Of all the conundrumical Inconsistencies, and incoherent Images that ever arose from a sick Stomach and a weak Head. 1769Town & Country Mag. 1 Sept. 462/2 Answers to Mr. Wags connundrumical questions. 1836New Monthly Mag. XLVIII. 420 The conundrumizing of the said Billy..set everybody making conundrums. 1839L. Blanchard Ibid. LVI. 519 It was from you that he had the joke first, while you were conundrumizing for want of thought. |