| 释义 |
coterie|ˈkəʊtərɪ|
Also 8 -ery, cotterie.
[a. F. coterie ‘a company of people who live in familiarity, or who cabal in a common interest’ (Littré), orig. ‘a certain number of peasants united together to hold land from a lord’; ‘companie, societie, association of countrey people’ (Cotgr.), f. cotier = med.L. cotārius, coterius cottar, tenant of a cota or cot. Cf. F. cotterie ‘a base, ignoble, and seruile tenure, or tenement, not held in fee, and yeelding only rent, or if more, but cens or surcens at most’ (Cotgr.).
By Walker and Smart stressed on the last syllable as French: the latter has the o short; whence the 18th c. cotterie, and its riming in Byron with lottery.]
†1. An organized association of persons for political, social, or other purposes; a club. Obs.
1764Univ. Museum Jan. 6 A numerous and formidable society of persons of distinction, property, abilities, and influence in the nation, is now forming, and a large house of a deceased nobleman is hired for their assemblies, which society is to be called The cotery of revolutionists, or of anti-ministerialists, from the French word coterie, vulgarly called a club in English. 1766D. Barrington Observ. Stat. 249 note, The word cotterie, of which so much has been said of late. 1774Foote Cozeners i. Wks. 1799 II. 146 My expences in..subscription-money to most of the clubs and coteries.
2. A circle of persons associated together and distinguished from ‘outsiders’, a ‘set’:
a. A select or exclusive circle in Society; the select ‘set’ who have the entrée to some house, as ‘the Holland House coterie’.
‘A friendly or fashionable association. It has of late years been considered as meaning a select party, or club, and sometimes of ladies only’ (Todd 1818).
1738Common Sense I. 345 Beware of Select Cotteries, where, without an Engagement, a Lady passes but for an odd Body. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 164, I was lifted directly into Madame de V***'s Coterie. 1779F. Burney Diary Oct., You recollect what Mrs. Thrale said of him, among the rest of the Tunbridge coterie, last season. 1821Byron Juan iv. cix, Fame is but a lottery Drawn by the blue-coat misses of a coterie. 1828J. W. Croker in C. Papers (1884) I. xiii. 400 Lady Holland was saying yesterday to her assembled coterie. 1880V. Lee Stud. Italy iii. i. 68 A man..belonging to the most brilliant coteries of the day.
b. A ‘set’ associated by certain exclusive interests, pursuits, or aims; a clique.
1827De Quincey Murder Wks. III. 12 Catiline, Clodius and some of that coterie. 1830Cunningham Brit. Paint. I. v. 207 A certain coterie, of men, skilful in the mystery of good painting. 1838–9Hallam Hist. Lit. IV. vii. iv. §54. 329 Written for an exclusive coterie, not for the world. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) V. xlvi. 359 In vain had Tiberius chafed under the jeers of this licensed coterie. 1888W. D. Hamilton Cal. State Papers, Domestic Ser. 1644 Pref. 10 This religious element..revived the bitter animosities of the old political parties, and caused the members [of Parliament] to group themselves into coteries.
c. A meeting or gathering of such a circle.
1805Moore To Lady H― iv, Each night they held a coterie. 1849E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 347 We are so accustomed now to this style of fusillade, that all we do is to lie close, and continue our little coteries.
d. transf. and fig. Of animals, plants, etc.
1869Gillmore Reptiles & Birds 219 With the permission of the masters of the coterie they build their nests in the vacancies that occur in the squares. 1885H. O. Forbes Naturalist's Wand. 85 The genus Pajus is an exceedingly handsome and attractive coterie of orchids.
3. attrib. and Comb., as coterie-speech. Also quasi-adj.
1833Mill Lett. (1910) I. 77 A paper which..keeps aloof from all coterie influence. 1891Pall Mall G. 12 May 3/1 A coterie-speech—not to say a jargon—current only on the highest heights of culture. 1900G. B. Shaw Let. 9 Feb. (1931) 375 This Stage Society..is catching on in its little coterie-theatre way. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xiii. 165 Circulars designed to appeal to those who incline to coterie art and limited editions. 1962Listener 30 Aug. 327/2 The very exercise will remove accretions of coterie language and provincialism from serious writers who attempt it.
Hence (chiefly nonce-wds.) ˈcoterie v., to associate in a coterie. coteˈriean a., of or pertaining to a coterie; n. a member of a coterie. ˈcoterieish a., savouring of a coterie. ˈcoterieism, the spirit or practice of coteries.
1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) II. 156 If..I can do otherwise than coterie with Neville and the Beauchamps. 1778Learning at a Loss I. 67 Drest by Coteriean Laws. 1772Poetry in Ann. Reg. 225 Ye Coterieans! who profess No business, but to dance and dress. 1841Tait's Mag. VIII. 590 [She] received an immense quantity of praise from the English press, courteous, cordial, and coterieish. 1825New Monthly Mag. XIII. 584 This spirit of coterieism is so prevalent. 1862R. H. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 517 The polished coterieism of Moore. |