| 释义 |
spokesman|ˈspəʊksmən|
Also 6 spokisman, 7 spoksman, spookesman, spoaksman, spoakesman.
[Irreg. f. spoke, pa. pple. of speak v., on analogy of craftsman, etc. Cf. the earlier speakman.]
†1. An interpreter. Obs. rare.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 43 b, Mythrydate spake..to men of xxii rymes, euery man in his owne langage, without any spokisman. 1556T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer Transl. Ep. A ij, Themistocles..entertayned most honorably with the King of Persia, willed vpon a time to tell his cause by a spokesman.
2. a. One who speaks for or on behalf of another or others; esp. in later use, one who is chosen or deputed to voice the opinions or represent the views of a body, party, etc.; a mouthpiece.
Freq. from c 1550 to c 1650 and in recent use.
a1540Barnes Wks. (1573) 354 Vnto God..wee neede no spokesman nor no mediatour but alonely a deuoute mynde. c1585Faire Em iii. 734 He hath been an earnest spokesman in your cause. 1610J. Dove Advt. Seminaries 22 He would be for him insteed of an interpreter, and a spokesman for him with God. 1651Fuller Abel Rediv. 540 This our Robert, whose zeale for the truth..preferred him without any other friend or spokesman. 1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 28 People cannot join in publick Prayers, except they have a Spokesman or Speaker. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lx. 521 The spokesman of the committee, one Duglass, began with a severe aspect [etc.]. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 462 The king gave an audience to all the bishops who were then in London... The primate was spokesman. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. 297 The Barons prayed him to be their spokesman with the Duke. 1976Times 21 May 2/4 Mary Whitehouse, spokesman for the campaign. 1976Daily Tel. 30 June 2/1 A spokesman for the British Medical Association.
b. transf. The chief representative or exponent of a movement, period, etc.
1828Carlyle in Foreign Rev. II. 95 [Goethe] made himself the spokesman of his generation. 1840― Heroes iii. (1904) 98 Dante is the spokesman of the Middle Ages. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. 9 The romantic narrative of which Geoffrey of Monmouth is the chief spokesman.
3.
†a. The speaker or chairman of a legislative or administrative body. Obs. rare.
1607in M. H. Peacock Hist. Wakefield Gram. Sch. (1892) 55 Of the Spokesman or President Governour:..the Governours beinge come together, the Spokesman..shall delyver up the keyes of his office.
b. A public speaker, esp. one who formally addresses a deliberative or legislative assembly.
Not always clearly distinct from sense 2.
1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. iii. 58 The Master, or that other person of the Society, who is most capable and the best spoakesman, is by a kind of natural right engag'd to the duty of returning praise. 1693Freke Ess., Apology 4 There is many an excellent Spokesman that makes a bad Writer. a1704T. Brown Dial. Dead Wks. 1711 IV. 38, I was long of the Court of Aldermen, and one of the chief Spoaks-men of the Common-Council. 1835Lytton Rienzi i. ix, A rough table, from which they besought Pandulpho to address the people. The pale citizen, with some pain and shame, for he was no practised spokesman, was obliged to assent. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xxii, Some were in close..discussion; others were listening with keen interest to a single spokesman.
transf.1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 323 Psittacus erithacus..is the most accomplished spokesman of the whole group [of parrots].
Hence ˈspokesmanship, (a) the office or position of spokesman; (b) [cf. -manship] skilful use of the position of spokesman.
1870Athenæum 26 Nov. 686 Then had Guðmund Thorgeirsson the spokesmanship-at-law for twelve years. 1889Daily News 25 Jan. 6/4 He felt there was some fitness in his spokesmanship that evening, for he was the representative of an institution [etc.]. 1960Encounter May 27 Such spokesmanship underplays the potential excitement of the work itself. 1963Times 19 Apr. 8/5 Official explanations about why there is no such sign at the chief bookshop of all in Kingsway are simply an exercise in spokesmanship. |