释义 |
‖ crèche, n.|krɛʃ, kreɪʃ| Also creche, erron. crêche. [F. crèche (in 13th c. cresche) = Pr. crépia, crepcha, It. greppia:—Rom. creppia, a. OHG. kripja, krippa, crib. Cf. cratch.] 1. A public nursery for infants; an institution where the infant children of poor women are taken care of while their mothers are at work, or in hospitals, etc. In later use, a day nursery for babies and young children. Also transf.
1854Mrs. Gaskell Let. 27 Oct. (1966) 320 She [sc. F. Nightingale] said..there should be crêches for the rich as well as the poor. 1860C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears I. ii. x. 388 A range of buildings round a court, consisting of day-schools, a home for orphans, a crèche for infants. 1875[see foundling 3]. 1882Contemp. Rev. Jan. 50 No such crèche should be allowed to exist except under direct Government inspection. a1893Mod. Newspaper, The Crèche and Infant Home at Stepney-causeway is a public nursery for infants. The institution provides entirely for some 30 infants, whose mothers are in hospitals or convalescent homes. Besides these, from 100 to 130 are left daily by their mothers while at work, a charge of 2d. a day being made for each child. 1909Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 3/1 Why on earth should Ireland be treated simply as a crêche for nurturing a superfluity of priests and nuns for the Anglo-Saxon world? 1949Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 17/1 Even..creches, will not lift the load of fatigue from the mother with a sick child to nurse and a teething baby. 1953N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xxiv. 229 The ‘crèche’ system as found in some penguins. 1967Times 21 Sept. (Suppl.) p. vii/4 Children's facilities, all of which will be supervised, will include a creche. 2. A representation of the infant Jesus in the manger, with attending figures, often displayed at Christmas; = crib n. 1 b.
1792Wynne Diaries 6 Jan. (1935) I. 97 We..saw at church the Crêche and the three Magi... These images were quite prettily made and amused the children. 1903Westm. Gaz. 29 Dec. 2/1 The shepherds guarding their flocks, the star, and the stable of the inn at Bethlehem are all represented by toy scenery called a ‘crêche’. 1963G. K. Wilkinson Guinea-Pigs xii. 189 Christmas will soon be on us and I hope that you will arrange the Holy Crêche..in the church. |