| 释义 |
citternn. Origin: Apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item; modelled on a Latin lexical item. Etymon: gittern n. Etymology: Apparently an alteration of gittern n. after classical Latin cithara cithara n. Compare later cithara n., cither n., and perhaps also sistre n.With the forms in -ren , -ron compare discussion at pattern n. Music. society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > guitar or lute type > [noun] > cittern or gittern α. 1567 G. Turberville 142 Now lay your chearfull Cithrons downe and to lamenting fall. 1577 W. Harrison (1877) ii. xv. i. 272 The yoongest sort [of ladies]..applie their lutes, citharnes, and all kind of musike. 1604 T. Wright (new ed.) v. §2. 159 Saul being possessed..with the deuil, David played vpon his Citheran. 1611 1 Macc. iv. 54 Dedicated with songs, and cittherns, and harpes. View more context for this quotation 1666 J. Playford 1 The cithren is strung with eight Wyre strings, which are divided into four course, two in a course. 1790 tr. J.-J. Rousseau II. xi. 170 He writes light poetry and fashionable letters, strums on the cithern, and pretends to draw with crayons. 1830 G. P. R. James I. xii. 288 A cithren or mandolin. 1865 A. C. Swinburne Ballad of Life in 11 She held a little cithern by the strings. 1933 E. Sitwell 2 And gold-stringed citherns of loud waters made a madrigal. 1949 90 272/1 A carving in wood on a misericord seat of an angel playing a cithern. 1994 D. Landau & P. Parshall 100/2 Giulio Campagnola..was..said to be a good poet, a singer, a player of the lute and cithern. Compounds C1. General attributive. 1594 T. Nashe sig. H4 His helmet round proportioned like a gardeners water-pot, from which seemed to issue forth small thrids of water, like citerne stringes. 1861 J. N. Paton 139 Nor touch ye the cithern string! 1906 S. W. Mitchell 18 Nor cittern string nor minstrelsy Might hope to match their joyous call. C2. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > stupid person, dolt, blockhead > [noun] the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > condition of being held in contempt > [noun] > state or quality of being contemptible > contemptible person 1598 W. Shakespeare v. ii. 604 Pedan. I will not be put out of countenance. Bero. Because thou hast no face. Pedan. What is this? Boyet. A Cytterne head . View more context for this quotation 1598 J. Marston In Lectores sig. Bv Shall brainles Cyterne heads, each iubernole, Poket the very Genius of thy soule? a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley (1656) iv. 47 The Heads of your Instruments differ yours are Hogs-heads their Cittern and Gittern Heads. Bail. All wooden heads. a1640 F. Beaumont et al. Loves Cure ii. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher (1647) sig. Rrrrr2/2 You Cittern-head, who have you talk'd to, hah? You nasty, stincking, and ill-countenanc'd Cur. the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > condition of being held in contempt > [adjective] > contemptible 1638 J. Ford i. 7 Th'art a prickeard foyst, a citterne headed gew, gaw, a knacke, a snipper-snapper. 1863 G. A. Sala I. i. 2 There is a knot of these same cittern-headed simpletons who meet at a coffee-house in Great Swallow Street. 1990 ‘A. Scott’ vii. 129 She decided the cittern-headed old trot would suppose her day had been turned upside down and inside out by now. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  n.1567 |
