| 释义 |
recreantadj.n. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French recreant. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman recreent, Anglo-Norman and Middle French recreant vanquished, defeated (12th cent. in Old French), cowardly (12th cent.), tired, exhausted (13th cent.), base (13th cent.), false (14th cent.), use as adjective of present participle of recroire (see recray v.). Compare post-classical Latin recreans coward, runaway (1198 in a British source), recreantus coward, runaway (c1258, 1368 in British sources), overdriven horse (13th cent.), Old Occitan recrezen (12th cent.). Compare earlier creant adj.1, and also miscreant adj., recrayed adj.On the β. forms see discussion at -ant suffix2. In medieval England the word was a term of the greatest opprobrium. It is alluded to as such in quot. ?a1189, and mentioned by Bracton:?a1189 Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Angliae (1993) ii. §7. 28 Perhempnis infamie obprobrium illius infesti et uerecundi uerbi quod in ore uicti turpiter sonat consecutiuum.a1300–1400 (a1268) H. Bracton De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (1940) III. iii. ii. xxxiv. §2. 530 Non sufficit..nisi dicat illud verbum odiosum, quod recreantus sit. Now poetic and literary. A. adj. 1. Designating a person who admits to having been defeated or overcome; that yields or surrenders; in a condition of surrender or defeat; defeated; (hence) cowardly, faint-hearted, craven, afraid. society > armed hostility > defeat > [adjective] > surrendering the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective] > abjectly cowardly the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective] > not warlike c1330 (?a1300) (Auch.) p. 594 Ȝif his man þer slayn be, Or ouer-comen..Recreaunt in þe feld, His man he wil bicom. c1330 (?c1300) (Auch.) 1042 (MED) Ich me ȝelde Recreaunt [v.r. recraund] to þe, in þis felde. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng (Petyt) ii. 9 (MED) With dynt of suerd & drede he mad þam recreant. c1440 (?a1400) 2334 (MED) They schouen thes schalkes..To rekken theis Romaynes recreaunt and ȝolden. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour (St. John's Cambr.) vi. 258 He..sua stonait the remanand, That thai war weill neir recryand. 1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart II. lxxxi. [lxxvii.] 242 That it sholde not be sayd that the Frensshemen were recreaunt to have made that voyage. 1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini iii. 158 Other peeces of good abilitie to defende them selues, became recreant, and yelded. 1634 T. Heywood v. Ij b Yeeld thy selfe recreant, villaine, or thou dy'st. 1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite ii, in 40 From out the Bars to force his Opposite, Or kill, or make him Recreant on the Plain. 1781 W. Cowper 122 He that does not..Is recreant, and unworthy of his spurs. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer (Ellesmere) (1877) §698 Lyke the coward champion recreant. c1450 (?a1400) (1880) 342 (MED) I calle hym [sc. Roland] recreyande knyghte. 1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre (1913) 90 b That I be poynted with the finger a reproche and cowardise and as a right recreant knighte. 1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil xi. Prol. 119 Becum thow cowart, craudoun recryand. 1596 E. Spenser v. xi. sig. X8 And forced him to throw it [sc. his shield] quite away, Fro dangers dread his doubtfull life to saue..from the day that he thus did it leaue..he blotted was with blame, And counted but a recreant Knight. View more context for this quotation 1615 R. Brathwait 139 When those that Marshall'd them, Could not with-hold from flight their recreant men. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. i. 55 Hang a Calues-skin on those recreant limbs. View more context for this quotation 1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer II. vi. 11 Then great Nausithous..retreating from the sound of war, The recreant nation to fair Scheria led. 1753 S. Richardson I. xxvii. 198 What a recreant figure must he make even to himself. 1814 Ld. Byron ii. x. 49 The loud recreant wretch who boasts and flies. 1878 R. B. Smith 317 It was his resolute bearing which had shamed..the recreant nobles of Rome from deserting the fast sinking ship of the State. 1907 H. James Amer. Scene in (1993) 709 The American social order in the guise of a great blank unnatural mother, a compound of all the recreant individuals misfitted with the name, whose ear the mystic plaint seemed never to penetrate. the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > weariness or exhaustion > [adjective] 1490 W. Caxton tr. (1885) iii. 109 Now ben the foure sones of Aymon recreaunte & almost wery. 2. Unfaithful to duty or a person; false, apostate, treacherous. the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > unfaithfulness > [adjective] society > faith > aspects of faith > apostasy > [adjective] the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [adjective] society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > [adjective] > falling away from duty 1613 J. Marston & W. Barksted ii. i. sig. C2 Thou shalt as soone finde Truth telling a lye, Vertue a Bawd, Honestie a Courtier, As me turn'd recreant to thy least designe. 1644 J. Milton (ed. 2) 35 If the Law..shall give out licence, it foils it selfe, and turns recreant from its own end. 1671 J. Milton iii. 138 Who..Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and false. View more context for this quotation 1688 N. Luttrell Diary in (1857) I. 453 He writt very severely against the papists and popery, but here of late turn'd recreant, and writt as much for them against the church of England. 1792 E. Burke Let. to H. Langrishe in (1842) I. 549 Any man, who has not become recreant and apostate from his baptism. 1852 ‘I. Marvel’ 231 You know the careless and the vain purposes which have made me recreant to the better nature. 1881 R. L. Stevenson 286 For to distrust one's impulses is to be recreant to Pan. 1909 H. Croly (1911) x. 305 England has a great deal to gain..by a partial retirement from the American continent, so far as such a retirement could be effected without being recreant to her responsibilities towards Canada. 1928 3 Nov. 12/4 The State Government had been recreant in their duty to provide protection for the men carrying on the essential services at the wharves. 1947 D. O. McKay in Oct. 641/3 A married woman who refuses to have children, or who having them neglects them for pleasure or social prestige, is recreant to the highest calling and privilege of womanhood. 2007 (Nexis) 24 Mar. 3 I would have been sort of recreant to my whole political essence if I hadn't decided to embark upon a bolder reform agenda. 1630 R. Brathwait 457 He admires nothing more than a constant spirit, derides nothing more than a recreant condition, embraceth nothing with more intimacie, than a prepared resolution. 1796 S. T. Coleridge 159 With those recreant unbaptizéd heels Thou'rt flying from thy bounden ministeries. 1817 I. D'Israeli 1st Ser. III. 327 Compelling the unfortunate Bacchanalian to drain the last drop, or expose his recreant sobriety. 1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton iv. v. 205 That recreant Israelite..is he who hath stirred up the Jews of Cordova and Guadix. 1894 May 596/2 [The] ‘toloachi’, [and] the ‘mariguan’,..are used by discarded women for the purpose of wreaking a terrible revenge upon recreant lovers. 1922 J. Joyce ii. xv. [Circe] 509 With swaying arms they wail in pneuma over the recreant Bloom. 2007 (Nexis) 11 June 18 A bunch of milquetoasts taking instructions from recreant murderers hiding in caves. B. n.the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [noun] > yielding to the enemy > one who yields in combat or deserts battlefield c1425 (Harl.) (1981) 129 (MED) Þei beþ sone as recreauntes ouercome & falleþ þerfro. c1440 (?a1400) (1930) 610 (MED) He..callede þam recrayhandes all. 1576 G. Gascoigne Ep. Ded. sig. A.ijv I should..cast downe mine armoure and hide myselfe like a recreant. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. vii. 181 You are all Recreants and Dastards, and delight to liue in slauerie to the Nobility. View more context for this quotation 1702 T. Brown in T. Brown et al. 76 At which age most of the Princes before you were such Recreants as to think of making up their Scores with Heaven, and leaving their Neighbours on Peace. 1758 tr. Voltaire I. 204 The latter ran for safety over the plain; the former pursued, knocking down, killing, and crying to them, quite out of breath, ‘Die, recreants, this moment, or return Agnes to us.’ 1799 R. B. Sheridan ii. iv Hold! recreants! cowards! What, fear ye death, and fear not shame? 1814 I. D'Israeli II. 207 The Recreant, in silence, was composing the Libel, which his cowardice dared not publish. 1851 Aug. 392 It was only after enduring rigid penance for a year, that the recreant could hope to regain his lost position, and obtain an opportunity to wash away the stain of cowardice. 1894 S. J. Weyman (1897) xiv. 337 Like the recreant..who, lying in the ditch while the battle raged came out afterwards and boasted of his courage. 1938 T. H. White vii. 118 ‘Yield thee, recreant,’ said the King. 1996 (Nexis) 7 Aug. b8 It is my belief that a more appropriate name should be given to those who precipitate such attacks, to wit: cowards, poltroons.., recreants or even dastardly persons. 2. society > faith > aspects of faith > apostasy > [noun] the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > unfaithfulness > unfaithful person > [noun] the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [noun] > desertion of one's party or principles > one who society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > [noun] > falling away from duty > one who 1570 P. Levens sig. Bivv/1 A Recreant, perfidus. 1589 R. Greene sig. H2 I tell thee recreant, I scorne thy clownish Arcady with his inferiour comparisons. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) v. iii. 115 Thou Must as a Forraine Recreant be led With Manacles through our streets. View more context for this quotation 1663 K. Philips Let. 18 Apr. in (1705) xxviii. 136 So very a Recreant, as never to be constant in maintaining a Correspondence. 1688 T. Shadwell v. i. 75 Oh this most wicked Recreant! 1702 E. Ward Ded. Gentlemen, give me leave to tell you, I am extremely Scandalized to find, that so many of your Daughter should turn Recreants. 1745 44 Z——ds Man! You don't think I would advise the knocking such Recreants in the Head without Judge or Jury, though they would merit the worst of Deaths. 1792 M. Deverell v. iv. 106 Vile recreants! Daringly to swear away my life and honour. 1836 J. Gilbert ix. 409 Vain will then be the appeals of the recreant. 1850 D. G. Mitchell II. 160 It behoves them much, to thrust out of their social alliance such recreants as will over-drink at a public table. 1869 R. Browning III. viii. 121 We find Saint Paul No recreant to this faith delivered once. 1927 J. Buchan vi. 105 But the man was Montrose the recreant, who was even now troubling God's people, and who had been solemnly excommunicated by the very Kirk he was vowed to serve. 1960 P. Anderson xix. 166 Whatever took place in his secret self, the recreant acted with outward boldness and intelligence. 1991 E. S. Connell (1992) 196 Thus we decline, recreants ignoring intellect, tumbling into earth's receptive lap. 1856 E. K. Kane I. vi. 65 It cost a pull through ice and water of about eight miles before they found the recreants. Derivatives the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adverb] > in a yielding manner the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [adverb] > like an apostate or renegade a1500 (Trin. Cambr.) 4436 (MED) Gaffray..A gret oth made..That he wold be dede ful recreantly Or discomfite wold this cruell Geant. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart I. cccxcix. 693 I trowe there was neuer so vnhappy people, nor more recreantly maynteyned themselfe. a1722 J. Toland (1726) II. 227 Sooner than recreantly espouse Prerogative, Persecution, or the Pretender, let me be utterly discarded. 1796 J. White 14 They were recreantly expelled, and solemn Excommunication pronounced against this impious man. 1895 28 Feb. 764/3 Recreantly turning their backs on the sacred doctrine of the rights of man. 1998 (Nexis) 6 Dec. 8 c Ditka: ‘These guys played (fill in the blank) today!’ Here are the choices:..recreantly (crying for mercy, failing to keep faith, disloyal or traitorous). society > faith > aspects of faith > apostasy > [noun] the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [noun] > desertion of one's party or principles 1611 J. Florio Recredenza, a belief changed from that it was, recreantnesse. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022). <  adj.n.c1330 |
