| 释义 |
▪ I. bonny, a.
(ˈbɒnɪ; see below)
Forms: 6 bony(e, 8 -ie, 6– bonny, bonnie.
[c gray][Of uncertain origin: presumably to be referred in some way to OF. bon, bone ‘good’, or its ME. naturalized form bon, bone, boone (see boon a.); but no satisfactory account of the formation can be offered. In Sc. the pronunciation is often bōnie (ˈbonɪ[/c], ˈboːnɪ), in Border Counties even |ˈbunɪ|.
A notable coincidence in form and sense is presented by the Sp. bonito ‘pretty, bonny’, dim. of bueno ‘good’; but there is no corresponding form in OF. to which ME. bonie might be referred. And analogy does not much favour the possibility of a derivative form from ME. bon, bone, good.]
1. Pleasing to the sight, comely, beautiful, expressing homely beauty. Now in common use only in Scotland and north or midland counties of England; occasionally employed, with local or lyrical effect, by English writers, but not a word of ordinary English prose.
1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 53 The ymage of our lady..beirand in her arme the bony ymage of hir sone..representis to us the blissit Incarnatioun..of our salviour. 1570Levins Manip. 102 Bonye, scitus, facetus. 1589Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 43, I saw a little one, A bonny prety one. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 12 The bonnie beast he loued so well. 1602― Ham. iv. v. 187 For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. 64 Merry lads are playing Each with his bonny lass. 1790Burns Tam O'Shanter, Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses For honest men and bonny lasses. c1820Scott Bonny Dundee, For it's up with the bonnets of bonny Dundee. 1856Longfellow Bird & Ship iii, I greet thee, bonny boat. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede 23 Here Dinah turned to Bessy Cranage, whose bonny youth and evident vanity had touched her with pity.
b. Sometimes as a term of fondness or coaxing, as in ‘my bonnie bairn’.
a1540Peblis to Play 13 My bonny heart, how says the sang?
†2.
a. In earlier Eng. it appears to have often had the sense: Of fine size, big (as a good quality). Obs.
a1600Hooker Serm. vii. III. 878 Issachar though bonny & strong enough unto any labours, doth couch. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 8 The bonnie priser of the humorous Duke.
b. In mod. dialect, and to a certain extent colloquially, it has the sense of ‘looking well (in health)’, often connoting healthy plumpness: ‘It seems to be generally used in conversation for plump’ (J.).
1749Fielding Tom Jones xi. ix, The bonny housemaid begins to repair the disordered drum-room. 1877Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., Hoo's thy wife? Oh, she's bonny. 1877E. Peacock Lincolnsh. Gloss., Bonny, well in health.
†3. Pleasant-looking, smiling, gladsome, ‘bright’.
1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 69 Then sigh not so, but let them goe And be you blithe and bonnie. 1616Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady iii. ii, Be blithe and bonny, steward. 1681Jordan London's Joy in Heath Grocer's Comp. (1869) 547 From torments or troubles of Body or Mind, Your Bonny Brisk Planters are free as the wind. 1682Bunyan Holy War 242 It will make you bonny and blith. 1820Scott Ivanhoe v, Report speaks you a bonny monk.
4. Sc. and Eng. dial. A general epithet of eulogy or appreciation, answering nearly to ‘fine’ in its vaguest sense: like ‘fine’ also often ironical. Sometimes also = ‘considerable in extent or amount’. to pay a bonny penny for: to give a long or heavy price for. a bonny row: a ‘jolly’ uproar. bonny and: = ‘fine and’, ‘nice and’, considerably.
a1548Thrie Priests Peblis 9 (Jam.), Quhilk..of many smals couth mak This bonie pedder ane gude fute pak. 1752Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) III. 6 Mr. Chute cannot bear it; says it..looks bonny & Irish. 1823Lockhart Reg. Dalton vii. v. (1842) 425 Glenstroan..is a gay bonnie bit addendum. 1827J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. xi. Wks. (1855) 283 You're a bonny fellow to ask that question. 1863Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial., It will mak a bonny country-side talk. 1864Atkinson Whitby Gloss s.v., A bonny building, and a bonny size—handsome and spacious. 1881Evans Leicestersh. Wds. Bonny, good, jolly, pretty, etc., an almost universally applicable epithet of eulogy.
†B. absol. or quasi-n. A bonny one. Obs.
a1529Skelton Elynour Rum. 227 Wyth ‘Bas, my pretty bonny’.
C. quasi-adv. Finely, beautifully.
c1826A. Cunningham ‘The sun rises bright’, My hamely hearth burn't bonnie.
▪ II. † bonny, n. Obs. Mining.
Also bonney.
[? Cf. bunny, a swelling.]
(See quots.)
1671Phil. Trans. No. 69. 2098 Squatts are certain distinct places in the earth, not running in veins, differing from Bonnys..in this only that Squatts are flat, Bonnys are roundish. 1721Bailey Bonny, (with miners) is a distinct bed of Oar, that communicates with no Vein. [Hence in later Dicts.]
▪ III. † bonny, bony
variants of bonagh. Obs.
1600Sir E. Carew in Carew MSS. (1869) 387 Strengthened with 1000 bonies. a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 28 Their bonnys were..active and venturous souldiers.
▪ IV. bonny
var. bony, and of bunny, Obs., a swelling. |
