| 释义 |
▪ I. confront, v.|kənˈfrʌnt|
[a. F. confronte-r in same senses, = Pr. and Sp. confrontar, It. confrontare, med.L. confrontāri (12th c.), f. L. con- together + front-em forehead, face. Cf. affront.]
†1. intr. To adjoin with a mutual frontier; to border upon (also against). Obs. [med.L. confrontāri cum, F. confronter à.]
1601Holland Pliny I. 113 Phrygia..confronteth on the North side vpon part of Galatia. 1611Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xiii. (1614) 25/1 The North [of Sussex] confronts upon Surrey and Kent..Wiltshire..upon the West is confronted against partly by Glocester, and the rest by Somersetshire. 1614[see confronting ppl. a.].
2. trans. To stand or come in front of (any one); to stand or meet facing, to face. (Often with a shade of sense 3.) Also fig. of things.
c1568Regent Murray in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824) App. 46 February..9, she confronted the King and my Lord of Halyruidhouse. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 367 We foure indeed confronted were with foure In Russia habit: Heere they stayed an houre And talk'd apace. 1863Holland Lett. Joneses xi. 159 Many a man on reaching wealth has found himself confronted by the great problem of his life. 1883G. Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 98 She was confronted by Frank's original crayon sketch of her.
b. To front or face in situation.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 299 Magna Grecia..confronteth the Hadriatique sea. 1611Coryat Crudities (1776) I. 220 There are two very goodly and sumptuous rowes of building..which doe confront each other.
3. esp. To face in hostility or defiance; to present a bold front to, stand against, oppose. lit. and fig.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 3 Was euer seene An Emperour in Rome thus ouerborne, Troubled, Confronted thus. 1697Dryden æneid v. 637 He spoke, and then confronts the bull. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 245 This [i.e. Difficulty] it has been the glory of the great masters in all the arts to confront, and to overcome. 1840Macaulay Clive 48 The little band of Frenchmen, who alone ventured to confront the English. 1848― Hist. Eng. I. 91 John Hampden..had the courage to step forward, to confront the whole power of the government.
b. To face as accuser or as a witness in a trial.
1580Sidney (J.), He seeing himself confronted by so many, went not to denial. 1681Trial S. Colledge 103 Ld. Chief Justice. Is this man sworn? Mr. Att. Gen. Yes. L.C.J. Now call Bolron to confront him. 1737Hist. of Clorana 156, I challenge you to confront me, to prove our Innocence. 1767S. Paterson Another Trav. I. 461 An Irish officer..would have confronted me at last, that I had never been there at all. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ii. 377 Mr. Hastings, instead of choosing to confront his accuser..resisted enquiry.
c. fig. Said of things.
a1600Hooker (J.), The East and West churches did both confront the Jews and concur with them. 1605Camden Rem. (1637) 32 His devise..that Tyranne Custome hath so confronted that it will never be admitted. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. iii. iv. (R.), It is fitter..to be..jealous of our own judgment, when it thus confronteth infinite wisdom. 1736Butler Anal. ii. vii. Wks. 1874 I. 253 This evidence may be confronted by historical evidence on the other side.
†d. intr. (Const. against.) rare.
1612R. Sheldon Serm. St. Martin's 58 Let Leo an Ancient Pope confront against these latter Pontificians. 1643R. O. Man's Mort. v. 40 Now..to resolve all occurrent Objections thereon, as shall confront.
4. trans. To bring together face to face; to bring (a person) face to face with (a person or thing); esp. an accused and his accusers, or the different witnesses in a trial, for examination.
1627Lisander & Cal. vii. 112 Berontus being come..was..confronted with Clarinda. 1678tr. Gaya's Art of War ii. 41 [The Provost Marshal] brings in Inditements, interrogates and confronts the witnesses. 1709Steele & Addison Tatler No. 103 ⁋10 Confronting him with several Witnesses. 1783Burke Rep. Affairs India Wks. XI. 130 When and where the parties might be examined and confronted. 1843Prescott Mexico vi. ii. (1864) 342 When his forces were one day confronted with those of the enemy. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 527 To send a man to the gallows as a traitor, without confronting him with his accusers.
b. To set (a thing) face to face or side by side with another for purposes of comparison, etc.
1613R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Confront, oppose, compare one to another. 1641Milton Prel. Episc. (1851) 92 Confronting, and parallelling the sacred verity of Saint Paul with the offals and sweepings of antiquity. 1790Paley Horæ Paul. i. 5 To enable us..to confront them [different accounts] one with another. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 174 The old order of things makes so poor a figure when confronted with the new.
5. To cause to front, to place (a thing) fronting or facing to.
1848J. H. Newman Loss and Gain 368 He still confronted it [a crucifix] to Dr. Kitchens, while he kept it out of Dr. Kitchens's reach.
†b. To set in contrast or opposition to. Obs.
1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ix. §26 ‘A casting off the works of darkness’..to it he confronts ‘making provision for the flesh’. 1673Lady's Call. i. §2. 12 After the mention of all the exquisit and costly deckings of art, this one ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is confronted to them.
▪ II. † conˈfront, n. Obs.
[In 17th c. f. confront v. (cf. It. confronto); the 15th c. instance suggests an OF. or med.L. form.]
1. Frontier, boundary, confine. rare.
c1430Lydg. Bochas iv. xi. (1554) 110 a, In the confronte of the lond of Phenice.
2. The act of facing or confronting; a face-to-face encounter; an affront.
c1605Rowley Birth Merl. iv. i. 338 With a full vengeance They mean to meet us; so we are ready To their confront. c1616Fletcher Q. of Corinth iii. i, To countenance us in the confronts and affronts, which we mean on all occasions to put upon the lord Euphanes. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1692) 187 A confront no less outragious than if they had given him battle. 1681Trial S. Colledge 74, I have had great confronts about you since you went away.
3. The position of facing.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. v. 190 That should bee the right in one, which upon confront or facing stands athwart or diagonially unto the other. |
