| 释义 |
orgy, orgie|ˈɔːdʒɪ|
chiefly in pl. orgies |ˈɔːdʒɪz|.
[in pl. orgies, a. F. orgies (‘les orgies de Bacchus’, c 1500 in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. orgia, a. Gr. ὄργια pl., ‘secret rites’, esp. ‘a nocturnal festival in honour of Bacchus’, also, in L. ‘secret frantic revels’. The singular orgie, orgy (F. orgie) is later and comparatively rare, exc. in sense 3.]
1. Gr. and Rom. Antiq. Secret rites or ceremonies practised in the worship of various deities of Greek and Roman mythology; esp. those connected with the festivals in honour of Dionysus or Bacchus, or the festival itself, which was celebrated with extravagant dancing, singing, drinking, etc.
1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxxi. (1612) 152 The Gote⁓ heards of Hyrcania hild their Orgies vnto me [Pan]. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 756 The Thracian Matrons,..With Furies, and Nocturnal Orgies fir'd. 1763J. Brown Poetry & Mus. v. 59 The Orgys of Bacchus..were famed through all the Ages of Antiquity. 1846Grote Greece (1851) I. 29 Diffusion of special mysteries, schemes for religious purification, and orgies (I venture to anglicise the Greek word, which contains in its original meaning no implication of the ideas of excess to which it was afterwards diverted) in honour of some particular god.
b. sing.
1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 118 It would have resembled an Orgy to Bacchus. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiii. 24 To a barbarous ululation the religious orgy wakes. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid iv. 302 In triennial orgy [L. orgia] the Bacchus cry and the choir Peal.
c. attrib.
1866Conington æneid vi. 196 An orgie dance she chose to feign.
2. transf. Applied to any rites, ceremonies, or secret observances, religious or otherwise; with or without implication of extravagance or licence.
1598Drayton Heroic. Ep. v. 60 Grac'd with the Orgies of my Bridall Feast. a1667Cowley Agric. Verses & Ess. (1687) 108 The Birds above rejoyce with various strains, And in the solemn Scene their Orgies keep. 1667Milton P.L. i. 415 Yet thence his lustful Orgies he [Peor] enlarg'd Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate. 1746Morell Judas Maccabæus (Air), Pious orgies, pious airs, Decent sorrow, decent prayers, Will to the Lord ascend. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 78 On this night..the witches held their orgies on the Blockberg. 189419th Cent. July 63 Edward Colston, of Bristol, in whose honour pious orgies are still annually celebrated in that city.
¶b. Misused by Daniel in sense ‘panegyric’.
1646G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 I. 63 What Numbers bring T' empassionate, and worthy Orgies Sing? 1646–8Ibid. 199 To bring His Praise in Catalogue, were but to Singe A forced orgie.
3. Feasting or revelry, esp. such as is marked by excessive indulgence or licence; wild or dissolute revels; debauchery; often in sing. A drunken or licentious revel.
1703Rowe Ulyss. i. i. 199 These rude licentious Orgyes are for Satyrs. 1740Somerville Hobbinol ii. 463 The frolic Crowd..Their Orgies kept, and frisk'd it o'er the Green Jocund, and gay. 1798W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XXVII. 521 Friends of stability or rather of retrogression..describing every private supper as an orgie. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xi, The effect of the Bacchanalian orgies. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Spectre of Tapp., Heated and inflamed from his midnight orgies. 1850W. Irving Goldsmith 37 He dreaded the ridicule of his fellow-students for the ludicrous termination of his orgie. 1870Disraeli Lothair lxxvii, The worship of the beautiful always ends in an orgy.
fig.1883F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 400 That orgy of blood and arrogance—the European tyranny of Bonaparte. |
