| 释义 |
well(-)born, ppl. a.
[See born B. 1 d. Cf. Da. velbaaren, Du. welgeboren, G. wohlgeboren (MHG. wolgeborn).
The lack of examples in ME. is noticeable.]
1. Of good birth or lineage, of gentle blood.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xix. 12 Monn sum wel-boren [L. nobilis] foerde on lond un-neh. c1000ælfric Deut. i. 15 Ic nam wise menn and welborene [Vulg. nobiles].
1595Shakes. John ii. i. 278 As many and as well-borne bloods as those. 1633Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 146 To see well borne men to despise honest callings. 1667Dryden Secret Love i. iii. (1668) 13 My Cousin is..Valiant and wise; and handsome; and well born. Qu. But not of Royal bloud. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xiii. xii, There is a something in persons well-born, which others can never acquire. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlix, Mrs. Crawley is not very well born. 1905R. Bagot Passport xiii. 120 You would not be considered well-born enough nor rich enough.
b. absol.
the well-born: a nickname formerly given to the Federalists of the U.S., derisively adopted by their opponents from the serious use of the term by J. Adams (see quot. 1787).
1787J. Adams Def. Const. Govt. U.S. Pref. I. p. x, The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people, that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense, in a house of representatives. 1788Amer. Museum June (1792) 527 Under such a government, men of education, abilities, and property, commonly called the well born, will be the most likely to get into places of power and trust. 1841Helps Ess., Domestic Rule (1842) 52 The well-educated or the well-born. 1883McMaster People U.S. I. 469 In most of the squibs and pasquinades that filled the papers the Federalists were reviled under the name of ‘the well-born’.
2. Having the personal qualities naturally associated with good birth; noble in nature or character. (In early use after F. bien né.)
c1450Knt. de la Tour xii. 16 He herde that the king of Denmark had .iij. faire doughtres well born [moult bien nées].
1697Dryden æneis ii. 455 Heav'n, that well-born Souls inspires, Prompts me..To..rush undaunted to defend the Walls. 1857Emerson Poems, Celestial Love 45 Counsel which the ages kept Shall the well-born soul accept. |
