| 释义 |
▪ I. capon, n.|ˈkeɪpən|
Forms: 1, 3 capun, 4 capoun, (kapoun, chapon), 4–6 capone, 5 capun(e, (capvne), capoone, 4– capon.
[OE. capun, ad. L. capōn-em in same sense, whence also ONF. capun, capon (F. chapon, Pr. and Sp. capon, It. cappone), which prob. reinforced the Eng. word.]
1. A castrated cock.
c1000ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 132 Capo, capun. Gallinaccus, capun. c1250Bestiary 390 in O.E. Misc. 13 Ðe coc and te capun. a1300Floriz & Bl. 260 Bute he also capun beo idiȝt. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. iv. 38 For a dozeine chickenes Or as many capones. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xviii. (1495) 425 The capon is a cocke made as it were female by keruynge away of his gendringe stones. 1481Caxton Reynard 26 He..hadde to fore hym as fatte capone as a man myght fynde. 1598R. Barckley Felic. Man i. (1603) 11 Is made fat with daintie and delicate fare like a capon. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 154 The Iustice In faire round belly, with good Capon lin'd. a1704T. Brown Wks. (1760) III. 26 (D.) To truck..justice for fat capons to be delivered before dinner. 1847Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 161 On capons fine they daily dine. 1865Livingstone Zambesi x. 216 Some fine fat capons.
b. Formerly used in payment of rent in kind.
1495Act 11 Hen. VII, xl. Preamb., xl. acres of wood xlti. rent and the rent of L. capons. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxlvii. 789 They gadered vp the rentes, as Capons, and other thynges in his townes.
c. As a type of dullness, and a term of reproach.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 307 b, [He] came flynging home to Roome again as wyse as a capon. 1551T. Wilson Logike 11 Some [men] are capones by kinde, and so blunt by nature, that no arte at all can whet them. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 32 Mome,..Capon, Coxcombe, Idiot, Patch.
†2. transf. A eunuch.
1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 279 Of a 1000 such capons who addict themselues to their booke, none attaineth to anie perfection, euen in musicke (which is their ordinarie profession). 1605Tryall Chev. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. (1884) III. 289. 1691 D'Urfey All for Money 65 If there be a Capon in Christendom, I'll make thee one.
3. Humorously applied to various fish; esp. a red-herring.
c1640J. Smyth Hundred of Berkeley (1885) 319 The Sole wee call our Seuverne Capon. 1699B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Yarmouth-Capon, a Red Herring. 1719Ramsay Hamilton ii. iii, A Glasgow capon and a fadge Ye thought a feast. 1812W. Tennant Anster F. iv, Each to his jaws A good Crail's capon holds [note ‘a dried haddock’]. 1847–78Halliwell, Capon, a red-herring. Kent.
†4. A billet-doux. Cf. F. poulet ‘a chicken; also, a loue-letter, or loue-message’ (Cotgr.). Obs.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 56 O thy letter, thy letter..Boyet, you can carue, Breake vp this Capon.
5. Comb., as capon-broth, capon-flesh; capon-crammed, capon-like, capon-lined adjs.; capon-beer, ? capon-broth made with beer; capon-bell, the passing-bell (Halliwell cites Dekker); † capon-cote, a house for keeping capons; capon-justice, a corrupt magistrate who is bribed by gifts of capons; capon-money, money in commutation of a payment of capons; † capon's-feather, the feather of a capon; also, Common Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris); † capon's-tail, a plant, Valeriana pyrenaica; capon's-tail grass, Festuca Myurus (Britten and Holland).
1626Bacon Sylva §411 Drink incorporate with Flesh or roots (as in *Capon-beer &c.) will nourish more easily.
1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 78 If the Alderman thought that an impossibility, he was certainly far gone in *Capon-broth.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 136 Hue hadde a childe in the *chapon-cote.
15972nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. ii. 1214 His mawe must be *Capon crambd each day.
a1662Heylin Hist. Ref. (1849) I. 212 (D.) Salcot of Salisbury [otherwise called Capon]..redeems his peace..by making long leases of the best of his farms and manors; known afterwards most commonly by the name of *Capon's feathers. 1847–78Halliwell, Capon's-feather, the herb columbine.
c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 662 Caro spadonia, *capuneflesche. Caro caponina, caponflesche.
a1639Ward Serm. (1862) 128 (D.) Judges that judge for reward, and say with shame, ‘Bring you’, such as the country calls *capon justices.
1856R. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 150 A portly, *capon-lined burgomaster.
1714Lond. Gaz. No. 5246/3 In Arrear to the Corporation of Portsmouth, for Town-Rents, Reliefs, *Capon-Money or other Dues.
1548Turner Names of Herbes, Phu is called in englishe setwal, of other some *Capones tayle. 1598Florio, Amantilla, the herbe Valerian, Capons taile or Setwall.
1597Gerard Herbal i. xxii. 29 My friend..gave it the title..*Capons-taile Gracce.
▪ II. ˈcapon, v.
[f. prec.; = F. chaponner.]
trans. To make a capon of; to castrate. Hence ˈcaponed ppl. a., ˈcaponing vbl. n.
1624Massinger Renegado i. i, Had it been discovered, I had been caponed. 1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 184 Nothing but a Capon'd, a thing unman'd, could ever, etc. 1693Dryden Juvenal's Sat. vi. 487. 1886 N. Zealand Her. 1 June 2/6 The caponing of male fowl birds. |
