| 释义 |
▪ I. they, pers. pron.|ðeɪ|
Forms: see below.
[Early ME. þei (in Ormin þeȝȝ), a. ON. þei-r, nom. pl. masc. of the simple demonstrative sá, sú, þat (= OE. þá, ME. þā, þō), which in ON. filled the place of the lost plural of the 3rd pers. pron.: cf. Norw., MSw., Sw., MDa., Da. de, ‘they’. In OE. the 3rd pers. pron. had its own plural hí, híe, híᵹ, héo, which continued in extreme southern dialect to about 1400, and in the oblique cases a century longer: see hi2, hem pron., her poss. pron.2 But even in OE. the function of hí was largely shared by the pl. demonstrative þá ‘those’, ME. northern þā, midl. and south. þō: see tho dem. pron. 1. The Trin. Coll. Homilies, c 1200, have both hie and þei, but only hem, her(e for ‘them, their’. Ormin, c 1200, has always þeȝȝ in the nom., but often hemm and heore, here, beside þeȝȝm and þeȝȝre. Between 1200 and 1500 the Norse forms gradually displaced the original pronominal: in Caxton's earlier works we find thei, hem, hir, and in the later thei, theim, their. See he, hi2, tho dem. pron.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
3 (Orm.) þeȝȝ, (teȝȝ), 3 ðei, 3–5 þei, þai (tai), þey, 4 (þi, þy), 4–6 thei, thai (unstressed þe, the), 4–7 (Sc. –9) thay, (5 þeȝe, dey, 5–6 yei, 6–7 thee), 4– they.
c1200Ormin 125–7, & swa þeȝȝ leddenn heore lif Till þatt teȝȝ wærenn alde, Þatt naffdenn þeȝȝ þurrh þeȝȝre streon Ne sune child ne dohhterr. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 189 For þan þe þei nehȝie wunien. c1250Gen. & Ex. 573 Mete quorbi ðei miȝten liuen. a1300Cursor M. 19044 (Edin.) Ilkane als tai saȝ mistir haue. c1300Havelok 414 In þe castel..þer þei sperd wore; Þer he greten ofte sore. c1300E.E. Psalter xxi. 5 Oure fadres in þe hoped þai. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2745 Þey ȝede spiande her & þer. Ibid. 2747 Þay wyste alle at ones. c1375Cursor M. 2243 (Fairf.) Quen thay..had fest þe gronde, Þe werke thai raised. 1382Wyclif Matt. vi. 5 Thei han resseyued her meede. c1386Chaucer Prol. 40 To telle yow al the condicion Of ech of hem..whiche they were and of what degree. c1400Rule St. Benet 10 Yeme þaim, þat tay folȝ þe wordis of god. c1400Brut 83 Thei of Normandye, Gascoigne & Spaigne. c1400Destr. Troy 8008 When the knewen all the cause, þo kynges bydene, All denyede it anon. a1425Cursor M. 5042 (Trin.) Into egipte soone coom þey. 14..in Hist. Coll. Citizen London (Camden) 213 To set the pavys where the lykyd. c1440Generydes 2633 So fought yei still. c1550Cheke Matt. xxvi. 15 Yei appointed him 30 silverlinges. 1559Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. vii. 12 Thei be joyned as in one. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 101 Than to Dalkeith thai maid thame boun. a1584Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 541 Thay get na credit quhair we come.
B. Signification.
I.
1. a. As pronoun of the third person plural, nom. case; the plural of he, she, or it: The persons or things in question, or last mentioned.
c1200–[see A.]. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 39 Here orf þe þei leswueð on halie larspelle. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4990 Þritty oþer wyþ hym þey went. 13..Cursor M. 800 (G.) For scham þay stode bath and quakid. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xii. 301 Lete theym shyfte hardely, they two togyder. c1550–a 1584 [see A.]. 1707E. Ward Hud. Rediv. II. v. 27 They're Rogues, as sure as Light's in Heaven. 1838Ruskin Ess. Music & Paint. §24 Wks. 1903 I. 285 If others do not follow their example,—the more fools they. 1846Grote Greece i. xxi. II. 175 They two were the framers of all Grecian theogony. 1909J. W. Jenkinson Experim. Embryol. 28 The plane in which they all lie.
b. Sometimes used where literary Eng. has the objective them. Now only dial. or illiterate. Also as theyselves (var. theysel(l)s) for themselves.
[c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 391 No man lawfully may..minystre hem save þai. Cf. save prep. 1 b.] 1681T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 37 (1713) I. 239 An Officer, who is sworn not to permit any Person to speak with them, or they with any Body. 1688Ld. Delamere Wks. (1694) 27 That will only tend to render both you and they uneasie. 1882Century Mag. Apr. 892 They're pretty peart at the game theyselves. 1890A. Gissing Vill. Hampden I. iv. 102, I don't understand anything about they. 1890A. C. Bickley Surrey Hills I. i. 12 It 'ud be a sight better if 'ee kept they to hissen. 1893P. H. Emerson On English Lagoons xlii. 256 Those gents expect you to keep as clean as theysels. 1901C. Hare Dinah Kellow 255 Passon didn' like for they to be locked in by theysells. 1974Black World Apr. 8 He was presenting the street nigguhs in all they glory without no overt exhortation to them to git theyselves togetha.
c. they are (or they were) was formerly used (instead of the earlier it are, it were, mod. it is, it was: see it B. 2) to introduce a plural n. about which some statement is made by a relative clause following. Now rare.
a1716South Serm. (1823) I. 437 The scripture vouches Solomon for the wisest of men: and they are his Proverbs that prove him so. Ibid. IV. 420 They were the sins and apostasies of their souls, for the reformation of which he plagued them. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) IV. 375 They are the abandoned people in the house who keep thee up to a resolution against her. a1838Pusey Paroch. Serm. (1883) III. 223 They are our own self-chosen employments,..which hinder prayer. 1889A. Lang in Scribner's Mag. Sept. 265/2 They are small-minded and small-hearted people who are most shocked by what they call ‘vanity’ in the great. 1899L. C. Cornford R. L. Stevenson vi. 140 Alan Breck Stewart is the central figure, and they are his sayings and deeds of arms that go to make the chief interest.
2. Often used in reference to a singular noun made universal by every, any, no, etc., or applicable to one of either sex (= ‘he or she’).
See Jespersen Progress in Lang. §24.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 163 b, Yf..a psalme scape ony persone, or a lesson, or else yt they omyt one verse or twayne. 1535Fisher Ways perf. Relig. ix. Wks. (1876) 383 He neuer forsaketh any creature vnlesse they before haue forsaken them selues. 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. xi, Every Body fell a laughing, as how could they help it. 1759Chesterfield Lett. IV. ccclv. 170 If a person is born of a..gloomy temper..they cannot help it. 1835Whewell in Life (1881) 173 Nobody can deprive us of the Church, if they would. 1858Bagehot Lit. Stud. (1879) II. 206 Nobody fancies for a moment that they are reading about anything beyond the pale of ordinary propriety. 1866Ruskin Crown Wild Olives §38 (1873) 44 Now, nobody does anything well that they cannot help doing. 1874[see themselves 5].
3. a. As indefinite pronoun: People in general; any persons, not including the speaker; people. (Cf. one pron. 21, and OE. man, ME. men, me, G. man, F. on.) Often in phrase they say = people say, it is said.
Much used colloquially and dialectally instead of the passive voice.
1415Sir T. Grey in 43 Dep. Kpr.'s Rep. 583 A man..yay calle Skranby toke me a lettre. 1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Basis, Suche a foote as they set chafing disshes on. 1582Allen Martyrd. Campion (1908) 111 Sent to prison upon suspition of Papistry, as they terme the Catholike faith. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 254 To strange sores strangely they straine the cure. a1637B. Jonson Goodwife's Ale (Athenæum 1 Oct. 1904), My pock-hold Face, they say, appeared to some Just like a dry and burning hony combe. 1671Lady M. Bertie in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 23 They say the King hath put out a Proclamation to forbid maskerades. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 64 They still shew here the three cells in which Cosmo..used frequently to retire. 1884Manch. Exam. 17 May 5/1 In India and in Holland they ‘cure’ tobacco fairly well. 1896M. Field Attila ii. 49 He shall be scourged With the iron-knotted lash they use for slaves. a1912Mod. They do the passage to America now in 5 days.
b. colloq. Used to refer collectively to people in authority, regarded as impersonal and oppressive.
1886Kipling Delilah in Definitive Verse (1940) 7 One day, they [sc. people in power] brewed a secret... It related to Appointments. 1939Auden in Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Mar. (Spring Books Suppl.) p. i, The legions of cruel inquisitive ‘They’ Were so solid and strong, like dogs. 1945H. Nicolson Let. 27 May (1967) 465 People..believe that ‘they’ mean the upper classes, or the Conservatives. 1947‘G. Orwell’ Eng. People 24 English political thinking is much governed by the word ‘They’. ‘They’ are the higher-ups, the mysterious powers. 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run a Railway iii. 25 ‘They’ shifted me to York. 1976Leicester Chron. 26 Nov., ‘They’ are always doing you down. 1981I. Boland tr. Ginzberg's Within Whirlwind ii. v. 228 How could I go and work in a children's establishment, where ‘they’ would be able to keep tabs on me?
II.
4. a. As demonstrative pronoun, chiefly as antecedent: = those I. 2, 4. Somewhat arch.
1382Wyclif Matt. v. 10 Blessid be thei that suffren persecucioun for riȝtwisnesse, for the kyngdam of heuenes is herun. c1400Brut lxxiii. 69 Þai wiþin kepte þe toune. 1470–85Malory Arthur xvii. i. 689 They within were putte to the werse. 1539Bible (Great) 2 Kings vi. 16 For they that be with vs, are moo then they that be with them. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 130 The shops..nothing so full of wares, nor so rich, as they of London. 1691tr. Emilianne's Observ. Journ. Naples 290 They are they that have all the Nobility at command. 1803Wordsw. Rob Roy's Grave 39 The good old rule Sufficeth them, the simple plan, That they should take, who have the power, And they should keep who can. 1847Tennyson Princess i. 143 And they that know such things..would call them masterpieces.
b. Also obj., instead of them: cf. 1 b. (Now dial.)
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iii. 90 Reynawde.. made all they that were wyth hym..to be hanged. a1553Udall Royster D. iii. v. (Arb.) 57 And as for all they that woulde do you wrong. 1900A. H. Norway Parson Peter iv. 108 The devil damn they that keeps me here.
5. As demonstrative adj. = those II. 2, 4; but often in weaker sense, = the (pl.). Now dial. (In the Sc. quots. perh. meant for þa, tha, mod.Sc. thae.)
a. Qualifying a n. in the nominative case.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2091 So þei [v.r. þe] ssrewe robeours abbe hor wille. 13..Cursor M. 1423 (Cott.) Stil ai stod þai [G. þa, T. þo] wandes thre. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints v. (Johannes) 180 Þai men..Þat sa set þar appetyte In Riches. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 76 How that thay bucheouris blew me in the air. 1877L. J. Jennings Field Paths iii. 45 They rooks as you see on bärson's pläce.
b. Qualifying a n. in the objective case.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints iv. (Jacobus) 324 And folow þai bese [oxen], till þai blyne Of þar awne wil. c1400Destr. Troy 1024 Þen he lacches his leue and þai lordes þonkit. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 160 Fore thay thre causis, I leue of that matiere. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 82 For the occasioun of thai weris. c1470Henry Wallace i. 57 Thai landis thane he clamde as heretage. 1552Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 136 He suld be Commissar in they pairtis. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 10 The inhabitours of thay pairtes. 1885G. M. Fenn Patience Wins (1886) 130 A set o' fullish boys as plays they tricks. 1905F. Young Sands Pleas. i. iii, Some o' they Cockney labourers began grumbling.
6. As possessive pronoun: = their poss. pron. 1. U.S. dial.
1928J. Peterkin Scarlet Sister Mary 162 When dey is worried in dey mind. 1929W. Faulkner Sartoris i. 23 They was a-settin' behind a table with they pistols layin' on the table. 1935in Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. ii. 45 They all brought they rocks and Christ turned 'em into bread. 1974Black World Nov. 58 Just because all the pussy they can snatch is what they can lick off they goddam fingers.
III. 7. As advb.: = there adv. 4 d. U.S. dial.
1874‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Nov. 592/2 Dey was de biggest dey is. 1889J. W. Riley Pipes o' Pan at Zekesbury 41 They's music in the twitter of the bluebird and the jay. 1920[see monkey suit s.v. monkey n. 18 a]. 1949H. Hornsby Lonesome Valley 185 They's more ways than one to skin a cat. 1973Black World Aug. 61/2 They was ten packets looked like Horse.
▪ II. they
obs. f. thigh, though. |
