| 释义 |
Freemason|ˈfriːmeɪs(ə)n|
Also freemason.
[f. free a. + mason.
The precise import with which the adj. was originally used in this designation has been much disputed. Three views have been propounded. (1) The suggestion that free mason stands for free-stone mason would appear unworthy of attention, but for the curious fact that the earliest known instances of any similar appellation are mestre mason de franche peer, ‘master mason of free stone’ (Act 25 Edw. III. st. ii. c. 3, a.d. 1350), and sculptores lapidum liberorum, ‘carvers of free stones’, alleged to occur in a document of 1217 (tr. Findel's Hist. Mas. 51, citing Wyatt Papworth); the coincidence, however, seems to be merely accidental. (2) The view most generally held is that free masons were those who were ‘free’ of the masons' guild (see free a. 29). Against this explanation many forcible objections have been brought by Mr. G. W. Speth, who suggests (3) that the itinerant masons were called ‘free’ because they claimed exemption from the control of the local guilds of the towns in which they temporarily settled. (4) Perhaps the best hypothesis is that the term refers to the mediæval practice of emancipating skilled artisans, in order that they might be able to travel and render their services wherever any great building was in process of construction.]
†1. A member of a certain class of skilled workers in stone, in the 14th and following centuries often mentioned in contradistinction to ‘rough masons’, ‘ligiers’, etc. They travelled from place to place, finding employment wherever important buildings were being erected, and had a system of secret signs and passwords by which a craftsman who had been admitted on giving evidence of competent skill could be recognized. In later use (16–18th c.) the term seems often to be used merely as a more complimentary synonym of ‘mason’, implying that the workman so designated belonged to a superior grade. Obs.
1376in Conder Hole Craft 51 [A list of the city companies with the number of their representatives on the Council has: Free masons 2, Masons 4. But in the original handwriting the figure for the Masons is altered to 6, and the entry Free masons is expunged]. 1396Charter Rich. II (Sloane 4595) in Masonic Mag. (1882) 341 Concessimus..archiepiscopo Cantuar. quod..viginti et quatuor lathomos vocatos ffre Maceons et viginti et quatuor lathomos vocatos ligiers..capere..possit. [1444Act 23 Hen. VI, c. 12 Les gagez ascun frank mason ou maister Carpenter nexcede pas par le jour iiijd. ovesqe mangier & boier..un rough mason & mesne Carpenter..iiid. par le jour.] 1477Norton Ord. Alch. Proem. in Ashm. (1652) 7 Free Masons and Tanners. 1484Churchw. Acc. Wigtoft, Linc. (Nichols 1797) 80 Paide to Will'm Whelpdale fremason for makyng of the crosse in y⊇ chirchrth. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 22 §1 A Freemason maister Carpenter Rough mason Brickleyer [etc.]. 1504Bury Wills (Camden) 104 To John Dealtry, fremason, xs. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 142 The free mason setteth his prentyse first longe tyme to lerne to hewe stones. 1548Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 15 §3 No Person..shall..lett or disturbe any Fre mason, rough mason, carpenter, bricklayer. 1594Blundevil Exerc. Cont. (ed. 7) A. iv, In free Masons craft, in Joyners craft. 1608Topsell Serpents (1658) 650 Who seeth not that it were far better the master work-men, free masons, and carpenters, might be spared, then the true labouring husbandman? 1662Evelyn Chalcogr. (1769) 90 Encountring the difficulties of the free⁓mason. 1720Lond. Gaz. No. 5907/4 Anthony Ashley..Free Mason. 1723Ibid. No. 6195/6 John Lane..Free-Mason.
2. A member of the fraternity called more fully, Free and Accepted Masons.
Early in the 17th c., the societies of freemasons (in sense 1) began to admit honorary members, not connected with the building trades, but supposed to be eminent for architectural or antiquarian learning. These were called accepted masons, though the term free masons was often loosely applied to them; and they were admitted to a knowledge of the secret signs, and instructed in the legendary history of the craft, which had already begun to be developed. The distinction of being an ‘accepted mason’ became a fashionable object of ambition, and before the end of the 17th c. the object of the societies of freemasons seems to have been chiefly social and convivial. In 1717, under the guidance of the physicist J. T. Desaguliers, four of these societies or ‘lodges’ in London united to form a ‘grand lodge’, with a new constitution and ritual, and a system of secret signs; the object of the society as reconstituted being mutual help and the promotion of brotherly feeling among its members. The London ‘grand lodge’ became the parent of other ‘lodges’ in Great Britain and abroad, and there are now powerful bodies of ‘freemasons’, more or less recognizing each other, in most countries of the world.
1646Ashmole Mem. (1717) 15 Oct., [At] 4 Hor. 30 Minutes post merid., I was made a Free-Mason at Warrington in Lancashire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 316 Admitting Men into the Society of Free⁓masons, that in the moorelands of this County seems to be of greater request, than any where else. Ibid., A Fellow of the Society, whom they otherwise call an accepted mason. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 393/2, I cannot but Honor..the Masons..the more as being a Member of that Society called Free-Masons. 1691Aubrey Memorandums 18 May in Conder Hole Craft (1894) 4 This day is a great convention at St. Pauls church of the fraternity of the free [erased, and accepted written above] Masons; where Sir Christopher Wren is to be adopted a Brother. 1709Steele Tatler No. 26 ⁋3 They have their Signs and Tokens like Free-Masons. 1723(title) The Constitutions of the Free-masons..for the Use of the Lodges. 1753Scots Mag. Sept. 425/1 The society of free and accepted masons caused a..triumphal arch..to be erected. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master vii. 174 ‘I'd turn a Turk, or Methodist—Christian, Freemason, even Jew!’
3. attrib. (of or pertaining to freemasons), as freemason knock, Freemason secret, Freemason work.
1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 220, I distinguished his *free-mason knock at my door.
1785Burke Sp. Nabob of Arcot 33 The true *free-mason secret of the profession of soucaring.
a1490Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 268 De *fremason-work operata.
Hence ˌFreemaˈsonic a., of or pertaining to freemasons; ˈFreeˌmasonism (Stand. Dict.) = Freemasonry.
1831Westm. Rev. XIV. 156 A free-masonic order who converse by signs, innuendos, and slang. 1859Thackeray Virgin. II. xxxviii. 317 That mysterious undefinable freemasonic signal, which passes between women, by which each knows that the other hates her. 1861Sala Dutch Pict. vi. 85 There she is at her post, with a wonderful free⁓masonic understanding with the doctor. |
