英和和英

語源

From patients claiming, genuinely or not, to be temporarily discharged from the Abraham ward at Bethlem Royal Hospital (also known as Bedlam), a psychiatric hospital in London, for the purpose of begging. Possibly an allusion to a story in Luke 16, in which the beggar Lazarus ends up in Abraham's bosom. First use appears c. 1561 in The Fraternity of Vagabonds (1561) by John Awdely.

発音

• (米国発音) IPA: /ˈeɪ.bɹəˌhæm mæn/, /ˈeɪ.bɹə.həm mæn/

名詞

Abraham man (plural Abraham men)

1. (UK, thieves' cant, obsolete) A mentally ill beggar.
2. (by extension) Any beggar who pretends to be ill, physically or mentally, to obtain alms.
   • 1561, John Awdely, The Fraternitye of Vacabondes‎:

     An Abraham man is he that walketh bare armed, and bare legged, and fayneth hymselfe mad, and caryeth a packe of wool, or a stycke with baken on it, or such lyke toy, and nameth himselfe poore Tom.

   • 1608, Thomas Dekker, The Bel-Man of London‎, J. M. Dent & Sons, published 1905, An Abraham-man, pages 98–99:

     Of all the mad rascalls (that are of this wing) the Abraham-man is the most phantastick: The fellow (quoth this old Lady of the Lake unto me) that sat halfe naked (at table to day) from the girdle upward, is the best Abraham-man that ever came to my house and the notablest villaine: he sweares he hath bin in bedlam, and will talke frantickly of purpose […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Abraham man.

同意語

派生語

Further reading

• [Francis Grose] (1788), “Abraham man”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC.
• [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811), “Abraham man”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.
• Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890), “Abraham man”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume I (A–K), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, pages 7–8.
• John S[tephen] Farmer, compiler (1890), “Abraham-Cove, Abraham-Man, Abram-Cove, Abram-Man, Tom of Bedlam’s Man, or Bedlam Beggar, subs.”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume I, [London: […] Thomas Poulter and Sons] […], →OCLC, pages 9–10.
• Abraham-men on Wikipedia.Wikipedia