| 词组 | betwixt |
| 释义 | betwixt James A.H. Murray in the OED considered betwixt to be archaic, and between to be the living word. The OED citations for betwixt are fairly numerous, beginning in the 900s but falling off considerably in number toward the end of the 17th century; there are only a handful from the 18th and 19th centuries. Betwixt is used essentially like between, even of more than two (see between 1 ). The word has not yet fallen into disuse. Evidence in the Merriam-Webster files and in the Dictionary of American Regional English show its survival in American dialectal use, especially in the Southern and South Midland areas: • Did you see him betwixt us & the light? —Jesse Stuart, "Uncle Joe's Boys," 1936 (American Dialect Dictionary) • Well, betwixt us two, I do not identify myself with St. Catherine —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 16 Dec. 1955 It also appears, of course, in older literature: • Where the red bird stops to stick its Ruddy beak betwixt the pickets Of the truant's rustic trap—James Whitcomb Riley, Farm-Rhymes, 1883 • So he set down on the ground betwixt me and Tom —Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, 1884 and in a few specialized contexts: • ... the sun in his glory betwixt nine stars three two three and one arg. —Burke's Peerage, 1949 And it is also established in the fixed phrase betwixt and between, used occasionally as a compound preposition: • ... writers already named, who move betwixt and between these criminal branches —Julian Symons, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 30 Sept. 1979 Most often, however, the phrase is used as an adverb or adjective meaning "in an intermediate position" or "neither one thing nor the other": • "Sweet Thursday" makes one feel betwixt and between —Harvey Curtis Webster, Saturday Rev., 12 June 1954 • Sometimes such an expression belongs to the vernacular; sometimes to some technical vocabulary; sometimes it is betwixt and between —Gilbert Ryle, in Ordinary Language, ed. V. C. Chappell, 1964 A few commentators (such as Nickles 1974, Watt 1967) consider betwixt and between a cliché; it is, however, relatively infrequent in print and probably does not really deserve the label. Except in dialect and the fixed phrase betwixt and between, betwixt is uncommon enough nowadays to call attention to itself. It is sometimes used for that very purpose: • ... but she's not pitching percale here but rather the animal splendor short-sheeted betwixt —People, 3 Jan. 1977 |
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