| 词组 | peruse |
| 释义 | peruse Peruse is a literary word. Marlowe and Shakespeare used it; so did Pope and Swift and Johnson, Wordsworth and Tennyson. In poetry it was a useful alternative to the monosyllabic read. But taste in literature has changed, and peruse is no longer used as frequently as it was in times past. Early in the 20th century, when regular literary use of peruse began to wane, there arose the notion among American critics that the word should only be used in a narrow sense. Vizetelly 1906 seems to have been the earliest to propound this view: • peruse should not be used when the simple read is meant. The former implies to read with care and attention and is almost synonymous with scan, which is to examine with critical care and in detail. A person is more apt to read than to scan or peruse the Bible. Vizetelly was soon followed by F. H. Teall, a sometime Merriam editor, in a journal called The Inland Printer. Teall misquotes the definition of peruse in Webster's 1890 to make his point. • After these early warnings, peruse received mention in some handbooks of the 1920s—two of which Vizetelly had a hand in—and eventually came in for mention in more recent books, such as Evans 1957, Flesch 1964, Harper 1975, 1985, and Bryson 1984. While we cannot be sure, it appears that this notion of the correct use of peruse was Vizetelly's own invention. It was certainly born in disregard of dictionary definitions of the word and in apparent ignorance of the literary traditions on which those dictionary definitions were based. The sense that is criticized was defined by Samuel Johnson in his 1755 Dictionary simply as "To read." We know from the evidence that peruse was in Johnson's working vocabulary and that he was familiar with its use. It meant "to read" to him. Later lexicographers elaborated on Johnson's treatment. Webster, for instance, defined it in 1828 as "To read, or to read with attention." At least part of the reason for elaborating on Johnson's definition was probably the sense development of read. Johnson recognized three senses of read; his reviser, Archdeacon Todd, a half century later, doubled that number. No doubt Webster's addition at peruse was made partly to narrow the focus of read as a defining term. James A. H. Murray, editing the word for the OED from an undoubtedly greater range of citational evidence than was available to either Johnson or Webster, framed a definition in three parts: "To read through or over; to read thoroughly or carefully; hence (loosely) to read." Most American dictionaries of the 20th century have taken the same approach. Murray's three components can be considered as broad (to read), medium (to read through or over), and narrow (to read thoroughly or carefully). All three of these have coexisted at least since the time of Marlowe and Shakespeare; the broadness or narrowness is usually shown by the context. For instance here we find the narrow use being signaled: • In meantime take this book; peruse it thoroughly And thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou wilt —Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, 1604 • Have you with heed perused What I have written to you?—Shakespeare, Coriolanus, 1608 • Having carefully perused the Journals of both Houses —Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, A History of the Great Rebellion, 1647 (OED) • ... especially let his Method of Phisick be diligently perused —George Herbert, A Priest to the Temple, 1652 • Let the Preface be attentively perused —James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791 • ... many books Were skimmed, devoured, or studiously perused, But with no settled plan—William Wordsworth, The Prelude, 1805 By the same means the broad sense could be signaled: • Whatever is common is despised. Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused —Samuel Johnson, The Idler, 20 Jan. 1759 • I've even found myself idly perusing the Yellow Pages —Lesley Conger, The Writer, October 1968 Those of us who have been idly perusing the latest flock of holiday brochures —The Guardian (in Bryson) The bulk of the evidence is not marked by the use of adverbial modifiers to point the reader in the narrow or the broad direction. Most of it, we would assume, falls into the middle range (read through or over): • Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know The treason that my haste forbids me show—Shakespeare, Richard II, 1596 • I have perused the note —Shakespeare, The Taming ofthe Shrew, 1594 • Oh! Mr. Pamphlet, your servant. Have you perused my poems? —George Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, 1698 • He only is the master who keeps the mind in pleasing captivity; whose pages are perused with eagerness, and in hope of new pleasure are perused again —Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets, 1783 • ... nor do we doubt but our reader, when he hath perused his story, will concur with us in allowing him that title —Henry Fielding, Jonathan Wild, 1743 • Those who ne'er deigned their Bible to peruse Would think it hard to be denied their news—George Crabbe, The Newspaper, 1785 (in Lounsbury 1908) • ... with heart how full Would he peruse these lines —William Wordsworth, The Prelude, 1805 • ... resolved instantly to peruse every line before she attempted to rest —Jane Austen, A1 onhanger Abbey, 1818 • I have a letter from William which you may peruse —Henry Adams, letter, 18 Aug. 1863 • ... take upon himself the painful labor of purchasing and perusing some of the cheap periodical prints which form the people's library of amusement —W. M. Thackeray, The Paris Sketch Book, 1840 • I perused a number of public notices attached to the wall —Flann O'Brien, At Swim-Two-Birds, 1939 • How depressing political allegory can be may be discovered by perusing Addison's Trial of Count Tariff —Bonamy Dobrée, English Literature in the Early Eighteenth Century, 1700-1740, 1959 You may have noticed by now that the plain word read can readily be substituted in any of these examples, even where the idea of "read through or over" is pretty obvious. Sometimes the suggestion of the broader sense is equally plain: • Both they and we, perusing o'er these notes, May know wherefore we took the sacrament—Shakespeare, King John, 1597 • Or else, to shew their learned Labour, you May backward be perus'd, like Hebrew —Jonathan Swift, "George Nim-Dan-Dean Esq.,"1721 • ... but when I returned to Boston in 1733, I found this change had obtained favour, and was then become common, for I met with it often in perusing the newspapers —Benjamin Franklin, letter, 26 Dec. 1789 • O the old books we shall peruse here! —Charles Lamb, letter, 18 Sept. 1827 • I have also perused But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes—that nothing be lost —Oliver Wendell Holmes d. 1935, letter, 17 June 1928 • Mr. Warburton then and thereforth seemed to lose his appetite for information. He ceased perusing the Wall Street Journal —James Purdy, Cabot Wright Begins, 1964 Sometimes the narrower sense is implied, too: • ... I beg the favour that you will peruse the inclosed, and ... correct the mistaken passages —Edmund Cave, letter, 15 July 1737 • ... having written scandalous speeches without license or approbation of those that ought to peruse and authorise the same —Vita Sackville-West, Aphra Behn, 1928 • With Dickinson and his cohorts perusing it in the meantime with critical eyes —Claude G. Bowers, The Young Jefferson, 1743-1789, 1945 In conclusion we recommend that you reread the examples and see for yourself in how many Samuel Johnson's simple "read" definition would work perfectly well. There are likely to be only a few in which adding the adverbs used by later dictionary definers will enhance anyone's understanding of the passage. Vizetelly's strictures do not stand the test of being tried against actual usage by people familiar with the word. Peruse has not changed much since Shakespeare's time, but it is not a word we use very often any more. Therefore if you choose to use it, you are best advised to use it in a literary context. |
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