| 释义 |
▪ I. steppe|stɛp|
Also 7–9 step.
[a. Russian step′. Cf. F., G. steppe.]
1. One of the vast comparatively level and treeless plains of south-eastern Europe and Siberia.
1671[S. Collins] Pres. St. Russia xviii. 81 Going towards the more Southern parts of Syberia, you shall see a Wilderness called the Step. 1710Whitworth Acc. Russia (1758) 119 The place being on the step, or desert. 1762tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. I. 478 The Steppe, or wide desert plain of Astracan,..is a dreary waste. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 319 The great steppe of Tartary..is unexplored. 1876Burnaby Ride to Khiva xxvi. 240 The Turkomans and other nomad races in the steppes often attribute a disease or illness to the devil.
2. transf. An extensive plain, usually treeless.
1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1849) 61 These great steppes, which range along the feet of the Rocky Mountains. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 43 Saline steppes, where the soil is impregnated with salt, but where the foliage is not influenced by a saline atmosphere. 1878A. K. Johnston Africa ii. 20 These rocky steppes possess but few streams. 1903W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant Geog. 551 The steppe of the Hungarian plain exhibits close climatic similarity to that of South Russia.
3. attrib. and Comb., as steppe bird, steppe country, steppe district, steppe fauna, steppe horse, steppe lake, steppe land, steppe-travelling; steppe cat, the manul (Felis manul or caudatus); steppe-murrain = rinderpest; steppe rue, the plant Peganum Harmala, the seeds of which are sometimes eaten as a narcotic.
1884H. Seebohm Hist. Brit. Birds II. 234 Richard's Pipit is essentially a *steppe bird.
1885Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) V. 462 The *Steppe Cat..of Bokhara.
1911Marett Anthrop. iv. 106 A belt of grassland or *steppe-country.
1903W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant Geog. 594 *Steppe districts.
1898Archæol. Jrnl. Ser. ii. V. 284 The Tundra fauna [had] given place to the *Steppe fauna.
1877C. Geikie Christ xxv. (1879) 272 Their lean and untiring *steppe horses.
1901Geogr. Jrnl. (R.G.S.) XVIII. 92 A typical *steppe⁓lake.
1901Wide World Mag. VI. 444/1 The *steppe lands..in Western Siberia.
1865Athenæum 7 Oct. 473/2 Pulmonary and *steppe murrain.
1881Spon's Encycl. Industr. Arts etc. iv. 1324 Syrian or *Steppe Rue.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xvi, The monotony of Australian *steppe-travelling.
Hence steppe-ful nonce-wd.
1857Dufferin Lett. High Lat. 37 [He] could let me have a steppe-ful of horses if I desired.
▪ II. steppe
see steep a., stap n. |